Suetonius

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Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (ca. 70-ca. 135) was a Roman administrator and writer. In a life which covered the reigns of five emperors, he held various public offices and in his spare time wrote biographies of literary men and emperors.

Born probably at Hippo Regius (Bone) in North Africa, Suetonius belonged to a wealthy family of Italian origin and equestrian status. At an early age he went to Rome, where he received most of his education, and as a young man he started a career as a barrister, though before long he changed to teaching. By 98 he had become friendly with the younger Pliny, who encouraged him to publish some of his early writings.

In 102 or 103 Pliny obtained for him a commission as a military tribune in one of the legions stationed in Britain, but Suetonius declined the offer. When Pliny was sent to Bithynia as governor (109-111), Suetonius probably went with him. After Pliny's death he was helped by another friend, Septicius Clarus, who obtained various posts for him from the emperor Trajan, including appointments as a studiis, which put Suetonius in charge of the Emperor's personal library, and as a bibliothecis, which involved control of the public libraries of Rome.

In 119 Septicius became praetorian prefect, and at about the same time Suetonius was promoted by Hadrian to the important post of ab epistulis, which headed the secretariat that dealt with most of the Emperor's official correspondence. But he did not hold the post long: in 122 he and Septicius were both dismissed from their posts by Hadrian. Thereafter Suetonius lived quietly either at Rome or possibly at Hippo Regius until he died.

His Writings

A considerable number of short works, mostly on literary subjects, are ascribed to Suetonius, but these have all been lost. His first major work was the De viris illustribus, published between 106 and 113, which was a series of biographies of literary men. The original text has not survived, but the section on grammarians and several of the lives of the poets are extant in abridged editions.

This work was followed by the extant De vita Caesarum, of which the first six books, covering the Julio-Claudian emperors from Julius Caesar to Nero, were published between 119 and 122. Later, perhaps as late as 130, Suetonius added two further books, which dealt, much more briefly, with the three short-lived emperors of 69 and the Flavian dynasty.

These imperial biographies are not very profound works. Suetonius made some use, though certainly not enough, of the opportunities for access to the imperial archives which his official appointments gave him, but most of his material came from earlier writers, and he showed little critical sense in his assessment of their reliability.

Suetonius's Lives are collections of facts mixed with gossip, scandal, and sheer fiction, strung loosely together on a rough chronological thread. They provide the modern historian with much information and are particularly valuable for the details they record of the physical appearance of the emperors, together with some of their obiter dicta and other minor matters which at that time were regarded as beneath the dignity of regular history.

Further Reading

There is a complete translation of Suetonius's works, including what remains of De viris illustribus, by J. C. Rolfe in the Loeb Classical Library (2 vols., 1914). A good version of the imperial biographies is Robert Graves, The Twelve Caesars (1957). The best account of Suetonius and his work is G. B. Townend and T. A. Dorey, eds., Latin Biography (1967). There are brief accounts in most books on Latin literature, such as John Wight Duff, A Literary History of Rome in the Silver Age (1935; 3d ed. by A. M. Duff, 1964), and Moses Hadas, A History of Latin Literature (1952). The history of the emperors whose lives Suetonius recorded and of the period in which he himself lived is covered in Edward T. Salmon, A History of the Roman World from 30 B.C. to A.D. 138 (1944; 6th ed. 1968). The best account of the period of Julius Caesar and the Julio-Claudian emperors is in Howard H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero (1959).

1. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, see BRITAIN.

2. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (b. c. AD 69), Roman biographer. He was the son of the equestrian Suetonius Laetus who as a tribune in the thirteenth legion fought at Bedriacum in AD 69. The son practised in the law-courts at Rome and was a friend of the Younger Pliny. He became a secretary at the imperial palace, where he would have been able to consult the imperial archives, but in 121/2 he was dismissed by Hadrian, together with the praetorian prefect, allegedly for some indiscretion involving the emperor's wife. After this nothing more is known of his life.

