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The Patria of Tacitus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2012
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Italicus es an provincialis? The question has remained unanswered to this day. A majestic silence conceals from us the origins of Tacitus. It is sometimes assumed that he was ‘by birth a noble,’ because he has the great manner and writes contemptuously of upstarts. But this might be in part explained from the nature of his subject and of his sources. The maiestas populi Romani likewise pervades the public odes of Horace, the freedman's son, and the Roman tragedies of Shakespeare; while the sources of Tacitus were imbued with the gravitas and even the superbia of the senatorial aristocracy.
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- Copyright ©Mary L. Gordon 1936. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
References
1 Pliny, Ep. ix, 23, 2: ‘narrabat sedisse secum circensibus proximis equitem Romanum. hunc post varios eruditosque sermones requisisse, Italicus es an provincialis?’
2 Ramsay, G. G., The Annals of Tacitus, i, Introd. p. xviiiGoogle Scholar.
3 Reitzenstein, R., ‘Tacitus und sein Werk’, Neue Wege zur Antike iv, 1926, 6Google Scholar.
4 Pliny, Ep. ii, 11, 17: ‘respondit eloquentissime et, quod eximium orationi eius inest, σεμνῶς.’
5 Hist. i, 1, 15: ‘dignitatem nostram a Vespasiano incohatam,’ etc. This probably means that he was given the latus clavus by Vespasian. See Fabia, P., ‘La carrière sénatoriale de Tacite,’ Journ. des Sav., 1926, p. 193Google Scholar ff.
6 Ann. iii, 55: ‘simul novi homines e municipiis et coloniis atque etiam provinciisin senatum crebro adsumpti domesticam parsimoniam intulerunt.’ Cf. Agric. 4: ‘Massiliam … locum Graeca comitate et provinciali parsimonia mixtum ac bene compositum.’
7 Ann. xiii, 27: ‘plurimis equitum, plerisque senatoribus non aliunde originem trahi.’ The date is A. D. 56, when Tacitus was probably an infant.
8 Furneaux, H., The Annals of Tacitus, i, Introd. p. 2Google Scholar; Asbach, J., Römisches Kaisertum, p. 128Google Scholar.
9 P-W, s.v. ‘Cornelius,’ no. 275 (Wissowa). Cf. also Cornelius Gallus, of Forum Julii.
10 cf. Justin, 43, 5, 11 ff.
11 P-W, s.v. ‘Equites Singulares’ (Liebenam).
12 Büdinger, M., Die Universalhistorie im Altertume, p. 196Google Scholar.
13 CIL xi, 4078. Cf. CIL ix, 1689 (Beneventum); xi, 1734 (Florentia); iii, 4916 (Virunum).
14 CIL xi, 1100, Parmensii; v, 5895 (= ILS 6734); 3312. Cf. also CIL iii, 5838 (Augusta Vindelicum), 10510 (Aquincum).
15 CIL vi, 2390, 2379b, 2477, 2762, 3252, 31145b, 31150, 3220, 3226, 3578, and 32925.
16 CIL ix 3021 (Teate Marrucinorum), ‘veteranus Augusti’: x, 7289 (Panhormus), ‘evocatus Augusti.’
17 Liebenam, loc. cit.
18 Oswald, F., Index of potters' stamps on Terra Sigillata, ‘Samian Ware’ (1931), p. 310Google Scholar.
19 CIL xii, 1517 (Vocontii); 1301 (Vasio) = ILS 4841. CIR 709 (Coblenz); 930 (Manaborn). Cf. also CIL iii, 5450 (Noricum), Tacitus son of Tunger, a praetorian, and CIR 339 (Cologne), ‘Tacitinius Tatucus.’
20 CIL xii, 5691, 8, ‘Munatius Tacitus medicus ocularius.’
21 CIL viii, 10988, ‘Aulus Caecina Tacitus.’
22 CIL iii, 12720; vi, 1133.
23 CIL vi, 2477, ‘L. Tacitius Dubitatus’; vi, 2762; iii, 7741 (Dacia).
24 CIL, 1421 (=ILS 140); V, 3037 (Patavium) may belong to the same class.
25 CIL xi, 1355 (= ILS 7227).
26 In addition to those just quoted CIL xi, 6994 (Luna); vi, 3252, a praetorian Tacitus from Luna; xi, 1734 (between Pisa and Florence) Lauselius Tacitus and his sister Tacita.
27 CIL viii, 10988; xi, 6712.91 (signaculum).
28 Otto, ‘Nomina propria a participiis perfectis oriunda’ (Fleckeisen, Suppl. xxiv, p. 930Google Scholar), pronounces the name to be probably not older than the age of Augustus.
29 Schulze, W., Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen, p. 240Google Scholar.
30 Schulze, l.c., p. 48–52; cf. p. 23, Celtic names as Roman gentilicia. CIL xii, 2803 (‘ager Volcarum’), ‘L. Tacitius Severus.’
