Life (70 CE -- after 122 CE)

Birthplace uncertain. After practicing as a lawyer devoted himself to writing, he declined a military tribunate; obtained (though childless) the ius trium liberorum from Trajan. Appointed secretary under Trajan and Hadrian, but dismissed 121/122. Date of death unknown.

Works

• De Vita Caesarum: twelve biographies, from Julius Caesar to Domitian, in eight books, complete except for the opening chapters of the first life.
• De Viris Illustribus: numerous short biographies of persons eminent in literature and education, arranged in classes perhaps (i) poets, (ii) orators, (iii) historians, (iv) philosophers, (v) grammarians and rhetoricians. We have part of the section De grammaticis et rhetoribus; many of the lives of the poets have been transmitted in the MSS of the poets themselves (e.g. Horace, Terence, and Lucan).
• Numerous treatises, some in Greek, on many subjects: signs, the Roman year, Roman customs, famous courtesans, and terms of abuse.

Bibliography

Stuart, D. E. Epochs of Greek and Roman Biography (Berkeley 1928).

Index: Howard, A. A., and C. N. Jackson (Cambridge, Mass. 1922)