I. From the chronological1 point of view.—II. The silence preserved about that work by all writers till the fifteenth century.—III. The age of the MSS. containing the Annals.
I. The Annals and the History of Tacitus are like two houses in ruins: dismantled2 of their original proportions they perpetuate3 the splendour of Roman historiography, as the crumbling4 remnants of the Coliseum preserve from oblivion the magnificence of Roman architecture. Some of the subtlest intellects, keen in criticism and expert in scholarship, have, for centuries, endeavoured with considerable pains, though not with success in every instance, to free the imperfect pieces from difficulties, as the priesthood of the Quindecimvirs, generation after generation, assiduously, yet vainly, strove to clear from perplexities the mutilated books of the Sibyls. I purpose to bring,—parodying a passage of the good Sieur Chanvallon,—not freestone and marble for their restoration, but a critical hammer to knock down the loose bricks that, for more than four centuries, have shown large holes in several places.
Tacitus is raised by his genius to a height, which lifts him above the reach of the critic. He shines in the firmament7 of letters like a sun before whose lustre8 all, Parsee-like, bow down in worship. Preceding generations have read him with reverence9 and admiration10: as one of the greatest masters of history, he must continue to be so read. But though neither praise nor censure11 can exalt12 or impair13 his fame, truth and justice call for a passionless inquiry14 into the nature and character of works presenting such difference in structure, and such contradictions in a variety of matters as the History and the Annals.
The belief is general that Tacitus wrote Roman history in the retrograde order, in which Hume wrote the History of England. Why Hume pursued that method is obvious: eager to gain fame in letters,—seeing his opportunity by supplying a good History of England,—knowing how interest attaches to times near us while all but absence of sympathy accompanies those that are remote,—and meaning to exclude from his plan the incompleted dynasty under which he lived,—he commenced with the House of Stuart, continued with that of Tudor, and finished with the remaining portion from the Roman Invasion to the Accession of Henry VII. But why Tacitus should have decided15 in favour of the inverse16 of chronological order is by no means clear. He could not have been actuated by any of the motives17 which influenced Hume. Rome, with respect to her history, was not in the position that England was, with respect to hers, in the middle of the last century. All the remarkable18 occurrences during the 820 years from her Foundation to the office of Emperor ceasing as the inheritance of the Julian Family on the death of Nero, had been recorded by many writers that rendered needless the further labours of the historian. Tacitus states this at the commencement of his history, and as a reason why he began that work with the accession of Galba: "Initium mihi operis Servius Galba iterum, Titus Vinius consules erunt; nam post conditam urbem, octingentos et viginti prioris aevi annos multi auctores retulerunt." (Hist. I. 1.) After this admission, it is absolutely unaccountable that he should revert20 to the year since the building of the City 769, and continue writing to the year 819, going over ground that, according to his own account, had been gone over before most admirably, every one of the numerous historians having written in his view, "with an equal amount of forcible expression and independent opinion"—"pari eloquentia ac libertate." Thus, by his own showing, he performed a work which he knew to be superfluous21 in recounting events that occurred in the time of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.
What authority have we that he did this? Certainly, not the authority of those who knew best—the ancients. They do not mention, in their meagre accounts of him, the names of his writings, the number of which we, perhaps, glean22 from casual remarks dropped by Pliny the Younger in his Epistles. He says (vii. 20), "I have read your book, and with the utmost care have made remarks upon such passages, as I think ought to be altered or expunged23." "Librum tuum legi, et quam diligentissime potui, adnotavi, quae commutanda, quae eximenda arbitrarer." In a second letter (viii. 7) he alludes24 to another (or it might be the same) "book," which his friend had sent him "not as a master to a master, nor as a disciple25 to a disciple, but as a master to a disciple:" "neque ut magistro magister, neque ut discipulo discipulus … sed ut discipulo magister … librum misisti." That Tacitus was not the author of one work only is clear from Pliny in another of his letters (vi. 16) speaking in the plural26 of what his friend had written: "the immortality27 of your writings:"— "scriptorum tuorum aeternitas;" also of "my uncle both by his own, and your works:"—"avunculus meus et suis libris et tuis." In the letter already referred to (vii. 20), Tacitus is further spoken of as having written, at least, two historical works, the immortality of which Pliny predicted without fear of proving a false prophet: "auguror, nec me fallit augurium, historias tuas immortales futuras." From these passages it would seem that the works of Tacitus were, at the most, three.
