The Date of Composition of Suetonius' Caesares

Gavin Townend

doi:10.1017/S0009838800041574

The Date of Composition of Suetonius' Caesares

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009

Gavin Townend

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Gavin Townend: Affiliation:
Universtiy of Liverpool

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The only external evidence we have of the date of publication of Suetonius' Caesares is the statement of Iohannes Lydus that it contained a dedication to Septicius Clarus as praetorian prefect—a statement, incidentally, which is related to the correct nomenclature of the office, and not in any way to the persons concerned. This dedication, lost along with the opening chapters of Iulius, must accordingly have been made some time during the years 119–22, before Septicius and Suetonius were dismissed from their respective posts, apparently for lack of respect to the empress. What is by no means certain is that the dedicatory epistle was attached originally to the whole series of Lives; nor that all the Lives were completed, far less published, while Suetonius was still employed as ab epistulis to Hadrian.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Classical Quarterly , Volume 9 , Issue 3-4 , November 1959 , pp. 285 - 293

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800041574 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1959

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^{page 285 note 1} de Mag. 2. 6.

^{page 285 note 2} Macé, , Essai sur Suétone, p. 200.Google Scholar

^{page 285 note 3} S. H. A. Hadr. 11. 3; but see Crook, , in Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. clxxxiv, N.s., no. 4 (1956–1957) pp. 18–22Google Scholar, for a suggested redating of this dismissal to 128 or later.

^{page 285 note 4} Tacitus (1958), pp. 781–2.

^{page 285 note 5} Eranos, xlvi (1948), 94–122.

^{page 285 note 6} Op. cit. 768–70.

^{page 285 note 7} Macé, p. 182.

^{page 285 note 8} Nero 23. 1.

^{page 285 note 9} Ibid. 52.

^{page 286 note 1} pp. 183, 210–11.

^{page 286 note 2} Svetonio, eques Romanus (1958), p. 154.Google Scholar

^{page 286 note 3} Marec, and Pflaum, , Libyca, i (1953), 214Google Scholar, with the doubtful concurrence of Syme, p. 780.

^{page 286 note 4} p. 781.

^{page 286 note 5} Divus Augustus (1951), pp. xliv ff.Google Scholar

^{page 286 note 6} Op. cit., p. 168.

^{page 287 note 1} Atticus 20. 1–3.

^{page 287 note 2} Dial. 13. 2.

^{page 287 note 3} Sat. 1. 24. 11.

^{page 287 note 4} N.H. 18. 94, 139, 21. 9.

^{page 287 note 5} C.G.L. i. 129, ii. 209 Malcovati, K., Augusti Openan Fr. (1947), p. 14Google Scholar, no. xviii, n.

^{page 287 note 6} Cf. Roth, pp. 303–4.

^{page 287 note 7} C.G.L. x. 43 K., Roth p. 305.

^{page 287 note 8} Sat. 2. 4. 12.

^{page 287 note 9} N.A. 15. 7. 3.

^{page 287 note 10} Inst. 1.6. 19.

^{page 287 note 11} Ibid. 1. 7. 22.

^{page 287 note 12} Aug. 87, 88.

^{page 287 note 13} 1. 25. 2.

^{page 287 note 14} Suetonii Reliquiae, pp. 137, 419.

^{page 287 note 15} 51. 3. 7.

^{page 287 note 16} Marec, and Pflaum, in Conies Rendus de I'Acad. des Inscr. (1952), pp. 76–85Google Scholar, Ann. ép. (1953), no. 73.

^{page 288 note 1} Macé, pp. 68 ff.; della Corte, op. cit., pp. 94–96.

^{page 288 note 2} Aug. 101. 1, Tib. 23. 76.

^{page 288 note 3} Nero 52.

^{page 288 note 4} Cl. 44. 2.

^{page 288 note 5} Nero 38. I.

^{page 288 note 6} Tit. 10. 2.

^{page 289 note 1} Jul. 2. 48.

^{page 289 note 2} Ibid. 81.4.

^{page 289 note 3} 51. 2. 5–6.

^{page 289 note 4} 56. 46. 2.

^{page 289 note 5} 57. 10. 5.

^{page 289 note 6} Tac. Ann. 11. 20.

^{page 289 note 7} See especially Cat. 27–29, Cl. 24–26.

^{page 289 note 8} Dio 61. 19. 2.

^{page 289 note 9} Tac. Ann. 15. 72.

^{page 289 note 10} Dio 63. 8. 5.

^{page 289 note 11} Tac. Ann. 14. 2.

^{page 289 note 12} Plut. Otho 3. 2.

^{page 289 note 13} Tac. Dial. 9. 5.

^{page 289 note 14} Ann. 14. 14. 5.

^{page 289 note 15} Nero 15. 2.

^{page 289 note 16} Tib. 61.5.

^{page 289 note 17} Nero 28. 1.

^{page 290 note 1} Tib. 19, Cal. 33, 35. 2, 36. 2, 55. 1, CI. 8, 22, 42, Nero 15. 1, 27. 3, 28. 2.

^{page 290 note 2} Iul. 26. 3, Aug. 41. 1, 45. 1, 56. 1, 77, 82. 2, 88, Cal. 3. 2, 4, 7.

^{page 290 note 3} Dom. 2. 1, 21.

^{page 290 note 4} Cal. 19. 3, Nero 29, Tit. 3. 2, Dom. 17. 2.5 Nero 57. 2, Dom. 12. 2.

^{page 290 note 6} Op. cit., pp. 481–8.

^{page 290 note 7} 56. 30 ff.

^{page 290 note 8} pp. 688–92.

^{page 291 note 1} Ann. I. 5. 5.

^{page 291 note 2} 56. 31. 1.

^{page 291 note 3} Martin, , in C.Q. xlviii (1955), 123–8.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 291 note 4} Tib. 73, 2, Cal. 12. 2–3.

^{page 291 note 5} Ann. 6. 50.

^{page 291 note 6} 58. 28.

^{page 291 note 7} Cl. 44. 2.

^{page 291 note 8} 59. 1. 3; cf. S.H.A.Hadr. 4. 10.

^{page 292 note 1} Dio. 65. 16. 3.

^{page 292 note 2} 10. 4.

^{page 292 note 3} S.H.A.Hadr. 7. 3, Dio 69. 2. 5, Syme, pp. 244–5, 485–8.

^{page 292 note 4} Op. cit., p. 490, n. 6.

^{page 292 note 5} Nero 39. 1; cf. Syme, I.e., for Stevens's argument for 58 and Birley's answer.

^{page 292 note 6} For Suetonius' use of parens cf. Iul. 7. 2, Vit. 14. 5, Tit. 8. 3, Gram. 16, never simply as a synonym for pater.

^{page 292 note 7} Syme, p. 490.

^{page 293 note 1} Nero 12. 3, etc.

^{page 293 note 2} Ibid. 20–21.

^{page 293 note 3} Ibid. 28.

^{page 293 note 4} Op. cit., p. 780.

^{page 293 note 5} For this use of the imperfect cf. Dom. 17. 2, of a witness to Domitian's murder.

^{page 293 note 6} S.H.A. Hadr. 16. 2–5.

^{page 293 note 7} Macé, pp. 56–57, D'Anna, , Le Idee letterarie di Suetonio (1954), pp. 94 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 293 note 8} Life and Principate of Hadrian, p. 23, n. 5.

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