Tacitus’ moral seems clear. The role of
the princeps is to restrain the over-large
political personalities of the leading citizens
under his aegis. Under such a system of rule
the good public citizen has of necessity to be
prudent: ancient philosophy as well as
common sense counselled against throwing
away one’s own life unnecessarily. Yet he
has also to enable the expression of his
political personality, and to stand up to efforts
to suppress it, if necessary at the cost of his
life. Hence for Tacitus the spectres of
the old ‘republican’ martyrs retain their
glamour. It is surely no coincidence that
Tacitus’ account of Seneca’s death echoes
so closely Cicero’s estimation of the
‘philosophical suicide’ of Cato of Utica, the
greatest ‘republican’ martyr of them all.