If his works were only three in number, everything points in preference to the Books of History, of which we possess but five; the Treatise28 on the different manners of the various tribes that peopled Germany in his day; and the Life of his father-in-law, Agricola. Nobody but Fabius Planciades Fulgentius, Bishop29 of Carthage, supposes that he wrote a book of Facetiae or pleasant tales and anecdotes30, as may be seen by reference to the episcopal writer's Treatise on Archaic31 or Obsolete32 Words, where explaining "Elogium" to mean "hereditary33 disease," he continues, "as Cornelius Tacitus says in his book of Facetiae; 'therefore pained in the cutting off of children who had hereditary disease left to them'": "Elogium est haereditas in malo; sicut Cornelius Tacitus ait in libro Facetiarum: 'caesis itaque motum elogio in filiis derelicto.'" (De Vocibus Antiquis. p. 151. Basle ed. 1549). Justus Lipsius doubts whether the Discourse34 on the Causes of the Corruption35 of Latin Eloquence36 proceeded from Tacitus, or the other Roman to whom many impute37 it, Quintilian, for he says in his Preface to that Dialogue: "What will it matter whether we attribute it to Tacitus, or, as I once thought, to Marcus Fabius Quinctilianus? … Though the age of Quinctilianus seems to have been a little too old for this Discourse to be by that young man. Therefore, I have my doubts." "Incommodi quid erit, sive Tacito tribuamus; sive M. Fabio Quinctiliano, ut mihi olim visim? … Aetas tamen Quinctiliani paullo grandior fuisse videtur, quam ut hic sermo illo juvene. Itaque ambigo." (p. 470. Antwerp ed. 1607.) Enough will be said in the course of this discussion to carry conviction to the minds of those who can be convinced by facts and arguments that Tacitus did not write the Annals.
Chronology, in the first place, prevents our regarding him as the author. Though we know as little of his life as of his writings— and though no ancient mentions the date or place of his birth, or the time of his death,—we can form a conjecture38 when he flourished by comparing his age with that of his friend, Pliny the Younger. Pliny died in the year 13 of the second century at the age of 52, so that Pliny was born A.D. 61. Tacitus was by several years his senior. Otherwise Pliny would not have spoken of himself as a disciple looking up to him with reverence as to "a master"; "the duty of submitting to his influence," and "a desire to obey his advice":—"tu magister, ego39 contra"—(Ep. viii. 7): "cedere auctoritati tuae debeam" (Ep. i. 20): "cupio praeceptis tuis parere" (Ep. ix. 10); nor would he describe himself as "a mere40 stripling when his friend was at the height of fame and in a proud position": "equidem adolescentulus, quum jam tu fama gloriaque floreres" (Ep. vii. 20); nor of their being, "all but contemporaries in age": "duos homines, aetate propemodum aequales" (Ep. vii. 20). From these remarks chiefly and a few other circumstances, the modern biographers of Tacitus suppose there was a difference of ten or eleven years between that ancient historian and Pliny, and fix the date of his birth about A.D. 52.
This is reconcilable with the belief of Tacitus being the author of the Annals; for when the boundaries of Rome are spoken of in that work as being extended to the Red Sea in terms as if it were a recent extension—"claustra … Romani imperii, quod nunc Rubrum ad mare41 patescit" (ii. 61),—he would be 63, the extension having been effected as we learn from Xiphilinus, by Trajan A.D. 115. It is also reconcilable with Agricola when Consul19 offering to him his daughter in marriage, he being then "a young man": "Consul egregiae tum spei filiam juveni mihi despondit" (Agr. 9); for, according as Agricola was Consul A.D. 76 or 77, he would be 24 or 25. But it is by no means reconcilable with the time when he administered the several offices in the State. He tells us himself that he "began holding office under Vespasian, was promoted by Titus, and still further advanced by Domitian": "dignitatem nostram a Vespasiano inchoatam, a Tito auctam, a Domitiano longius provectam" (Hist. i. 1). To have "held office" under Vespasian he must have been quaestor; to have been "promoted" by Titus he must have been aedile; and as for his further advancement42 we know that he was praetor under Domitian. By the Lex Villia Annalis, passed by the Tribune Lucius Villius during the time of the Republic in 573 after the Building of the City, the years were fixed43 wherein the different offices were to be entered on—in the language of Livy; "eo anno rogatio primum lata est ab Lucio Villio tribuno plebis, quot annos nati quemque magistratum peterent caperentque" (xl. 44); and the custom was never departed from, in conformity44 with Ovid's statement in his Fasti with respect to the mature years of those who legislated45 for his countrymen, and the special enactment46 which strictly47 prescribed the age when Romans could be candidates for public offices:
"Jura dabat populo senior, finitaque certis
Legibus est aetas, unde petatur honos."
Fast. v. 65-6.
