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Abstract
In his De Vita Caesarum, Suetonius recounts the lives of the Roman emperors through an extensive analysis of their public and private lives. While the reason for including certain facts, such as political contributions, in the biographies is obvious, personal information about the men, including appearance, is instead simply disregarded as trivial. However, once these details are contextualized within the literary traditions at the time of composition, they can be more rightly understood to reveal the entire person of the emperor. This study is an examination of the appearances of Julius Caesar and Augustus, as found in their respective biographies, in light of the theory of physiognomy, which had reemerged as a popular trend in Suetonius' own political circle. Once infused with the idea that outer appearance reveals truths about the soul, these descriptions become a particular rhetorical device, by which Suetonius creates a microcosmic portrait of each man's character.