The text followed is that of C.D. Fisher (_Oxford Classical Texts_).
Departures from it are mentioned in the notes.




BOOK I


PREFACE

[A.D. 69.] I propose to begin my narrative with the second 1
consulship of Servius Galba, in which Titus Vinius was his colleague.
Many historians have dealt with the 820 years of the earlier period
beginning with the foundation of Rome, and the story of the Roman
Republic has been told with no less ability than truth. After the
Battle of Actium, when the interests of peace were served by the
centralization of all authority in the hands of one man, there
followed a dearth of literary ability, and at the same time truth
suffered more and more, partly from ignorance of politics, which were
no longer a citizen's concern, partly from the growing taste for
flattery or from hatred of the ruling house. So between malice on one
side and servility on the other the interests of posterity were
neglected. But historians find that a tone of flattery soon incurs the
stigma of servility and earns for them the contempt of their readers,
whereas people readily open their ears to the criticisms of envy,
since malice makes a show of independence. Of Galba, Otho, and
Vitellius, I have known nothing either to my advantage or my hurt. I
cannot deny that I originally owed my position to Vespasian, or that I
was advanced by Titus and still further promoted by Domitian;[5] but