After the promulgation48 of his famous plebiscitum by the old Tribune of the People in the year 179 A.C., a Roman could not fill the office of quaestor till he was 31, nor aedile till he was 37,—as, guided by the antiquaries, Sigonius and Pighius, Doujat, the Delphin editor of Livy, states: "quaestores ante annum aetatis trigesimum primum non crearentur, nec aediles curules ante septimum ac trigesimum";—and the ages for the two offices were usually 32 and 38.
From Vespasian's rule extending to ten years we cannot arrive at the date when Tacitus was quaestor; but we can guess when he was aedile, as Titus was emperor only from the spring of 79 to the autumn of 81.
Had his appointment to the aedileship taken place on the last day of the reign49 of Titus, he would then be but 29 years old; and though in the time of the Emperors, after the year 9 of our aera, there might be a remission of one or more years by the Lex Julia or the Lex Pappia Poppaea, those laws enacted50 rewards and privileges to encourage marriage and the begetting51 of children; the remission could, therefore, be in favour only of married men, especially those who had children; so that any such indulgence in the competition for the place of honours could not have been granted to Tacitus, he not being, as will be immediately seen, yet married. In order, then, that he should have been aedile under Titus,—even admitting that he could boast, like Cicero, of having obtained all his honours in the prescribed years—"omnes honores anno suo"—and been aedile the moment he was qualified54 by age for the office,—he must have been born, at least, as far back as the year 44.
This will be reconcilable with all that Pliny says, as well as with his being married when "young"; for he would then be 32 or 33, and his bride 22 or 23; for the daughter of Agricola was born when her father was quaestor in Asia—"sors quaesturae provinciam Asiam dedit … auctus est ibi filia." (Agr. 9). Nor let it be supposed that a Roman would not have used the epithet55 "young" to a man of 32 or 33, seeing that the Romans applied56 the term to men in their best years, from 20 to 40, or a little under or over. Hence Livy terms Alexander the Great at the time of his death, when he was 31, "a young man," "egregium ducem fuisse Alexandrum … adolescens … decessit" (ix. 17): so Cicero styles Lucius Crassus at the age of 34;—"talem vero exsistere eloquentiam qualis fuerit in Crasso et Antonio … alter non multum (quod quidem exstaret), et id ipsum adolescens, alter nihil admodum scripti reliquisset". (De Orat. ii. 2): so also does Cornelius Nepos speak of Marcus Brutus, when the latter was praetor, Brutus being then 43 years of age:—"sic Marco Bruto usus est, ut nullo ille adolescens aequali familiarius" (Att. 8); to this passage of Nepos's, Nicholas Courtin, his Delphin editor, adds that the ancients called men "young" from the age of 17 to the age of 46; notwithstanding that Varro limited youth to 30 years:—"a 17 ad 46 annum, adolescentia antiquitus pertingebat, ut ab antiquis observatum est. Nihilominus Varro ad 30 tantum pertingere ait." But Tacitus being born in 44 is not reconcilable with his being the Author of the Annals, as thus:—
Some time in the nineteen years that Trajan was Emperor,—from 98 to ll7,—Tacitus, being then between the ages of 54 and 73, composed his History. He paused when he had carried it on to the reign of Domitian; the narrative57 had then extended to twenty-three years, and was comprised in "thirty books," if we are to believe St. Jerome in his Commentary on the Fourteenth Chapter of Zechariah:
"Cornelius Tacitus … post Augustum usque ad mortem Domitiani vitas Caesarum triginta voluminibus exaravit." [Endnote 013] It was scarcely possible for Tacitus to have executed his History in a shorter compass;—indeed, it is surprising that the compass was so short, looking at the probability of his having observed the symmetry attended to by the ancients in their writings, and having continued his work on the plan he pursued at the commencement, the important fragment which we have of four books, and a part of the fifth, embracing but little more than one year. Whether he ever carried into execution the design he had reserved for his old age,—writing of Nerva and Trajan,—we have no record. But two things seem tolerably certain; that he would have gone on with that continuation to his History in preference to writing the Annals; and that he would not have written that continuation until after the death of the Emperor Trajan. He would then have been 73. Now, how long would he have been on that separate history? Then at what age could he have commenced the Annals? And how long would he have been engaged in its composition? We see that he must have been bordering on 80, if not 90: consequently with impaired58 faculties59, and thus altogether disqualified for producing such a vigorous historical masterpiece; for though we have instances of poets writing successfully at a very advanced age, as Pindar composing one of his grandest lyrics60 at 84, and Sophocles his Oedipus Coloneus at 90, we have no instance of any great historian, except Livy, attempting to write at a very old age, and then Livy rambled61 into inordinate62 diffuseness63.
