Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
Illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle
Born	ca. CE 70[1] Hippo Regius, Algeria[1]
Died	ca. 130[1]
Occupation	Secretary, historian
Genres	Biography
Subjects	History, biography, oratory
Literary movement	Silver Age of Latin

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius^{[pronunciation?]} (ca. 69/72 – after 130), was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era.

His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar to Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum. He recorded the earliest accounts of Julius Caesar's epileptic seizures. Other works by Suetonius concern the daily life of Rome, politics, oratory, and the lives of famous writers, including poets, historians, and grammarians. A few of these books have partially survived, but many have been lost.

Life[link]

Suetonius was born the son of Suetonius Laetus, who probably came from Hippo Regius (Annaba, Algeria). Laetus was an equestrian who served and took part in the first Battle of Bedriacum for the Emperor Otho and against the future Emperor Vitellius in AD 69.

Suetonius was a close friend of senator and letter-writer Pliny the Younger. Pliny describes him as "quiet and studious, a man dedicated to writing." Pliny helped him buy a small property in Italy and interceded with the Emperor Trajan to grant Suetonius immunities usually granted to a father of three, the ius trium liberorum, because his marriage was childless.^[2] Through Pliny, Suetonius came into favour with Trajan and Hadrian. Suetonius may have served on Pliny’s staff when Pliny was Proconsul of Bithynia Pontus (northern Asia Minor) between 110 and 112. Under Trajan he served as secretary of studies (precise functions are uncertain) and director of Imperial archives. Under Hadrian, he became the Emperor's secretary. But, in 119, Hadrian dismissed Suetonius for an affair he had with the Empress Vibia Sabina. Suetonius may have later regained imperial favor under Hadrian and returned to his position. This hypothesis is based on the suggestion that Offices of State was one of his last works, and that the subject was chosen to reflect Hadrian's administrative reforms; however, there is no certain evidence for a public career after 120.

Works[link]

Twelve Caesars[link]

A bust of Gaius Julius Caesar.

He is mainly remembered as the author of De Vita Caesarum, best known in English as The Twelve Caesars, his only extant work except for the brief lives and other fragments noted below. The Twelve Caesars, probably written in Hadrian's time, is a collective biography of the Roman Empire's first leaders, Julius Caesar (the first few chapters are missing), Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. The book was dedicated to a friend Gaius Septicius Clarus, a prefect of the Praetorian Guard in 119.^[3] The work tells the tale of each Caesar's life according to a set formula: the descriptions of appearance, omens, family history, quotes, and then a history are given in a consistent order for each Caesar.

Other works[link]

Partly extant[link]

• De Viris Illustribus ("On Famous Men" — in the field of literature), to which belong:
  • De Illustribus Grammaticis ("Lives Of The Grammarians"; 20 brief lives, apparently complete)
  • De Claris Rhetoribus ("Lives Of The Rhetoricians"; 5 brief lives out of an original 16 survive)
  • De Poetis ("Lives Of The Poets"; the life of Virgil, as well as fragments from the lives of Terence, Horace and Lucan, survive)
  • De historicis ("Lives of the historians"; a brief life of Pliny the Elder is attributed to this work)
• Peri ton par' Hellesi paidion ("Greek Games")
• Peri blasphemion ("Greek Terms of Abuse")

The two last works were written in Greek. They apparently survive in part in the form of extracts in later Greek glossaries.

[edit] Lost works^[4]

• Royal Biographies
• Lives of Famous Whores
• Roman Manners and Customs
• The Roman Year
• The Roman Festivals
• Roman Dress
• Offices of State
• On Cicero’s Republic
• Physical Defects of Mankind
• Methods of Reckoning Time
• An Essay on Nature
• Grammatical Problems
• Critical Signs Used in Books

[edit] The Great Fire and the Christiani

In CE 64, a great fire broke out in Rome, destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population. Suetonius cast blame on the Emperor Nero himself as the arsonist,^[5] claiming he played the lyre and sang the Sack of Ilium during the fires. Tacitus says that Nero attempted to shift the blame to the Chrestiani, usually taken to mean "Christians", setting off the earliest documented Imperial persecution of what was regarded by the Romans at the time as still a Jewish sect and as a superstitio ("superstition," or illegitimate form of religious belief).^[6] While Suetonius makes no connection to the Christians in his account of the Great Fire, he mentions Chrestus^[7] elsewhere as an example of Nero's harshness, saying that punishments were inflicted on them.^[8] In his Life of Claudius, Suetonius says that Jews instigated by Chrestus were expelled from the city for causing disturbances.^[9] Suetonius' mentions of Chrestus and Christiani, taken with that of Tacitus, is an important piece of evidence in scholarly discussions of the historicity of Jesus.^[10]

References[link]

Еditions[link]

• Donna W. Hurley (trans.), Suetonius: The Caesars (Indianapolis/London: Hackett Publishing Company, 2011).
• J.C. Rolfe (trans.), Lives of the Caesars, Volume I (Loeb Classical Library 31, Harvard University Press, 1997).
• J.C. Rolfe (trans.), Lives of the Caesars, Volume II (Loeb Classical Library 38, Harvard University Press, 1998).

