Introduction. Caius Suetonius Tranquillus (c.69-c.130 A.D.) was born in Italy, the son of a military tribune of equestrian rank. He practised as an advocate in Rome during the reign of Trajan (98-117). He became a close friend of the Younger Pliny, and may have served on his staff when he was proconsul of Bithynia Pontus in 111-12. After Pliny's death, he found a new patron in Septicius Clarus, the prefect of the praetorian guard, and when Hadrian succeeded Trajan in 117, he entered the imperial service, and took...