II. The silence maintained with respect to the Annals by all writers till the first half of the fifteenth century is much more striking than chronology in raising the very strongest suspicion that Tacitus did not write that book. This is the more remarkable as after the first publication of the last portion of that work by Vindelinus of Spire64 at Venice in 1469 or 1470, all sorts and degrees of writers began referring to or quoting the Annals, and have continued doing so to the present day with a frequency which has given to its supposed writer as great a celebrity65 as any name in antiquity66. Kings, princes, ministers and politicians have studied it with diligence and curiosity, while scholars, professors, authors and historians in Italy, Spain, France, England, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden have applied their minds to it with an enthusiasm, which has been like a kind of worship. Yet, after the most minute investigation67, it cannot be discovered that a single reference was made to the Annals by any person from the time when Tacitus lived until shortly before the day when Vindelinus of Spire first ushered68 the last six books to the admiring world from the mediaeval Athens. When it appeared it was at once pronounced to be the brightest gem69 among histories; its author was greeted as a most wonderful man,—the "unique historian", for so went the phrase—"inter historicos unicus."
Now, are we to be asked quietly to believe that there never lived from the first quarter of the second century till after the second quarter of the fifteenth, a single individual possessed70 of sufficient capacity to discern such eminent71 and obvious excellence72 as is contained in the Annals? Are we to believe that that could have been so? in a slowly revolving73 cycle of 1,000 years and more? ay, upwards74 of 1,300! If that really was the case, it is enough to strike us dumb with stupor75 in contemplating76 such a miraculous77 instance of perpetuated78 inanity,—among the lettered, too!—the learned! the studious! the critical! If that was not the case, what a long neglect! Anyhow, the silence is inexplicable79. It indicates one of two things,—duncelike stupidity or studious contempt. Both these surmises80 must be dismissed,—the first as too absurd, the second as too improbable. There can arise a third conjecture—Taste for intellectual achievements, and appreciation81 of literary merit, had vanished for awhile from the earth, to return after an absence of forty generations of mankind. Again, this supposed probability is too preposterously82 extravagant83 to be for an instant credited because it cannot for a moment be comprehended. In short, how marvellous it is! how utterly84 unaccountable! how inexpressibly mysterious!
Pliny does not say a word about the Annals. The earliest Latin father, Tertullian, quotes only the History (Apol. c. 16). St. Jerome, in his Commentary on Zechariah (iii. 14), cites the passage in the fifth book of the History about the origin of the Jews; he also notices what Tacitus says of another important event, the Fall of Jerusalem, which, having occurred in the reign of Vespasian, must have been narrated85 in the History. The "single book" treating of the Caesars, which Vopiscus says Tacitus wrote, must have been the "History," ten copies of which the Emperor Tacitus ordered to be placed every year in the public libraries among the national archives. (Tac. Imp5. x.) Orosius, the Spanish ecclesiastic86, who flourished at the commencement of the fifth century, has several references to Tacitus in his famous work, Hormesta. This great proficient87 in knowledge of the Scriptures88 and disciple of St. Augustin quotes the fifth book of the History thrice (Lib. V., cc. 5 and 10), and thrice alludes to facts recorded by Tacitus,—the Temple of Janus being open from the time of Augustus to Vespasian (vii. 3);—the number of the Jews who perished at the siege of Jerusalem (vii. 9); and the possibly large number of Romans who were killed in the wars with the Daci during the reign of Domitian (vii. 10):—all which passages must have been in the lost portions of the History.