Bibliography[link]

• Barry Baldwin, Suetonius: Biographer of the Caesars. Amsterdam: A. M. Hakkert, 1983.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Suetonius

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Suetonius

Primary sources

• The Lives of the Twelve Caesars at LacusCurtius (Latin original, English translation)
• Suetonius' works at Latin Library (Latin)
• Works by Suetonius at Project Gutenberg
  • The Lives of the Twelve Caesars at Project Gutenberg (English translation - includes Lives Of The Grammarians, Rhetoricians, And Poets)
• Gai Suetoni Tranquilli De vita Caesarum libri III-VI Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection.

Secondary sources

• Livius.org: Suetonius

Derek Jacobi
Jacobi on stage performing "A Voyage Round My Father" in Wyndham's Theatre, London (December 2006).
Born	Derek George Jacobi (1938-10-22) 22 October 1938 (age 73) Leytonstone, London, England
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Occupation	Actor/Director
Years active	1961–present
Partner	Richard Clifford (March 2006–present)

Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE ( /ˈdʒækəbi/; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor and film director.

A "forceful, commanding stage presence",^[1] Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet,^[2] Uncle Vanya,^[3] and Oedipus the King.^[4] He received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing. His stage work also included playing Edward II,^[4] Octavius Caesar,^[4] Richard III,^[4] and Cyrano de Bergerac.^[3]

In addition to being a founder member of the Royal National Theatre^[2] and winning several prestigious theatre awards, Jacobi has also enjoyed a successful television career, starring in the critically praised^[2] adaptation of Roberts Graves' I, Claudius, for which he won a BAFTA; the titular role in the acclaimed medieval drama series Brother Cadfael,^[5] and Stanley Baldwin in The Gathering Storm. Though principally a stage actor, Jacobi has appeared in a number of films, such as Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), Gladiator (2000), Gosford Park (2001), The Golden Compass (2007), The King's Speech (2010), My Week with Marilyn (2011), and the forthcoming Hippie Hippie Shake. Like Laurence Olivier, he holds two knighthoods, Danish and British.^[1]

Early life[link]

Jacobi, an only child, was born in Leytonstone, London, England, the son of Daisy Gertrude (née Masters), a secretary who worked in a drapery store in Leyton High Road, and Alfred George Jacobi, who ran a sweet shop and was a tobacconist in Chingford.^[6] His great-grandfather on his father's side had emigrated to England from Germany during the 19th century.^[7] His family was working class.^[8] Although a war baby, Jacobi describes his childhood as happy. In his teens he went to the Leyton County High School and became an integral part of the drama club, The Players of Leyton.

While in the sixth-form, he starred in a production of Hamlet, which was taken to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and very well regarded.^[9] At 18, he won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he read history at St John's College and earned his degree. Younger members of the university at the time included Ian McKellen (who had a crush on him – "a passion that was undeclared and unrequited", as McKellen relates it)^[10] and Trevor Nunn. During his studies at Cambridge, Jacobi played many parts including Hamlet, which was taken on a tour to Switzerland where he met Richard Burton. As a result of his performance of Edward II at Cambridge, he was invited to become a member of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre immediately upon his graduation in 1960.

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Jacobi quickly came to the fore, and his talent was recognised by Laurence Olivier. He invited the young man back to London to become one of the founding members of the new National Theatre, even though at the time Jacobi was relatively unknown. He played Laertes in the National Theatre's inaugural production of Hamlet opposite Peter O'Toole in 1963. Olivier cast him as Cassio in the successful National Theatre stage production of Othello, a role that Jacobi repeated in the 1965 film version. He played Andrei in the NT production and film of Three Sisters (1970), both starring Olivier. On 27 July 1965, Jacobi played Brindsley Miller in the first production of Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy. It was presented by the National Theatre at Chichester and subsequently in London.

After eight years at the National Theatre, Jacobi left in 1971 to pursue different roles and mediums of expression. In 1972, he starred in the BBC serial Man of Straw, directed by Herbert Wise. Most of his theatrical work in the 70s was with the touring classical Prospect Theatre Company, with which he undertook many roles, including Ivanov, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and A Month in the Country opposite Dorothy Tutin (1976).

