TABARI, Apu Jaafar Mohammed Ibn Jorair al, a famous Arabian author, was born in 839 at Amol, the chief city of Tabaristan. His chief works are a commentary on the Koran, and a "History or Chronicle of the Creation to the year 302 of the Hegira." The chronicle of Tabari was abridged and continued by Elmacinus, and the section commencing with Mahomet's birth has been published in Arabic and Latin. Tabari died at Bagdad, in the year of the Hegira 310. He was famous for his knowledge of Mahometan jurisprudence.—J. E.
TABERNÆMONTANUS, Jacobus Theodorus, a French botanist and medical man, was born at Berg-Zabern in Alsace. He prosecuted the study of medicine and graduated at Paris. He then practised at Worms, and became physician to the elector-palatine, John Casimir. He studied specially the virtues of herbs, and published an herbal, entitled "Neue Volkommen Krauterbuch." It was illustrated by woodcuts of plants, the medical properties of which are fully detailed. He entertained the idea that in every locality plants are found, fitted for the cure of the diseases of the district, and he used vegetable remedies extensively. In 1584 he published a work on mineral waters. He retired to Heidelberg, and died there in 1590.—J. H. B.
TACITUS, Caius Cornelius, the Latin historian, was born about a.d. 58. He was first introduced to public life by Vespasian, and married a.d. 78 the daughter of C. Julius Agricola, the conqueror of Britain. In a.d. 88 he was prætor, and was made consul under the reign of Nerva, whom he survived. He was an intimate friend of the younger Pliny, eleven of whose letters addressed to him are still extant. It appears from these that Tacitus enjoyed a great literary reputation in his own time, and that Pliny entertained the highest respect for his judgment and advice. His extant writings are as follows—"The Histories," which were composed on a very extensive scale, and embraced the period from the fall of Nero to the death of Domitian. Only the first five books, however, now survive, in which the history is brought down as far as the commencement of the reign of Vespasian. "The Annals," which contained in sixteen books the history of the empire from the accession of Tiberius to the death of Nero, a.d. 14-68. About one-third, however, of the work is wanting, including the entire reign of Caligula. "The Annals" were composed subsequent to "The Histories," and on a much less extensive scale, apparently because the former treated of past events and the latter of contemporary history. The "Agricola," a life of the celebrated general, Tacitus' father-in-law. The "Germany," a description of the various nations inhabiting what the Romans called Germany, with an account of their manners and laws. One of the historian's main objects in this work was to contrast the simple habits and uncorrupt life of the German people with the luxurious profligacy which had become almost universal in Italy. Much valuable information is contained in this treatise, although it is evident that Tacitus was very imperfectly acquainted with the tribes which lay remote from the Roman frontiers. The dialogue "De Oratoribus," which treats of the causes of the decay of eloquence among the Romans. Its authorship, however, is very doubtful; the style differs widely from the ordinary style of Tacitus, and many of the best scholars assign the dialogue to Quintilian. Of the merits of Tacitus as a writer it is needless to speak. Common consent has placed him in the highest rank, and few have equalled him in the power of delineating the darker forms of human character. His pictures of Nero and Tiberius must always be admired as master-pieces, nor have we any reason to suppose that he has sacrificed truth to effect. Had the lost portions of the "Annals" and "Histories" been preserved, most of what is now obscure in the earlier period of the empire would undoubtedly have been cleared up. The best edition of Tacitus is that by Orelli, Zurich, 1848.—G.
TACITUS, Marcus Claudius, the Roman emperor, was born about the commencement of the third century after Christ, of a wealthy senatorial family claiming descent from the famous historian. He early rose to eminence, and became a distinguished member of the senate. After the death of Aurelian, the choice of an emperor was referred by the soldiery to the senate in 275, who after a delay of some months complied with the request. By the unanimous voice of that august body, Tacitus was raised to the vacant throne, and soon afterwards left Rome to take command of the army in Thrace. He put to death the murderers of his predecessor, and conciliated the troops by liberal pay and ample donatives. During his brief reign, the new ruler did all in his power to arrest the rapid decay of the falling empire. He enacted many salutary laws, and set an example in his own conduct of frugality and moderation. In the following year (276) he put himself at the head of an expedition to subdue a mutinous force of Gothic soldiery in Asia Minor. His advanced age, however, caused him to sink under the fatigues of the campaign, and he died of fever in the same year on the coast of Cilicia.—G.
TACQUET, Andreas, a Flemish mathematician, was born at Antwerp on the 23rd of June, 1612, and died there on the 23rd of December, 1660. He was professor of mathematics in the jesuits' colleges of Louvain and Antwerp. He published some geometrical writings of considerable merit.—W. J. M. R.
* TAGLIONI, Marie, the celebrated opera-dancer, was born in 1804, at Stockholm, where her father was then ballet-master. Educated in France, she was brought on the stage by her father at Vienna in 1822, and in 1827 appeared at the opera in Paris, where, till 1832, she danced with uninterrupted and ever-increasing success. In 1832 she married Count Gilbert de Voisins. In England and Russia, as in France and Germany, she was enthusiastically admired. The possessor of a large fortune and the purchaser of palaces in Vienna and a villa on the lake of Como she retired into private life in 1847.—F. E.
* TAIT, Archibald Campbell, D.D., Lord Bishop of London, was born in 1811, and is the son of Craufurd Tait, Esq., of Harvieston, Clackmannan, by a daughter of Sir Ilay Campbell, Bart., many years president of the court of session. Having completed his preliminary education, first at the high school and then at the new academy of Edinburgh, he entered the university of Glasgow in 1827, where he attained the highest distinction, and in 1830 was elected exhibitioner on Snell's foundation to Balliol college, Oxford. His career at Oxford was remarkably brilliant. He was first-class in classics in 1833, and two years later gained a fellowship at Balliol after a severe competition. He was also elected tutor of his college, and was a prominent member of the Oxford Debating Society. In 1841 he was appointed public examiner, and in the following year took the degree of D.C.L. A few months later he was chosen to succeed Dr. Arnold as head master of Rugby. He maintained the high reputation of that school, and gained the respect and affection of his pupils. But his labours brought on a severe illness, which compelled him in 1849 to resign the mastership. He was soon after appointed dean of Carlisle by Lord John Russell, and was in 1850 nominated one of the commissioners to inquire into the state of the university of Oxford. His deanery was not to him a place of retirement and repose, but a scene of unwearied activity in visiting the poor, instructing the young and ignorant, improving and extending the system of education carried on in the grammar-school, and restoring the cathedral. In 1856, in the midst of these manifold labours, a malignant fever carried
