Tacitus
Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (ca. AD 56 – ca. AD 120) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors. These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to the years of the First Jewish–Roman War, in 70 AD. There are enormous lacunae in the surviving texts, including one four books long in the Annals.
Other works by Tacitus discuss oratory (in dialogue format, see Dialogus de oratoribus), Germania (in De origine et situ Germanorum), and biographical notes about his father-in-law Agricola, primarily during his campaign in Britannia (see De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae).
Tacitus was an author writing in the latter part of the Silver Age of Latin literature.
“There was more courage in bearing trouble than in escaping from it; the brave and the energetic cling to hope, even in spite of fortune; the cowardly and the indolent are hurried by their fears,' said Plotius Firmus, Roman Praetorian Guard.”
“За обиждащия е свойство да ненавижда тези, които е обидил.”
“If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.”
“A bad peace is worse than war.”
“Think of it. Fifteen whole years-no small part of a mans life.-taken from us-all the most energetic have fallen to the cruelty of the emperor. And the few that survive are no longer what we once were. Yet I find some small satisfaction in acknowledging the bondage we once suffered. Tacitus, The Agricola”
“Secure against the designs of men, secure against the malignity of the Gods, they have accomplished a thing of infinite difficulty; that to them nothing remains even to be wished.”
“Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure”
“Who, to say nothing about the perils of an awful and unknown sea, would have left Asia or Africa or Italy to look for Germany?”
“Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.”
“The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.”
“Great empires are not maintained by timidity.”
“So obscure are the greatest events, as some take for granted any hearsay, whatever its source, others turn truth into falsehood, and both errors find encouragement with posterity.”
“It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks.”
“They have plundered the world, stripping naked the land in their hunger… they are driven by greed, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor… They ravage, they slaughter, they seize by false pretenses, and all of this they hail as the construction of empire. And when in their wake nothing remains but a desert, they call that peace.”
“To show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it.”
“Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.”
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”
“It is a principle of nature to hate those whom you have injured.”