Tacitus still practiced advocacy at law—in 100 he, along with Pliny the Younger, successfully prosecuted Marius Priscus, a proconsul in Africa, for extortion—but he felt that oratory had lost much of its political spirit and its practitioners were deficient in skill. This decline of oratory seems to provide the setting for his
Dialogus de oratoribus. The work refers back to his youth, introducing his teachers Aper and Secundus. It has been dated as early as about 80, chiefly because it is more Ciceronian in style than his other writing. But its style arises from its form and subject matter and does not point to an early stage of stylistic development. The date lies between 98 and 102; the theme fits this period. Tacitus compares oratory with poetry as a way of literary life, marking the decline of oratory in public affairs: the Roman Republic had given scope for true eloquence; the empire limited its inspiration. The work reflects his mood at the time he turned from oratory to history.
There were historians of imperial Rome before Tacitus; notably Aufidius Bassus, who recorded events from the rise of Augustus to the reign of Claudius; and Pliny the Elder, who continued this work (a fine Aufidii Bassi) to the time of Vespasian. In taking up history Tacitus joined the line of succession of those who described and interpreted their own period, and he took up the story from the political situation that followed Nero’s death to the close of the Flavian dynasty.
The
Histories and the
Annals
The
Historiae began at January 1, 69, with Galba in power and proceeded to the death of Domitian, in 96. The work contained 12 or 14 books (it is known only that the
Histories and
Annals, both now incomplete, totaled 30 books). To judge from the younger Pliny’s references, several books were ready by 105, the writing well advanced by 107, and the work finished by 109. Only books i–iv and part of book v, for the years 69–70, are extant. They cover the fall of Galba and Piso before Otho (book i); Vespasian’s position in the East and Otho’s suicide, making way for Vitellius (book ii); the defeat of Vitellius by the Danubian legions on Vespasian’s side (book iii); and the opening of Vespasian’s reign (books iv–v).
This text represents a small part of what must have been a brilliant as well as systematic account of the critical Flavian period in Roman history, especially where Tacitus wrote with firsthand knowledge of provincial conditions in the West and of Domitian’s last years in Rome. The narrative as it now exists, with its magnificent introduction, is a powerfully sustained piece of writing that, for all the emphasis and colour of its prose, is perfectly appropriate for describing the closely knit set of events during the civil war of 69.
This was only the first stage of Tacitus’ historical work. As he approached the reign of Domitian, he faced a Roman policy that, except in provincial and frontier affairs, was less coherent and predictable. It called for sharper analysis, which he often met with bitterness, anger, and pointed irony. Domitian’s later despotism outraged the aristocratic tradition. It is not known, and it is the most serious gap, how Tacitus finally handled in detail Domitian’s reputation. Perhaps his picture of the emperor Tiberius in the Annals owed something to his exercise on Domitian.
It is necessary to keep the dating of Tacitus’ work in mind. He had won distinction under Nerva and enjoyed the effects of liberal policy; at the same time, he had lived through the crisis of imperial policy that occurred when Nerva and Trajan came to the succession. Under Trajan he retained his place in public affairs, and in 112–113 he crowned his administrative career with the proconsulate of Asia, the top provincial governorship. His personal career had revealed to him, at court and in administration, the play of power that lay behind the imperial facade of rule. He was especially familiar with the effect of dynastic control, which tended to corrupt the rulers, as it had in the period from Vespasian to Domitian, and to reduce the supporting nobles to servility, while only military revolt within Rome or from the frontier legions could change the situation—as it had done at the end of Nero’s reign.
From what can be reconstructed from his personal career along with the implications of his subsequent historical thought, it is possible to mark an intellectual turning point in his life after which he began to probe deeper into the nature of the Roman Empire. Although in the Agricola he had lightly promised to continue his writing from the Flavian years into the new regime, he now moved not forward but backward. He was no longer content to record the present but felt compelled to interpret the political burden of the past from the time when Tiberius consolidated Augustus’ policy of imperial government.
The Annals (
Cornelii Tacti ab excessu divi Augusti), following the traditional form of yearly narrative with literary elaboration on the significant events, covered the period of the Julio-Claudian dynasty from the death of Augustus and the accession of Tiberius, in 14, to the end of Nero’s reign, in 68. The work contained 18 or 16 books and was probably begun during Trajan’s reign and completed early in Hadrian’s reign. Only books i–iv, part of book v, most of book vi (treating the years 14–29 and 31–37 under Tiberius), and books xi–xvi, incomplete (on Claudius from 47 to 51 and Nero from 51 to 66), are extant.
In casting back to the early empire Tacitus did not wish necessarily to supersede his predecessors in the field, whose systematic recording he seemed to respect, judging from the use he made of their subject matter. His prime purpose was to reinterpret critically the Julio-Claudian dynasty, when imperial rule developed a central control that, even after the complex military coup d’état in 68–69, would continue under the Flavians. In effect,
the Annals represents a diagnosis in narrative form of the decline of Roman political freedom, written to explain the condition of the empire he had already described in the Histories. Tacitus viewed the first imperial century as an entity. There was (in his eyes) a comparison to be made, for example, between the personal conduct of Tiberius and that of Domitian, not that they were the same kind of men but that they were corrupted by similar conditions of dynastic power ...
In opening the
Annals, Tacitus accepts the necessity of strong, periodic power in Roman government, providing it allowed the rise of fresh talent to take over control. That was the aristocratic attitude toward political freedom, but to secure the continuity of personal authority by dynastic convention, regardless of the qualifications for rule, was to subvert the Roman tradition and corrupt public morality. If Augustus began as a warlord, he ended by establishing a dynasty, but the decisive point toward continuing a tyrannical dynasty was Tiberius’ accession.
One may, indeed, believe that Tiberius was prompted to assume imperial power because he was anxious about the military situation on the Roman frontier; but Tacitus had no doubts about the security of the Roman position, and he considered the hesitation that Tiberius displayed on taking power to be hypocritical; hence, the historical irony, in interpretation and style, of his first six books. Here, perhaps, Tacitus had some support for his interpretation. A strong, dour soldier and a suspicious man, Tiberius had little to say in his court circle about public affairs. On his death he was blamed for never saying what he thought nor meaning what he said, and Tacitus elaborated this impression. His criticism of dynastic power also stressed the effect of personality: if Tiberius was false, Claudius was weak, Nero was not only unstable but evil, and the imperial wives were dangerous. With regard to provincial administration, he knew that he could take its regular character for granted, in the earlier period as well as his own.
Sources
For the period from Augustus to Vespasian, Tacitus was able to draw upon earlier histories that contained material from the public records, official reports, and contemporary comment. It has been noted that the work of Aufidius Bassus and its continuation by Pliny the Elder covered these years; both historians also treated the German wars. Among other sources Tacitus consulted Servilius Nonianus (on Tiberius); Cluvius Rufus and Fabius Rusticus (on Nero); and Vipstanus Messalla (on the year 69). He also turned, as far as he felt necessary, to the Senate’s records, the official journal, and such first-hand information as a speech of Claudius, the personal memoirs of Agrippina the Younger, and the military memoirs of the general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. For Vespasian’s later years and the reigns of Titus and Domitian, he must have worked more closely from official records and reports.
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Tacitus-Roman-historian
I guest we can think ourselves it isn't as off the wall as Revelation but then not much is.