Hackett Publishing

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“Donna Hurley has done a sterling job in providing us with both an Introduction to Suetonius and a translation of The Caesars that we can confidently recommend to students. Her Introduction summarizes a complex topic succinctly and is informative without being overwhelming, set at an ideal level for the student and intelligent enthusiast. Her translation is accurate and contemporary. Her primary goal is faithfulness to the original, which she achieves, but at the same time she recognizes the need to make her text clear, entertaining, and comprehensible to the modern reader, and she strikes exactly the right balance.”
     —Anthony Barrett, Emeritus, University of British Columbia

“Hurley, who has written extensively and with authority on Suetonius, knows her author and his text thoroughly, and her Introduction to them is a model of presentation. Annotation (footnotes, not endnotes) is concise and to the point; essential background is gracefully sketched in a preliminary section on Roman institutions; maps and plans are clear and full. This thoughtful concern for the reader’s needs justifies confidence in the translation itself: for its combination of accuracy, clarity, and readability, it is the best.”
     —Edward Champlin, Princeton University

“Hurley’s most readable English translation of Suetonius' Caesars is only the second to be attempted in over fifty years, and represents an outstanding achievement. Set clearly in context by her concise footnotes and full explanatory materials, it will fascinate readers eager to encounter the outsize personalities, heady pleasures, and sinister perils within that most alluring of lost worlds—the Roman imperial court.”
     —Richard Talbert, University of North Carolina

“This economical, well-produced edition is very welcome and should find an extensive audience. Hurley is known well for her previous editions of individual vitae Caesarum and this new translation is exactly what we expect: precise, idiomatic, and readable. The contextual introduction, chronology, bibliography, and glossary all but make this book a stand-alone text for the early Principate. The index, incidentally, is very helpful.”
     —Paul B. Harvey, Pennsylvania State University

“The definitive translation in English.”
     —John Makowski, Loyola University, Chicago

"[Hurley's] introduction briefly discusses the genre of ancient biography and Suetonius's contribution to it. . . . She then summarizes various aspects of Roman society to provide a general background for those unfamiliar with ancient Rome. . . . Hurely introduces each biography with a short description and an evaluation of Suetonius's approach to his subject. Within each life, she adds concise and helpful notes at appropriate places, usually identifying an individual or explaining some aspect of Roman culture mentioned by Suetonius. Aimed at a general audience, her readable text in contemporary American English is augmented with four maps, family trees of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian families, suggestions for further readings, a helpful glossary, and a name index, constituting a welcome alternative to the much older Penguin edition, translated by Robert Graves. Highly recommended."
     —R. I. Curtis, emeritus, University of Georgia, in Choice

Donna W. Hurley has taught at Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers universities. She is the author of articles on Roman historical subjects and of two commentaries on Suetonius: An Historical and Historiographical Commentary of Suetonius’ Life of C. Caligula (Scholars Press, 1993) and Suetonius: Divus Claudius (Cambridge University Press, 2001).