In the previous chapter I suggested that the voice of the imperial woman constituted a historical narrative which at times subverted or controlled not only Julio-Claudian history but perhaps also Tacitus' own Annals. The dissent from imperial narrative is therefore voiced from within the imperial family itself, diverting the reader's attention away from the senatorial voice of the narrator. Hence I remarked at the end of the last chapter on how Tacitus questions his own narrative with the words ‘to what end will I commemorate?’(quem ad finem memorabimus). The question, couched in terms which evoke the end of memory, reminds us not only of the future to which the history is addressed, but also of the end of (the) history itself. Tacitus' fear is expressed here that the imperial strain on republican language will replace ‘true’ meaning, that the reader will have to internalise and gradually consent to this change of meaning.