La periodizzazione della storia repubblicana in Sallustio e in Tacito

The periodization of Republican history in Sallustius and Tacitus · Sallust’s evaluation of Republican history is based on strictly ethical criteria, while Tacitus’s is based on ethical-legal criteria. The two historians disagree on some specific points (the Gracchi; Sulla), but above all, Sallust’s linear pessimism contrasts with Tacitus’s cautious, cyclical optimism: the former is an Italic pessimist about the fate of the Italici after Caesar’s death, the latter a Gallo-Roman who cannot help but be optimistic facing the impetuous rise of the Empire’s western provinces.