I9I3] ROLFE— SUETONIUS AND HIS BIOGRAPHIES. 219 



Taurasia, Cisauna, Samnio cepit; 



Subigit omne Loucanam opsidesquc abdoucit." 



In the eulogies themselves fuller details were given, as we see 

 from Csesar's funeral oration on his aunt Julia, a part of which is 

 quoted by Suetonius." In this oration Caesar undoubtedly had a 

 political purpose, as Xapoleon had in his " Histoire de Jules Cesar," 

 and on other similar occasions, the opportunity was taken to justify 

 one's own conduct or that of an ancestor. 



That this custom led to the composition of formal biographies 

 or at least to the publication of the funeral addresses themselves is 

 a priori probable, and we have a parallel in the development of ora- 

 tory as a branch of literature. According to Tacitus^* the custom 

 of publishing accounts of the lives of distinguished men (clarorum 

 virorum facta moresque posteris tradere) was an ancient one (an- 

 tiquitus usitatum), and we have references to such works, including 

 autobiography,^^ at a comparatively early date. The custom nat- 

 urally was given a fresh impulse by the growth of individualism at 

 Rome, beginning with the domination of men like Sulla in times 

 which might well be referred to by Tacitus as ancient, and reaching 

 a high point with the foundation of the Roman empire.^*' To this 

 period belongs one of our few surviving specimens of ancient biog- 

 raphy, twenty " Lives " from the " De Viris Illustribus " of Cor- 

 nelius Nepos, published about 44 B.C., which are of quite a different 

 type than those of Suetonius. ^^ 



It is unnecessary to mention in detail, or to refer to all the biog- 

 raphies and autobiographies of which we have mention in this epoch 

 and that of the early Empire.^® While our only other surviving 

 example is the " Agricola " of Tacitus, the interest of the Romans 

 in this form of literature is sufficiently obvious. 



'' C. I. L.. I., 30. 



'* Julius, 6, I. 



"Agricola, i. 



"' See West, " Roman Autobiography," De Vinne Press, 1901. 



" The same personal element appears in the historical writing of the 

 period; cf. Leo, /. c, p. 319. 



" See Leo, /. c, pp. 193 ff- 



"* For numerous references, and on autobiography as an original creation 

 of the Romans, see West, /. c. 



