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



Although it may fairly be maintained that biography was original 

 with the Romans, and although in the nature of the case the " Lives " 

 of Suetonius are independent so far as their subject matter is con- 

 cerned, the latter naturally followed the established rhetorical rules 

 for the composition of such works. Just as Horace adopted the 

 verse forms of Alcaeus and Sappho, so Suetonius took as his pattern 

 the biographies of the Greek " grammatical " type,^'' since his pur- 

 pose was not eulogy, but an impartial account, according to his own 

 views of impartiality. Such merits, however, as his work possesses, 

 and such defects as it labors under, are due to himself and not to 

 any great extent to his models. That the books, interesting and 

 valuable as they are, do not take first rank as literature is because 

 he did not have the pen of a Tacitus ; that they are rated no higher 

 as an historical source is due to his lack of critical judgment. 



The style of Suetonius is that of the investigator and scholar, 

 rather than the man of letters. His purpose is clear statement, 

 rather than rhetorical adornment or dramatic effect. He had no 

 leaning towards the style which Seneca had made popular in his 

 earlier years,**" or that of the archaizers who set the fashion during 

 his later life.*'^ His ideas of an appropriate style appear in what he 

 says of that of Augustus,"- much of which might be applied to his 

 own writings. As might be expected of a scholar, his choice of 

 words is accurate and forceful, while his sentences are as a rule 

 terse and packed with meaning. Now and then he turns out phrases 

 worthy of Tacitus, but these seem to be due to his subject matter, 

 like his intensely dramatic passages, •'^ rather than to any conscious 

 departure from his usual unadorned, " businesslike," and somewhat 

 monotonous style. 



Suetonius had at his command a wealth of sources of informa- 

 tion, the greater number of which are lost to us, including historical 

 works, memoirs, public records and documents, and private corre- 



"Leo, /. c. 



^ a. Calig., 53, 2: Senecam turn maxime placentem; Nero, 52. 

 "See Seneca, " Epist.," 114, 13. 

 " Aug., 86. 



•^ For example, the death of Julius Caesar (82) and of Domitian (17), 

 and the last hours of Nero (49). 



