Jobjorn Boman

Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4

in Sources and Manuscripts

After having confirmed the long-known fact, 1 that in the earliest extant
manuscript of the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus’ Annales 15:44,
in which he depicts the Great Fire in Rome in the reign of Nero (64 CE) and
its aftermaths, the word Chrestianos was altered into Christianos (Christians),2
and after having found that, if correctly dated (c. 37 CE), a supposedly early
Roman inscription mentioning one Iucundus Chrestianus, most likely does not
refer to an early Christian,3 I will now examine another famous Chrest-
sentence, which has been connected to ancient Christianity – the one in the
Lives of the Twelve Caesars by the Roman historian and biographer Gaius
Suetonius Tranquillus (c. 70-after 130 CE).

1
See G. Andresen in Wochenschrift für klassische Philologie 19 (1902) cols 780-781; cf.
Justus Lipsius, Ad Annales Corn. Taciti Liber Commentarivs sive notæ, Antverp 1581, 455
(“Sive Chrestianos … per inscitiam”). The abbreviation fol. (folio) will in this article be used
about leaves numbered e.g. 1r, with the reverse side called 1v. If the leaves in a work have
individual numbers, p. (page) will be used instead. These notes should be read.
2
E. Zara, “The Chrestianos Issue in Tacitus Reinvestigated”, 2009, available online at
http:// www.textexcavation.com/documents/zaratacituschrestianos.pdf. With ultra-violet
examination of the MS the alteration was conclusively shown. It is impossible today to say who
altered the letter e into an i. In Suetonius’ Nero 16.2, christiani however seems to be the
original reading; see E. Zara, A Minor Compilation of Readings of Suetonius’ Nero 16.2, 2011,
available at the same site as zarasuetoniuschristiani.pdf.
3
E. Zara, “Chrestians before Christians? An Old Inscription Revisited”, 2009, available
online at http://www.textexcavation.com/documents/zarachrestianinscription.pdf. The main
objection against labeling the inscription Christian is the total lack of evidence for the term
Christian (pronounced perhaps Chrestian) being used regarding Christians as early as 37 CE;
cf. H. Botermann, Das Judenedikt des Kaisers Claudius. Römischer Staat und “Christiani” im
1. Jahrhundert (Hermes Einzelschriften 71), Stuttgart 1996, 90, n. 269. In the New Testament,
the term appears like an outsider’s term, and the Pompeian inscription (CIL IV:679; c. 79 CE)
reading HRISTIλN, cannot be said to refer to Christians at all. CIL X:6638 (regarding 39 CE) is
too obscure (CHRESFIT?) for any conclusions to be drawn.

Liber Annuus 61 (2011) 355-376

356 Jobjorn Boman

The Suetonian Passage and the Earlier Scholarship

A single sentence in the Lives of the Twelve Caesars (De Vita [Duodecim]
Caesarum or Vitae Duodecim Caesarum, published c. 120 CE; henceforth
called only “Suetonius”)4 has “elicited a small library of literature”, to quote
Van Voorst (2000).5 This Latin sentence in Book V: Divus Claudius (the
Divine Claudius) 25.4 is a sentence within a passage about legal, civil and
religious undertakings by the emperor Claudius (who reigned 41-54 CE),
which Suetonius seems to have appreciated. In modern editions of Suetonius
this sentence reads:

Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantis Roma expulit. 6

A few translations of this sentence have been presented by scholars and

translators, interpreting it rather differently. 7 The purpose of this article is not
to interpret the sentence itself, nor decide its significance. For the benefit of
the reader, I nevertheless offer this translation, which I consider non-committal
and adequately close to the original Latin:

From Rome he (Claudius) expelled the perpetually tumultuating

Jews8 prompted by Chrestus.

