The Twelve Caesars

From Julius Caesar to Domitian, this is a dispassionate and unbiased account of the turbulent history of Imperial Rome. Suetonius lived nearly thirty years of his life under the Caesars and much of his information comes from eyewitness accounts and contemporary archives.

Here are the inauguration festivities of Caligula -- "so splendid were the celebrations that 160,000 were publicly sacrificed during the next three months" -- and his personal excesses, such as committing incest with each of his three sisters in turn; the domestic life of Nero, who kicked his pregnant wife to death; and grisly Roman economies, such as feeding animals on criminals to save the expense of butchers' meat.

With the Roman emperors as his subjects, Suetonius was never short of scandalous anecdotes, but he took care to check his facts. What he recounts -- improbably though it may often seem -- is what happened.

- Translated by Robert Graves
- Featuring 12 full-page wood engravings by Raymond Hawthorn
- Bound in canvas (buckram) blocked with a special design
- 320 pp
- 10" x 6 1/4"
- 1990 re-release of original 1964 publication from The Folio Society with a slightly updated design.