age inquiry, to call out judgment and intelligence, and so it fails as an instrument of education. Of the many imperfections in my own Commentary, the superfluities on some points, the shortcomings on others, I am deeply conscious; but I have tried to put into the notes whatever seemed to me really illustrative of the subject, and to indicate as far as I could (for Tacitus's language is sometimes a riddle) the author's actual meaning. The work has been a labour of love, for I value Tacitus alike for his wit and for his wisdom; for the true things he says and the matchless way in which he says them. In the introductory chapters I have attempted to discuss the questions of greatest importance arising out of or connected with the Histories. I hope they may add something to the interest of the book and to the right understanding of the history.

In conclusion, I have only to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to my friends and colleagues, Mr. P. E. Matheson and Mr. A. H. Cruickshank, for the help they have given me by revising the proof-sheets; and also to express my hearty thanks to my printers, Messrs. R. and R. Clark, of Edinburgh, for many valuable corrections and hints which they and their readers have furnished while the work has been passing through the Press.

NEW COLLEGE, Oxford,

December 1890.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I. ON THE MANUSCRIPTS AND EARLIER EDITIONS OF
TACITUS'S HISTORIES

PAGES

1-6

II. THE HISTORIES AND THE OTHER WRITINGS OF

TACITUS

6-11

III. THE MATERIALS USED BY TACITUS IN THE COM-
POSITION OF THE HISTORIES.

11-23

IV. OF THE CONDITION OF THE PROVINCES IN 69 A.D.,
AND OF THE PARTS WHICH THEY PLAYED IN

VI. THE FIRST AND SECOND BATTLES OF BEDRIACUM.

75-87

CORNELII TACITI HISTORIAE