In his Epistles and Poems, that man of wit and fancy, with an intellect and learning above the fifth century in which he lived, —Sidonius Apollinaris,—has one quotation89 from Tacitus and three references to him. The quotation, which occurs in the fourteenth chapter of the fourth book of his Epistles, is from the last section of the History, (that part of the speech of Civilis where the seditious Batavian touches on the friendship which existed between himself and Vespasian); and his three references are, first, to the "ancient mode of narrative," combined with the greatest "literary excellence" (iv. 22); secondly90, to "genius for eloquence" (Carm. xxiii. 153-4); and thirdly, to "pomp of manner" (Carm. ii. 192); the not inelegant Christian91 writer enumerating92 qualities that specially52 commend themselves in the History. When Spartian praises Tacitus for "good faith," the eulogy93 is more appropriate to the writer of the History than the Annals, howbeit that so many moderns, including the famous philologist94 and polygrapher, Justus Lipsius; the Pomeranian scholar of the last century, Meierotto; Boetticher and Prutz all question the veracity95 of Tacitus; while for what he says of the Jews Tertullian vituperates him in language so outrageous96 as to be altogether unbecoming the capacious mind of the Patristic worthy97, who calls him, "the most loquacious98 of liars,"—"mendaciorum loquacissimus;" —in which strain of calumny99 he was, from the same cause of religious fervour, followed centuries after,—in the seventeenth,—by two of the most renowned100 preachers and orators101 of their day, the famous Jesuit, Famianus Strada, and his less known contemporary, but most able Chamberlain of Urban VIII., Augustino Mascardi,—as if all these pious103 Christians104 found it quite impossible to pardon a heathen, blinded by the prejudices of paganism, for believing what he did of the Hebrews; and for recording105 which belief he ought to receive immediate53 forgiveness, seeing that Justin, Plutarch, Strabo and Democritus said as bad, if not worse things of that ancient people and their sacred books. [Endnote 019]
Cassiodorus, the Senator, is the only writer of the sixth century, who makes any allusion106 to Tacitus, and that but once, in the fifth book of his Epistles, to what the Roman says in his Germany of the origin of amber102, about which naturalists107 are still divided, that it is a distillation108 from certain trees. Freculphus (otherwise written Radulphus), Bishop of Lisieux, who died in the middle of the ninth century (856), in the second volume of his Chronicles, —the sixth chapter of the second book,—quotes Tacitus as the author of the History, the passage being in reference to the Romans who fell in the Dacian war. We have no proof that the Annals was in existence in the twelfth century from what John of Salisbury says in his Polycraticon (viii. 18), that Tacitus is among the number of those historians, "qui tyrannorum atrocitates et exitus miseros plenius scribunt;" for in his completed History Tacitus must have expatiated109 pretty freely on the "atrocious tyranny" of Domitian, and the "unfortunate termination of the lives of tyrants110."
From the time of John of Salisbury till shortly before the publication of the Annals, no further reference is made to Tacitus by any writer or historian, monkish111 or otherwise, not even of erudite Germany, beginning with Abbot Hermannus, who wrote in the twelfth century the history of his own monastery112 of St. Martin's at Dornick, and ending with Caspar Bruschius, who, in the sixteenth century, wrote an Epitome113 of the Archbishoprics and Bishoprics of Germany, and the Centuria Prima (as Daniel Nessel in the next century wrote the Centuria Secunda) of the German monasteries114. And yet in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, all kinds of writers quote the Annals about as freely and frequently as they quote the History, and that not once or twice, but five or six, and even seven and eight times, in the same work. It would be impossible to mention them all, the writers being "as numerous as the leaves in Vallambrosa's vale";—a figure that can hardly be considered hyperbolic when the enormous number of these writers can be partially115 guessed from the following catalogue of those who delighted in antiquarian researches, whose productions cited are archaeological, and who made all their references to the Annals for the purpose of merely illustrating116 archaic matters; nevertheless, the number of such writers alone amounts to as many as a score; moreover, the whole twenty are to be found in one compilation117 comprised in but five volumes,—Polenus's New Supplement to the collections of Graevius and Gronovius, entitled "Utriusque Thesauri Antiquitatum Romanarum Graecarumque Nova Supplementa";—the Friesland scholar, Titus Popma in his "De Operis Servorum"; the Italian antiquary, Lorenzo Pignorio, Canon of Trevigo, in his treatise "De Servis"; the renowned critic, Salmasius, in his explanation of two ancient inscriptions118 found on a Temple in the island of Crete ("Notae ad Consecrationem Templi in Agro Herodis Attici Triopio"); Peter Burmann in his "De Vectigalibus"; Albertinus Barrisonus in his "De Archivis"; Merula, the jurist, historian and polygrapher, in his "De Legibus Romanorum"; Carolus Patinus in his Commentary "In Antiquum Monumentum Marcellinae"; Polletus in his "Historia Fori Romani"; Aegyptius in his "De Bacchanalibus Explicatio"; Gisbert Cuper in his "Monumenta Antiqua Inedita"; Octavius Ferrarius in his "Dissertatio de Gladiatoribus"; William à Loon119 in his "Eleutheria"; Schaeffer in his "De Re Vehiculari"; Johannes Jacobus Claudius in his "Diatribê de Nutricibus et Paedagogis"; Antonius Bombardinus in his "De Carcere Tractatus"; Gutherlethus in his work on the "Salii," or Priests of Mars; the learned Spaniard, Miniana, in his "De Theatro Saguntino Dialogus"; Gorius in his "Columbarium Libertorum et Servorum"; Spon in his "Miscellanea Erudita Antiquitatis" and Jaques Leroy in his "Achates Tiberianus." In fact, the Annals of Tacitus is noticed, or quoted, or referred to, or commented upon at length (as at the commencement of the sixteenth century by Scipione Ammirato), in an endless list of works, with or without the names of the authors, which by itself is all but conclusive120 that the Annals was not in existence till the fifteenth century, and not generally known till the sixteenth and seventeenth.
