Tacitus (c.55–120 CE,) fully Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, was a Roman orator and public official. He was perhaps the most celebrated of Roman historians and one of the most excellent prose stylists who wrote in the Latin language.
Facts about Tacitus’s life are scarce. Probably born in Narbonese Gaul, he studied rhetoric in Rome, rose to distinction as a pleader at the Roman Bar. In a life that spanned the reigns of the Flavian emperors and Trajan and Hadrian, Tacitus played a part in the public life of Rome. In 77 CE, Tacitus married the daughter of Agricola, the conqueror of Britain. Tacitus’s biography of his father-in-law survives.
Among Tacitus’s works is the Germania, which describes the Germanic tribes. It is a source for much of what we know of Germanic and continental Celtic mythologies.
Tacitus’s notable works include the twelve-volume Historiae (‘Histories,’) covering 69–96 CE, and the later Annales (‘Annals,’) covering 14–68 CE. Even though the Annals and Histories exist only in incomplete form, they suggest a profound pessimism about the course of Roman history ever since the end of the Roman Republic.
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Even honor and virtue make enemies, condemning, as they do, their opposites by too close a contrast.
—Tacitus
Topics: Honor
It is of eloquence as of a flame; it requires matter to feed it, and motion to excite it; and it brightens as it burns.
—Tacitus
Topics: Eloquence
Forethought and prudence are the
proper qualities of a leader.
—Tacitus
Topics: Character
Things forbidden have a secret charm.
—Tacitus
Topics: Temptation, Charm
Necessity reforms the poor, and satiety the rich.
—Tacitus
Topics: Reform
The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus
Topics: Justice
No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.
—Tacitus
Topics: Leaders, Leadership
Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth; when perfect sincerity is expected, perfect freedom must be allowed; nor has any one who is apt to be angry when he hears the truth, any cause to wonder that he does not hear it.
—Tacitus
Topics: Truth, Opportunity
All enterprises that are entered into with indiscreet zeal may be pursued with great vigor at first, but are sure to collapse in the end.
—Tacitus
Topics: Prudence
It is human nature to hate him whom you have injured.
—Tacitus
Topics: Hatred
Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, leads to ruin.
—Tacitus
Topics: Moderation
When a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.
—Tacitus
Topics: Modesty, Humility
There will be vice as long as there are men.
—Tacitus
Topics: Vice
If we must fall, we should boldly meet the danger.
—Tacitus
Topics: Bravery, Danger, Courage
Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.
—Tacitus
Topics: Leadership, Leaders
Pliability and liberality, when not restrained within due bounds, must ever turn to the ruin of their possessor.
—Tacitus
Topics: Excess
Neglected calumny soon expires; show that you are hurt, and you give it the appearance of truth.
—Tacitus
Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.
—Tacitus
Topics: Deception/Lying
Prosperity is the measure or touchstone of virtue, for it is less difficult to bear misfortune than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.
—Tacitus
Topics: Prosperity, Misfortunes, Fortune
Greater things are believed of those who are absent.
—Tacitus
Topics: Absence
So, as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants.
—Tacitus
Topics: The Military
To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.
—Tacitus
Topics: Wilderness
Those in supreme power always suspect and hate their next heir.
—Tacitus
Topics: Inheritance
When men are full of envy, they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad.
—Tacitus
Topics: Envy
Even the bravest men are frightened by sudden terrors.
—Tacitus
Topics: Fear
A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.
—Tacitus
The hatred of those who are most nearly connected is the most inveterate.
—Tacitus
Topics: Quarrels, Hatred
He who is next heir to supreme power, is always suspected and hated by him who actually wields it.
—Tacitus
Topics: Jealousy
The hatred of relatives is the most violent.
—Tacitus
Topics: Family
Not because of any extraordinary talents did he succeed, but because he had a capacity on a level for business and not above it.
—Tacitus
Topics: Business, Ability
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