"Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II" by Cornelius Tacitus (translated by W. Hamilton Fyfe). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

"In The History of Make-Believe, Holly Haynes acutely queries the relationship of historiography, historical reality, and symbolic representations of lived historical processes. This is a serious book, informed by wide reading, and full of startlingly original insights on some of the most prominent and significant themes in Tacitus’s works. Indeed, it deserves close attention by anyone interested in the political and social strategies of high Imperial Rome."—T. Corey Brennan, author of The Praetorship in the Roman Republic "In Tacitus the historical truth is conveyed in literary truth-telling. Instead of leaving the two separated as we do, Holly Haynes shows that Tacitus put them together in what she calls the combination ‘make-believe.’ Her book shines with originality and intelligence while opening the way to Tacitus’s canny wisdom."—Harvey Mansfield, author of Machiavelli's Virtue

Tacitus' Annals of Imperial Rome recount the major historical events from the years shortly before the death of Augustus up to the death of Nero in AD 68. With clarity and vivid intensity he describes the reign of terror under the corrupt Tiberius, the great fire of Rome during the time of Nero, and the wars, poisonings, scandals, conspiracies and murders that were part of imperial life. Despite his claim that the Annals were written objectively, Tacitus' account is sharply critical of the emperors' excesses and fearful for the future of Imperial Rome, while also filled with a longing for its past glories.

The first historical work by Rome's greatest historian, Tacitus' Histories hold a crucial place in the history of Latin literature. Book I covers the beginning of the infamous 'Year of the Four Emperors' (69 CE), which brought imperial Rome to the brink of destruction after the demise of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius ride the currents of senatorial politics and military sedition to power, while the survivor Vespasian waits just off-stage. After a distinguished public career during the principates of Vespasian and his sons, Tacitus, in middle age, embarked on a historical narrative recording the seering events of the Rome of his youth. This edition provides a Latin text of Book I, a commentary accessible to students of intermediate level and above, and an introduction discussing historical, literary, and stylistic issues. The chance survival of three parallel accounts permits detailed analysis of Tacitus' selection and stylization of material.

Tacitus' Annals is the central historical source for first-century C.E. Rome, but it has also become a central text in the western literary, political, and even philosophical traditions - from the Renaissance to the French and American revolutions, and beyond. This volume attempts to enhance the general reader's understanding of why Tacitus' book is so remarkable that it has had such a profound effect across the centuries.