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The Lives of the Caesars

Part of A Penguin Classics Hardcover

Author Suetonius

Introduction by Tom Holland

Translated by Tom Holland

Notes by Tom Holland

Hardcover

$35.00 US

Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Classics

6.3"W x 9.31"H x 1.33"D | 23 oz | 12 per carton

On sale Apr 29, 2025 | 432 Pages | 9780143107705

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A masterful new translation of Suetonius' renowned biography of the twelve Caesars, bringing to life a portrait of the first Roman emperors in stunning detail

A Penguin Classic

The ancient Roman empire was the supreme arena, where emperors had no choice but to fight, to thrill, to dazzle. To rule as a Caesar was to stand as an actor upon the great stage of the world. No biographies invite us into the lives of the Caesars more vividly or intimately than those by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, written from the center of Rome and power, in the early 2nd century AD.

By placing each Caesar in the context of the generations that had gone before, and connecting personality with policy, Suetonius succeeded in painting Rome’s ultimate portraits of power. The shortfalls, foreign policy crises and sex scandals of the emperors are laid bare; we are shown their tastes, their foibles, their eccentricities; we sit at their tables and enter their bedrooms. The result is perhaps the most influential series of biographies ever written.

That Rome lives more vividly in people's imagination than any other ancient empire owes an inordinate amount to Suetonius. Now award-winning author and translator Tom Holland brings us even closer in a new, spellbinding translation. Giving a deeper understanding of the personal lives of Rome’s first emperors, and of how they swayed the fates of millions, The Lives of the Caesars is an astonishing, immersive experience of a time and culture at once familiar and utterly alien to our own.

Not much is known about the life of Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. He was probably born in AD 69—the famous ‘year of the four Emperors’—when his father, a Roman knight, served as a colonel in a regular legion and took part in the Battle of Betriacum. From the letters of Suetonius’ close friend Pliny the Younger we learn that he practiced briefly at the bar, avoided political life, and became chief secretary to the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-38). He was one of several Palace officials, including the Guards Commander, whom Hadrian, when he returned from Britain, dismissed for behaving impolitely to the Empress Sabina. Suetonius seems to have lived to a good age and probably died around the year AD 140. The titles of his books are recorded as follows: The Twelve Caesars, Royal Biographies, Lives of Famous Whores, Roman Masters and Customs, The Roman Year, Roman Festivals, Roman Dress, Greek Games, On Public Offices, Cicero’s Republic, The Physical Defects of Mankind, Methods of Reckoning Time, An Essay on Nature, Greek Terms of Abuse, Grammatical Problems and Critical Signs Used in Books. But apart from fragments of his Illustrious Writers, which include short biographies of Virgil, Horace and Lucan, the only extant book is The Twelve Caesars, one of the most fascinating and colorful of all Latin histories. View titles by Suetonius

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Contents

Introduction ix
Glossary xxxv
The Family of Augustus xl
Maps xlii

The Lives of the Caesars

The Deified Julius 3
The Deified Augustus 48
Tiberius 110
Gaius 152
The Deified Claudius 188
Nero 219
Galba 258
Otho 272
Vitellius 281
The Deified Vespasian 294
The Deified Titus 310
Domitian 318

Appendix I: Names and Dates 336
Appendix II: Principal Characters 338
Notes 355

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