Introduction

Our scanty knowledge of the life of Cornelius Tacitus is derived chiefly from his own works and from the letters of his intimate friend, the younger Pliny. The only certain dates are the following: in 78 a.d. he married the daughter of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, whose life he later wrote;¹ in 88 he was praetor and a member of the college of the XVviri, but he may have been appointed to this sacred office before this year.² The consulship he obtained in 97 (or 98),³ and between 113–116 (or 111–112) he governed the province of Asia as proconsul.⁴ His earlier political career can be determined with somewhat less