The Lives of the Caesars

De: Suetonius, Tom Holland - introduction translator

Narrado por: Justin Avoth, Tom Holland

A masterful new translation of Suetonius' renowned biography of the twelve Caesars, bringing to life a portrait of the first Roman emperors in stunning detail

A Penguin Classic

The ancient Roman empire was the supreme arena, where emperors had no choice but to fight, to thrill, to dazzle. To rule as a Caesar was to stand as an actor upon the great stage of the world. No biographies invite us into the lives of the Caesars more vividly or intimately than those by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, written from the center of Rome and power, in the early 2nd century AD.

By placing each Caesar in the context of the generations that had gone before, and connecting personality with policy, Suetonius succeeded in painting Rome’s ultimate portraits of power. The shortfalls, foreign policy crises and sex scandals of the emperors are laid bare; we are shown their tastes, their foibles, their eccentricities; we sit at their tables and enter their bedrooms. The result is perhaps the most influential series of biographies ever written.

That Rome lives more vividly in people's imagination than any other ancient empire owes an inordinate amount to Suetonius. Now award-winning author and translator Tom Holland brings us even closer in a new, spellbinding translation. Giving a deeper understanding of the personal lives of Rome’s first emperors, and of how they swayed the fates of millions, The Lives of the Caesars is an astonishing, immersive experience of a time and culture at once familiar and utterly alien to our own.©2025 Tom Holland (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Finally, a Translation in Modern English

Engaging, fascinating, and revelatory. The modern English allows the listener to hear the descriptions of lives and events in a way which makes them feel like real people; not statues. For the first time I felt the true horror of Tiberius' violent and sexual crimes without having to sift through the obscuring Victorian language, as well as hearing the voice of Suetonius in a natural way for the first time. The sense of each Ceasar jumps from the page and I hope we get more like this!!

So Many Insights!

This book offers so much about what was considered important and unimportant to ancient Romans in the most contemporary sense. It animated them as personalities, showing where they were so much in common with us today and where they suffered, though never in absolute terms, but relatively. For example, what the moral laws were and what people considered acceptable sexually, politically, and other mores. So much of his account resides on rumors, yet even rumors are insightful into people's thinking, fears, and desires. Also neat we're stories about how the Parthians interacted with Rome, something not often discussed. Having spent so much time reading drier history of the times, I feel enriched by this book, for it brought people, their banalities, appetites, fears, vices, and what they admired down to eye level.

Amazing

A must listen by anyone remotely interested in ancient Rome. I loved every minute of it.

A True Classical Masterpiece

This is one of the literary works I’ve heard that I should read at least once, but I’ve always managed to convince myself there will be time later. I guess I was expecting something this old to be incomprehensible or boring, or filled with complete nonsense and Imperial propaganda.

To be fair, some of that IS in the work. But it is also surprisingly engaging. It reads almost like a conversation between two associates. Suetonius does include personal comment sometimes which would usually be jarring, but he wrote this extant to a number of the Ceasars, or at least while the children and grandchildren of the people he discusses were alive to tell their tales. When he adds personal commentary it is because he actually has this personal experience.

The style in which Suetonius writes can take some time to adjust to. We are used to biographies paying close attention to chronology, one event follows the other in a natural way. Suetonius lays out his history by subject. History, family, military or personal experience, personal habits, debunking or supporting rumors, and (surprisingly) their flaws and crimes.

I had fully expected Suetonius to praise the subjects of his work, but in fact he has written about them in a startling open and honest way. He applauds Julius Caesar for his military and political acumen, but condemns his behavior and actions in his late life as a gross abuse of power and he places the blame for the collapse of the Republic firmly on his shoulders.

This was a fantastic experience and I’m glad I finally got around to checking this Classical work off my literary bucket list.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past” - William Faulkner

This beautifully translated/written, perfectly narrated (mainly by Justin Avoth - 5 stars!), chillingly all-too-familiar catalog of utterly, mind-bogglingly extreme (but routine, turns out) abuses of Rome’s caesars is a litany of horrors. It’s said that Suetonius took a National Enquirer view of Roman history, focusing on the huge and over-the-top, uber-lurid personalities of the first 12 emperors to bear the title “Caesar,” from (Gaius) Julius Caesar to Domitian. Take it as it is. But it’s riveting, maddening, head-shaking stuff — and it draws you in, boggles your mind, and leaves you slack-jawed at the limitless, bewildering abuses humans might (and do, throughout time) perpetrate. Prepare to be entertained .. but beware being tempted to disillusionment and apathy at these historical extremes, seemingly beyond possibility — reading this, you’ll see they are not.

The Caesars we’re despicable

This translation of the Lives of the Caesars is excellent and very well read. However, that quality and the reading style highlight how despicable the Caesars were. Their lives shed light on current history, especially the Lives of Stalin and Hitler. It should not be listened to by people with a propensity for violence or perversity. Even so, it is instructive to those who do not have those propensities.