The birth-year of Tacitus can only be conjectured—indeed the little that is known of him personally is mostly derived from the letters of his friend, the younger Pliny, the date of whose birth helps us towards at least surmising that of the historian. Pliny was born in 61 or 62 A.D., since he was in his eighteenth year when the famous eruption of Vesuvius took place, A.D. 79. Now, in a letter from him to Tacitus, he writes: "When I was a very young man, and you were at the height of your fame and reputation, I earnestly desired to imitate you." The historian himself affords us a few glimpses at his public life. "My elevation," he says, "was begun by Vespasian." Again, we know on his own authority that he was prætor in 88 A.D., and on that of Pliny that he was consul in 97. Comparing these statements with each other, it is perhaps not rash to infer that Tacitus was by several years Pliny's senior. We are therefore inclined to fix 51 instead of 54 A.D.—the date usually assigned—as the year in which he was born.
A. C. vol. xvii.
