SUETONIUS. Caius Suetonius Tranquillus was one of the many second-rate authors and men of letters who lived in the early period of the Roman empire. He was the contemporary of Tacitus and the younger Pliny, and his literary work seems to have been chiefly done in the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. His father was an officer in the army and military tribune in the XIIIth legion, and he himself began life as an advocate. To us he is known as the biographer of the twelve Caesars, from Caius Julius down to Domitian. These lives are valuable as covering a good deal of ground where we are without the guidance of Tacitus. As Suetonius was the emperor Hadrian’s private secretary, he must have had access to many important documents. It would seem from occasional references which he makes to himself in the course of the work that he was a youngish man in the reign of Domitian, and so would have had opportunities of conversing with men who had lived in the days of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and had been present at the scenes of civil war and anarchy which followed the reign of the last-named. The most interesting fact about Suetonius is that he was a friend and correspondent of the younger Pliny, and the fact certainly tells in his favour. Several of Pliny’s letters are addressed to him, and they all imply esteem and intimate friendship. Sometimes we find Pliny putting in a good word for him, as, for instance, on one occasion doing his best to help him in buying a small property at a fair price, not very far from Rome, with a house of moderate size and land enough to amuse but not to engross a man of scholarly tastes (i. 24). In another letter (v. 10) he playfully rallies him on his dilatoriness in publishing his works. Pliny does not mention the subject of these works. ...