Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was born about AD 56 in Gaul or northern Italy and is Rome's greatest historian. He married the daughter of the general Agricola, rose steadily in office under the tyrant Domitian, and later became consul and governor of Asia, renowned as an orator. After Domitian's death he turned to history, laying bare the intrigue, flattery and terror of imperial rule. His style is extremely compressed, sombre and incisive, and many of his sentences have become proverbial, such as 'They make a desert and call it peace.'