Antonius Bombardinus in his "De Carcere Tractatus"; Gutherlethus
in his work on the "Salii," or Priests of Mars; the learned
Spaniard, Miniana, in his "De Theatro Saguntino Dialogus"; Gorius
in his "Columbarium Libertorum et Servorum"; Spon in his
"Miscellanea Erudita Antiquitatis" and Jaques Leroy in his
"Achates Tiberianus." In fact, the Annals of Tacitus is noticed,
or quoted, or referred to, or commented upon at length (as at the
commencement of the sixteenth century by Scipione Ammirato), in an
endless list of works, with or without the names of the authors,
which by itself is all but conclusive that the Annals was not in
existence till the fifteenth century, and not generally known till
the sixteenth and seventeenth.

But to return for a moment to what was done by two writers, who
lived before the fifteenth century,--Sulpicius Severus, who died
A.D. 420; and Jornandez, who, in the time of Justinian, was
Secretary to the Gothic kings in Italy. Now, it must not be
withheld,--for it would be too uncandid,--that identical passages
are found in the Annals ascribed to Tacitus and the Sacred History
of Sulpicius Severus.

In order that the reader may see the identity of the passages, we
place them in juxtaposition, italicising the words that are found
in both works:--

Sulpicius (ii. 28). "_Inditum imperatori flammeum, dos et
genialis torus et faces nuptiales; cuncta denique, quae_ vel
_in feminis_ non sine verecundia conspiciuntur,
_spectata_."