A classical scholar from the University of Oxford, Henry Furneaux (1829–1900) specialised in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus. This work acquired the name of Annals for the style of history it presents, dealing with events year by year, rather than thematically. The Annals cover the reigns of four Roman emperors, beginning after the death of Augustus. The work originally consisted of sixteen books dealing with a period of 54 years, but several of them are incomplete or have not survived at all. This volume contains the text of Books 13 to 16 (the final book being incomplete), and covers the reign of Nero, a subject which brought out to the full Tacitus' famous style of condemnation through cutting irony. This reissue is taken from Pitman's 1904 edition, abridged 'to serve the needs of students requiring a less copious and advanced commentary' than that supplied by Furneaux.