31 CIR 709 (Coblenz), ‘L. Taccitus’; 930 (Mariaborn), ‘T. Tacitus Censorinus.’
32 Jullian, , Hist. de la Gaule, vi, 268Google Scholar, n. 3.
33 Walde, Etym. Wörterbuch, s. v. Cf. Irish tachtaim, Gaelic tachd, Welsh tagu.
34 Anwyl, Welsh-Eng. Diet., Proper Names. Similarly Claudia became Gwladys. Another equivalent to Tacitus is Ystas. Tegid is from teg, ‘fair,’ Gaelic toigh, identical with the adjective togios, ‘pleasant,’ from which many Gaulish names were formed. Cf. Ann. vi, 2, ‘Togonius Gallus.’
35 Cf. Tacitinius Tatucus, CIR 339. With Tacitius, cf. Tagidius, Togidius. For further examples, see Holder, Altceltischer Sprachschatz.
36 Wolff, Historiae, i, Introd., dissents from the opinion that ‘Tacitus was certainly born in North Italy’ (F. G. Moore). Gudeman, , Dialogus, p. 66Google Scholar, suggests that Tacitus was of Gallic origin.
37 Carcopino, J., Ce que Rome et l'empire romain doivent à la Gaule, p. 31Google Scholar, points out that Paullina, Seneca's second wife, whose attempted suicide is described in Ann. xvi, 63–64, was also Celtic in origin. She was the daughter of Pompeius Paullinus of Arelate. For another example of wifely devotion, see Hist. iv, 67, Epponina, the wife of Julius Sabinus. Carcopino draws attention to the high reputation of Gallic women as wives and mothers.
38 P-W. s.v., ‘Julius,’ no. 49 (Gaheis). Both the grandfathers of Agricola were Julii, i.e. Gauls, and he seems to seems to have married a wife from the same province.
39 Pliny, Ep. ii 1, 6Google Scholar:‘laudator eloquentissimus.’ PIR iii, p. 284.
40 PIR iii, 370.
41 Pliny Ep. vi, 9Google Scholar; P-W s.v ‘Julius’ no. 367 (stein).
42 Gudeman, Dial., p. 66. Cf. Jullian, , Hist. de la Gaule, vi, 144Google Scholar.
43 Dial. 2: ‘Marcus Aper et Iulius Secundus, … quos ego utrosque non modo in iudiciis studiose audiebam, sed domi quoque et in publico adsectabar mira studiorum cupiditate et quodam ardore iuvenili.’
44 Dial. 7: ‘homo novus et in civitate minime favorabili natus.’
45 Gudeman, l.c., who argues for his Gallic origin.
46 Pliny HN vii, 16, 76Google Scholar: ‘ipsi non pridem vidimus eadem ferine omnia … in filio Corneli Taciti equitis Romani Belgicae Galliae rationes procurantis.’
47 Fabia, l.c. p. 201, points out that the procurator may have been his uncle, cousin, or even elder brother. The cognomen, however, seems to exclude the last possibility, and suggests paternity. Cf. CIL vi, 3578: M. Aurelius Tacitus, eques singularis, has a son with the same cognomen.
48 Agr. 4.
49 CIL v, 7022, ‘P. Cornelio L. f. Stel. decurioni … Cornelia P. f. Prisca.’ Cf. CIL v, 7092 (Turin)… ‘Cornelius P. f. Bassus.’
50 CIL v, 4462.
51 E.g. CIL v, 3434 (Verona); cf. v, 3574 (Verona), and 3577. An inscription at Nemausus (CIL xii, 3051) is a dedication by a freedman ‘genio P. Corneli nostri.’
52 CIL v, 7445; xii, 5369 (near Narbo) (= ILS 4678).
53 CIL v, 2521 (Ateste); xii, 2617 (Geneva).
54 Kubitschek, W., Imperium Romanum tributim discriptum, p. 221Google Scholar.
55 Cf. Pliny, HN iii, 32Google Scholar (of Gallia Narbonensis), ‘Italia verius quam provincia.’
56 Cf. the altercation between Arminius and his romanized brother Flavus across the river (Ann. ii, 9–10): ‘diversi ordiuntur, hic magnitudinem Romanam, opes Caesaris, … ille fas patriae, libertatem avitam.’
57 Ann. xi, 23: ‘an parum quod Veneti et Insubres curiam inruperint?’ 24: ‘tunc solida domi quies et adversus externa floruimus, cum Transpadani in civitatem recepti.“
58 Ann. xi, 24.
59 CIL xiii, 1668 (Lyons) (= ILS 212).
60 Gudeman, , Dialogus, p. 59Google Scholar, statio, = year of emperor's reign; p. 327, cortina, Celtic word for ‘room’ or ‘court’; p. 235, sine substantia facultatum, a favourite phrase of Gaulish writers.
61 Diodorus, v, 31, 1: ‘In their Converse they are sparing of their words and speak many things darkly… They are High and Hyperbolical in trumpeting out their own Praises, but speak slightly and contemptibly of others.’ (Booth, trans.).
62 Jullian, , Hist. de la Gaule, ii, 359, 379Google Scholar; vi, 140.
63 Jullian, l.c., iv, 163Google Scholar.
64 Dial. 1.
65 Cf. Carcopino, l.c., p. 26. ‘Ils etaient doués de la sensibilité, de curiosité, de l'imagination, qui … permirent, plus tard, à leurs fils, d'illustrer l'eloquence et la poésie latines.’
66 Cf. Carcopino, l.c., pp. 32 and 36.