1913] ROLFE— SUETONIUS AND HIS BIOGRAPHIES. 209 



substantially the same conclusions, and while they differ in their 

 estimate of the relative importance of some few codices, their texts 

 show very slight and unimportant variations one from the other. 

 We might therefore regard the text of Suetonius' "Caesars" as 

 settled, barring the possibility of the discovery of new material, were 

 it not for the difference of opinion as to the independent value of 

 the later manuscripts. 



These codices frequently offer readings superior to those of the 

 earlier ones, but, as has been said, it is suspected that they are the 

 corrections of scholars of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and 

 hence of no weight in determining the readings of an archetype. 

 This conclusion was reached by Roth in 1858, but it has since been 

 called in question by various scholars.^ At present, however, the 

 weight of evidence is on Roth's side, since Ihm and Preud'homme 

 have arrived at the some conclusion through more extensive and 

 thorough studies^" than have as yet been made public by the sup- 

 porters of the contrary view. As a matter of fact, except for 

 greater conservatism in the later editions, .which is in accord with 

 the current conception of textual criticism, and greater reserve in 

 filling lacunae, the texts of Ihm and Preud'homme show remarkably 

 few deviations from that of Roth, so that any radical changes must 

 be the result of the demonstration of the independent value of the 

 later manuscripts or of the discovery of fresh material. 



As to Suetonius himself our information is somewhat scanty, 

 since he is one of many Roman writers who make few allusions to 

 themselves ; in fact the character of his work is not such as to call 

 for revelations of that kind. What we do know is derived for the 

 most part from, the " Letters " of the younger Pliny, to whom we 



' Chr. Modderman, " Lectiones Suetonianae," Groningen, 1892 ; H. N. 

 Veldhuis, " Annotationes Criticae," Leyden, 1897; C. L. Smith, Harvard 

 Studies in Class. Phil., XII. (1901), pp. 54 ff-; A. A. Howard, id., pp. 261 ff. ; 

 and others. 



" Preud'homme, " Premiere, deuxieme, troisieme etude sur I'histoire du 

 texte de Suetone de vita Caesarum," in the Bulletins de I'Academie royale de 

 Belgique, 1902, and Memoires couroncs et autres mcmoires publics par I'Acad- 

 emie royale de Belgique, LXIII., pp. 1-94; Ihm, Hermes, XXXVII., pp. 

 690 ff. and the introd. to his edition, Leipzig, 1907. 



