SOURCE: Blockley, R. C. “Tacitean Influence upon Ammianus Marcellinus.” Latomus 32, no. 1 (January-March 1973): 63-78.

In the following essay, Blockley investigates the extent of Ammianus's borrowings from Tacitus and concludes that there is no convincing case that Tacitus was a major influence.

During the late fourth and fifth centuries a.d., a period which saw a revival of interest in, and study of, some of the great works of Latin literature, Tacitus, after a period of neglect, found a measure of popularity. He was known, to a greater or lesser extent, by, amongst others, Aurelius Victor, Sulpicius Severus, Orosius, Ambrose and Sidonius Apollinaris¹. Flavius Vopiscus certainly knew of him (Vit. Aurel., 2, 1) and tells a story that the Emperor Tacitus, who claimed descent from the historian, had ten copies of his works made each year and placed in the archives and public libraries, lest he be lost through lack of readers'...