Kenney_and_Clausen B.M.W.(eds.) - Get a Free Blog

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
5. SUETONIUS
Suetonius published many works, scholarly rather than literary, though this
distinction was no more clear-cut in his time than it is now. For some years
at least he was a member of the emperor's secretariat. And, while closely
acquainted with the schools of grammar and rhetoric, he was probably never a
professional teacher. We have here a talented and versatile man of letters,
comparable with Varro, though hardly his equal. Doubtless Suetonius' writings
required much anxious parturition (cf. Plin. Epist. 5.10): the two which
survive, De vita Caesarum, 'On the life of the Caesars' and (fragmentarily)
De viris illustribus, 'On eminent men", are evidently based on diverse and
extensive reading.
Following an approach to biography used by some of the Alexandrian
scholars, Suetonius treats his subjects very schematically, according to divisions
and categories such as antecedents, birth, career, achievements, morals, appearance,
and death, but with some variations according to the particular
subject matter. This form of biography was perhaps originally employed for
literary figures, and thence transferred, not by Suetonius alone (cf. Nep.
Epam. 1.4), to persons distinguished in public life. He could, however, have
chosen another form, well represented in Greek by his near contemporary
Plutarch, and going back at least to the early Peripatetic school. Plutarch
views and assesses his subjects' lives coherently and chronologically: he prefers
narration, with occasional moralizing, to analysis and tabulation. And plainly
Plutarch's approach is, unlike Suetonius', closely akin to that of the historians.
But there is more in Suetonius' method than misguided application of Alexandrian
pedantry. Roman funeral speeches and epitaphs were traditionally
centred on the deceased's honours, deeds, and prowess: they did not characterize
him in the round. The Res gestae of Augustus helps to explain Suetonius'
attitudes and choice of material. He, for instance, like Augustus, records
offices held, donatives, and buildings. The Alexandrians gave him a framework:
he easily brought within it matters of established Roman interest. He was
perhaps the first to recognize that the Caesars should be treated as a special
class. Supreme power and the way of life it engendered set them apart. Here
lies his best claim to originality. 1
Some critics assert that, for all his categorizing, Suetonius pays serious
regard to chronology. That, to an extent, is true. In passages where he outlines
parts of a man's career he naturally tends to follow temporal sequence. And,
when his material is specially curious and inviting, he may set it out consecutively
and with abundant detail, as in his account of the last days of Nero
{Nero 40.4-49.4), perhaps the best thing he ever wrote. In general, however,
' I owe this view of Suetonius* originality to Professor Kenney.
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