Complete Works of Tacitus Quotes

“To be rich or well-born was a crime: men were prosecuted for holding or for refusing office: merit of any kind meant certain ruin. Nor were the Informers more hated for their crimes than for their prizes: some carried off a priesthood or the consulship as their spoil, others won offices and influence in the imperial household: the hatred and fear they inspired worked universal havoc. Slaves were bribed against their masters, freedmen against their patrons, and, if a man had no enemies, he was ruined by his friends.”
― Publius Cornelius Tacitus, The Complete Tacitus Anthology: The Histories, The Annals, Germania, Agricola, A Dialogue on Oratory (Illustrated)

“in peace alone reason was heard and merit distinguished; but in the rage of war the blind steel spared the innocent no more than the guilty.”
― Publius Cornelius Tacitus, The Complete Tacitus Anthology: The Histories, The Annals, Germania, Agricola, A Dialogue on Oratory (Illustrated)

“He was a strange mixture of good and bad, of luxury and industry, courtesy and arrogance. In leisure he was self-indulgent, but full of vigour on service. His outward behaviour was praiseworthy, though ill was spoken of his private life.”
― Tacitus, The Complete Tacitus Anthology: The Histories, The Annals, Germania, Agricola, A Dialogue on Oratory (Illustrated)

“The Agricola was published following the assassination of Domitian in AD 96, at a time when the turmoil of the regime change allowed a new-found freedom to publish such works.”
― Tacitus, Complete Works of Tacitus

“Vitellius gave orders for depleting the strength of the legions and auxiliaries. Recruiting was forbidden, and discharges offered without restriction. This policy was disastrous for the country and unpopular among the soldiers, who found that their turn for work and danger came round all the more frequently, now that there were so few to share the duties. Besides, their efficiency was demoralized by luxury. Nothing was left of the old-fashioned discipline and the good rules of our ancestors, who preferred to base the security of Rome on character and not on money.”
― Tacitus, The Complete Tacitus Anthology: The Histories, The Annals, Germania, Agricola, A Dialogue on Oratory (Illustrated)

“Gaudent praecipue finitimarum gentium donis, quae non modo a singulis, sed et publice mittuntur, electi equi, magna arma, phalerae torquesque; iam et pecuniam accipere docuimus. 15.”
― Tacitus, Complete Works of Tacitus

“With a profuse liberality, he granted treaties to allies, and the rights of Latin citizenship to foreigners; some he relieved by the remission of tribute, others by exemptions; in a word, utterly careless of the future, he mutilated the resources of the Empire.”
― Tacitus, The Complete Works of Tacitus