- Latin biographer and antiquarian. His family was of a knightly rank and probably came from Hippo Regius (Annaba in Algeria). Suetonius taught literature at Rome for a while. He also practiced law and then served on the staff of Pliny the Younger in c. A.D. 110-12. Suetonius then held a post as "Secretary of Studies". Under Emperor Trajan he became director of the imperial libraries and was finally placed in charge of Trajan's correspondence (117AD). From 119 to 122 he was a member of the Imperial service and secretary to the Emperor Hadrian. In 122, however, he was dismissed from his post for disrespectful behavior toward the empress Sabina. It was during Trajan's reign that he began to write his biographies. In 'the Lives of Illustrious Men' he wrote biographies of Roman literary personalities (21 grammarians and 16 orators, 33 poets and 6 historians. These include short biographies of Virgil, Passienus Crispus (stepfather of Nero), Terence, Horace, Lucan, Tibullus, Persius and Pliny the Elder. His most authoritative work however was the 'De Vita Caesarum' (Lives of the 12 Caesars - from Julius Caesar to Domitian). His style was mainly a straight narrative interrupted by subject matter that dealt with the different characteristics of his subject. Suetonius loved to write about scandalous affairs.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma
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