THE HISTORIES

The Roman historian Tacitus details the turbulent "Year of the Four Emperors," 69 CE, which was rife with war, political violence, chicanery, inept and vicious leaders, and even an assault on the Capitol. Narrator David Timson, with a fine voice and an easy mastery of pacing, tone, and the intelligent expression of the text's meaning, goes beyond mere narration to bring out the mind and character of Tacitus implicit in the book: the worldly, but not jaded, judge of men, at once broad-minded and censorious. Timson gives appropriate emotions--anger, disdain, despair--when reading speeches quoted in the text, but Tacitus he renders as both coolly sophisticated and sardonically judgmental. He doesn't read Tacitus; he performs AS Tacitus recounting the history, which gives this audiobook an extra spark. W.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2021]