In this volume distinguished scholars from both sides of the Atlantic
explore the work of Tacitus in its historical and literary context and
also show how his text was interpreted in the sixteenth through
eighteenth centuries. Discussed here, for example, are the ways
predilections of a particular age color one's reading of a complex
author and why a reexamination of these influences is necessary to
understand both the author and those who have interpreted him. All of
the essays were first prepared for a colloquium on Tacitus held at
Princeton University in March 1990. The resulting volume is dedicated to
the memory of the great Tacitean scholar Sir Ronald Syme.
The contributors are G. W. Bowersock ("Tacitus and the Province of
Asia"), T. J. Luce ("Reading and Response in the Dialogus"), Elizabeth
Keitel ("Speech and Narrative in Histories 4"), Christopher Pelling
("Tacitus and Germanicus"), Judith Ginsburg ("In maiores certamina:
Past and Present in the Annals"), A. J. Woodman ("Amateur Dramatics at
the Court of Nero"), Mark Morford ("Tacitean Prudentia and the
Doctrines of Justus Lipsius"), Donald R. Kelley ("Tacitus Noster: The
Germania in the Renaissance and Reformation"), and Howard D. Weinbrot
("Politics, Taste, and National Identity: Some Uses of Tacitism in
Eighteenth-Century Britain").
Originally published in 1993.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from
the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions
preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting
them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the
Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich
scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by
Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
