Who is Tacitus who gave PM the bite and whip

New Delhi, March 8: The House of Elders saw today the combative prime minister as Manmohan Singh revealed his aggressive and mocking style seen briefly in Lok Sabha earlier this week.

Expressing confidence that growth would bounce back to 7-8 percent, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday that the opposition should be more objective in assessing the work of the government. An acerbic Manmohan Singh said "men of envy" disparage everything.

The men of envy is a quote from the writings of great Roman historian, orator and politician Tacitus.
Attacking the opposition, Singh said today: "When men are full of envy they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad."

The originator of this quote Publius Cornelius Tacitus was also famous for saying 'rumour is not always wrong.'
Tacitus was a Roman senator, consul, and governor of Asia under Roman emire. Born in AD 56 he died in AD 120.

The Roman politician was perhaps unhappy with the status quo and said once "it is only necessary to make war with five things: with the maladies of the body, with the ignorance of the mind, with the passions of the body, with the sedition of the city, with the discords of families."

And why was the prime minister quoting Tacitus? Speaking in Rajya Sabha during the debate on the motion of thanks to the president's address, Manmohan Singh today said "I agree to Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley saying that country needs a growth of 7-8 percent to get rid of poverty. I would like to remind this house that this is precisely the intention of the UPA government.".

"The Congress government in early nineties opened up our economy and the path of economic reforms to create an environment for rapid industrialization," he said.

"Jaitley should be more objective in assessing work of UPA government whether agriculture, growth rate or industrialisation as the record of the UPA speaks for itself and we don't have to go in more details," he said.

Referring to the growth rate during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 1998-2004, Manmohan Singh said, "Growth rate in the country has been highest since the UPA came to power and it is only in 2012-13 that growth rate will be 5 percent."

"We are confident that the growth will bounce back with our efforts to 7 to 8 percent. If leader of opposition, colleagues reflect calmly they will conclude that the path we have chosen is the right path," he said.

OneIndia News