Tacitus

by Mellor,Ronald

• ISBN13: 9780415910026
• ISBN10: 0415910021
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1994-11-02
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The histories of Roman senator Cornelius Tacitus constitute the most influential examination of tyranny, political behavior and public morality from the classical age. For centuries these portraits of courageous martyrs to freedom, of paranoid tyrants, and of sycophantic flatteres and informers shaped modern political attitudes. Ronald Mellor provides a compelling analysis of the ideas of the greatest historian of evil in the western intellectual tradition. InTacitus,Ronald Mellor passionately argues for reclaiming this ironic genius whose cynical world view is particularly well-suited to an analysis of the tyranny and brutality in our own century. Tacitus is presented as a moralist, psychologist, political analyst and literary artist. Tacitus' greatest impact has never been on historians. Rather, his political vision and dramatic images left their mark on painters, poets and thinkers.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chronological Note
Introduction	p. 1
The Historian and His Histories	p. 6
The Historian's Method	p. 29
The Historian as Moralist	p. 47
The Historian as Psychologist	p. 68
The Historian as Political Analyst	p. 87
The Historian as Literary Artist	p. 113
The Impact of Tacitus	p. 137
Epilogue	p. 163
Notes	p. 168
Editions and Translations	p. 194
Bibliography	p. 195
Index	p. 203
Index of Passages Translated	p. 210
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