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Tacitus holds the praetorship in 88 CE and takes part as quindecimvir in Domitian’s Secular Games

A praetorship under Domitian is also a career step inside a later-hated court — the silence row stores that cost. In the causal graph this event strengthens Social Cohesion, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — an improving welfare path.

Read the full account

He did not invent the saeculum. The games are cohesion as imperial rite, not a modern festival grant. Archival locator: Britannica — Tacitus at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tacitus-Roman-historian (opens in a new tab) (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Independent locator: Livius — Tacitus at https://www.livius.org/sources/content/tacitus/ (opens in a new tab) (Livius.org).

Context

Quindecimviri guarded the Sibylline books and public cult. A praetorship under Domitian is also a career step inside a later-hated court — the silence row stores that cost. Shared staging with the emperor and the college is ordinary. Later Christian readings of ‘pagan games’ are not 88.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Why it matters

Priestly-magisterial participation in a century rite is a cohesion path: a public calendar of belonging. Medium-high confidence on the offices; the moral colour of serving Domitian is the neighbouring worsening row. Modest weight.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Domitian’s later damnatio is not this 88 rite. Mixed effects of Tacitus holds the praetorship in 88 CE and takes part as quindecimvir in Domitian’s Secular Games are separate paths.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Tacitus

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

    Praetor and quindecimvir at the ludi saeculares. Domitian staged the games; a college of priests shared the rite.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactTacitus holds the praetorship in 88 CE and takes part as quindecimvir in Domitian’s Secular Games
    2. strengthensDriverSocial Cohesion
    3. strengthensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
    Improving path

    impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 January 88 · verified

    • Having a say in government

      via Social Cohesion

      Better

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      Two readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).

      20212023

      Above normal = better

    • Rule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score

      via Social Cohesion

      Better

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.

      Normal is zero · any amount = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Livius — TacitusLivius.org · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — TacitusEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Tacitus records, and standard lives repeat, that he was praetor in 88 and a quindecimvir sacris faciundis at Domitian’s Secular Games.

Britannica’s biography places the praetorship in 88 under Domitian. Livius independently treats the quindecimvirate and the Secular Games as his self-located offices. No ticket stub survives.

Established as received: praetor 88; quindecimvir at the Secular Games. Not established: a unique programme of the games from his hand, or that he authored the ritual. Conventional year. Not a 17th-century edition.

Shared responsibility is part of Tacitus holds the praetorship in 88 CE and takes part as quindecimvir in Domitian’s Secular Games. Naming Tacitus does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 0088-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorTacitus
  2. contributed toFactTacitus holds the praetorship in 88 CE and takes part as quindecimvir in Domitian’s Secular Games
  3. strengthensDriverSocial Cohesion
  4. strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Tacitus holds the praetorship in 88 CE and takes part as quindecimvir in Domitian’s Secular Games. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/tac-praetor-88-ludi

https://factrail.ai/facts/tac-praetor-88-ludi

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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