ny, without being a great man, is a more
favourable specimen of character, feeling, and gentlemanly tone, than
almost any other Roman author. He avoided censorious writing, and most
of the people he mentions are praised. The chief exception is Regulus
(_Ep._ i. 5, etc.), and possibly also Iavolenus Priscus (vi. 15). When
anybody is blamed, his name is omitted unless he is dead or has been
banished.

_Ep._ vii. 28, i, 'Ais quosdam apud te reprehendisse, tamquam amicos
meos ex omni occasione ultra modum laudem. Agnosco crimen, amplector
etiam. Quid enim honestius culpa benignitatis?'

For his desire of praise cf. _Ep._ ix. 23, 5, 'An ... ego celebritate
nominis mei gaudere non debeo? Ego vero et gaudeo et gaudere me dico.'

For his kindness to slaves cf. _Ep._ viii. 16, 1, 'Permitto servis
quoque quasi testamenta facere eaque ut legitima custodio' (and the
rest of the letter).

For his grief at the loss of friends cf. _Ep._ v. 21, 6, 'Sed quid ego
indulgeo dolori? cui si frenos remittas, nulla materia non maxima est.
Finem epistulae faciam, ut facere possim etiam lacrimis quas epistula
expressit.'

For his love of nature cf. Ep. i. 9, 6, 'O mare, o litus, verum
secretumque +mouseion+, quam multa invenitis, quam multa
dictatis!'

Cf. also descriptions of natural scenery, as in _Epp._ ii. 17, 3; v.
6, 13; vi. 31, 15; viii. 8.

TACITUS.

(1) LIFE.

The historian's full name is uncertain. Other writers, _e.g._ Pliny
the younger, call him Cornelius Tacitus, or simply Tacitus. His
praenomen is given as P. in the best Tacitean MS. (Mediceus I.), and
as C. in later MSS. and by Sidonius Apollinaris (_Ep._ iv. 14;
22).[109] His birthplace is unknown. The tradition that he was born at
Interamna in Umbria arose from the fact that the emperor Tacitus (A.D.
275-6), who claimed descent from the historian (Vopisc. _Tac._ 10, 3),
was born there.[110] The probable date of his birth is got from a
comparison of two passages:

_Dial._ 1, 'Disertissimorum ... hominum ... quos eamdem hanc
quaestionem pertractantes iuvenis admodum audivi.'

Pliny, _Ep._ vii. 20, 3, 'Erit rarum et insigne duos homines aetate
dignitate propemodum aequales ... alterum alterius studia fovisse.
Equidem adulescentulus, cum iam tu fama gloriaque floreres, te sequi,
tibi longo sed proximus intervallo et esse et haberi concupiscebam.'

The dramatic date of the Dialogue is A.D. 75 (_Dial._ 17), and at that
time Tacitus, as _iuvenis admodum_, must ha