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



toniiis, while Censorinus, Solinus, Macrobius, the commentator Ser- 

 vius, the scholiasts on Horace, Germanicus and Juvenal, the gram- 

 matical writers, and especially Isidore, the learned bishop of Seville, 

 excerpted him freely and extensively. In this field, too, his influ- 

 ence extended to the Greek and Byzantine writers and inspired and 

 furnished material for numerous works on natural history in the 

 Middle Ages. 



From its title and its general form the '' Lives of the Csesars " is 

 naturally classed as biography, and it is also numbered among our 

 historical sources. Strictly speaking, however, it is neither history 

 nor biography. Great historical events are dismissed in a brief 

 chapter, like Caesar's Gallic campaigns, or with a casual allusion, 

 as in the case of the defeat of Varus. Constitutional history re- 

 ceives relatively greater attention, but this too is subordinated to 

 the personality of the emperors, about whose qualities and charac- 

 teristics the minutest and most inthnate details are given. Chro- 

 nology is neglected, except for the dates of birth and death. 



But when we examine the " Lives " as biography, we find them 

 lacking in some of its most essential features. As a matter of fact, 

 biography as the " faithful portrait of a soul in its adventures 

 through life "^* has reached its full development in comparatively 

 modern times, and even now there is not entire agreement as to its 

 function. The writer in Larousse's " Dictionnaire L^niverselle," for 

 example, says :^^ " la biographic ne s'occupe que de la vie humaine, 

 et elle ne I'etudie que dans les actions exterieures des individuels." 

 Yet I think that most of us would agree that a biography in the true 

 sense of the word should be more than a mere catalogue and should 

 show the development of character as the result of heredity, educa- 

 tion and environment. Of this there is practically nothing in Sue- 

 tonius. He rather furnishes us with the raw material for biog- 

 raphies and his. " Lives " differ from the modern conception as 

 widely as do annals from history.^*' It does not occur to him to 

 make comparisons between the various individuals whom he por- 

 trays, or to draw the psychological deductions that cannot escape 



'' Encycl. Brit., s. v., III., p. 952. 



^5. v., II., p. 257. 



** See Sempronius Asellio in Gellius, V., 18, 5 ff. 