Chresto in the sentence has often been interpreted as a reference to Jesus

4
Editions and studies of this work are listed in J. Icart, G. Suetoni Vides Dels Dotze Cèsars,
I, Barcelona 1966, 30-38.
5
R.E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament. An Introduction to the Ancient
Evidence, Grand Rapids MI 2000, 31.
6
The word tumultuantis (often rendered as tumultuantes when scholars and others
reproduce the sentence) “represents not a typographical error, but rather an older special form”
according to R. Riesner, Paul’s Early Period. Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology, Grand
Rapids MI - Cambridge U.K. 1998, 162, n. 22
7
Cf. J.C. Rolfe, Suetonius (The Loeb Classical Library), II, Cambridge 1914, 52-53; Y.
Bonnefoy, Roman and European Mythologies, Chicago 1992, 107; H.D. Slingerland, Claudian
Policymaking and the Early Imperial Repression of Judaism at Rome (University of South
Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 160), Atlanta GA 1997, 228; K.P. Donfried, Judaism
and Christianity in First-Century Rome, Grand Rapids MI 1998, 204; Van Voorst, Jesus; F.
Carotta, Jesus Was Caesar, Soesterberg 2005, 150. The last-mentioned is interpreting the
ablative chresto as the Greek “chrêstês, which means ‘speculator’, ‘usurer’” and the Iudaeos
sentence as “the Jews who practiced usury and thereby caused constant turmoil [were
expelled]”. There are however other meanings of chrêstês, such as prophet and debtor. Chresto
as usury has, that I am aware of, not been attested in Latin. Concordantly, I interpret chresto as
Chrestus (v.i.), in agreement with most authors.
8
I choose the word tumultuating since this old word seems less precise than making
“revolt”, “disturbances”, “revolution”, “riots”, “uproar”, etc., suggested by translators. In this
context, and for this purpose, I also choose Jews over Judeans, since Suetonius by Iudaei here
seems to mean Jews as a group rather than people of Judean provenance (cf. Jul. 84.5, Aug. 76,
Tib. 36, Dom. 12.2 – but see Vesp. 4.5, 8; cf. P.F. Esler, Conflict and Identity in Romans. The
Social Setting of Paul’s Letter, Minneapolis 2003, 66-74).
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 357

Christ (Lat. Iesus Christus), and the word is given as “Christo” in some 15th-
16th century printed editions of Suetonius. 9 Cherestro is evident in the editio
princeps (Rome 1470) and Chrestro in the second published edition (Venice
1471) and in other 15th century editions.10
The reading Chresto has been used (albeit not exceptionless) in the editions
of Suetonius from the middle of the 16th century, apparently since Chresto,
and not the in Christendom common word Christo (ablative of Christus), is
lectio difficilior, the most difficult reading.9
Regarding the manuscripts (MSS), three modern editions of Suetonius
(Maximilian Ihm, Henri Ailloud and John Carew Rolfe) note no other variant
reading for Chresto than Orosius’ Christo (v.i.), which made Van Voorst
believe that “the Latin text is sound” and that no copyist ever “ventured to
change Chresto to Christo”.10 The scholar and bishop Lævinus Torrentius
(1525-1595), writes in his commentary on Suetonius, that the reading Chresto
indeed was evident only in one “of our manuscripts”, and that all the others
had Cheresto, Cherestro or Chiresto.11 This claim is repeated in later editions
of Suetonius (to the 18th century),12 and by others (19th century).13 In the 18th
century the Dutch scholar Pieter Burman noted the readings Cherestro and
Chestro, and in the 19th century the German scholar Baumgarten-Crusius
noted Cherestro and Chrestro, in some MSS, and Chirestro in Torrentius.14
Helga Botermann (1996) writes that apart from occasional (vereinzeltem)
Christo and Chresto, the MSS give Cheresto, Cherestro and Chiresto.15 Jakob
Engberg (2007) has, although having borrowed the key words in Suetonius’
sentence as the title of his treatise, not engaged in any discussion about the
MSS readings.16 Since there seems to be

9
Botermann, Das Judenedikt, 72ff.
10
Baumgarten-Crusius, C. Suetonii Tranquilli, II, 682. The 1470 edition reads
Chẹrestro (“Cristo” is noted in the left margin of the Uppsala University copy Coll. 1372); see
Johannes Andreas Campanus (ed.), Vitae XII Caesarum, Rome 1470, fol. 80v. Johannes
9
Botermann, Das Judenedikt, 73; Van Voorst, Jesus, 30, with n. 29.
10
Van Voorst, Jesus, 30, 32; M. Ihm, C. Svetoni Tranqvilli Opera. I: De Vita Caesarvm
Libri VIII, Leipzig 1907, 218. So also in K.L. Roth, C. Suetoni Tranquili Quae Supersunt
Omnia, Leipzig 1865, xlv, xxxv.
11
“IVDÆOS IMPVLSORE CHRESTO. Sic quidem vnus è nostris MS”; Lævinus
Torrentius, C. Svetonii Tranqvilli XII Cæsares Commentarii, Antverp 1578, 383. Nostris I
reckon could refer to the MSS he had read.
12
E.g. P. Burman, C. Suetonius Tranquillus etc., I, Amsterdam 1736, 772.
13
E.g. E. Johnson, Antiqua Mater. A Study of Christian Origins, London 1887, 8, n. 3.
14
Burman, C. Suetonius Tranquillus; Baumgarten-Crusius, C. Suetonii Tranquilli, II, 682;
cf. J.P. Mynster’s “Cherestrus, Cherestus, Chestrus, Chirestrus”, in Kleine theologische
Schriften, Copenhagen 1825, 152.
15
Botermann, Das Judenedikt, 72; this seems based on Burman, C. Suetonius Tranquillus,
or some other printed work – see n. 198.
16
J. Engberg, Impulsore Chresto. Opposition to Christianity in the Roman Empire: c. 50 -
250 AD, Frankfurt a.M. 2007. The critical Suetonian passage in Latin is quoted once, in p. 90, n.
194.
358 Jobjorn Boman

Rubeus Vercellensis (?), Vitae XII Caesarum, Venice 1480, fol. 68v, in the Bayerischen
Staatsbibliothek (Rar. 786, Beibd. 4), has Chrestro; “Chrestro impulsore” is written in the
margin.
no study in which the number of relevant MSS containing Chresto and the
variant readings are presented, Torrentius’ claim about one single MS reading
Chresto is yet not explicitly verified or falsified. Hence the main purpose of
this article is to present and discuss readings of important MSS. Before doing
this, the early “witnesses” to the Suetonian sentence will be discussed, in order
to decide whether or not these writers attest an original reading.

The “Witnesses” to the Suetonian Passage

The expulsion by Claudius is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and by

Eusebius in Church History (v.i.), although no tumults in Rome or impulsore
Chresto are mentioned.
The Christian historian and theologian Paulus (?) Orosius (c. 385-not
before 418 CE) wrote his Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII (Seven
Books of History against the Pagans) c. 418 CE, and the work contains a
universal history of the time from the Flood to the author’s time.17 In his 7th
book (6:15-16) Orosius writes that the Jewish historian Josephus informs that
the Jews were expelled from the City in Claudius’ ninth year as princeps.18
Next he presents the sentence of Suetonius in the following way, quoted from
Zangemeister’s edition (1889):

Claudius Iudaeos inpulsore Christo adsidue tumultuantes Roma

expulit.19

After presenting this sentence as a quote from Suetonius, Orosius adds (in
Fear’s translation):
“It is not at all clear whether he ordered the Jews to be restrained and
suppressed because they were rioting against Christ [contra Christum
tumultuantes], or whether he wished to expel the Christians at the same time
on the grounds that they had a related religion.”20

17
A.T. Fear, Orosius. Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, Liverpool 2010, 2, 5-6, 27.
18
No such information has been found in the extant works of Titus Flavius Josephus (37 - c.
100 CE); but see B. Adamczewski, Heirs of the Reunited Church, Frankfurt a.M. 2010, 67, n.
177 in fine.
19
K.F. Zangemeister, Pavli Orosii Historiarvm Adversvm Paganos Libri VII, Leipzig 1889,
245.
20
Fear, Orosius, 332-333. After this, Orosius mentions a great famine in Rome, mentioned
also in other sources. The Anglo-Saxon translation of Orosius reads: “On þæm nigeþan geare
his rices wearð micel hunger on Rome [;] Claudius het ut adrifan ealle þa Iudan þe þærbinnan
wæron” – see H. Sweet (ed.), King Alfred’s Orosius, part I, London 1883, 260 – i.e. “In the
ninth year of his government, there was a great famine in Rome, and Claudius ordered all the
Jews, that were within,
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 359

It has been claimed and suggested that Orosius read Christo in his source/
copy of Suetonius.23 Against this, it can be noted that the sentence in Orosius
begins with the name Claudius, which Suetonius does not supply, and that
other minor discrepancies between Suetonius and Orosius exist. 24 That
Orosius had read Suetonius’ work, and used it as his direct source in other
cases, is nevertheless apparent. 25 I have checked some early manuscripts of
Orosius, and in all of them nomina sacra are used, i.e. the “sacred” key word
after inpulsore is abbreviated, often to xpo.26, 21 The abbreviation xpo is used
when reproducing Orosius’ words also in the editio princeps of Orosius and in
16th century editions of Suetonius.22 Since the abbreviations commonly used
for the word Christus (Greek XPICTOC) – XC and XPC – also have been
used for the word XPHCTOC (chrêstos, meaning good, excellent etc.),23 it
cannot be completely ascer-

to be driven out.”; see J. Bosworth, A Literal English Translation of King Alfred’s Anglo-Saxon
Version of The Compendious History of the World by Orosius, London 1859, 179. It must
however be considered that the Latin text of Orosius makes no connection between the famine
and the expulsion of the Jews. The famine (magna fames Romae) is mentioned also by
Eusebius/Jerome in the Chronicle (second year of the 207th Olympiad); see the 5th c. Codex
Oxoniensis Bodleianus Lat. Auct. T II 26, fol. 114v.
23
E.g. in J.L. Hug, An Introduction to the Writings of the New Testament, II, London
1827, 414; M. Faillon et alii, Monuments inédits sur l’apostolat de Sainte Marie-Madeleine en
Provence, chap. 6: “Actes du martyre de Saint Alexandre”, Paris 1865, 527; L.C. Wharton,
“Further Rough Notes on Neglected Languages: A Sequel to the Paper in April 1913”,
Transactions of the Philological Society 27/1 (1914) 116, n. 1; I. Levinskaya, The Book of Acts
in Its Diaspora Setting, Grand Rapids MI 1996, 180.
24
Also tumultuantis and impulsore seems to be “corrected” to tumultuantes and
inpulsore; see H. Omerzu, Der Prozeß des Paulus. Eine exegetische und rechtshistorische
Untersuchung der Apostelgeschichte, Berlin 2002, 233, n. 557. Inpulsore would nevertheless
mean the same as impulsore.
25
K.R. Bradley, “Suetonius, Nero 16.2: ‘afflicti suppliciis Christiani’”, The Classical
Review 22/1 (1972) 9-10.
26
So in the manuscripts in the Laurentian library in Florence: 10 th century Laur. 65.35
(folio 85v), 11th/12th century Laur. 20 sin.2 (folio 44v) and the 14 th century Laur. 65.37 (folio
56v). The oldest extant manuscript containing Orosius’ work, Laur. 65.1 (6 th century), does not
contain book 7, but the word Christus is abbreviated also in this MS (e.g. folio 189r); this word
is also abbreviated in later MSS such as the 13 th century Brit. Mus. Burney 216 (e.g. fol. 88v).
The Orosius passage with the Suetonius sentence contains “xpo” in the 9 th century

21
The abbreviation xpo in the Orosius passage is evident also in five Vatican codices; see S.
Levin, “The Early History of Christianity, in Light of the ‘Secret Gospel’ of Mark”, in W.
Haase et alii (ed.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Band II. 25.6, Berlin - New
York 1988, 4285, n. 36.
22
See Historiae Adversus Paganos, Augsburg 1471, fol. 107r and e.g. Philippus Beroaldus,
Commentationes Conditae a Philippo Beroaldo in Suetonium Tranquillum, Venice 1510, fol.
213v; and Johann Kierher (ed.), Comentationes Condite a Philippo Beroaldo, adiecta
paraphrastica M. Ant. Sabellici Interpretatione, in Suetonium Tranquillum, Paris 1512, fol.
215v.
23
A. Rahlfs, “Die Berliner Handschrift des sahidischen Psalters”, Abhandlungen der
Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Philologisch-Historische Klasse 4/4 (1901) 18, n.
2; V. Ste-
360 Jobjorn Boman

Valenciennes, Munic. MS 545 [499] (fol. 109r) and in the 12 th century Cambridge Corpus
Christi College, Codex 23 (fol. 148r). The 9 th century S:t Gallen, Codex Sangallensis 621 reads
“impulsore xpω” (p. 282), and a 12 th century copy of it, Engelberg, Stiftsbibl., Codex 1009,
reads “impulsore xpo” (fol. 124v).
tained that Orosius actually wrote Christo, if he did not use an abbreviation
himself. Even if he read something else, like Chresto, in Suetonius (if he even
was reading Suetonius directly, and not another, now unknown, text quoting
Suetonius24) he did apparently interpret the text as referring to Christ, which
could have made him “correct” the spelling to Christo himself. If he in fact
did not, any copyist reading Orosius’ interpretation about the Jews perhaps
“rioting against Christ” (contra Christum) would presumably change an
original Chresto or something alike, in Orosius’ Suetonian sentence, to the
indeed more familiar Christo.25 Consequently, Orosius’ text cannot be said to
provide us with Suetonius’ original reading. Henceforth, references to the
expulsion by later authors will be discussed.
The English scholar and monk Bede (c. 673-735 CE) claims (De Temporum
Ratione 66, Chronica maiora) that “Iudaeos tumultuantes Roma expulit” in
Claudius’ ninth imperial year, and that this is the expulsion mentioned by
Luke

gemann, Die koptischen Zaubertexte der Sammlung Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer in Wien,
Heidelberg 1934, 49, n. 37; M. Karrer, Der Gesalbte. Die Grundlagen des Christustitels,
Göttingen 1990, 75;
U.-K. Plisch, Einführung in die koptische Sprache, Sahidischer Dialekt (Sprachen und Kulturen
des Christlichen Orients 5), Wiesbaden 1999, 5. Also Papyrus 72, in 1Peter 2:3 (“… the Lord is
good”) uses the abbreviation XPC, although the word in the textus receptus is XPHCTOC,
chrêstos. Although these examples are not from Latin manuscripts, it must be noted that the
words christos and chrêstos (Lat. Christus, Chrestus) are Greek by origin. Lactantius, (c. 240 -
c. 320) wrote that the ignorant usually (and erroneously) called Christ Chrestus (Chrestum
solent dicere); the 5th (or 6th) century MS Bononiensis Bibl. Univ. 701, the variously dated
Palatino-Vaticanus 161 (10th century?) and the 9th/10th century Montepessulanus 241, have xpm;
see E. Heck - A. Wlosok, Lactantivs Divinarvm Institutionvm Libri Septem, II, Berlin 2007,
331. Christum would make no sense here. Tertullian writes (c. 197) that the word Christian was
pronounced Chrestian by non-Christians (“Sed et cum perperam Chrestianus pronunciatur a
24
Some scholars believe that there is an intermediary source between Suetonius and
Orosius – perhaps an unknown version of Eusebius’/Jerome’s Chronicle; see S. Cappelletti,
The Jewish Community of Rome. From the Second Century B.C. to the Third Century C.E. ,
Leiden 2006, 73, and Riesner, Paul’s Early Period, 184ff. Eusebius indeed mentions the
expulsion in his Church History, II.18.9, quoting Romans 15:19, but refers only to Acts and
says nothing about impulsore Chresto/Christo or about tumult amongst the Jews; see K. Lake,
Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History, I, Cambridge 1949, 161. I hold no opinion on whether or
not Orosius quoted Suetonius directly, or used another source.
25
“Whether the silent correction is due to the author or to a scribe it is impossible to tell. If
Orosius had left it ‘Chresto’ it is more than likely that a scribe would sooner or later have
changed the spelling to the more familiar and to him more correct form” says E.A. Lowe,
Palaeographical papers, 1907-1965, Oxford 1972, 301. Cf. R. Renehan, “Christus or Chrestus
in Tacitus?”, La Parola del Passato 122 (1968) 368-370. “The Christians themselves, in the
time of Suetonius, may have pronounced [the word Christus] with that vowel [e] too; from their
texts, where it is abbreviated as a nomen sacrum, we can hardly make out to what extent they
preserved the original vowel sound… and to what extent it is a later restoration,” says Levin,
“The Early History”, 4285, n. 36.
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 361

