"Greater things are believed of those who are absent"

People often assign grander qualities and achievements to those who are not directly present. Tacitus pinpoints a timeless human impulse: the tendency to imagine, exaggerate, or idealize what and who is out of sight. Absence opens a space for the imagination to wander unrestrained by reality’s grounding facts. When someone is removed from daily observation, mundane flaws and limitations fade from memory. The stories and rumors that remain can take on a larger-than-life quality, unchallenged and embellished by each retelling.

This psychological phenomenon extends beyond individuals to objects, places, and even historical periods. A distant city seems more glamorous, a bygone era purer and more beautiful, a long-dead leader wiser than those of the present. The grass, as the saying goes, is always greener where we are not. Without direct evidence, hearsay and wishful thinking fill the gaps, casting those absent in a more favorable or more dramatic light. The possibility of greatness looms larger because it cannot be disproved in the moment.

Tacitus’s observation serves as a subtle warning about the fallibility of collective memory and the stories we construct. Tribes, nations, and organizations have always celebrated their founders and heroes with tales that may bear little resemblance to reality. Modern celebrity and political culture still operate on this principle. Distance , whether physical, temporal, or emotional , provides an environment in which belief can grow unchecked by scrutiny or contradiction.

Ultimately, the aphorism invites reflection on the nature of reputation and fame. What do we project onto those who are absent that we would not to those present before us? How might our admiration or awe be based more on invention than on truth? Tacitus reveals an enduring trait: in absence, greatness expands, fed by the endless possibilities of human belief and longing.