Hurley Donna W. An Historical and Historiographical Commentary On Suetonius' Life of C. Caligula

Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993. — 252 p. — (American Classical Studies 32).The Life of Caligula is different from Suetonius' other Lives only because the number of "bad" rubrics so far outweighs the "good" and because the demarcation between them is so very clearly marked in the text: hactenus quasi de principe, reliqua ut de monstro narranda sunt. The number of "bad" rubrics is increased when those that enhance the images of other emperors (appearance, pastimes, military activities) turn pejorative when referred to him. Milestones on his journey from birth to death form a sketchy framewoik. Suetonius always begins with ancestry, but for Gaius this becomes a "mini-biography" of his father Germanicus with its own rubrics and framing narration.