Tacitus, Historian Thought

Tacitus was a great historian in the early days of Rome Empire.The dissertation will unscramble his historiography thought to show his contributions to Latin historiography development and important influence. I believe it will display some general characters of the historiography of ancient Greece and Rome in their own developing course. With the exception of the introduction and epilogue, the paper totals five chapters. Now, the following is the primary content of each chapter:The introduction discusses mainly the significance of selecting the theme, the past and present history of the research on Tacitus' historiography, and the ways and means of the paper when writing.The first chapter discusses Tacitus' primary learning origin and time background : including the writing tradition of Latin historiography of the later-day, the history of the development of Roman nation, the leading trend of thought in philosophy and society, and the academia of Tacitus in times of turbulence and confusion.They are essential and indispensable to understand the complicated historical and culture context of Tacitus's historiography.The second chapter discusses Tacitus' historical view on recurrence. Tacitus' historical view on recurrence contains the double properties of degeneration and evolution. But on the whole , Tacitus believed that the human society would tend towards decline in recurrence finally. As a direct and earthy factor, Tacitus' historical view on recurrence lies in his pessimistic and depressible view on Rome.The third chapter discusses Tacitus' historical view on kismet. Tacitus' historical view on kismet is the double outcome of Roman conventional faith and the villainous condition nowadays, especially a decline in the public morals. On the nexus between God and human being, Tacitus believed that whether a doer is under the aegis or discipline of the heavens mostly depends on his moral behavior. Now that fate has decided otherwise against expectations, Tacitus pondered upon the problem of how a man controls his destiny under tyrant and tyranny. In a sense, the statements of "Fortune" and "Human nature" incarnate Tacitus' focus on the matter concerning kismet.The forth chapter discusses Tacitus' historical narrative from the point of view of J-Teisai and subject matter. With the strong intention of morals, Tacitus applied his mind to the modern times, "The ignominious businesses within the confined scope " and "The troublesome and tedious themes ". In a sense, Tacitus taked delight intalking about "The inessential and unvalued bagatelles", believing that only suchlike themes can explain what those crucial matters mean indeed. Comparing with else historians of ancient Greece and Rome, Tacitus' historical narrative seeks common points while reserving difference. Tacitus' historiography covers a comparatively extensive view, the consciousness of "general history" serves as the focus on it.The fifth chapter discusses the characters of Tacitus' historical writing from the point of view of how to achieve the true. With the strong intention of morals, Tacitus keeped improving when selecting material as best he can. Tacitus' techniques of treating with historical materials aimed to clarify the truth of the good and the vicious in the annals. When appraiseing historical characters, Tacitus gived attention to two things: relative impersonality and strong sentiment. The fine portray of the character and psychology of historical characters incarnates the double aspects of Tacitus as a great historian and a great litterateur respectively.In the epilogue, we conclude that it is that the age and history which jointly result in Tacitus' historiography. Tacitus' historiography has a far-reaching implication of society and history, especially a profound meaning of political ethics. Tacitus' historiography well displays some general characters of the historiography of ancient Greece and Rome.