According to Tacitus ( Annals 3. 14. 1 ), the prosecution could not prove the poisoning charge, but other charges of treason seemed likely to stick and Piso committed suicide.

Perhaps, as Tacitus suggests, he wished to panic him into some sort of submission, but Thrasea's reaction was merely to inquire what the charges against him were and to ask for time to prepare a defence-the implication being probably that there was no legal basis for proceedings against him.

Special opportunities were afforded by the law of majestas, which originally directed against attacks on the ruler by word or deed came to include all kinds of accusations with which it really had nothing to do ; indeed, according to Tacitus, a charge of treason was regularly added to all criminal charges.

J. David Cassel gives several examples: Tacitus wrote that Nero fabricated charges that Christians started the burning of Rome.

Torquatus ' son, Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus, whom Tacitus calls a young man of moderation ( modesta iuventa 16. 7 ), was considered a threat on similar grounds as his father had been, and informers soon cooked up a conspiracy implicating him and his aunt Junia Calvina on charges of magic rites and incest ( Ann.

There are also rumors mentioned by Tacitus and Cassius Dio that Livia brought about Augustus ' death by poisoning fresh figs.

Livia had always been a principal beneficiary of the climate of adulation that Augustus had done so much to create, and which Tiberius despised (" a strong contempt for honours ", Tacitus, Annals 4. 37 ).

In Tacitus ' Annals, Livia is depicted as having great influence, to the extent where she " had the aged Augustus firmly under control — so much so that he exiled his only surviving grandson to the island of Planasia ".

In the popular fictional work I, Claudius by Robert Graves — based on Tacitus ' innuendo — Livia is portrayed as a thoroughly Machiavellian, scheming political mastermind.

Tacitus suggests that he was always disliked and shunned by Livia, as he stood in the way of her son Tiberius succeeding to the throne after Augustus.

It has been suggested by Tacitus that there may be been foul play involved in the death of Lucius and that Lucius ' step mother Livia may have had a hand in his death.

But I suspect that the old Roman was referring to change made under military occupation -- the sort of change which Tacitus was talking about when he said, `` They make a desert, and call it peace '' ( `` Solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant ''.

Tacitus however leaves open the possibility that she was deprived of nourishment while in prison and her death was not voluntary.

From the memoirs written by Agrippina the Younger, Tacitus used the memoirs to extract information regarding the family and fate of Agrippina the Elder, when Tacitus was writing The Annals.

The closeness of this information to the executive authority of the emperor is attested by Tacitus ' statement that it was written out by Augustus himself.

While Tacitus called it Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people of the Suebi, the first to name it also as the Baltic Sea ( Mare Balticum ) was eleventh century German chronicler Adam of Bremen.

The narrative was told in great detail in Tacitus ' History, book iv, although, unfortunately, the narrative breaks off abruptly at the climax.

The mix of fancy and fact in the Cronyke van Hollandt, Zeelandt ende Vriesland ( called the Divisiekronike ), first published in 1517, brought the spare remarks in Tacitus ' newly-rediscovered Germania to a popular public ; it was being reprinted as late as 1802.

Such a treaty was seemingly remarkably effective, as the Bastarnae disappear, save for a single passing mention in Tacitus, from the Roman chronicles until c. AD 175, some 160 years after Augustus ' inscription was carved.

From the 19th century and much of the late 20th century, " Boadicea " was the most common version of the name, which is probably derived from a mistranscription when a manuscript of Tacitus was copied in the Middle Ages.

Her name was clearly spelled Boudicca in the best manuscripts of Tacitus, but also Βουδουικα, Βουνδουικα, and Βοδουικα in the ( later and probably secondary ) epitome of Cassius Dio.

Tacitus and Dio agree that Boudica was of royal descent.

According to Tacitus, Boudica was flogged and her daughters were raped.

According to Tacitus in his Annals, Boudica poisoned herself, though in the Agricola which was written almost twenty years prior he mentions nothing of suicide and attributes the end of the revolt to socordia (" indolence "); Dio says she fell sick and died and then was given a lavish burial ; though this may be a convenient way to remove her from the story.

