Tacitus

(born AD 56 — died c. 120) Roman orator, public official, and historian. After studying rhetoric, he began his career with a minor magistracy, eventually advancing to the proconsulate of Asia, the top provincial governorship (112 – 113). In 98 he wrote De vita Julii Agricolae, a biographical account of his father-in-law, governor of Britain; and De origine et situ Germanorum (known as the Germania), describing the people of the Roman frontier on the Rhine. His works on Roman history are the Histories, concerning the empire from AD 69 to 96, and the later Annals, dealing with the empire from AD 14 to 68; the latter effectively diagnoses the decline of Roman political freedom he had described in the Histories. Only parts of each are extant. Tacitus is regarded as perhaps the greatest historian and one of the greatest prose stylists to write in Latin.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Tacitus

(Marcus Claudius Tacitus) (tăs'ĭtəs), d. 276, Roman emperor (275–76). An elderly senator with a reputation for honesty and vigor, he was chosen by the senate to succeed the murdered Aurelian. He failed to restore the glory of the senate, and after reigning only a few months he died when on campaign in Asia. He was almost certainly murdered. Probus succeeded him.

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Copyrights:

		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more

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