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This is the first full literary study ofthe biographer Suetonius in over fifty years and the first one ever in English. Previous works on the author have focused primarily on his life and society or on historical matters associated with his sources. I look instead at Suetonius as a writer, someone he is often denied being. I utilise current theories on ancient historical writers' use ofthe rhetorical arts ofpersuasion, bringing to bear the recently accepted perspective that ancient historical writing differed fundamentally from its modern counterpart in the amount of licence granted to the author for distortion and invention. My aim is to reveal Suetonius as sophisticated and talented, by interpreting his Lives ofthe Caesars on their own terms as rhetorical and literary achievements. The biographies' appearance of objectivity emerges as a deceptive device by which they convince the reader ofa predetermined conclusion. The thesis has two parts. The first is concerned with combating the widely held opinion that Suetonius has no style. The introductory chapter surveys the scholarship on Suetonius, outlining the neglected areas to be pursued and the orthodox views with which the study will contend. Chapter 2 then establishes the place ofthe Caesars within the historical traditions and adduces analogies with Caesar's commentarii, Pliny's Letters, and various technical works. In Chapter 3, Suetonius' prose is closely examined, especially his pervasive manipulation of material through diuisio. The second part of the thesis explores the moralistic dimension of Suetonius' Lives. Chapter 4 is devoted to Suetonius' conception of character and how it is articulated in each Life through the organisation of virtues and vices. Chapter 5 then opens up a new field in Suetonian studies by asking whether the biographer was capable even of poetical allusion to reinforce his character-portrayals. Finally, Chapter 6 draws conclusions.

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In this thesis I explore the affinities between Seneca's tragic plays and pantomime, arguably the most popular dramatic genre during the Roman Empire, but relatively neglected by literary critics. The research is thus designed to make not only a significant contribution to our understanding of Seneca's tragic art (especially through the explanation of formal features that depart from the conventions of fifth-century Attic drama and have long puzzled scholars), but also to Imperial performance culture more generally. In particular, I hope to shed light on the interaction between so-called 'high’ and 'low' forms of artistic endeavours at the time, which previous scholarship has tended to overlook.

In this thesis I examine Plato's conception of the soul in the Republic. I attempt to show that Plato in the Republic regards the human soul as something unitary and that the unity the human soul possesses is compatible with the complexity and plurality that the soul displays. I wish to argue that the nature and the unity of the soul, which is expressed by the fact that the soul desires the good as the whole, is not adequately revealed in the arguments of the division of the soul in Book 4 of the Republic. In Book 4 the reader is presented with a divided soul that is characterized by internal conflict. I suggest that one would achieve better understanding of the unity of the soul and its rational nature if one followed the 'longer road' that Socrates recommends in Republic Book 6. The 'longer road', which involves a better methodology, would also provide one with more adequate understanding of the relation between the parts of the soul and the relationship between the parts and the whole. I suggest that a proper understanding of the nature of the soul as a unity and a whole involves the assumption that one part is not in essential opposition to the other parts and the whole, as it appeared to be the case in Book 4. Consequently radically separate parts do not need to be accepted in the soul.

This thesis analyses the most significant biographical representations of Euripides in antiquity, covering depictions of Euripides in Greek comedy, an imaginary dialogue of late Hellenistic origin, selected Hellenistic epigrams, a late imperial novel in letters, a passage in Gellius' Attic Nights, the anonymous Genos Euripidou, and the Suda lexicon. In chapter 1, I explore the representation of Euripides in Greek comedy, both in the extant plays of Aristophanes and in selected fragments from Old and Middle Comedy. I argue that the fourth century BC witnessed a major transformation in the representation of Euripides, as discussions about the work become detached from discussions about the author. This claim is supported by my findings in chapters 2 and 3, which discuss Hellenistic accounts of the life of Euripides in a group of Hellenistic epigrams and in Satyrus' Bios Euripidou: representations of Euripides now mirror the processes of canonisation. In chapter 4, I contend that the narrative function and coherence of the pseudo-Euripidean letters have not received the scholarly attention they deserve. I am proposing a new way of looking at these letters in the literary and philosophical context of the Second Sophistic. In chapter 5, I identify the depiction of Euripides in Gellius' Attic Nights, the anonymous Genos Euripidou, and the Suda lexicon, and propose a new appreciation of these later attestations of a biographical interest in Euripides. In the conclusion I give a synopsis of my results and an outlook on the questions raised by my thesis. I argue that a re-assessment of the much neglected ancient sources concerning the life of Euripides contributes to a better understanding of the ancient mechanisms of reception and canonization of Euripides and his work.