Svetonio - Commentarius - 1662

C. Suetonius Tranquillus. And in him a Commentary. Edited by Joannes Schildius. Fourth Edition.

Lugduni Batavorum, Ex Officina Francisci Hackii, 1662. Fourth Edition. In 8vo, large, frontispiece engraved by p. p., pp. 30, 845, followed by about 85 notes with notices of some philosophers and then the Index, Latin text, 11 finely engraved black-and-white illustrations accompany the eleven Roman emperors: Julius Caesar, Octavius Augustus, Tiberius Nero Caesar, C. Caesar Caligula, T. Claudius Drusus Caesar, Servius Sulpicius Galba, M. Salvius Otho, A. Vitellius, T. Flavius Vespasianus, Titus Flavius Vespas. Aug., Titus Flavius Domitianus, originally bound in stiff parchment with manuscript titles on the back. Excellent state of preservation.

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, Roman writer of the imperial age, born, according to some, in Algeria, according to others in an unspecified place of Latium Vetus, perhaps Ostia (70 A.D. – 126 or 140 A.D.) to a wealthy equestrian family (the father, Suetonius Leto, was a military tribune). Suetonius studied rhetoric and jurisprudence, becoming a lawyer. At Ostia he would have held the local religious office of pontifex of Vulcan (usually held for life). Suetonius declined the career of administrator or soldier typically reserved for his rank. The scant news we have of him are drawn from his own works and from Pliny, who in a letter to Trajan emphasizes his integrity and erudition. He was a learned man, author of many works, even in Greek, a lover of study more than public life. He was a man of refined tastes and rare sensibility, an antiquarian and scholar with great interest in antiquities and Roman culture.