_Ibid._ ii. 11, 2, 'Ego et Cornelius Tacitus, adesse provincialibus iussi.' § 17, 'Respondit Cornelius Tacitus eloquentissime, et quod eximium orationi eius inest, σεμνῶς.'
In A.D. 77 Tacitus was betrothed to the daughter of Agricola, then consul, and in A.D. 78 he married her.
_Agr._ 9, 'Consul egregiae tum spei filiam iuveni mihi despondit ac post consulatum collocavit, et statim Britanniae praepositus est.'
Tacitus gives us a clue to his political career in _Hist._ i. 1.
'Dignitatem nostram a Vespasiano incohatam, a Tito auctam, a Domitiano longius provectam non abnuerim.'
This probably means that Vespasian granted him the _latus clavus_, _i.e._ a place in the _ordo senatorius_, which was followed by the _vigintiviratus_ given by the Senate, and a commission in the army as _tribunus militum laticlavius_; that Titus appointed him quaestor A.D. 80-1; and that Domitian made him tribune or aedile (about 84), and in A.D. 88 praetor. For the last office cf. _Ann._ xi. 11,
'Is [Domitianus] edidit ludos saeculares, eisque intentius adfui sacerdotio quindecimvirali praeditus ac tunc praetor.'
That Tacitus was absent from Rome A.D. 90-93 we may infer from what he says of Agricola's death (A.D. 93).
_Agr._ 45, 'Nobis tam longae absentiae condicione ante quadriennium amissus est.'
He must have returned to Rome soon afterwards, for he says in the same chapter: 'Mox nostrae duxere Helvidium in carcerem manus; nos Maurici Rusticique visus, nos innocenti sanguine Senecio perfudit.'
Tacitus was appointed consul suffectus under Trajan A.D. 98 (see Pliny, _Ep._ ii. 1, 6, above quoted).
An inscription found at Mylasa in Caria shows that Tacitus was proconsul of Asia about 112-116 A.D.[111]
Tacitus probably died soon after the publication of the _Annals_ (A.D. 115-7), as he did not live to write his contemplated works on the Augustan age and the reigns of Nerva and Trajan.
_Hist._ i. 1, 'Quod si vita suppeditet, principatum divi Nervae et imperium Traiani ... senectuti seposui.'
_Ann._ iii. 24, 'Cetera illius aetatis [Augusti] memorabo, si effectis in quae tetendi, plures ad curas vitam produxero.'
Tacitus was on intimate terms with Pliny, eleven of whose letters are addressed to him. From vii. 20 and viii. 7 we see that they were in the habit of "exchanging proof-sheets." To the same circle belonged Fabius Iustus, to whom the _Dialogus_ is dedicated, and Asinius Rufus.