The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics) Book

As private secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, the scholar Suetonius had access to the imperial archives and used them (along with eyewitness accounts) to produce one of the most colourful biographical works in history. The Twelve Caesars chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus, to the decline into depravity and civil war under Nero and the recovery that came with his successors. A masterpiece of observation, anecdote and detailed physical description, The Twelve Caesars presents us with a gallery of vividly drawn - and all too human - individuals.

Written during the reign of Hadrian, by Hadrian personal secretary, Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars was the most popular and longest of Suetonius's surviving works. Beginning with the life of Julius Caesar and continuing with the first eleven...