I9I3] ROLFE— SUETONIUS AND HIS BIOGRAPHIES. * 223 



ment for the offense and one of the flashes of genius of the madman 

 who called Livia a " Ulysses in petticoats "*^ and dubbed Seneca's 

 style " sand without lime."^^ While Vespasian lurked in retirement, 

 fearful of Nero's vengeance for a lack of appreciation of his his- 

 trionic talents, opportunity found him in the form of the war in 

 Judaea, which called for an energetic and able leader, such as Ves- 

 pasian had shown himself under Claudius in Britain, and at the 

 same time one whose humble origin made it safe to trust him with 

 a great army. On becoming emperor he acquired the prestige and 

 sanctity which were lacking in a parvenue prince by performing 

 miracles,^* but how little his head was turned is shown by the last 

 joke of the inveterate humorist, uttered on his death-bed, " Woe's 

 me ! methinks I'm turning into a god."^^ Finally we have the fine 

 picture of the sturdy old man struggling to rise and meet death on 

 his feet, as an emperor should,^^ and dying in the arms of his 

 attendants. 



Although Suetonius doubtless intended his method to be strictly 

 impartial, and though it would have been more nearly so in the hands 

 of a more critical writer, it does not in reality give us a fair estimate 

 of the emperors. To realize this we have only to imagine the biog- 

 raphy of some prominent man of our own day, made up of praise 

 and censure drawn indiscriminately from the organs of his own 

 party and those of the opposition, and presented with little or no 

 comment. So far from accepting his statements at their face value, 

 the critical reader will hardly regard the judgment recently expressed 

 by Professor Botsford as too severe r^'^ " in the case of an author 

 like Suetonius the student of history may begin his examination by 

 rejecting, at least provisionally, everything that could not have been 

 known to the public at the time of its alleged happening or that is 

 not vouched for by trustworthy documents. This process of sift- 

 ing will leave a substratum of facts- on which the investigator may 



" Calig., 23, 2. 



^ Calig.. 53, 2. 



^Vesp., 7, 2. 



"'Vesp., 23, 4- 



''Vesp., 24. 



'' Amer. Jour, of Phi!.. XXXIV.. p. 88. 



