Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars has been very well served by translations in English. Following those of Holland and Thomson, J.C. Rolfe's masterly Loeb appeared in two volumes from 1913–14. Since then H.M. Bird (1930), Graves (1957) and C. Edwards (2000) have all tried their hand at the task with scarce improvement, although Edwards has perhaps supplanted Graves' paperback in convenience for scholars working with the Teubner Latin text, despite the unfavourable reviews by K.R. Bradley (Latomus 61 [2002], 486 and 696–702, rightly pointing out how Edwards' translation is vitiated by a less than full command of Suetonius' style and the literature on him). This is not to mention the partial translations of the last six Lives in commentaries by G.W. Mooney (1930), D.C.A. Shotter (1993), and B.W. Jones and R. Milns (2002). One must ask, then, whether there is any need for another translation.
What separates H. from these other authors is her authoritative expertise: none in his or her career has focussed so specifically on Suetonius, or is so significant a name in the field of Suetonian studies. H. has previously written two important commentaries on these Lives in particular (see CR 45 [1995], 171–2; CR 52 [2002], 22–3) and continues to publish papers on Suetonius (see e.g. her contributions to E. Buckley and M. Dinter [edd.], A Companion to the Neronian Age [2013] and T. Power and R. Gibson [edd.], Suetonius the Biographer [forthcoming]). The appearance of a translation by someone so familiar with the intricacies of Suetonius' style and the composition of the Caesars is therefore an unprecedented and especially welcome event.
The book comprises an introduction, various discussions of the historical background, bibliography, timeline of events, maps, translation with footnotes, genealogical tables, glossary and index of persons. The bibliography includes only nine items that pertain specifically to Suetonius, aside from her list of commentaries, from which she oddly omits B.W. Jones' commentary on the Domitian (1996). H.'s translation is immediately distinguished by its notation in brackets of Suetonius' chapters and also of the different sections within chapters, facilitating its use with a Latin text. The translation warrants praise for its liveliness and simplicity. In this regard, it is just to claim that H. is the new Edwards. For example, H.'s version of perhaps Suetonius' most famous line (hactenus quasi de principe, reliqua ut de monstro narranda sunt, Calig. 22.1) is easily the best to date: ‘So far, this has been about an emperor – so to speak. What is left is about a monster’ (p. 170). Where H. might be found wanting is in faithfulness to Suetonius' subject headings, which she often waits too long to signal.
Consider Rolfe on Caesar's drinking at Iul. 53: ‘That he drank very little wine not even his enemies denied’ (VINI parcissimum ne inimici quidem negauerunt). In Hurley the topic's immediate salience is lost: ‘Not even his enemies deny that he drank very little wine’ (p. 30). Rolfe's respect for the logic of cause and effect in Aug. 28.3 likewise does better justice to Suetonius' self-indexing: ‘Since the city was not adorned as the dignity of the empire demanded, and was exposed to flood and fire, he so beautified it that he could justly boast that he had found it built of brick and left it in marble’ (VRBEM neque pro maiestate imperii ornatam et inundationibus incendiisque obnoxiam excoluit adeo, ut iure sit gloriatus marmoream se relinquere, quam latericiam accepisset). H.'s version pales by comparison in emphasis and clarity: ‘Augustus so much improved the city whose modest appearance was inconsistent with the grandness of empire and was at the mercy of floods and fires that he could legitimately boast, “I have left marble what I found brick”’ (p. 66). These rubrics in Suetonius' very first words, admirably preserved whenever possible by Rolfe, indicate Suetonius' method of order within his work, and for this reason Rolfe retains his value.
The introduction helpfully summarises the findings of earlier scholars, and uncovers no new ground. Only a few of her points can be challenged. She would appear to accept the more controversial argument of H. Lindsay for a.d. 128 as the date of Suetonius' dismissal by Hadrian (p. xii, cf. xvi), despite its refutation by D. Wardle (Historia 51 [2002], 462–80), and to reject the authenticity of the Tibullus and Persius, since she omits them from her present list of preserved fragments from Suetonius' Lives of poets (pp. xiv–xv; contrast H.'s entry on Suetonius in M. Gagarin and E. Fantham [edd.], The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, vol. 6 [2010], p. 398). H. is at her best in giving examples of Suetonius' prose style (pp. xxiv–xxvi). However, she overstates (p. xxvi) Suetonius' ingenuity in writing inuitus inuitam (Tit. 7.2). The phrase is a common polyptoton in both Latin and Greek (ἄκουσαν ἄκων), and may even faintly echo Virgil (Aen. 6.460), as proposed by W.J. Tatum (in Power and Gibson op. cit.), since, as is well known, Virgil's line itself was a prominent allusion to Catullus (66.39–40). The least informative part of H.'s introduction is her scant treatment of Suetonius' reception (pp. xxix–xxx); even the brief discussion in the OWC of Edwards is to be preferred. Regrettably, H. also falls short of the Oxford translation in offering merely an index of persons, as opposed to Edwards' addition of a rather useful index of themes.
Such criticisms could only be made of an expert translation. As such, it is a worthy companion to A.J. Woodman's rendering of Tacitus' Annals published by the same press (see CR 56 [2006], 129–30). This new translation of the Caesars is to be highly recommended to both students and specialists as a much needed replacement to the quondam standard version of Edwards, and H.'s more knowledgeable introduction and notes will ensure its lasting usefulness.
