Teaching Ancient Biography
by Dr. Margaret Cotter-Lynch, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Original text © 2005. Margaret Cotter-Lynch.
Suetonius: Life of Caesar
What does Suetonius tell us that Plutarch didn’t?
What did Plutarch tell us that Suetonius doesn’t?
I. Both Plutarch and Suetonius are essentially biographers. They compose literary portraits of their subjects. However, there are several significant differences between the two authors:
a. Writing style
i. Plutarch generally includes the following sorts of things in the Lives he writes:
1. Moral description
2. Character traits
3. Personality
4. Plutarch’s own opinion of his subject
5. Judgements of sources
6. Reasons behind opinions and judgements
7. Overall, Plutarch’s Lives can be described as arguments about a particular person. He is trying to convince his reader to regard the protagonist in the same way that he does.
ii. Suetonius generally includes the following sorts of things in his Lives:
1. Description
2. Lists based upon categories
a. What did he do?
b. What did he look like?
3. Evidence on both sides of the issue at hand
4. Suetonius generally refuses to pass judgement on his subjects or his sources. He includes it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly
b. Authors’ biographies
i. Plutarch was a Greek philospher who lived from approximately 45 CE to after 120 CE. As a philosopher, he was primarily concerned with logic and reason and how to live right. He was interested in looking for universal significance, and expressing that in his writings.
ii. Suetonius was a Roman, possibly born in North Africa, who lived from about 69 CE to about 140 CE. He was therefore a younger contemporary of Plutarch. Suetonius was a secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, and therefore had access to the imperial archives. His job was to be a recorder of facts. There is no such thing as a purely impartial historian, but Suetonius is usually viewed as the closest thing we have for ancient Rome. His goal was to record specific information pertaining to the different Roman emperors.
II. Organization of Suetonius’ Lives
While Plutarch’s Lives can generally be described as argumentative and loosely chronological (they begin with the birth of the protagonist and end with the death), Suetonius’ biographies are organized by topic. Within each topic, facts are presented as facts, with analysis and citation of sources, but generally without judgement, opinion, or analysis of cause and effect. All of Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars adhere more or less to the following outline:
I. BACKGROUND
a. family origin (ancestors and parents)
b. circumstances of birth (often with omens)
c. childhood
II. CAREER
a. entry into public life
b. circumstances of accession to principate
c. aspects of government
i. legislation
ii. behavior as magistrate
iii. public works
iv. games
v. wars
III. PERSONAL
a. private and public behavior
b. appearance
c. character
III. Suetonius’ use of sources:
a. Until approximately 122 CE, Suetonius was a secretary at Hadrian’s court. In 122, Suetonius was fired for “excessive familiarity” with the Empress Sabrina. At this time, Suetonius lost access to the imperial archives.
b. Suetonius wrote the Lives of Julius Caesar and Augustus while he still worked for Hadrian. These lives are the longest, and reflect Suetonius’ access to the archives in the numerous direct quotes from different sources included in the biographies.
c. For the rest of the Lives of the Caesars, starting with Tiberius, Suetonius no longer had access to the archives, and as a result there are fewer direct quotes from his sources.
d. Throughout all of the lives that he writes, however, Suetonius seems to strive towards objectivity, or at least showing multiple perspectives and different sides of a story. His goals in writing seem to be to
i. Research
ii. Collect data
iii. Report
IV. Characteristics of Suetonius’ style:
a. Lists:
i. p. 12: Caesar’s results in Gaul
ii. p. 18: triumphs
b. Presenting both sides:
i. p. 37: discussing the reasoning behind Caesar’s actions
c. Citing and comparing sources:
i. p. 43: comparing different versions of a story
ii. p. 28: citing multiple sources, without judging which is right
Overall: for Plutarch, we can ask, “What does Plutarch think of Caesar?”
For Suetonius, we ask, “What do we think as a result of what Suetonius tells us?” Suetonius forces us to draw our own conclusions.
Assignment: for next time, read Suetonius, “Gaius (Caligula).” What is your opinion of Caligula? What in Suetonius’ text leads you to this opinion?
