I9I3.] ROLFE— SUETONIUS AND HIS BIOGRAPHIES. 213 



history and grammar, and comprise eigiiteen titles, which are vari- 

 ously arranged by different scholars.^- 



Of all these works only the "Lives of the Caesars" has come 

 down to us practically entire. ^^ We have besides considerable por- 

 tions of the "De Viris Illustribus," biographies of illustrious Ro- 

 mans in the fields of literature and philology, and numerous detached 

 fragments from other books, preserved in the form of citations and 

 excerpts by later writers. 



While the historian of Latin literature can hardly class Suetonius 

 higher than second rate, his influence was greater than that of many 

 more eminent writers, partly because of his relatively high rank in 

 the period of his activity, but especially because his " Lives of the 

 Caesars " appealed to the spirit of the age. Because of this they 

 gave a biographical turn to historical writing which endured for cen- 

 turies. They served as a model for Marius Maximus, who lived 

 from about 165 to 230, and for the writers of the Augustan History 

 ("Scriptores Historiae Augustae") of the time of Diocletian and 

 Constantine, while Tacitus found a follower only in Ammianus Mar- 

 cellinus (330-400). Their influence extended to the Christian writ- 

 ers, as appears from the biography of Ambrosius by his secretary 

 Paulinus, and even to the Middle Ages, when Einhardus took the 

 same pattern for his " Life of Charles the Great." Eutropius, 

 Aurelius Victor and Orosius drew on him freely and often transcribe 

 his language so faithfully as to be of some little value in questions of 

 textual criticism ; and he was used as a source by Greek writers 

 such as Cassius Dio, Lydus, and others. 



His other biographies were not neglected : Apuleius made use of 

 his book " On Famous Courtesans," Hieronymus wrote of the " Il- 

 lustrious Men " of the Church in imitation of Suetonius' work of 

 the same title, while the ecclesiastical chronographers, such as Julius 

 Africanus, drew on his treatise " On the Kings." 



His antiquarian and grammatical works were equally influential. 

 Tertullian based his " De Spectaculis " on a similar work of Sue- 



^ See Mace, /. c, p. 355 ; Schanz, " Geschichte der roinischen Litteratur," 

 Part 3, PP- 53 f-; etc. 



^ See page 208, above. 



