Tacitus - Tacitus

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Résumé :
Tacitus' account of Nero's principate is an extraordinary piece of historical writing. His graphic narrative (including Annals XV) is one of the highlights of the greatest surviving historian of the Roman Empire. It describes how the imperial system survived Nero's flamboyant and hedonistic tenure as emperor, and includes many famous passages, from the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64 to the city-wide party organised by Nero's praetorian prefect, Tigellinus, in Rome. This edition unlocks the difficulties and complexities of this challenging yet popular text for students and instructors alike. It elucidates the historical context of the work and the literary artistry of the author, as well as explaining grammatical difficulties of the Latin for students. It also includes a comprehensive introduction discussing historical, literary and stylistic issues....

Biographie:
Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c.?AD 56 - c.?120) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. Tacitus is considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians. He lived in what has been called the Silver Age of Latin literature, and is known for the brevity and compactness of his Latin prose, as well as for his penetrating insights into the psychology of power politics. As a young man, Tacitus studied rhetoric in Rome to prepare for a career in law and politics; like Pliny, he may have studied under Quintilian (c.?35 AD - c.? 100). In 77 or 78, he married Julia Agricola, daughter of the famous general Agricola. Little is known of their domestic life, save that Tacitus loved hunting and the outdoors. He started his career under Vespasian (69-79), but entered political life as a quaestor in 81 or 82 under Titus. He advanced steadily through the cursus honorum, becoming praetor in 88 and a quindecimvir, a member of the priestly college in charge of the Sibylline Books and the Secular games. He gained acclaim as a lawyer and as an orator. From his seat in the Senate, Titus became suffect consul in 97 during the reign of Nerva, being the first of his family to do so. During his tenure, he reached the height of his fame as an orator when he delivered the funeral oration for the famous veteran soldier Lucius Verginius Rufus. In the following year, he wrote and published the Agricola and Germania, foreshadowing the literary endeavors that would occupy him until his death. Afterwards, he absented himself from public life, but returned during Trajan's reign (98-117). In 100, he and his friend Pliny the Younger prosecuted Marius Priscus (proconsul of Africa) for corruption. Priscus was found guilty and sent into exile; Pliny wrote a few days later that Tacitus had spoken with all the majesty which characterizes his usual style of oratory.

Sommaire:
List of maps; Preface; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Tacitus; 2. The sources, historiography, and Nero; 3. Annals 15: structure and artistry; 4. Parthia and Armenia; 5. The perils of gloria: Corbulo and Seneca; 6. The Pisonian conspiracy; 7. Speeches, style, and language; 8. Manuscripts; Corneli Taciti Ab Excessv Divi Augusti Liber Qvintvsdecimvs; Commentary; Select bibliography; Indexes; 1. General index; 2. Latin words.