212 ROLFE— SUETONIUS AND HIS BIOGRAPHIES. [April 17, 



he is holding the responsible position of secretary under Hadrian 

 (Ab epistulis, referred to by Spartianus by the later title of epistu- 

 laruni Magister). It is altogether probable that he owed this posi- 

 tion to the influence of his friend and patron C. Septicius Clarus, to 

 whom he dedicated the " Lives of the Caesars," and that he held it 

 while Septicius was prefect of the praetorian guard, from 119 to 121. 

 Spartianus tells us in the same passage that both Suetonius and 

 Septicius were dismissed by Hadrian, " quod apud Sabinam uxorem 

 iniussu eius familiarius tunc se egerant quam reverentia domus aulicae 

 postulabat." While this statement is far from definite, the words 

 iniussu eius certainly imply some violation of court etiquette rather 

 than any more serious misconduct. After this we lose sight of 

 Suetonius, but it seems probable that he lived in retirement and 

 devoted himself to study and publication. 



Our references give us the impression of a man of quiet, schol- 

 arly tastes and habits, of no great ambition in other directions, who 

 enjoyed the friendship of a number of distinguished men and from 

 his connection with them and his position under Hadrian had the 

 opportunity of gathering a great amount of information. This is 

 confirmed by the allusions to his works, which are considerably more 

 numerous, as well as by his reputation in later times. According 

 to the fashion of his later years, when the greater part of his books 

 were published, he seems to have written in Greek as well as Latin, 

 although the fact that the titles of some of his works are known to 

 us only in their Greek form is due to the sources in which they have 

 been preserved. The lexicographer Suidas, of the tenth century, 

 has given us a catalogue of his writings,-^ which has been supple- 

 mented from other sources,^" while other references throw some 

 light on the extent and interrelation of some of the books. ^^ They 

 are in the general fields of history (biography), antiquities, natural 



^ 5. V. TpdyKv'KXos 



^Ps. Aur. Vict, "Epit.," 14; Servius on " ^n.," VII., 627; Lydus, " De 

 Magistr.," 3, 64, p. 268 Fuss; Auson., " Ep.," 19, p. 180 Schenkl; Charisius, 

 " Gr. Lat.," I., 236, 17 K. ; etc. 



^^ Isidore, " De Nat. Rerum," 38 and 44; Priscian, VIII., 20 and 21, 

 XVII*!., 149. 



