"I have always believed that Tacitus would be one of the best school books, even while children are learning to read. they could never forget the hatred of vice and tyranny which that author inspires." - Thomas Jefferson to Mathew Carey, 12 Jan. 1801 [PTJ 32:447]

"no stile of writing is so delightful as that which is all pith, which never omits a necessary word, nor uses an unnecessary one. the finest models of this existing are Sallust and Tacitus, which on that account are worthy of constant study." - Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, 7 Dec. 1808

"Tacitus I consider as the first writer in the world without a single exception. his book is a compound of history & morality of which we have no other example." - Thomas Jefferson to Anne Cary Randolph Bankhead, 8 Dec. 1808

" ... Tacitus I consider as the first writer in the world without a single exception. his book is a compound of history & morality of which we have no other example." — Thomas Jefferson to Anne Cary Bankhead, 8 Dec. 1800

Tacitus I consider as the first writer in the world without a single exception. His book is a compound of history & morality of which we have no other example.

(TJ to Anne Carey Bankhead, December 8, 1800.)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbc3&fileName=rbc0001_2007jeffca...