The Arts of Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, the Roman biographer of the second century A.D., has long deserved, but has not received, a study of his literary art. Presiding, in the government of Trajan and Hadrian, over the bureaux a studiis, a bibliothecis, ab epistulis, he supplied the past to the ruler of the world, and bodied forth the present use of it. For Suetonius was scholar and courtier together: both roles required a polished and effective rhetoric, and this rhetoric must be understood as it shaped the De Vita Caesarum. Therefore, The Arts of Suetonius: An Introduction sets out to explain reasons why a study of his literary art has not attracted scholars, and to propose methods by which the want can be remedied.