Considering Dio must have read Tacitus, it is worth noting he mentions nothing about suicide ( which was also how Postumus and Nero ended their lives ).

Agricola was a military tribune under Suetonius Paulinus, which almost certainly gave Tacitus an eyewitness source for Boudica's revolt.

The ancient historians allege that Messalina was a nymphomaniac who was regularly unfaithful to Claudius — Tacitus states she went so far as to compete with a prostitute to see who could have the most sexual partners in a night — and manipulated his policies in order to amass wealth.

Dio was less biased, but seems to have used Suetonius and Tacitus as sources.

After his death, Domitian's memory was condemned to oblivion by the Roman Senate, while senatorial authors such as Tacitus, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius published histories propagating the view of Domitian as a cruel and paranoid tyrant.

Tacitus also praises Egnatia Maximilla for sacrificing her fortune in order to stand by her innocent husband against Nero.

Tacitus claims that Nero considered poisoning or stabbing her, but felt these methods were too difficult and suspicious, so he settled on building a self-sinking boat.

Some of these men were executed as early as 83 or 85 however, lending little credit to Tacitus ' notion of a " reign of terror " late in Domitian's reign.

Tacitus portrays a people called the Eudoses living in the north of Jutland and these may have been the later Iutae.

His half-brother, the Praetorian Prefect Florianus, and Tacitus himself won a victory against these tribes, among which were the Heruli, which gained the emperor the title Gothicus Maximus.

According to Tacitus, writing a generation later, these were in fact the original tribe to be called Germani, and all other uses of the term extended from them.

Strabo, Gaius Maecenas and Cassius Dio all reiterate the traditional Roman opposition against sorcery and divination, and Tacitus uses the term religio-superstitio to class these outlawed observances.

Accounts are also inconsistent on who ordered the death and these existed almost from the start, when Tiberius immediately and publicly disavowed the act upon being notified of it ( Tacitus, Ann.

Annals and histories might also include sections pertaining to these subjects, but annals are chronological in structure, and Roman histories, such as those of Livy and Tacitus, are both chronological and offer an overarching narrative and interpretation of events.

( Subsequent research has, in fact, found such citations, notably by the Roman historian Tacitus and the Jewish historian Josephus, although these citations are not contemporaneous with Jesus ' life and are viewed by some as forgeries.

he came to this conclusion using the justification that Roman writers like Julius Caesar and Tacitus had not referred to stone circles when discussing the Iron Age Britons, whereas Late Mediaeval historians like Geoffrey of Monmouth and Henry of Huntingdon had described these megaliths in their works, and that such monuments must have therefore been constructed between the two sets of accounts.

One of these hill forts is probably that referred to by the historian Tacitus as the last refuge of the resistance led by Caratacus in 50 AD.

Tacitus adds that these pillars exist either because Hercules actually did go there or because the Romans have agreed to ascribe all marvels anywhere to Hercules ' credit.

According to Tacitus, the well-known Roman historian, this work, together with the Pro Milone, In Catilinam, and In Verrem, made Cicero's name, and much of his political career sprang from the effect of these works.

In Chapter 9, Tacitus describes a form of folk assembly rather similar to the public Things recorded in later Germanic sources: in these public deliberations, the final decision rests with the men of the tribe as a whole.

Juha Pentikäinen writes that Tacitus may well have been describing the Sami or the proto Finns when referring to the Fenni, noting some archeologists have identified these people as indigenous to Scandinavia.

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Tacitus.

Tacitus also wrote of Suetonius addressing his legionaries: " Ignore the racket made by these savages.

It is more than questionable, however, whether Tacitus himself divided his work under these titles.

The rule of Cosimo de Medici, however, saw the end of these political readings of Tacitus, though his works were now readily available in the public library of Florence.

A young senator ( ab actis senatus ) was chosen to draw up these acta, which were kept in the imperial archives and public libraries ( Tacitus, Ann.

Tacitus believed that these tribal precursors of the Saxons were the original and ancient inhabitants of this land.