The Annals: The Reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero

585 Pages·2008·2.29 MB·English

by  Cornelius Tacitus

oxford world’s classics
THE ANNALS
Gaius(or Publius: the evidence is ambiguous) CorneliusTacitus
is widely regarded as the greatest of all Roman historians. We know
relatively little about his life. He was born around ad 56, and is
known to have engaged in the standard political career of a young
Roman aristocrat, holding the offices of quaestor (in 81or82), prae-
tor (in 88), and consul (in 97), along with a variety of other admin-
istrative and military posts, including (by 88) membership of the
college of priests known as the quindecimviri sacris faciundis. He was
governor of Asia (a province of the empire consisting of part of
modern Turkey) 112–13. In a high-profile trial in 99–100he and
his friend Pliny the Younger successfully prosecuted Marius Priscus
for corruption while governor of Africa. Tacitus probably lived
beyond 117; but his precise date of death is unknown. He was
betrothed in 77to the daughter of Julius Agricola, later governor of
Britain, and married her shortly afterwards: her name, however, is
unknown.
Tacitus’ writings include the Agricola and the Germania, both
published in 98. The date of a third work, the Dialogue on Orators,
is disputed; some have thought it his first work, but it may well post-
date both the Agricolaand theGermania. All three of these survive
complete. His major works were the Histories (published around
109) and the Annals(published some time after 117); only about a
third of the former and just over half of the latter survive.
J. C. Yardley has translated Livy’s The Dawn of the Roman
Empire (Books 31–40) and Hannibal’s War (Books 21–30) for
Oxford World’s Classics, Justin for the American Philological
Association’s Classical Resources series, and Curtius Rufus for
Penguin Classics. He is also the author of Justin and Pompeius Trogus
(2003) and (with Waldemar Heckel) Alexander the Great(2004).
Anthony A. Barrett was formerly Professor and Distinguished
University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. He is cur-
rently studying Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Sidney Sussex
College, Cambridge. His most recent books are Livia: First Lady of
Imperial Rome (2002) and (as editor and contributor) Lives of the
Caesars(2007).
oxford world’s classics
For over 100years Oxford World’s Classics have brought
readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over 700
titles—from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the
twentieth century’s greatest novels—the series makes available
lesser-known as well as celebrated writing.
The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained
introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene,
and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading.
Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and
reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry,
religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive
commentary and essential background information to meet the
changing needs of readers.
OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS
TACITUS
The Annals
The Reigns of Tiberius, Claudius,
and Nero
Translated by
J. C. YARDLEY
With an Introduction and Notes by
ANTHONY A. BARRETT
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox26dp
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in
OxfordNew York
AucklandCape TownDar es SalaamHong KongKarachi
Kuala LumpurMadridMelbourneMexico CityNairobi
New DelhiShanghaiTaipeiToronto
With offices in
ArgentinaAustriaBrazilChileCzech RepublicFranceGreece
GuatemalaHungaryItalyJapanPolandPortugalSingapore
South KoreaSwitzerlandThailandTurkeyUkraineVietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
Translation ©J. C. Yardley 2008
Introduction, glossaries, select bibliography, explanatory notes ©Anthony A. Barrett 2008
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data available
Typeset by Cepha Imaging Private Ltd., Bangalore, India
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
Clays Ltd., St Ives plc.
ISBN978-0-19-282421-9
13579108642
CONTENTS
Abbreviations vii
Introduction ix
Note on the Text and Translation xxx
Select Bibliography xxxii
Chronology of Significant Events xxxiv
Map of the Roman Empire in the Julio-Claudian
Period xxxvi
THE ANNALS 1
book one 3
book two 50
book three 95
book four 136
book five (fragment) 179
book six 182
book eleven 215
book twelve 236
book thirteen 270
book fourteen 303
book fifteen 338
book sixteen 377
Appendix1: List of Variations from the Teubner Text 394
Appendix2: The Julio-Claudian Family Tree 395
Explanatory Notes 397
Glossary of Roman Terms 503
Glossary of Peoples and Places 510
Index 527
This page intentionally left blank
ABBREVIATIONS
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
Josephus,AJ Josephus,Jewish Antiquities
Livy,Per. Livy,Periochae
Ovid,Ex P. Ovid,Epistulae ex Ponto
Philo,Leg. Philo,Legatio ad Gaium
Pliny,NH Pliny the Elder,Natural History
Pliny,Ep. Pliny the Younger,Epistulae
Plutarch,Caes. Plutarch,Caesar
RG Res Gestae
Seneca,Contr. Seneca the Elder,Controversiae
Seneca,Apoc. Seneca the Younger,Apocolocyntosis
Ep. Epistulae
QN Quaestiones naturales
Suetonius,Aug. Suetonius,Augustus
Cal. Caligula
Claud. Claudius
Jul. The Deified Julius
Tib. Tiberius
Vesp. Vespasian
Vit. Vitellius
Tacitus,Agr. Tacitus,Agricola
Ann. Annals
Germ. Germania
Hist. Histories
Val. Max. Valerius Maximus
This page intentionally left blank
INTRODUCTION
Tacitus’ Life
The life of ancient Rome’s greatest historian, Publius Cornelius
Tacitus, is known in broad outline, but many of the important details
are either missing or contentious. Even his name is uncertain. The
only surviving manuscript of the opening books of the Annals, the
Medicean, dating to the ninth century ad and carrying considerable
authority, calls him Publius, and that name has become more or less
established by tradition. But Sidonius Apollonaris, a bishop and poet
of considerable standing in the fifth century, creates an element of
doubt, giving him the praenomenGaius. A letter about Tacitus writ-
ten by his good friend Pliny the Younger (Ep. 9.23) suggests very
strongly that the two men came from the same general area. Pliny
was a native of Como, in northern Italy. Tacitus may likewise have
originated from the Gallic area of northern Italy or perhaps from the
highly Romanized province of Gallia Narbonensis in what is now
southern France. His forebears would at some point have received
citizenship under the patronage of a now unknown Roman official
with the distinguished nomen of ‘Cornelius’ who would have con-
tinued to be honoured in the names of the descendants of the newly
enfranchised Italians (just as many ‘Gallic’ Italians bore Julius Caesar’s
nomenJulius). The final element of his name, the cognomen‘Tacitus’,
is not a common one, and it is very possible that the historian is the
son of the Cornelius Tacitus, equestrian procurator (financial officer)
of Gallia Belgica, mentioned by his friend’s uncle, Pliny the Elder, in
his encyclopaedic work, the Historia Naturalis (NH 7.76). If this
identification is correct, it would make Tacitus a member of the
equestrian class, in the rank below that of senator, and his entry into
the Roman Senate would have marked him as a novus homo, a ‘new
man’, who obtained access to that body despite having no senators in
his family line.
A number of rules prescribed the age at which ambitious Romans
could enter the various magistracies open to them. Since we know
the dates when Tacitus assumed some of his offices (see below), we
can be reasonably confident that he was born not long after ad55and