The First Political Commentary on Tacitus

Abstract

Only the learning, the wisdom, and the wit of Professor N. H. Baynes could do full justice to the influence of Tacitus on modern political and historical thought. As no ancient historian of our time is so interested in the legacy of Classical Antiquity as Professor Baynes, it has seemed not inappropriate to bring to him from my native Piedmont the following contribution to the history of Tacitus' influence. An earlier chapter of the same history was written in this Journal (VI, 196 ff.), by Professor F. J. Haverfield. Pontano, at the end of the fifteenth century writes: ‘Curtium ac Taciturn quasi mutilatas videmus statuas; licetque suspicari potius ac coniicere quam omnino de iis iudicium aliquod absolutum ac certum tradere.’ After the editio princeps of the first books of the Annals (1515), it became evident that Tacitus had a message for contemporaries. As Guicciardini said: ‘Insegna molto bene Cornelio Tacito a chi vive sotto a' tiranni il modo di vivere e governarsi prudentemente, cosi come insegna a' tiranni e' modi di fondare la tirannide.’

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