I read both Suetonius and Tacitus before I was twenty (Penguin classics, might have been excerpts). I don't remember them well, but I remember Suetonius better.

I read both Suetonius and Tacitus before I was twenty (Penguin classics, might have been excerpts). I don't remember them well, but I remember Suetonius better. What I have read elsewhere is that the family violence of the first twelve caesars was really very restrited, and they otherwise governed reasonably well. There might be exceptions (Caligula) but there were enough in the twelve that were reasonable rulers despite personal perversions. Caligula might have opened a brothel with senators' wives, and Messalina might have challenged the greatest prostitute in Rome for her title, but the grain and money flowed where and when it was needed.