Suetonius' biographical sketches of the teachers of "grammar" and rhetoric survive only in part and are fairly brief; yet it would be difficult to name another text of similar scope that is a more productive resource for the study of Roman cultural history in the classical period. For the early history of Roman education it is literally indispensable, and it is a precious repository as well for the understanding of Roman Social and cultural relations, and even for the social history of freedmen and slaves. This new critical edition of Suetonius' rich and often curious text is accompanied by commentary, the most thorough and detailed so far available, elucidates Suetonius' method of compilatioon and places the stories he tells in their social and historical context.
Suetonius was a man of letters writing under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. This is a new English translation of his most important surviving work, "On the Study of Grammar and Rhetoric", which discussed Roman education and culture. It is a rich source of Roman cultural history.
