H. Mattingly, the original translator of the Penguin Classics edition – later revised by S.A. Handford – of The Agricola and The Germania, writes in his introduction, which is almost as long as both works themselves:
Tacitus is fond of short sentences and shuns the long period. He is terse, fond of variety, given to inversion and poetic forms of expression. His works were probably all designed to be declaimed, in the first place. That is why a chapter so often ends with an epigram; it is a signal for applause before the next chapter begins. Many of these epigrams leave their sting behind them. But occasionally the form is there without the spirit, because what Tacitus actually has to say is quite simple and not really epigrammatic.
I wonder, is that a majority opinion? Or, conversely, were most prose works meant to be declaimed, as is implied in so many novels about Ancient Rome? I have not been able to locate a source for the latter so far.
Postcript: Go to comments below.
