It is a striking fact that Ammianus, though a professional soldier, gives excellent pictures of social and economic problems, and in his attitude to the non-Roman peoples of the empire he is far more broad-minded than writers like Livy and Tacitus ; his digressions on the various countries he had visited are particularly interesting.

Tacitus ( writing in Book XV, Chapters 60 through 64 of his Annals of Imperial Rome, a generation later, after the Julio-Claudian emperors ) gives an account of the suicide, perhaps, in light of Tacitus's Republican sympathies, somewhat romanticized.

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

Andreas Köstenberger and separately Robert E. Van Voorst state that the tone of the passage towards Christians is far too negative to have been authored by a Christian scribe-a conclusion shared by John P. Meier Robert E. Van Voorst states that " of all Roman writers, Tacitus gives us the most precise information about Christ ".

Theissen and Merz state that Tacitus gives us a description of widespread prejudices about Christianity and a few precise details about " Christus " and Christianity, the source of which remains unclear.

The site of the battle is not given by either historian, although Tacitus gives a brief description.

The descriptive nature of the name gives us clue as why they do not appear in such strong sources as Tacitus.

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

Tacitus described her as “ determined and rather excitable ”-" Agrippina knew no feminine weaknesses.

Throughout her life, Agrippina always prized her descent from Augustus, upbraiding Tiberius for persecuting the blood of his predecessor ; Tacitus, in writing of the occasion, believed this behaviour to be part of the beginning of " the chain of events leading to Agrippina's end.

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.

* Tacitus: Critical view, considered her vicious and had a strong disposition against her due to her femininity and influential role in politics.

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.

But the rediscovery of the works of Tacitus during the Renaissance allowed Polydore Vergil to reintroduce her into British history as " Voadicea " in 1534.

Raphael Holinshed also included her story in his Chronicles ( 1577 ), based on Tacitus and Dio, and inspired Shakespeare's younger contemporaries Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher to write a play, Bonduca, in 1610.

It is known that there was an interregnum between Aurelian and Tacitus, and there is substantial evidence that Aurelian's wife Ulpia Severina ruled in her own right before Tacitus ' election.

According to Tacitus ( Annals 14. 35 ), Boudica, queen of the Iceni and a number of other tribes in a formidable uprising against the occupying Roman forces, addressed her troops from a chariot in AD 61:

Tacitus describes her as the " wife of the Plautius who returned from Britain with an ovation ", which led John Lingard ( 1771 – 1851 ) to conclude, in his History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, that she was British ; however, this conclusion is a misinterpretation of what Tacitus wrote.

The ancient Roman sources, particularly Tacitus and Suetonius, portray Messalina as extremely lustful, but also insulting, disgraceful, cruel, and avaricious ; they claimed her negative qualities were a result of her inbreeding.

The historians Tacitus and Cassius Dio depict an overweening, even domineering dowager, ready to interfere in Tiberius ’ decisions, the most notable instances being the case of Urgulania ( grandmother of Claudius's first wife Plautia Urgulanilla ), a woman who correctly assumed that her friendship with the empress placed her above the law, and Munatia Plancina, suspected of murdering Germanicus and saved at Livia's entreaty.

Tacitus described the Goths as well as the neighboring Rugii and Lemovii as carrying round shields and short swords, and obeying their regular authority.

Tacitus characterized the Rugii as well as the neighboring Goths and Lemovii saying they carried round shields and short swords, and obeyed their regular authority.

Although Tacitus never travelled to Magna Germania himself and only recorded information he had obtained from others, the short ethnographic excursus below is the most detailed ancient account of the Aestii that we have:

Tacitus skillfully shows the characters, alternating short and sharp notations with complete portraits.

The Dialogus de oratoribus is a short work attributed to Tacitus, in dialogue form, on the art of rhetoric.

Traces of Samian and other rich goods in one of the round-house remains suggest that Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes ( who, thanks to a short mention in Tacitus ’ history, is known to have made a pact with the rapidly advancing Romans under Petillius Cerealis ) may have made it her ( temporary ) residence.

*** Tacitus ' version of the Lyons Tablet speech

The ancient historian Tacitus describes Domitian's first speech in the Senate as brief and measured, at the same time noting his ability to elude awkward questions.

Tacitus records a version of his speech in which he says that his stubborn resistance made Rome's glory in defeating him all the greater:

* The chief authority for the history of the insurrection is Tacitus, Histories, iv., v., whose account breaks off at the beginning of Civilis's speech to Cerialis.

According to Tacitus, Piso used his eloquence to defend his fellow citizens and was generous and gracious in speech, but lacked earnestness and was overly ostentatious, while craving the sensual.

The Caledonian army, which Tacitus claims was led by Calgacus ( Tacitus only mentions him as giving a speech, probably fictitious ), was said to be over 30, 000 strong.

If Petronius pointed out excess of rhetoric and the pompous, unnatural techniques of the schools of eloquence as the causes of decay, Tacitus was nearer to Longinus in thinking that the root of this decadence was the establishment of Princedom, or Empire, which, though it brought stability and peace, also gave rise to censorship and brought an end to freedom of speech.

Tacitus, in a speech put into the mouth of the Caledonian leader Calgacus, refers to the Brigantes, " under a woman's leadership ", almost defeating the Romans.

Tacitus describes him as brave in action, ready of speech, clever at bringing others into odium, powerful in times of civil war and rebellion, greedy, extravagant, in peace a bad citizen, in war an ally not to be despised.

Tacitus, who wrote of the battle more than fifty years later, claims to relate Boudica's speech to her followers: " But now ," she said, " it is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters.

" Although Tacitus, like many historians of his day, was given to invent stirring speeches for such occasions, Suetonius's speech here is unusually blunt and practical.

Tacitus wrote a speech which he attributed to Calgacus, saying that Calgacus gave it in advance of the Battle of Mons Graupius.

The following excerpt is from the speech attributed to Calgacus by the historian Tacitus in the Agricola ( 30 ):

The emperor is described as a handsome youth, like Mars and Apollo, whose accession marks the beginning of a new golden age, prognosticated by the appearance of a comet, doubtless the same that appeared some time before the death of Claudius ; he exhibits splendid games in the amphitheatre ( probably the wooden amphitheatre erected by Nero in 57 ); and in the words " maternis causam qui vicit lulis " ( i. 45 ) there is a reference to the speech delivered in Greek by Nero on behalf of the Ilienses ( Suetonius, Nero, 7 ; Tacitus, Annals, xii.

In the first book of the Historiae, a speech put in the mouth of Galba makes clear Tacitus ' ideological and political position.