nowhere to be found in any of the works written by the ancient
Roman. But if Tacitus be meant, the passage is an interpolation,
because the historical books ascribed to Tacitus bear in all the
MSS. either the title "Augustae Historiae Libri," or "Ab Excessu
divi Augusti Historiarum Libri," and so in all the first published
editions--that of Vindelinus of Spire about 1470, of Puteolanus
and Lanterius about 1475, of Beroaldus in 1515, and the early
editions of Venice 1484, 1497 and 1512; of Rome in 1485; Milan
1517; Basle 1519, and Florence (the Juntine Edition) 1527--it not
being till 1533, that Beatus Rhenanus first gave those books the
name "Annals" (it being Justus Lipsius who, close at the
commencement of the last quarter of that century,--in 1574,--first
divided the books into two parts, to one of which he gave the name
"Annals," and to the other, "Histories"). Then how could
Jornandez, who lived in the sixth century, have known any writings
of Tacitus by the name of "Annals," when that title was not given
to them until the sixteenth century?

We may now, after close research, advance this with extreme
caution, and certainty:--no support can be derived from citations
or statements made by any writer till the fifteenth century that
Tacitus wrote a number of books of the Annals. Should any one
extensively read known authors, living between the second and the
fifteenth century, besides those mentioned, who quote Tacitus, it
will be found that their quotations are from the History, the
Germany, or the Agricola; and this can be predicted with just as
much confidence, as an astronomer predicts eclipses of the sun and
the moon, and, for their verification, needs not wait to see the
actual obscuration of those heavenly bodies.