MARCUS

See also:

• CLAUDIUS
• CLAUDIUS [TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NERO GERMANICUS]
• CLAUDIUS, MARCUS AURELIUS
• CLAUDIUS, MATTHIAS (174o-1815)

CLAUDIUS

See also:

• TACITUS, CORNELIUS (c. 55-120)
• MARCUS CLAUDIUS TACITUS

TACITUS  , Roman emperor from the 25th of September A.D . 275 to April 276, was a native of Interanina (Terni) in Umbria . In the course of his long life he held various civil offices, including that of consul in 273, with universal respect . Six months after the assassination of Aurelian he was chosen by the senate to succeed him, and the choice was cordially ratified by the army . During his brief reign he set on foot some domestic reforms, and sought to revive the authority of the senate, but, after a victory over the Goths in Cilicia, he succumbed to hardship and fatigue (or was slain by his own soldiers) at Tyana in Cappadocia . Tacitus, besides being a man of immense wealth (which he bequeathed to the state), 3 Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, Bk. i. ch. i, . 4 Ann. vi . 21, 22 . had considerable literary culture, and was proud to claim descent from the historian, whose works he caused to be transcribed at the public experse and placed in the public libraries . Tacitus possessed many admirable qualities, but his gentle character and advanced age unfitted him for the throne in such lawless times . See Life by Vopiscus in Historiae Augustae Scriptores; also Eutropius, ix . 10; Aurelius Victor, Caesares, 36; Zonara3 xii .

28; H .

Schiller, Geschichle der romischen Kaiserzeit, i . 1883; Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie, iii . 2871 if .