Author: Tacitus was one of the earliest Greek writers on the art of war and is credited as the first author to provide a complete guide to securing military communications.
Date/ Context: This piece is written after a civil war in Europe war and it is written about how the war was won and the outcome of it.
Summary: Tacitus writes about how the winner of the war, Augustus Caesar won the people over with bribes. While his people were distracted he got to work establishing a Senate and putting in his own laws. He makes the illusion that like everything he controls is peaceful and perfect. He revolutionized his country by stripping him people of their equality and outing himself and their unopposed leader.
Quote: “Stripped of equality, all look up to the commands of a sovereign without the least apprehension for the present" (177).
This speech was given during the European war, the whole meaning of the speech was to give an overlook on the war and the things that it resulted. The quote given was a well chosen quote for the reasoning of the speech, but a little more information on the speech would have made it better.
ReplyDeleteTacitus (ca.55-120 CE), a renowned orator, utilized his rhetorical gifts in his historical accounts. This particular excerpt cynically describes Augustus's rise to power through bribery. Through sarcasm, he mourns the loss of liberty and describes the implementation of safety and security at the cost of liberty.
ReplyDeleteAnother quote to consider: "Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with cheap [grain], and all men with the sweets of repose...the readier they were to be slaves...they preferred safety of the present to the dangerous past."