historical and political thought in the seventeenth - RePub - Erasmus ...

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Chapter 7. The mistress of life
Tacitus not only knew what he was talking about, he also had access to the best
primary sources that were available in his time, written by contemporaries who
were actually involved in the events he was interested in.
Tacitus’s honesty, on the other hand, was connected to the time he lived in,
the happy days of the reigns of the Roman emperors Nerva (c.30-98) and Trajan
(53-117), who had brought an end to the terror that had held sway under
emperor Domitian (51-96), when the Romans were ‘deprived by espionage
even of the intercourse of speaking and listening to one another’. Under Trajan,
however, ‘public security has not merely inspired our hopes and prayers
but has gained the assurance of those prayers’ fulfilment and, from this,
strength’. Taken together, Tacitus’s own experience, his access to the sources
that mattered, and his honesty contributed to the reliability of his works. 28
Besides being honest, four other qualities characterise the good historian:
erudition (eruditio), talent (ingenium), ), the power of judgement (judicium ( ), and
‘an enormous diligence’ (industria immensa). 29 These qualities come in handy
when delving into ‘that vast variety of so many events’ that is so ‘pleasant’
and so ‘necessary’ if one wants to make an ‘important and right judgement
about human affairs’. 30 To make this ‘vast variety of so many events’ accessible,
some kind of order is wished for, preferably a chronological one. Placing
all the pieces of the historical puzzle in the right chronological order, however,
is a laborious and tedious work. 31
28 Tacitus, Agricola, II.3, and III.1. Quoted in Boxhorn, “Oratio, cum Cornelii Taciti interpretationem
aggrederetur”, pp. 387-88 [391-92]. English translations quoted from Tacitus, Agricola and Germany.
Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Anthony R. Birley (Oxford University Press; Oxford, 1 st
ed. 1999, 2009), p. 4.
29 So we read in Boxhorn’s letter to Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie of May 1643. Boxhorn, Epistolae
et poemata, p. 204. ‘Eruditio quippe et ingenium, judiciumque, ac industria immensa, quae ut egregiae
omnis discplinae, ita hujus primis omnium prudentissimi Scriptores suam fecere possessionem
…’ ‘Hujus’ in this sentence is most likely to refer to history, since the topic of the letter is the value of
Tacitus’s historical works in offering advice in matters of state. These advices were drawn from history.
During the reign of queen Christina of Sweden (1644-1654), Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie (1622-1686)
was one of the leading Swedish nobles. Later he became the head of the Privy Council of king Charles
X (1654-1660).
30 Boxhorn, Oratio inauguralis … cum … historiarum professionem aggrederetur, p. 7. ‘Quid enim, rogo
vos, iucundius, & gravi rectoque de hominum rebus iudicio magis necessarium, illa tam vastâ, tam
profutura vobis, tot rerum varietate?’
31 In his letter to Mogge of February 8, 1638, Boxhorn expresses the difficulties he encountered in
putting all the events that had occurred during the siege of Breda and the year 1637 in a good chronological
order. Boxhorn, Epistolae et poemata, p. 104. ‘Accedit de Bredana obsidione, spissum ac lentum
opus, quod ut gloriae saeculi est destinatum, ita in singular serio, & accurate exquirenda totum me
impendo. Operosae diligentiae res est, nec minus invidiae se cum trahit, praesertim temporum gesta
fide Annalium complecti.’ Not every work of history needs to be composed according to a right chronological
order. In a letter to Pontanus, December 20, 1632, Boxhorn defends the works of the Roman
historians Florus and Velleius Paterculus (c.19 BC-c.31) against the critique that they had not compiled
their work along chronological lines. Boxhorn, Epistolae et poemata, p. 20. ‘Florum sub minibus habet
[i.e. Salmasius-JN]. Totus in eo est, ut florentissimi illius scriptoris admissos passim in Chronologia
errors indicet, atque emendet. Quanquam me quidem sententia, eo nomine Floro adeo non sit insultan-