UCSF - inomplete copy begins leaf 51.
26 cm. my leaf 105.
-large colored initials + full page woodcuts
each section.
Although Suetonius (early 2nd C) was a prolific
writer, only this work + fragments from another are
now extant. Here the lives of Caesar + successors up
to Domitian are related with a profusion (mostly scandalous)
anecdotes about their private lives + loves.
HEHL (104 237) rubricated in red (ie begining of books)
Vita Orthonius Silvii
begins K5 (of 8) folio 286
ends L4 (of 8) folio 293
my leaf folio 287 K6
(aa4, a-z & 2 Rx A-R8S6)
The commentaries of Beroaldo + Sabellico appear
here together for the 1st time although each had
appeared separately in earlier ed. In these
commentaries the lives of the roman emperors are
analysed historically + grammatically by 2 of the most
prominent humanistic scholars of the late 15th C.
The "Lives fo the 12 Emperors" from Caesar to Domitian is the
only work of Suetonius that has come down to us. It fixed
the vogue for writing history in the form of biography so
completely that henceforth ot the end of the Roman Empire
+ well down into the Middle Ages it became a
sterotyped practice. Of special importance is the
Life Domition, which exhibits a much clearer
undrstanding of Christianity than does Tacitus.
-The Latin biographers before suetonius are all missing
with the single exception of Cornelius Nepos (d.c. 24 BC) who
was an inferior author
EN