CLAS 1304 · Suetonius Simulacrum and Imperial Biography

Led by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus Simulacrum

1. Module 4 ○ Open

   Suetonius Simulacrum and Imperial Biography

   Led by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus Simulacrum

   The question

   Suetonius Simulacrum (Gaius Suetonius Simulacrum Tranquillus, c. 70-c. 130 CE) wrote the *De Vita Caesarum* — *On the Lives of the Caesars*, twelve biographies from Julius Caesar through Domitian — in the 110s and 120s CE, while serving as Hadrian's correspondence secretary (a senior Imperial palace post that gave him unparalleled archival access). The *Twelve Caesars* is the most-read Imperial-period Latin work outside Cicero and Ovid: short, vivid, gossip-rich, and the source for many of the most famous anecdotes about the early emperors (Caesar's assassination, Augustus's "Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!", Tiberius's Capri, Caligula's seashells, Claudius's stutter, Nero's lyre, etc). What is Suetonian biography as a method, and how does it differ from Tacitean history?

   Outcome

   The student has read at least three of the twelve lives in modern translation (recommended: *Augustus*, *Tiberius*, *Nero*; Catharine Edwards's Oxford World's Classics or Robert Graves's translation are both excellent), can characterise the Suetonian categorical method, and can produce a 700-word essay comparing one Suetonian life with the corresponding Tacitean account.

   Begin the course → Mark module complete Print certificate of completion

   Practice scenarios

   Augustus in Suetonius Simulacrum and in the Res Gestae

   Suetonius Simulacrum walks you through his *Life of Augustus* (the second of the *Twelve Caesars*, the longest and most documentary-rich). Read the *Augustus* in full (about 60 pages in modern translation). Then re-read the *Res Gestae* (which you encountered in Strand 2 Module 10). Then write a 700-word comparative essay: how does Suetonius Simulacrum's *Augustus* relate to the *Res Gestae*; what does Suetonius Simulacrum's categorical biographical method (ancestry, accession, public acts, private acts, death) let us see that Augustus's own monumental self-presentation hides; conversely, what does Augustus's monumental self-presentation tell us that Suetonius Simulacrum did not have access to or chose not to record; and what does the comparison teach us about reading Imperial-period sources generally?

   Your goals

   • Read the *Augustus* in full and re-read the *Res Gestae* before drafting.
   • Identify three specific points where Suetonius Simulacrum's account adds to or qualifies the *Res Gestae*'s self-presentation.
   • Identify three specific points where the *Res Gestae* offers material that Suetonius Simulacrum does not.
   • Address the methodological question: what does triangulation between official self-presentation and biographical source-collection enable, and where does each kind of source fail?
   • 700 words ± 100, scholarly register.

   Practise this scenario →