C. Suetonius Tranquillus

The Lives of the Twelve Caesars (Dodo Press) C. Suetonius Tranquillus

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c70-c140), also known as Suetonius, was a prominent Roman historian and biographer. He is mainly remembered as the author of De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, best known in English as The Twelve Caesars), his only extant work. The Twelve Caesars, probably written in Hadrian's time, is a collective biography of the Roman Empire's first leaders who were: Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. The work tells the tale of each Caesar's life according to a set formula: the descriptions of appearance, omens, family history, quotes, and then a history are given in a consistent order for each Caesar. Suetonius regarded emperors who amassed wealth for the public purse to be "greedy", perhaps a reflection of the average Roman middle class attitudes.