ἱστορίαι Historiai
Tac. Ann. 2.54 The Annals, Tacitus; served verbatim
Thence he directed his course to Eubœa and crossed to Lesbos, where Agrippina for the last time was confined and gave birth to Julia. He then penetrated to the remoter parts of the province of Asia, visited the Thracian cities, Perinthus and Byzantium; next, the narrow strait of the the Propontis and the entrance of the Pontus, from an anxious wish to become acquainted with those ancient and celebrated localities. He gave relief, as he went, to provinces which had been exhausted by internal feuds or by the oppressions of governors. In his return he attempted to see the sacred mysteries of the Samothracians, but north winds which he encountered drove him aside from his course. And so after visiting Ilium and surveying a scene venerable from the vicissitudes of fortune and as the birth-place of our people, he coasted back along Asia, and touched at Colophon, to consult the oracle of the Clarian Apollo. There, it is not a woman, as at Delphi, but a priest chosen from certain families, generally from Miletus, who ascertains simply the number and the names of the applicants. Then descending into a cave and drinking a draught from a secret spring, the man, who is commonly ignorant of letters and of poetry, utters a response in verse answering to the thoughts conceived in the mind of any inquirer. It was said that he prophesied to Germanicus, in dark hints, as oracles usually do, an early doom.

The Greek stands ready in the workroom; the English is served. Both faces will read together.

← Tac. Ann. 2.53 contents Tac. Ann. 2.55 →

Filed here — the addresses this episode attests; counted by the house’s first pass
Agrippina — a candidate entry Apollo — a candidate entry Germanicus — a candidate entry Julia — a candidate entry

The Annals, Tacitus — translated by Alfred John Church & William Jackson Brodribb, 1876
Perseus Digital Library — Tacitus, The Annals (Church & Brodribb translation) · Alfred John Church & William Jackson Brodribb (1876); Perseus Project digital edition
license: public-domain (the Church & Brodribb translation, 1876); Perseus digital edition CC BY-SA, attribution recorded per ops/corpus-staging/SOURCES.md pattern