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. 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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