Suetonius (redirected from Seutonius)

Suetonius (Caius Suetonius Tranquillus) (swētō`nēəs), c.A.D. 69–c.A.D. 140, Roman biographer. Little is known about his life except that he was briefly the private secretary of Emperor Hadrian. His De vita Caesarum [concerning the lives of the Caesars] survives almost in full; it was translated into English by Robert Graves as The Twelve Caesars (1957). There are also fragments of a much larger collection of biographies, De viris illustribus [concerning illustrious men]. He gathered together all sorts of anecdotes, and the resultant biographies are lively and informative. Suetonius was taken as a model by many later biographers.

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Suetonius

 Latin Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

(born AD 69, probably Rome—died after 122) Roman biographer and antiquarian. Suetonius's family was of the knightly class. His writings include Concerning Illustrious Men, short biographies of literary figures that were the ultimate source of nearly all that is known about the lives of eminent Roman authors. Lives of the Caesars, his other major work, is seasoned with bits of gossip and scandal related to the first 11 emperors; it is largely responsible for the vivid picture of Roman society and its decadent leaders that dominated historical thought until modified in modern times by the discovery of nonliterary evidence.

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Suetonius

full name Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. 75--150 ad, Roman biographer and historian, whose chief works were Concerning Illustrious Men and The Lives of the Caesars (from Julius Caesar to Domitian)

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Suetonius 

(Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus). Born circa A.D. 70; died after 122. Roman historian and writer.

Of equestrian rank, Suetonius served as secretary under the emperor Hadrian from approximately 119 to 122. Of Suetonius’ numerous works on history, everyday customs, and philology, only two principal works have survived: the whole of Lives of the Caesars (in eight books) and De Grammaticis et rhetoribus, from a longer work about famous figures of Roman literature.

Lives of the Caesars contains biographies of the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Domitian. All the biographies follow the same outline: first, a description of the emperor’s origins and youth; next, an account of his political, military, and juridical activities and details of his character, external appearance, and private life; and finally, an account of the circumstances of his death. Suetonius depicts Augustus and Titus as ideal rulers. Suetonius was interested mainly in presenting facts rather than in analyzing the historical causes or the psychological motives of the events he recorded. His entertaining style accounts for the popularity of his works among his contemporaries and later readers.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
Zhizn’ dvenadtsati Tsezarei. [O znamenitykh liudiakh: Fragmenty. Translated from Latin and with notes by M. L. Gasparov.] Moscow, 1966.

REFERENCES

Gasparov, M. L. “Novaia zarubezhnaia literatura o Tatsite i Svetonii.” Vestnik drevnei istorii, 1964, no. 1.
Steidle, W. Sueton und die antike Biographie, 2nd ed. Munich, 1963.