Of his writings, which include works on Roman antiquities, natural sciences, and grammar, much is lost. The surviving works consist of the ‘Lives of the Caesars’ (De vita Caesarum) and part of his ‘On Famous Men’ (De viris illustribus) comprising over half of the sections on the grammarians (De grammaticis) and rhetoricians (De rhetoribus); in addition his Lives of Terence, Virgil, Horace, and Lucan have been transmitted in manuscripts of these authors' own works; perhaps the Lives of Tibullus and Persius are also by Suetonius. De grammaticis sets out what Roman education understands as ‘grammar’, i.e. broadly the study of literature, and relates its introduction at Rome by Cratēs (4), as well as giving some account of twenty of the principal grammarians. De rhetoribus relates the growth at Rome of the study of rhetoric, which at first was disapproved of by influential Romans, explains the method of teaching it, and illustrates the themes used in the schools. An account of five of the principal teachers of rhetoric follows. The Lives of the poets contain fact, anecdote, and misinformation inextricably confused; passages about the personal appearance of the poets have their own fascination: for instance, that Horace was short and fat.

The ‘Lives of the Caesars’ include the biographies of Julius Caesar and the eleven subsequent emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. It is clear that Suetonius followed whatever source attracted him, without caring much whether it was reliable or not. It has been thought that he had completed only the Lives of Julius Caesar and Augustus when he was dismissed from the palace, since he makes no direct quotation from correspondence of any emperor later than Augustus. His biographies give an account of the ancestry and career of each emperor, but show little historical grasp or penetration; they consist chiefly of anecdotes, gossipy and salacious, but lively and with interesting detail. The Life of Caesar mentions his dark piercing eyes and his attempts to conceal his baldness. Augustus is said to have been short but well-proportioned, with an aquiline nose and eyebrows that met, careless in dress, frugal, and sparing in diet. Suetonius gives an interesting account of Tiberius' retirement at Rhodes from 6 BC to AD 2, and reproduces the scandalous and perhaps ill-founded stories of a vicious old age at Capri. There is a vivid picture of the grotesque appearance of Caligula, of his waywardness and insane cruelties; of the awkward walk, loud guffaw, and stammer of Claudius, and his blend of culture and good sense with silliness and excessive timidity. The Life of Nero reveals much about his stage displays and his passion for horses (even after he became emperor he used to play with ivory horses and chariots on a table); about his elaborate organization of a claque to applaud his own productions; about his wanderings incognito at night in the streets of Rome; about his Golden House, and his conduct while Rome burned. The Life of Titus mentions his notable saying at the end of a day when he had done no good to anyone: ‘I have lost a day’, and his mastery of shorthand and aptitude for imitating the handwriting of others; and that of Domitian records his restoration of the libraries which had been burnt down and his efforts to collect manuscripts.

The pattern Suetonius followed is always the same: the subject's family and early life, public career, physical appearance, private life. The work became a model for biography in the Middle Ages.

This article is about the Roman historian. For the Roman general who put down the rebellion of Boudica, see Gaius Suetonius Paulinus.

Gaius Suetonius Tranquilius
Born	ca. 70 AD[1] Hippo Regius, Algeria[2]
Died	ca. 130[3]
Occupation	Secretary, historian
Genres	Biography
Subjects	History, biography, oratory
Literary movement	Silver Age of Latin

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius (ca. 69/75 – after 130), was an equestrian and a historian during the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar until Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum. Other works by Suetonius concern the daily life of Rome, politics, oratory, and the lives of famous writers, including poets, historians, and grammarians. A few of these books have partially survived, but many are entirely lost.

Contents 1 Life 2 Works 2.1 Twelve Caesars 2.2 Other works 2.2.1 Partly extant 2.2.2 Lost works [6] 3 References 4 External links 5 Bibliography

Life

Marble bust of Trajan.

