Tacitus the sententious historian
Subtitle: a sociology of rhetoric in Annales 1-6
By: Patrick Sinclair.
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: University Park, Penn
Language: eng
Number of pages: 262
Subjects: Tacitus, Cornelius -- Technique.; Literature and society -- Rome.; Aphorisms and apothegms.; Rhetoric, Ancient.; Maxims, Latin -- History and criticism.; Rome -- Historiography.
Description: A study of Greek and Latin rhetorical and historical culture centering on the Roman historian Tacitus and his use of aphorisms and maxims known as sententiae.

More than any other single rhetorical device in Latin oratory and literature, the sententia is the supreme expression of the self-image of Rome during the imperial period, the Principate. Whether one defines sententia as a generalizing maxim or a prose epigram, its importance in Roman rhetoric, literature, and public life during the early Principate indicates that it is a literary form intimately connected with the unique social code of that period.

An illuminating example of the skillful use of sententiae is found in the Roman historian Tacitus's narration of the history of Emperor Tiberius (A.D. 1437) in Books 1-6 of the Annales.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-251) and index.