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The Lives of the Caesars

by Suetonius

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Pages: 363

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About this book

Suetonius served as private secretary to the emperor Hadrian, and that access to the imperial archives shows in these twelve biographies, which run from Julius Caesar through Domitian. Where other Roman historians reached for grand political narrative, Suetonius organized each life by category: the emperor's ancestry, his deeds, his appearance, his vices, his death. The method lets him fold official record together with palace rumour, and the result is unforgettable, full of omens, table talk, cruelties, and the small human details that make Caligula, Nero, and Claudius feel startlingly close. For centuries it has been a chief source for what we think we know about the early emperors. This edition is translated by J. C. Rolfe. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.

About the author

Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly referred to as Suetonius, was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is De vita Caesarum, commonly known in English as The Twelve Caesars, a set of biographies of 12 successive Roman rulers from Julius Caesar to Domitian.