some of his most famous epistles.  Tacitus was apparently of the
equestrian class, was an advocate by training, and had a reputation as
an orator, though none of his speeches has survived.  He held a number
of important public offices, and married the daughter of Agricola, the
conqueror of Britain, whose life he wrote. 

The two chief works of Tacitus, the "Annals" and the "Histories,"
covered the history of Rome from the death of Augustus to A.  D.  96;
but the greater part of the "Histories" is lost, and the fragment that
remains deals only with the year 69 and part of 70.  In the "Annals"
there are several gaps, but what survives describes a large part of
the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero.  His minor works, besides
the life of Agricola, already mentioned, are a "Dialogue on Orators"
and the account of Germany, its situation, its inhabitants, their
character and customs, which is here printed. 

Tacitus stands in the front rank of the historians of antiquity for
the accuracy of his learning, the fairness of his judgments, the
richness, concentration, and precision of his style.  His great
successor, Gibbon, called him a "philosophical historian, whose