The Mind of Tacitus
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6399089 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M A Fitzsimons (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1976 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 473-493 |
| Publication date | 1976-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Review of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0034670500032538 |
| OpenAlex | W2106219326 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 2 |
No Roman historian except the scholar propagandist Livy would have described his own age as the best of times and the worst of times. Imperial pagan Romans were too morally pessimistic about history to be able to say more than what Tacitus in effect said of the age of Trajan: it was the best of the worst times. His patriotism in no way encouraged him to say yes to his age, as Vergil and Livy had done to theirs. Instead it strengthened the moral severity with which he passed judgment on men of an iron age
Ancient history · Art · Epistemology · Literature · Patriotism · Pessimism · Political science · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.17 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2015 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |