Again Suetonius

We read Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars hoping to learn about the Northern revolt which was the background of Poul Anderson's "Star of the Sea." However, Suetonius focuses on events that were significant to him or that he thought that his Roman readers needed to be informed about. We do learn - or at least I did - that, after the overthrow of Nero, the "four Emperors" in quick succession were Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian and that the fourth of these was succeeded by his two sons, first Titus, then Domitian. Thus, in this briefest possible summary, we have listed no less than seven of Suetonius' "twelve Caesars." The first of the twelve is Julius who is not counted as an Emperor but was assassinated to prevent him from becoming something like one. 

"With Nero, the line of the Caesars became extinct."

-Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (London, 2007), p. 242.

Thereafter, "Caesar" continued not as a family name but as a title although the Romans do not seem to have differentiated names and titles the way we do.

This is all important background information for certain works of historical fiction and time travel fiction and makes us wonder how societal attitudes will differ in another two thousand years assuming that there is going to be any society in another two thousand years. Poul Anderson's "The Master Key" makes us feel what it would be like to be in the same room as a merchant prince of the Polesotechnic League. It is fitting to bow to him. And another man attends dinner bearing a much-used holstered blaster...