The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-09

In q EOotnote To the first page of the first
1chapter we are reminded that the exact
date of the birth Of Tacitus is undetermined
but since we know at what age public funo-
tions were usually entered upon and the
epoch at which he reached them we can
be almost certain that he was born between
"a and SO A. D., that is to say. in the earliest
@lyears of Nero's principate. The con-
vergOace in time of Nero and Tacitus sug-
gested- to Chateaubriand some ~resounding
phrases in an article which he wrote for the
MercaTc dc France and which caused the
suppression of that newspaper by Napoleon.
when said -Chateaubriand, sin the ST.
glsnce OF subsection naught is to be heard
save the clanking chain of the slave and
\ the voice of the informer, when all Cfemble
before the tyrsnt, and it is as perilous to
ayfail under his favor as 70 deserve his dis
(. grkcc. the historian appears, invested
with the vengeance Of the people. 1t is in
vain that Nero iourishes; Tacitus is al
ready born. He is growing up, unknown,
hard by the ashes of Germanicus, and
4 already a just Providence has delivered
8 Sver 10 an obscure child the glory OF the
! master of the world"
4 What is known OF the surrounding in
which Tacitus was brought up may be con-
S1eused in a few sentences. He himself in
his writings says next to nothing about his
own personality, family or experience.
Wehaye to rely almost exclusively on chance
illusions by contemporary authors, as for
example the elder and the younger Pliny.
. The elder Pliny in his Natural History"
has occasion to mention the name OF a
Roman knight, his contemporary, who was
y called Cornelius Tacitus and administered
the revenues OF Belgic Gaul. This, it is
supposed, must have been the father or
uncle OF the historian, and It would follow
that Tacitus sprang from one OF those fam
lies OF knights that were accustomed to
hold financial posts in which fortunes could
be made. II his suppositlon be we'll
founded 1t Is incorrect to assume, as is
usually assumed for the purpose Of casting
some discredit on the historians Impair
4 tiAlity. that he shows himself we'll disposed
Co great lords of patrician or ancient plebeian
lineage becsN se he belonged to their caste
aud in espL~nng their interests defended
his own cause. The truth is that. as they
said at Rome, Tacitus was "a new man"
which signifed that nope Of his family
before him had entered the Senate. NJ.
B0issier deems it probable hat his father,
who had, what the eque strian function
ACUEtAAAJ khNCt rOhUb bOCAdl DObAJhOn Anu "a
good deal Of wealth, desired that his son
= sh0sId rise higher and be able to aspire to
he curule dignities. BY way Of prepara-
tion FOR such elevation in station the father
had to obtain for him from the p~rinceps the
grant OF the laticlave, /. O., the right TO wear
tho white tunic edged by a broad purple
stripe; this was the customary fashion Of
fnitiating a young man into the ranks Of
those for whom public honors were re-
served. Ho was thus marked out in adj
vance for the questorship, and later. II
a'rHpDe smiled, might attain an ediIeship,
= p-H''-chi. I'D ultimately the consulate.
ID reach u high political rank il was
a. septial that the young man should re-
ceivo a careful education, and we may take
for granted that young Tacitus learned
what in his time was taught, and that as
the art OF speech was the one which a poll
tician could least afford 70 neglect, he
studied rhetoric, which at that period was
~oxpOunded and e~xemplfed with great
distinction by Quintillian, for whom had
just been founded the FIRST public chair
OF eloquence created at Rome. IL il prob
able enough that Tacitus attended the
professors lessons, a. later did his friend
the younger Pliny, but he must have been
an independent pupil, for Tacitus "a a
thinker diycrgcs from Quintillian on GER
tain sides. Touching this POINT NJ. Bois-
,- sier is not arguing from hypothesis. but
from statements made in the earliest work
of Tacitus. the Dialogue OF tho Orators"
where TIM authors wi ideas are put,
apparently. in the mouth of Messalla. OF
whom he never speaks except with the
warmest aymrathy. From the IDEAS thus
vicariOusl; expressed it Is deducible that