Tacitus, Annals XII: A Selection

Summary

This is the OCR-endorsed edition covering the Latin AS and A-Level (Group 1) prescription of Tacitus Annals XII, 25-26, 41–43, 52–53, 56–59, 64–69, giving full Latin text, commentary and vocabulary, with a detailed introduction. It is AD 48 and the emperor Claudius marries his 4th wife Agrippina. Little does he know that over the next six years she will build her power and destroy her opponents, until she is ready for her greatest crime – the murder of Claudius himself to enable the accession of her son Nero. Tacitus creates a gripping account of the struggle for power under a weak princeps, involving family rivals, scheming freedmen and servile senators.