Suetone nous a livre des portraits passionnants des empereurs du Ier siecle de l'Empire romain. Soucieux de presenter la complexite de leur personnalite et de leur caractere, il fouille leur vie privee dans ses moindres details. Avec lui, un nouveau genre litteraire et historique voit le la biographie imperiale. Ce livre nous presente Claude (41-54 ap. J.-C.) et Neron (54-68 ap. J.-C.).
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius (ca. 69/75 - 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 until Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum. 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 are entirely lost.