Publius (Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus was born in 56 A.D, either in Gallia cisalpina or in Gallia Narbonensis. His Annals deal with the period from the death of Augustus in A.D. 14 to the end of Nero's reign in A.D. 68. The Annals originally comprised at least 16 books, but some of them are lost. Tacitus grew up in a comfortable environment, and he studied rhetorics in Rome. Due to his excellent education, he started a career as a lawyer. He married the daughter of Agricola, a consul, which paved the way for his political career. Subsequently he became quaestor and praetor. Then he even became responsible for the Sibylline books within a college of priests. Finally he returned to Rome and became a consul in the reign of emperor Nerva. His literary works show his great talent and education in prose writing. He died in ca. A.D. 120.
The style of Tacitus is, perhaps, noted principally for its conciseness. Tacitean brevity is proverbial, and many of his sentences are so brief, and leave so much for the student to read between the lines, that in order to be understood and appreciated the author must be read over...
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