Germania, Speculum Inversum

Germania: The Mirror Turned Around

Quos olim Romanis exemplo proposui, nunc ipsi exemplo egent.

The people I once held up as a reproach to Rome now stand in need of an example themselves.

P. Cornelius Tacitus

Historicus, consul anno DCCCLHistorian, consul A.D. 97 · PRINCIPATVS

a.d. V Id. Oct. · MMDCCLXXIX a.u.c.

11 October 2026 · 1 minutae legendimin read

Germania, Speculum InversumGermania: The Mirror Turned Around

Textus paragraphis congruitParagraphs aligned for learners

LATINEANGLICE

Scripsi quondam apud Germanos plus valere bonos mores quam alibi bonas leges. Nunc leges abundant; de moribus tacetur.

I once wrote that among the Germans good customs counted for more than good laws elsewhere. Now they have laws in abundance. Of customs, nothing is said.

· FINIS ·

FONTES ANTIQVIANCIENT SOURCES

Tac. Germ. 19plusque ibi boni mores valent quam alibi bonae leges.

FONTES HODIERNITODAY’S SOURCES

—Haec sententia ex ipsius ingenio, non ex nuntio singulari.This piece reflects on the times rather than a single report.

Res ex fontibus; sententia Romani.Facts from the sources; the opinion is the Roman’s.

P. Cornelius Tacitus

c. 56–120 p.C.n.c. A.D. 56–120 · Annales · Res PublicaAnnals · Analysis

Senator sub Domitiano tacuit, sub Nerva et Traiano scripsit. Principum adulationem, senatus servitium, libertatis umbram nemo acrius descripsit — sine ira et studio, ut ait.A senator who kept silent under Domitian and wrote under Nerva and Trajan. No one described the flattery of rulers, the servility of senates and the shadow of lost liberty more sharply — without anger or partiality, so he says.

Haec vox restituta est ex his libris:This voice is reconstructed from:

AnnalesHistoriaeGermaniaAgricolaDialogus

Omnia scripta →Everything by this writer →