The Twelve Caesars
Forthcoming The translation of this work is in preparation and will be published in the library.
Introduction
From Julius Caesar to Domitian, Suetonius wrote a life of each of twelve rulers. Rather than narrating in order of time, he records under separate headings each man's family, career, campaigns, government, appearance, habits, tastes, eccentricities and death, drawing freely on the palace archives and on gossip and anecdote: Augustus' frugality and superstition, Tiberius' debauchery on Capri, Caligula's plan to make his horse consul, Nero singing on stage while Rome burned. Vivid, frank and absorbing, the book set the pattern for European biography ever after.