But to return for a moment to what was done by two writers, who lived before the fifteenth century,—Sulpicius Severus, who died A.D. 420; and Jornandez, who, in the time of Justinian, was Secretary to the Gothic kings in Italy. Now, it must not be withheld,—for it would be too uncandid,—that identical passages are found in the Annals ascribed to Tacitus and the Sacred History of Sulpicius Severus.
In order that the reader may see the identity of the passages, we place them in juxtaposition121, italicising the words that are found in both works:—
Sulpicius (ii. 28). "Inditum imperatori flammeum, dos et genialis torus et faces nuptiales; cuncta denique, quae vel in feminis non sine verecundia conspiciuntur, spectata."
Annals (xv. 37). "Inditum imperatori flammeum, visi auspices122, dos et genialis torus et faces nuptiales; cuncta denique spectata, quae etiam in femina nox operit."
Sulpicius (ii. 29). "Sed opinio omnium invidiam incendii in principem retorquebat, credebaturque imperator gloriam innovandae urbis quaesisse."
Annals (xv. 10). "Videbaturque Nero condendae urbis novae et cognomento suo adpellandae gloriam quaerere."
Sulpicius (v. 2). "Quin et novae mortes excogitatae, ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent. Multi crucibus affixi, aut flamma usti. Plerique in id reservati, ut, CUM defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur."
Annals (xv. 44). "Et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti, laniatu canum interirent, aut crucibus affixi, aut flammandi, atque, UBI defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur."
These passages, of course, have, till this moment, been regarded as taken by Sulpicius Severus from the Annals, on the unquestioned assumption that that work was the composition of Tacitus. The passages, however, were taken from the Historia Sacra: they bear traces of having been so appropriated, from Sulpicius Severus composing with a harmony almost equal to Tacitus, and a grammatical correctness on a par6 with the Roman, while the author of the Annals mars that harmony, here by the change of a word, and there by the reconstruction123 of a sentence; and the grammatical correctness by substituting for "cum," which strictly signifies "when," "ubi," which strictly signifies "where": hence, from resembling Tacitus less than Sulpicius Severus, he seems, of two writers convicted of plagiarism124, to be the one who purloined125 the passages from the other; and if he introduced but trifling126 alterations127, it was because the accomplished128 presbyter of the fifth century was the master of a neat Latin style, which will bear comparison with that of the best classical writers. Indeed, Sulpicius Severus is likened for style and eloquence to Sallust; he is known as the "Christian Sallust"; and Leclerc in the twentieth volume of his Bibliothèque Choisie, is loud in praise of his Latin, which is, certainly, purer than could have been imagined for his time. He was, nevertheless the very last authority that the author of the Annals ought to have followed for authentic129 particulars with respect to Nero; for as that emperor was the first persecutor130 of the Christians, there was nothing too bad that the church-building ecclesiastical writer did not think it right to state of him, as (in his own language) "the worst, not only of princes, but of all mankind, and even brute131 beasts"; he went, in fact, to the extreme length of believing, being a ridiculously credulous132 Chiliast, that Nero would live again as Anti-Christ in the millennian kingdom before the end of the world.
It is generally supposed that Jornandez,—whose works are so valuable for their history of the fifth and sixth centuries of our aera,—when speaking, in the second chapter of his History of the Goths, of one "Cornelius as the author of Annals," is speaking of Tacitus,—"Cornelius etiam Annalium scriptor." Camden in his Britannia questions whether Tacitus is meant by "Cornelius"; and, certainly the passage quoted, which is about Meneg in Cornwall, is nowhere to be found in any of the works written by the ancient Roman. But if Tacitus be meant, the passage is an interpolation, because the historical books ascribed to Tacitus bear in all the MSS. either the title "Augustae Historiae Libri," or "Ab Excessu divi Augusti Historiarum Libri," and so in all the first published editions—that of Vindelinus of Spire about 1470, of Puteolanus and Lanterius about 1475, of Beroaldus in 1515, and the early editions of Venice 1484, 1497 and 1512; of Rome in 1485; Milan 1517; Basle 1519, and Florence (the Juntine Edition) 1527—it not being till 1533, that Beatus Rhenanus first gave those books the name "Annals" (it being Justus Lipsius who, close at the commencement of the last quarter of that century,—in 1574,—first divided the books into two parts, to one of which he gave the name "Annals," and to the other, "Histories"). Then how could Jornandez, who lived in the sixth century, have known any writings of Tacitus by the name of "Annals," when that title was not given to them until the sixteenth century?
