History - 400 pages - my copy (paperback; 1996)
- 5 nods
Gaze upon a list of the finest and most legendary of historians throughout time, and surely there amongst the names at the top will rest that of Tacitus. A Roman himself - unlike Gibbon and modern day commentators upon the period - Tacitus lived in the early second century of the new millenium. His history, influential throughout the centuries, takes the reader through the disasaster of the Judio-Claudian line of Emperors.
Such emperors have long been the stuff of Hollywood film and TV serial. This motley and murderous bunch include the stern and cold Tiberius, the manic Caligula, the frantic Claudius, and the stir crazed form of Nero (yes, he who married a horse). Throughout all, Tacitus notes the horror and upheaval, commentating his distaste for these successions and the corrupting power. He is under no illusions of the task at hand:
'What interests and stimulates readers is a geographical description, the changing fortune of a battle, the glorious death of a commander. My themes on the other hand concern cruel orders, unremitting accusations, treacherous friendships, innocent men ruined - a conspicously monotonous glut of downfalls and their monotonous causes.'
The historian is right on many things: the downfall and the seemingly cycle of their causes. A senator becomes a court favourite, wrecks havoc on his enemies, before ending up - with his family - upon the rubbish heap of history (most notably with Sejanus in Tiberius' reign). Yet it is an inescapable truth, and one in which Tacitus is the bearer of, no matter the pain nor sadness.
Though Tacitus is wrong about the lack of glory within these pages. There are plenty of battles, from Germania to Israel, and commanders to applaud to - none no more so than the great Germanicus. His work is stunning throughout, and it is with the greatest shame to the historians and readers of today in that there are chunks of his work missing; including the whole reign of Caligula. Yet what remains of the text endures and fascinates, and has done so for almost two thousand years. At the heart of this is Tacitus' honesty and determination to tell the past as it happened. The Worm thoroughly applauds this, and looks forward to further reads on this great historian.
