Les Œuvres de C. Cornelius Tacitus.

Tacitus. The Works of C. Cornelius Tacitus, Roman knight. Namely, the Annals and Histories of events that occurred in the empire of Rome after the death of Augustus… All newly translated into French with some necessary annotations for the understanding of the more difficult and remarkable words.

Paris, Abel l’Angelier, 1582.

First complete French edition of the Works of Tacitus, given by Etienne de La Planche and Claude Fauchet.

Graesse, VI, 16; Rahir, Bibliothèque de l’amateur, 651.

“By the early seventeenth century, Tacitus had become the most popular ancient historian in France. At least thirty-three editions were published in France between 1582 and 1663. These Tacitean editions were particularly prestigious, expensive editions. The first major French translation of Tacitus’s works (1582) is in folio. The size and the quality of the late sixteenth century editions of Tacitus are a testimony to the prestige he enjoyed. Tacitus became the official classical historian of France” (Jacob Soll).

In the Annals, we first find a century of Roman history—the greatest one—from Augustus to Nero. Dramatic or bloody scenes, disasters abound, as do complex characters, extraordinary figures, from the philosopher Seneca to the monstrous Nero. Beyond this, Tacitus offers a theory of political power: how does someone become a dictator? How does a democracy submit to a totalitarian power?

“Tacitus’s art succeeded in creating immortal characters, so well did he manage to give coherence to their passions and feelings. […] These qualities and defects, precisely because they are linked to this particular vision of history, unique to Tacitus, confer on the Annals, even more than on the Histories, a unique place in ancient historiography, and give their author not only the reputation of a great artist, but also that of a deep connoisseur of the human soul” (Dictionary of Works).

“Tacitus is the outstanding historian and the principal prose writer of the Silver Age of Latin letters. His much-admired style, antithetical, terse and rhetorical, drives home his meaning with unrivalled force” (PMM).

Precious copy preserved in its contemporary morocco binding with the arms of Sully (1559-1641).

A handwritten annotation notes “This is the Tacitus of old Sully”.

Maximilien I de Béthune, Duke of Sully (1559-1641), served in the army of Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre. Henri IV successively appointed him State and Finance Counselor in 1594, Superintendent of Finances in 1598, Ambassador to England, and Governor of Poitou in 1603. Sully was involved in all affairs, both domestic and foreign, and often even in the private life of Henri IV, of whom he was a close personal friend. He died on December 22, 1641, leaving behind memoirs of great importance for the history of Henri IV. (O. Hermal, pl.441).