The Annals of Tacitus

Book 11 The First Of The Later Books Of The Annals To Survive Narrates Two Years In The Reign Of Claudius Ad 478. While Claudius Is Busy With The Duties Of His Censorship His Wife Messalina Is Having A Very Public Love Affair With The Young Aristocrat Silius That Eventually Ruins Her. In A Book That Also Treats German Eastern And Other Roman Internal Affairs A Third Of The Surviving Narrative Is Devoted To The Destruction Of Messalina. Here We Encounter The Classic Portrayal Of A Claudius Ignorant And Manipulated By Those Around Him In An Extended Narrative That Shows Tacitus At His Dramatic And Cynical Best. This Edition Of Book 11 The First Scholarly One In English In Over A Hundred Years Contains A Full Introduction A Newly-Edited Latin Text With Apparatus And A Comprehensive Commentary That Illuminates Historical Historiographical Textual Linguistic And Literary Issues That Arise From The Narrative.