The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · ¶460

The administration of Tacitus was not unworthy of his life and principles. A grateful servant of the senate, he considered that national council as the author, and himself as the subject, of the laws. He studied to heal the wounds which Imperial pride, civil discord, and military violence, had inflicted on the constitution, and to restore, at least, the image of the ancient republic, as it had been preserved by the policy of Augustus, and the virtues of Trajan and the Antonines. It may not be useless to recapitulate some of the most important prerogatives which the senate appeared to have regained by the election of Tacitus.. To invest one of their body, under the title of emperor, with the general command of the armies, and the government of the frontier provinces.. To determine the list, or, as it was then styled, the College of Consuls. They were twelve in number, who, in successive…

Edward Gibbon · Project Gutenberg #731 (Milman edition) — public domain
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