Although Jacobi's name was becoming known and he was increasingly busy with stage and screen acting, his big breakthrough came in 1976 when he played the title role in the BBC's series I, Claudius. He cemented his increasing reputation with his performance as the stammering, twitching Emperor Claudius winning him many plaudits. In 1979, thanks to his international popularity, he took Hamlet on a theatrical world tour through England, Egypt, Greece, Sweden, Australia, Japan and China, playing Prince Hamlet. He was invited to perform the role at Kronborg Castle, Denmark, better known as Elsinore Castle, the setting of the play. In 1978 he played in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Richard II, with Sir John Gielgud and Dame Wendy Hiller.

Later career[link]

In 1980, Jacobi took the leading role in the BBC's Hamlet, made his Broadway debut in The Suicide (a run shortened by Jacobi's return home to England due to the death of his mother), and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). From 1982 to 1985 he played four demanding roles simultaneously: Benedick in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, for which he won a Tony for its Broadway run (1984–1985); Prospero in The Tempest; Peer Gynt; and Cyrano de Bergerac which he brought to the US and played in repertory with Much Ado About Nothing on Broadway and in Washington DC (1984–1985). In 1986, he made his West End debut in Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore, with the role of Alan Turing, which was written with Jacobi specifically in mind. The play was taken to Broadway. In 1988 Jacobi alternated in West End the title roles of Shakespeare's Richard II and Richard III in repertoire.

His TV career saw him measure with Inside the Third Reich (1982), where he played Hitler; Mr Pye (1985); and Little Dorrit (1987), from Charles Dickens's book; The Tenth Man (1988) with Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott Thomas. In 1982, he starred as the voice of Nicodemus in the animated film, The Secret of NIMH. In 1990, he starred as Daedalus in episode 4 of Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths.

Jacobi continued to play Shakespeare roles, notably in Kenneth Branagh's 1989 film of Henry V (as the Chorus), and made his directing debut as Branagh's director for the 1988 Renaissance Theatre Company's touring production of Hamlet, which also played at Elsinore and as part of a Renaissance repertory season at the Phoenix Theatre in London. The 1990s saw Jacobi keeping on with repertoire stage work in Kean at the Old Vic, Becket in the West End (the Haymarket Theatre) and Macbeth at the RSC in both London and Stratford.

He was appointed the joint artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, with the West End impresario Duncan Weldon in 1995 for a three-year tenure. As an actor at Chichester, he also starred in four plays, including his first Uncle Vanya in 1996 (he played it again in 2000, which he brought to Broadway for a limited run). Jacobi's work during the 1990s included the 13-episode series TV adaptation of the novels by Ellis Peters, Cadfael (1994–1998) and a televised version of Breaking the Code (1996). Film appearances included performances in Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again (1991), Branagh's full-text rendition of Hamlet (1996) as King Claudius, John Maybury's Love is the Devil (1998), a portrait of painter Francis Bacon, as Senator Gracchus in Gladiator (2000) with Russell Crowe, and as "The Duke" opposite Christopher Eccleston and Eddie Izzard in a post-apocalyptic version of Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy (2002).

In 2001, Jacobi won an Emmy Award by mocking his Shakespearean background in the television sitcom Frasier episode "The Show Must Go Off", in which he played the world's worst Shakespearean actor: the hammy, loud, untalented Jackson Hedley. This was his first guest appearance on an American television programme.

Since 2000[link]

Jacobi has narrated audio book versions of the Iliad, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis and two abridged versions of I, Claudius by Robert Graves. In 2001, he provided the voice of "Duke Theseus" in The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream film. In 2002, Jacobi toured Australia in The Hollow Crown with Sir Donald Sinden, Ian Richardson and Dame Diana Rigg. Jacobi also played the role of Senator Gracchus in Gladiator and starred in the 2002 miniseries The Jury. He is also the narrator for the BBC children's series In the Night Garden.

In 2003, he was involved with Scream of the Shalka, a webcast based on the science fiction series Doctor Who. He played the voice of the Doctor's arch-nemesis the Master alongside Richard E. Grant as the Doctor. In the same year, he also appeared in Deadline, an audio drama also based on Doctor Who. In that, he played Martin Bannister, an ageing writer who makes up stories about "the Doctor", a character who travels in time and space, the premise being that the series had never made it on to television. Jacobi later followed this up with an appearance in the Doctor Who episode "Utopia" (June 2007); he appears as the kindly Professor Yana, who by the end of the episode is revealed to actually be the Master. Jacobi admitted to Doctor Who Confidential he had always wanted to be on the show: "One of my ambitions since the '60s has been to take part in a Doctor Who. The other one is Coronation Street. So I've cracked Doctor Who now. I'm still waiting for Corrie."^[11]

In 2004, Jacobi starred in Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, in an acclaimed production, which transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London in January 2005. The London production of Don Carlos gathered rave reviews. Also in 2004, he starred as Lord Teddy Thursby in the first of the four-part BBC series The Long Firm, based on Jake Arnott's novel of the same name. In Nanny McPhee (2005), he played the role of the colourful Mr. Wheen, an undertaker. He played the role of Alexander Corvinus in the 2006 movie Underworld: Evolution.