We may now, after close research, advance this with extreme caution, and certainty:—no support can be derived133 from citations134 or statements made by any writer till the fifteenth century that Tacitus wrote a number of books of the Annals. Should any one extensively read known authors, living between the second and the fifteenth century, besides those mentioned, who quote Tacitus, it will be found that their quotations135 are from the History, the Germany, or the Agricola; and this can be predicted with just as much confidence, as an astronomer136 predicts eclipses of the sun and the moon, and, for their verification, needs not wait to see the actual obscuration of those heavenly bodies.
III. In turning to the different MSS., we find that the age of all of them confirms in an equally corroborative137 manner the theory that Tacitus did not write the Annals. Here let it be noted138 that the age of a MS. can easily be discovered; and that, too, in a variety of ways:—by the formation of the characters, such as the roundness of the letters; or their largeness or smallness;—the writing of the final l's; the use of the Gothic s's and the Gothic j's; the dotting, or no dotting of the i's; the absence or presence of diphthongs; the length of the lines; the punctuation139; the accentuation; the form or size; the parchment or the paper; the ink;—or some other mode of detection. Those MSS. need only be examined which contain either the whole or the concluding books of the Annals.
Of the seven MSS. in the Vatican, that numbered 1,864, (referred to by John Frederic Gronovius, and other editors of Tacitus as the "Farnesian," from its having been transferred from the Farnese Palace to the Vatican,) is supposed to be the oldest, for it is believed to be of the fourteenth century; but the vellum on which it is written is of the sixteenth; so is the vellum of No. 1,422. No. 1,863 was thought by Justus Lipsius to be almost as old as No. 1,864, to have been of the close of the fourteenth century; but it is written on vellum of the middle of the fifteenth century. Nothing can be ascertained140, either from its form or the substance on which it is written, of No. 2,965, but the Bipontine editors declared its date to be 1449. No. 1,958, which Puteolanus used in 1475, for his edition (containing the concluding books of the Annals) was copied at Genoa in the year 1448. The two others, numbered 412 and 1,478, are both written on vellum of the fifteenth century.
The oldest Paris MS. is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and is written on paper of the close of the fifteenth century. Nobody knows what has become of the MS., which is supposed to have been anterior141 to the editions at the end of the fifteenth century, and was in the library of the Congrégation de l'Oratoire, to whom it was presented by Henri Harlai de Sancy, who brought it from Italy and died in the Oratory142 in 1667.
The MS. of Wolfenbuttel (Guelferbytana), used by Ernesti in his edition, was bought at Ferrara on the 28th of September, 1461; beyond that nothing is known of it. The MS. in the library of Jesus College, Oxford143, is of the year 1458; the Bodleian, numbered 2,764, is of the century after, though the great Benedictine antiquary, Montfaucon, in that monument of labour and erudition, Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum MSS. Nova, is of opinion that it is as old as 1463; and that in the Harleian collection of MSS. in the British Museum, also numbered 2,764, stated to date back to 1412, can scarcely be older than 1440 or 1450, from the diphthongal writing, first introduced by Guarino of Verona, who died in 1460. The MS. of Grenoble, written on very fine vellum, and containing the whole of the Annals, is of the sixteenth century. The three Medicean, the Neapolitan and the other Italian MSS. are all of very modern writing. As to the MSS. of Wurzburg and Mirandola, the former is not to be found, and the latter was not in existence even in the time of Justus Lipsius.
The four most important MSS. are those known as the First and Second Florence, the Buda and that from which Vindelinus of Spire published the last six books. The two oldest are the "Second Florence" and the "Buda." It would seem that the "Second Florence", from the note at the end, dates back to the year 395, though the Benedictines in their Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique (vol. iii. pp. 278-9) thought they recognized in it a Lombard writing of the tenth or eleventh century; Ernesti modified that to the ninth; others again changed it to the seventh and even the sixth; but it will be shown to satisfaction in the course of this treatise that it belongs to the fifteenth century. So the Buda MS., believed by Justus Lipsius to be as ancient as the Second Florence (which he thought with the Benedictines was of the tenth or eleventh century) was considered by James Gronovius to be very modern; and very modern it is, being traceable to a little after the same period as the Second Florence, namely, the fifteenth century. The First Florence, which was stated to have been found in the Abbey of Corvey, and which furnished the opening six books of the Annals as first given to the world by Beroaldus, is of an age that has hitherto never been determined144; but that age will be shown, towards the close of this work, to be the first quarter of the sixteenth century. The MS. from which Vindelinus of Spire published his edition, was in the Library of St Mark's, Venice, but,—according, to Croll and Exter,—it is no longer to be found.
