We all know the Twelve Caesars of Suetonius. I suppose most of us have read at least some of the Augustan History, similarly modelled, but largelya 4th century fake.
But I found myself thinking of the author of the next twelve lives after Suetonius, the lost writer Marius Maximus.
Maximus is referred to in the Augustan History, and also by Ammianus Marcellinus. He followed the tradition of Suetonius by retailing racy gossip as well as material from sources, good and bad. Apparently his work was favoured reading by senators, rather as modern politicians read Jeffrey Archer.
I wonder what the testimonia of Marius Maximus are. Who is the last author to display knowledge of his work? When did it perish, I wonder.
An email from Andrew Eastbourne brings news about the testimonia:
“For Marius Maximus, about whom you blogged just recently, see collected testimonia / fragments (pp. 121ff.) and discussion (pp. clxxx and following) in Peter, Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae (1906), vol. 2 [http://books.google.com/books?id=klGAxCkD06QC] — looks like apart from the Historia Augusta, it’s only Ammianus and a scholiast to Juvenal, I think…”
Must download that book and have a look!