In March 2006, BBC Two broadcast Pinochet in Suburbia, a docudrama about former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the attempts to extradite him from Great Britain; Jacobi played the leading role. In September 2007, it was released in the U.S., retitled Pinochet's Last Stand. In 2006, he appeared in the children's movie Mist, the tale of a sheepdog puppy, he also narrated this movie. In July–August 2006, he played the eponymous role in A Voyage Round My Father at the Donmar Warehouse, a production which then transferred to the West End.

Jacobi signing autographs after his performance in "Twelfth Night", London, 2009.

In February 2007, his feature film The Riddle, directed by Brendan Foley, in which he stars alongside Vinnie Jones and Vanessa Redgrave, was screened at Berlin EFM. Jacobi plays twin roles, first a present day London tramp and then the ghost of Charles Dickens. In March 2007, the BBC's children's programme In the Night Garden started its run of 100 episodes, with Jacobi as the narrator. He played Nell's grandfather in ITV's Christmas 2007 adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop, and returned to the stage to play Malvolio in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (2009) for the Donmar Warehouse at Wyndham's Theatre in London.^[12] The role won him the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.^[13] He appears in five 2009 films: Morris: A Life with Bells On, Hippie Hippie Shake, Endgame, Adam Resurrected and Charles Dickens's England. In 2010 he returned to I, Claudius, as Augustus in a radio adaptation. In 2011, he was part of a medieval epic, Ironclad, which also starred James Purefoy and Paul Giamatti, as the ineffectual Reginald de Cornhill, castellan of Rochester castle.

Jacobi starred in Michael Grandage's production of King Lear (London, 2010), giving what The New Yorker called "one of the finest performances of his distinguished career".^[14] In May 2011 he reprised this role at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.^[15]

He is listed as a principle star in the April 2012 twelve-part mini-series Titanic: Blood and Steel.^[16]

Shakespeare authorship involvement[link]

Jacobi has been publicly involved in the Shakespeare authorship question. He supports the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, according to which Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford wrote the works of Shakespeare.^[17][18] Jacobi has given an address to the Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre promoting Oxford as the Shakespeare author^[19] and wrote forewords to two books on the subject in 2004 and 2005.^[20][21]

In 2007, Jacobi and fellow Shakespearean actor and director Mark Rylance initiated a "Declaration of Reasonable Doubt" on the authorship of Shakespeare's work, to encourage new research into the question.

In 2011, Jacobi accepted a role in the film Anonymous, starring Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave. In the film Jacobi plays a playwright who raises, through his work, the Oxfordian theory. Jacobi allows that making the film was "a very risky thing to do", and imagines that "the orthodox Stratfordians are going to be apoplectic with rage".^[22]

Personal life[link]

In March 2006, he registered his civil partnership with Richard Clifford,^[23] four months after civil partnerships were introduced in the United Kingdom. They live in north London.

Honours[link]

• 1985: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom)
• 1989: Knight 1st class of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark)
• 1994: Knight Bachelor, for services to Drama (United Kingdom)^[24]

Awards[link]

• 2008: Helen Hayes Tribute for Lifetime Achievement at the 24th Annual Helen Hayes Awards

Theatre

• 1983: London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor, for Much Ado About Nothing
• 1984: Tony Award for Best Actor, for Much Ado About Nothing
• 2009: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, for Twelfth Night

Television

• 1976: BAFTA Award for Best Actor, for I, Claudius
• 1989: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special, for The Tenth Man
• 2001: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, for Frasier (episode "The Show Must Go Off")

Film

• 1988: Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor, for Little Dorrit
• 1998: Edinburgh International Film Festival for Best British Performance, for Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon
• 1999: Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor, for Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

Ensemble

• 2002: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble, for Gosford Park
• 2002: Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Ensemble Cast, for Gosford Park
• 2002: Online Film Critics Society Awards for Best Ensemble, for Gosford Park
• 2002: Satellite Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble, for Gosford Park
• 2002: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, for Gosford Park
• 2011: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, for The King's Speech

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• List of Oxfordian theory supporters

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Derek Jacobi

• Derek Jacobi at the Internet Broadway Database
• Derek Jacobi at the Internet Movie Database
• "Jacobi, Sir Derek (George)", Who's Who 2008, A & C Black, 2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007. Accessed 22 October 2008.
• Sir Derek Jacobi at A Dictionary of the Royal Shakespeare Company by Simon Trowbridge
• 2006 Interview with Derek Jacobi on Theatre.com^{[dead link]}
• BBC – Drama Faces – Derek Jacobi