Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c. AD 69 – after 122) was a Roman biographer and antiquarian, probably born in North Africa or Italy to an equestrian family. He served under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, holding posts in the imperial secretariat, including that of secretary for correspondence, until he lost office around AD 122. His access to the imperial archives informed much of his writing.

His best-known work, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, gives the lives of Julius Caesar and the eleven emperors who followed him, down to Domitian, arranged by topic rather than strict chronology and rich in anecdote. He also wrote short Lives of grammarians, rhetoricians and poets, of which a part survives, the source of much of what is known about Terence, Horace and Lucan.