Tacitus: Liberty and Tyranny in the Annals

This is a Reading List based upon a Liberty Fund Conference on “Liberty and Tyranny in Tacitus' Annals.”

Liberty and Tyranny in Tacitus’s Annals

Topic

Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome is a leading source of ideas about political institutions and the corruption of power for the Founding generation of the United States and it is one of the central texts for understanding the ideas which influenced the formation of the American constitutional.

Guide to the Readings

Editions used:

• Publius Cornelius Tacitus, The Works of Tacitus. In Four Volumes. To which are prefixed, Political Discourses upon that Author by Thomas Gordon. The Second Edition, corrected. (London: T. Woodward and J. Peele, 1737). Vol. 1.
• Publius Cornelius Tacitus, The Works of Tacitus. In Four Volumes. To which are prefixed, Political Discourses upon that Author by Thomas Gordon. The Second Edition, corrected. (London: T. Woodward and J. Peele, 1737). Vol. 2.

See also in the Online Library of Liberty:

• Collections: The American Revolution and Constitution
• Collections: The Founding Fathers of the U.S. Constitution
• Collections: Founding Fathers' Library

For additional reading see:

• Tacitus (56-120)
• Bibliography: Founding Father's Library
• Thomas Gordon

Session I: Tiberius and the Rush to Servitude

Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome, vol. 1

• Book I and Book II

Session II: The Tyrant and the Law

Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome, vol. 1 and 2

• Book III and Book IV

Session III: Tiberius’s Reign of Terror

Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome, vol. 2

• Book V and Book VI

Session IV: Claudius’s Women

Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome, vol. 2

• Book XI and Book XII

Session V: Nero’s Tyrannical Debauchery

Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome, vol. 2

• Book XIII and Book XIV

Session VI: Nero’s Tyrannical Theatricality

Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome, vol. 2

• Book XV and Book XVI