The case, then, stands thus with respect to the MSS.;—no MS. of the works of Tacitus, whose existence can be traced back further than the sixteenth century, contains the whole of the Annals; and no MS. of the works of Tacitus, whose existence can be traced back further than the first half of the preceding century, has the closing books of the Annals.
Here let me briefly145 recapitulate;—it being very important for the reader to bear in mind that three things have now been shown:— first, that, from the chronological point of view, Tacitus could barely have written the Annals; secondly, that, from the silence preserved about that book by all writers for upwards of 1300 years from the death of Tacitus, there is cause for supposing it was not in existence from his time, that is, the second century to the fifteenth and sixteenth (the commencement of the fifteenth century being the time of the forgery146 of the last six books, and the commencement of the sixteenth the time of the publication of the forged first six books);—and thirdly, that there is nothing to contradict this theory of mine in the age of any of the known MSS. containing a part, or the whole of the Annals; but, on the contrary, to verify it, from the age of the oldest being limited to the fifteenth century; and that if there be, or ever have been others older, it is singular, and puzzling to account for, that one of two things should have occurred; either that they are lost, or else that their age cannot be determined,—both which latter things are actually the case with respect to the two MSS. from which the Annals was originally printed,—that which supplied the concluding books being lost, and that which contains the whole of it being of an age that nobody up till now has been able to determine.
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1
chronological
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| adj.按年月顺序排列的，年代学的 | |
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dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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3
perpetuate
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| v.使永存，使永记不忘 | |
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4
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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5
imp
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| n.顽童 | |
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6
par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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10
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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11
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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12
exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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13
impair
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| v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少 | |
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14
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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15
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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16
inverse
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| adj.相反的，倒转的，反转的；n.相反之物；v.倒转 | |
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17
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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18
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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19
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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20
revert
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| v.恢复，复归，回到 | |
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21
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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22
glean
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| v.收集(消息、资料、情报等) | |
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23
expunged
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| v.擦掉( expunge的过去式和过去分词 )；除去；删去；消除 | |
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24
alludes
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| 提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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26
plural
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| n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的 | |
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27
immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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28
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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29
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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30
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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31
archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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32
obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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33
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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35
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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36
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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37
impute
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| v.归咎于 | |
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38
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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39
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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40
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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41
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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42
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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43
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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44
conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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45
legislated
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| v.立法，制定法律( legislate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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47
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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48
promulgation
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| n.颁布 | |
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49
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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50
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
begetting
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| v.为…之生父( beget的现在分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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52
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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53
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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54
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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55
epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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56
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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57
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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58
impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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60
lyrics
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| n.歌词 | |
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61
rambled
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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62
inordinate
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| adj.无节制的；过度的 | |
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63
diffuseness
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| 漫射，扩散 | |
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64
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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65
celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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66
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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67
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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68
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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70
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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71
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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72
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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73
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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74
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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75
stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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76
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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77
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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78
perpetuated
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| vt.使永存（perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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80
surmises
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的第三人称单数 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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81
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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82
preposterously
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| adv.反常地；荒谬地；荒谬可笑地；不合理地 | |
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83
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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84
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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85
narrated
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| v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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86
ecclesiastic
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| n.教士，基督教会；adj.神职者的，牧师的，教会的 | |
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proficient
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| adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家 | |
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88
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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89
quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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90
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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91
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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92
enumerating
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的现在分词 ) | |
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93
eulogy
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| n.颂词；颂扬 | |
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94
philologist
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| n.语言学者，文献学者 | |
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95
veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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96
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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97
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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98
loquacious
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| adj.多嘴的，饶舌的 | |
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99
calumny
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| n.诽谤，污蔑，中伤 | |
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renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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naturalists
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| n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者 | |
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distillation
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| n.蒸馏，蒸馏法 | |
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expatiated
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| v.详述，细说( expatiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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monkish
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| adj.僧侣的，修道士的，禁欲的 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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epitome
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| n.典型，梗概 | |
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monasteries
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| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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illustrating
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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compilation
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| n.编译，编辑 | |
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inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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loon
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| n.狂人 | |
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conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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juxtaposition
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| n.毗邻，并置，并列 | |
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auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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reconstruction
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| n.重建，再现，复原 | |
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plagiarism
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| n.剽窃，抄袭 | |
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purloined
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| v.偷窃( purloin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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persecutor
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| n. 迫害者 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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citations
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| n.引用( citation的名词复数 )；引证；引文；表扬 | |
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quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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astronomer
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| n.天文学家 | |
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corroborative
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| adj.确证（性）的，确凿的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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punctuation
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| n.标点符号，标点法 | |
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ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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anterior
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| adj.较早的；在前的 | |
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oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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