Suetonius was born the son of Suetonius Laetus, who probably came from Hippo Regius (Annaba, Algeria). Laetus was an equestrian who served and took part in the first Battle of Bedriacum for the Emperor Otho and against the future Emperor Vitellius in 69. - Suetonius was a close friend to Senator and letter-writer Pliny the Younger. Pliny describes him as "quiet and studious, a man dedicated to writing." Pliny helped him buy a small property in Italy and interceded with the Emperor Trajan to grant Suetonius immunities usually granted to a father of three, the ius trium liberorum, because his marriage was childless.^[4] Through Pliny, Suetonius came into favour with Trajan and Hadrian. Suetonius may have served on Pliny’s staff when Pliny was Proconsul of Bithynia Pontus (northern Asia Minor) between 110 and 112. Under Trajan he served as secretary of studies (precise functions are uncertain) and director of Imperial archives. Under Hadrian, he became the Emperor's secretary. But, In 119, Hadrian dismissed Suetonius for an affair between him and Empress Vibia Sabina. Suetonius may have later regained imperial favor under Hadrian and returned to his position. This hypothesis is based on the suggestion that Offices of State was one of his last works, and that the subject was chosen to reflect Hadrian's administrative reforms; however, there is no certain evidence for a public career after 120.

Works

Twelve Caesars

Main article: Lives of the Twelve Caesars

A bust of Gaius Julius Caesar.

He is mainly remembered as the author of De Vita Caesarum ("The Lives of the Caesars", best known in English as "The Twelve Caesars"), his only extant work except for the brief lives and other fragments noted below. The Twelve Caesars, probably written in Hadrian's time, is a collective biography of the Roman Empire's first leaders, Julius Caesar (the first few chapters are missing), Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. The book was dedicated to a friend Gaius Septicius Clarus, a prefect of the Praetorian Guard in 119^[5]. The work tells the tale of each Caesar's life according to a set formula: the descriptions of appearance, omens, family history, quotes, and then a history are given in a consistent order for each Caesar.

Other works

Partly extant

• De Viris Illustribus ("On Famous Men" — in the field of literature), to which belong:
  • De Illustribus Grammaticis ("Lives Of The Grammarians"; 20 brief lives, apparently complete)
  • De Claris Rhetoribus ("Lives Of The Rhetoricians"; 5 brief lives out of an original 16 survive) There might be a discrepancy attributing this work to Suetonius because Cicero wrote De Oratore which was his treatise on the lives of Rhetoricians. Someone should clarify.
  • De Poetis ("Lives Of The Poets"; the life of Virgil, as well as fragments from the lives of Terence, Horace and Lucan, survive)
  • De historicis ("Lives of the historians"; a brief life of Pliny the Elder is attributed to this work)
• Peri ton par' Hellesi paidion ("Greek Games")
• Peri blasphemion ("Greek Terms of Abuse")

The two last works were written in Greek. They apparently survive in part in the form of extracts in later Greek glossaries.

Lost works ^[6]

• Royal Biographies
• Lives of Famous Whores
• Roman Manners and Customs
• The Roman Year
• The Roman Festivals
• Roman Dress
• Offices of State
• On Cicero’s Republic
• Physical Defects of Mankind
• Methods of Reckoning Time
• An Essay on Nature
• Grammatical Problems
• Critical Signs Used in Books

References

1. ^ Rives, James (2007), The Twelve Caesars, New York, New York: Penguin Classics, ISBN 9780140455168 
2. ^ Rives, James (2007), The Twelve Caesars, New York, New York: Penguin Classics, ISBN 9780140455168 
3. ^ Rives, James (2007), The Twelve Caesars, New York, New York: Penguin Classics, ISBN 9780140455168 
4. ^ Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.95
5. ^ L.D.Reynolds, Texts and Transmissions: a survey of the Latin classics, Oxford, 1980. The dedication, in the lost preface, is recorded by a sixth century source when the text was still complete.
6. ^ According to the flyleaf of the Penguin edition of The Twelve Caesars

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Suetonius

Primary sources

• The Lives of the Twelve Caesars at LacusCurtius (Latin original, English translation)
• Suetonius' works at Latin Library (Latin)
• Works by Suetonius at Project Gutenberg
  • The Lives of the Twelve Caesars at Project Gutenberg (English translation - includes Lives Of The Grammarians, Rhetoricians, And Poets)
• Gai Suetoni Tranquilli De vita Caesarum libri III-VI Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection.

Secondary sources

• Livius.org: Suetonius

Bibliography

• Barry Baldwin, Suetonius: Biographer of the Caesars. Amsterdam: A. M. Hakkert, 1983.

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