taken place in the early education of the Roman youth.

The "Histories" relate the events which transpired in Rome, beginning with
the ascession of Galba, in 68, and ending with the reign of Domitian, in
97. Only four books and a fragment of a fifth have been preserved to us.
These books contain an account of the brief reigns of Galba, Otho and
Vitellius. The portion of the fifth book which has been preserved contains
an interesting, though rather biased, account of the character, customs
and religion of the Jewish nation viewed from the standpoint of a
cultivated citizen of Rome.

The "Annals" contain the history of the empire from the death of Augustus,
in 14, to the death of Nero, in 68, and originally consisted of sixteen
books. Of these, only nine have come down to us in a state of entire
preservation, and of the other seven we have but fragments of three. Out
of a period of fifty-four years we have the history of about forty.

The style of Tacitus is, perhaps, noted principally for its conciseness.
Tacitean brevity is proverbial, and many of his sentences are so brief,
and leave so much for the student to read between the lines, that in order
to be understood and appreciated the author must be read over and over
again, lest the reader miss the point of some of his most excellent
thoughts. Such an author presents grave, if not insuperable, difficulties
to the translator, but notwithstanding this fact, the following pages
cannot but impress the reader with the genius of Tacitus.




A TREATISE ON THE SITUATION, MANNERS AND INHABITANTS OF GERMANY. [1]