Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c. 69 – c. 130/140 CE), commonly known as Suetonius, was a Roman author best known for his biographies of the first 12 Caesars. His position close to the imperial court gave him access to other private sources for his works, and he certainly did not hold back from uncovering the sometimes sordid details of Rome's most famously dissolute emperor.
Life of Suetonius
Although a biographer of others, Suetonius tells readers few details of his own life. The exact date of Suetonius' birth is uncertain, but the most consistent range is between 69 and 75 AD. Also uncertain is the place of his birth (possibly Umbria in Numidia or Regius Hippopotamus) and the year of his death. Suetonius's grandfather may have been a member of Caligula's court, while the writer's father, Suetonius Letus, was a knight, a member of the equestrian class, who served as the first officer during the civil war of 69 AD. Tribune of the 13th Legion, a legion he commanded at the Battle of Bedriacum in northern Italy.
SUETONIUS was director of the Imperial Library and then Hadrian's personal secretary.
Some biographical details can be found in the letters of another famous Roman writer, Pliny the Younger, with whom he was a close friend. Suetonius, we are told, was a quiet man who studied and practiced law before becoming a professional scholar. Pliny praised Suetonius's writing and poetry - even recommending him to Emperor Trajan - although he blamed Suetonius for being slow in completing his work. in c. In 110 AD he was offered a position in the British military forum but declined for unknown reasons. Later in his life we ??know that Suetonius was librarian of the empire and then private secretary to Hadrian, although he was dismissed again for unknown reasons, perhaps for a lack of etiquette and treatment of the empress Sabina polite. Importantly, this role allowed Suetonius not only to travel with Hadrian to Gaul, Germania and Britain in 121-122 AD, but also to access the state archives and records of former emperors such as Augustus Personal letters.
The Twelve Caesars
Suetonius' most famous work is his collection of biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 Roman emperors, known simply as "The Twelve Caesars" ( Caesares or De vita Caesarum). These biographies are not entirely flattering, nor do they tell events in chronological order, but they reveal some candid details about Rome's first citizens. The subjects are:
Julius Caesar (previous chapters now lost)
Augustus
Tiberius
Cali Gula
Claudius
Nero
Galba
Otto
Vitellius Si
Vespasian
Titus
Domitian
The general format of each topic is to discuss the person Ancestors, then early life, to describe episodes that reveal the character of the future emperor. It then describes various aspects of the individual civil lives, such as the wars they waged, competitions, communal activities they initiated, and political reforms with some anecdotes of private habits. Sometimes the things emperors did when they weren't busy ruling their empires were shocking. There is no doubt that these gossipy details were a major factor in Suetonius' popularity during his lifetime. The physical description of the subject is usually left until the end.
Although Suetonius was careful to try to directly quote and use proverbs that the emperor was known to have used, and he did use written sources whenever possible; Compared to historians, he does sometimes make a series of rather casual observations. Nonetheless, Suetonius did not intend to write a comprehensive history of these great men, but rather to provide an in-depth understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. He also avoids inserting his own moral judgments, something both early and contemporary writers find irresistible. Furthermore, in many cases Suetonius is our only source of information, making his work both interesting and valuable.
Other works
In addition to this important work, Suetonius wrote many other books, which are now either lost or exist only in fragments. He produced another collection of biographies, De viris illustribus (On Eminent Men), describing the lives and works of various scholars, poets, and rhetoricians, including Virgil, Horace, and Lucan . Two other biographical collections that have survived are his "On Famous Emperors" and "On Kings", and he also wrote "De re publica" about the great statesman Cicero.
Suetonius provided valuable historical data in a book called Rome , which covered various customs, festivals, and even costumes of the Roman capital. A similar book of his deals with Greek games.
He also wrote several works on natural history and language: On Man, On Nature, On Preservation of Time, On Greece Abuse of terminology, grammatical issues, and critical marks in books.
The following is an excerpt from Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars:
[On Julius Caesar] ...the day before his murder he wrote in Marcus Lepi Dinner at Douse's house, where the topic of discussion happens to be "the best way to die" - Caesar shouts, "Let it come quickly and unexpectedly".
[About Augustus] Antony's brother Lucius added that Augustus, after dedicating his virtue to Caesar, sold his favor to Spain for 3,000 gold coins of Aulus Hertius, and he used to soften the hair on his legs by burning. Burnt walnut shells.
[About Tiberius] Even as a young officer, he was a very heavy drinker, so much so that his name, Tiberius Claudius Nero, was Replaced by the nickname "Biberius Cardius Mero" - meaning "drink hot wine without water".
Regarding Caligula, his preferred method of execution was multiple minor wounds; and his familiar command: "Make him feel like he's dying!" soon became a proverb. On one occasion, when the wrong man was killed due to a mix-up of names, he declared that the victim was equally deserving of death. and often quotes Accius' line: "As long as they fear me, let them hate me."
[About Nero] Oddly enough, Nero seemed to be surprisingly tolerant of everyone's insults in the form of jokes and sarcasm... in Greek or Latin, posted on the city walls Or currently spoken: "Alcmaeon, Orestes, and Nero are brothers. Why? Because they all murdered their mother.
Vespasian was square in stature, with thick and well-proportioned limbs, but his face Always with a nervous look on his face, so much so that on one occasion, when he asked a famous wit: "Why don't you make fun of me? "The answer came: 'I will, when your deliverance is complete'.
[On Domitian] He also claimed that the fate of all emperors was doomed to be unfortunate, since only their assassinations could make the public Believe that the conspiracy of their lives is real.