How would you describe Tacitus' attitude regarding the empire and Roman imperialism?

There
are in effect two questions here. The first would refer to Tacitus's view of "the
Empire," meaning the system of authoritarian rule that replaced the Republic. The second,
regarding "imperialism," would seem to focus on his view of Rome's colonization of
foreign lands, which had of course begun long before the Republic was ended. It is a subtle
difference because the two terms in English both come from the Latin word
imperium.

Tacitus, in the first pages of the
Annals of Imperial Rome, makes no secret of his opinion that the
establishment of the Empire, under Augustus, was the beginning of the end for the glory of Rome.
His view of Augustus himself and his administration is not really a negative one, but he implies
that it was during this period (27 BCE - 14 CE) forces were unleashed that were beyond the
ability of Augustus, or any decent leader, to control. Augustus's wife Livia was, of course,
suspected of poisoning Augustus so that her son from her first marriage, Tiberius,
could...