In his early 40s, consular and prominent advocate Cornelius Tacitus added a new dimension to his public profile, that of writer. The projects to which he turned first appear to have been a posthumous biography of his prominent father-in-law Cn. Julius Agricola, a free-standing ethnography of the Germani, and a Ciceronian dialogue on the history and current state of Roman oratory. Only later did Tacitus become a writer of annalistic history (in the Histories and the Annals). But that works of larger scale would come in the future does not diminish these opera minora: they are mature and brilliant works written by a man who had been in close proximity to power at a time of tyranny and coup.

We will try to understand each of these works on its own terms and consider their relationship to each other. We will also use them for broader purposes. They will help us proceed toward an understanding of various dimensions of the early Principate, for example, its political literature, its literary culture, the changing culture of its elites. We will give special attention to questions of the representation of the pax Romana and of the role of public discourse under autocracy. We will also use the works as an opportunity to increase our understanding of the genres or modes of biography, ethnography, dialogue, and rhetorica in the ancient world.

Our reading for each week’s meeting will include three kinds of reading: Agr., Germ., and Dial. themselves (in Latin); selections of other Greek and Latin literature (normally in English translation); and modern scholarly work.

Our time in class will focus on 1). analysis and interpretation of Agricola, Germania, and Dialogus in Latin 2). exploration of a range of other texts that overlap with these works, including works by Sallust, Cicero, the younger Pliny, Caesar, Seneca, Livy, Herodotus, Cassius Dio, and Tacitus himself 3). discussion of modern pieces that supply us with background knowledge or advance interpretations or interpretive frameworks that it will be useful to consider.

Participants who take the seminar for four units will submit a substantial research paper at the end. In the last few weeks of class, our work will shift from weekly common reading to researching and drafting these papers and to conducting draft workshops. Those taking the seminar for two units will be expected to participate in those weeks but will receive alternate projects.