Tacitus

s to monkish annals?to Camden's and Strype's, for instance, the authorities for much dreary political or ecclesiastical controversy. But no one need anticipate in the ' Annals ' of Tacitus any dul- ness. Ear from being the dry bones of some purposed record, they are among the most signal examples of thoughtful, interesting, and brilliant narration. They atound in anecdote; their by-ways are often not less pleasant than the main road ; they take the reader into many lands; introduce him to many forms of life and manners. The keystone of the arch is indeed Eome and its Caesar, but the arch of description itself is wide in its span: the ' Annals' are " the roof and crown " of the mighty master's genius. The 'Annals' commence with the death of Augustus, A.d. 14, and, when in a perfect state, closed with the death of Nero, in 68. In them were related the events of fifty-four years. They are less mutilated than the' History,' yet they have in some respects suffered far more severely, inasmuch as we lose in the later of the author's works many more important scenes and events than were treated of in the earlier. Of the fifth book of the ' Annals' the greater part has perished; the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth no longer exist, and of the eleventh a considerable part is missing. By the imperfect condition of the fifth book we are left to learn from other and inferior writers, many of whom lived long after the time of Tiberius, the real character of Sejanus's consp...