vobis”); both Christianus and Chrestianus are in this passage abbreviated xpianus in some
manuscripts, such as the 15th century Laur. 26.13 (fol. 33r) and Codex Cusanus 42 (fol. 164v).
In Codex Romanus, S. Isidoro de’ Irlandesi 208 (1/29) Chrestianus is however misspelled
Christianus (fol. 7r); cf. Suetonius Tranquillus cum Philippi Beroaldi et Marci Antonii Sabellici
commentariis, Venice 1506, fol. 225v, where both Christo and Chresto are abbreviated xpo,
making the sentence nonsensical.
To the left: The abbreviation xpo, which is commonly written with a
superscript line, for Christo, in Jerome’s translation of Eusebius’
Chronicle (here from the 5th century Codex Oxoniensis Bodleianus
Lat. Auct. T II 26, fol. 120v).
(in the Acts of the Apostles). Thereafter he mentions a famine in Rome. 32 This
information appears to be based upon the earlier account of Orosius. 33 Bede
also, in Expositio Actuum Apostolorum 18:2, quotes the entire sentence
“Claudius Iudaeos inpulsore Christo assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit” after
mentioning Josephus informing that the expulsion happened in Claudius’
ninth year as emperor.26 Bede adds the same discussion as Orosius, about the
interpretation of the Suetonian sentence. 27 In the sentence said to be from
Suetonius, the Bede manuscripts has been said to read Christo and not
Chresto,28 but I have checked a few manuscripts of Expositio Actuum
Apostolorum and seen that the abbreviation xpo is used in the sentence.29 It
can, according to the Bede scholar Max L.W. Laistner, be assumed that a
Patristic author was the intermediate source of the citation. 30 Bede begins the
sentence with Claudius, just like Orosius, and Orosius was a source Bede
often used.31 They both mention Josephus and discuss in the same way the
interpretation of Suetonius’ sentence, in the same order. Therefore, it is
justifiable to deem that Bede is only drawing on Orosius and thus is no
independent witness to the manuscript tradition of Suetonius. The objection
made regarding the writings of Orosius can be made about the writings of
Bede and others (v.i.): Christian scribes would most likely have altered an
original Chresto into Christo/xpo based on the context in a work written by a
Christian.
26
M.L.W. Laistner, Bedae Venerabilis Expositio Actuum Apostolorum et Retractatio (1939),
Cambridge 1970, 68. In the same author, “Bede as a Classical and a Patristic Scholar”,
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Fourth series 16 (1933), the spelling inpulsore,
which I use, is given, instead of impulsore; see p. 74-75 and note 37 below.
27
See above and L.T. Martin, The Venerable Bede: Commentary on the Acts of the
Apostles, Kalamazoo 1989, 149.
28
Laistner, “Bede as a Classical and a Patristic Scholar”, 75, n. 1.
29
“Inpulsore xpo” is used in the MS Sangallensis 259 (p. 109) from c. 780-800 CE, and in
the 9th century Sangallensis 260 (p. 122). “Impulsore xpo” (the m looks like a scribal correction
of an n) is used in the 12 th century MS Valenciennes 52 (fol. 147v). Christo is rendered “xpo” in
e.g. the Basel Universitätsbibliothek B IV 26, from c. 900 CE (fol. 77v), and Christi “xpi” in
e.g. the 12th century MS. Bodl. 160 (fol. 1r). In the late (15 th century) MSS in Florence, Laur.
16.7 (fol. 31v) and16.9 (fol. 32r) christo is not abbreviated after impulsore.
30
Laistner, “Bede as a Classical and a Patristic Scholar”, 75.
31
S. Turner, The History of the Anglo-Saxons, II, London 1807, 381, n. 63; and J.R. Wright,
A Companion to Bede: A Reader’s Commentary on “The Ecclesiastical History of the English
People”, Grand Rapids 2008, 14ff.
362 Jobjorn Boman

Also Ado, the archbishop of Vienne in south-eastern France (d. c. 875), writes
32
J.A. Giles, The Complete Works of Venerable Bede in the Original Latin, VI, London
1843, 302. About the famine in Orosius, see note 22.
33
A. Deissmann, Paul: A Study In Social And Religious History, New York - London
1912, 257,
n. 2. Orosius is the first known extant source to date the expulsion to Claudius’ ninth year.
in his Chronicle that in the ninth imperial year of Claudius “Iudaeos
tumultuantes Roma expulit”. Next, he quotes Suetonius as reading “impulsore
Christo” – “inpulsore xpo” in a manuscript which I have checked 40 – and
states that this is the expulsion mentioned by Luke in Acts. 41 Ado’s Chronicle
is based on Bede’s, and his main sources for the earlier section are Orosius,
Isidore and Bede.32 Ado dates the expulsion to the ninth year of Claudius’
reign without referring to any source, like Bede in De Temporum Ratione, and
places it just before the famine in Rome. While writing about this famine and
its aftermaths, Ado uses the exact words of Orosius (“Verumtamen …
palatium”).33 Accordingly, Ado is dependent on at least Orosius, and thus
cannot be said to give us any insights about the Suetonian original reading.
The Benedictine monk Haimo of Auxerre (c. 790-c. 855?) mentions that
“Claudius imperator Iudæos tumultuantes urbe depellit”, 34 in his Historiae
Sacrae Epitome Sive Christianarum Rerum Memoria Libri Decem 35 (book II,
chap. 23) and thus uses a word from Suetonius (tumultuantes). This
information Haimo provides after mentioning Paul’s journey to Illyricum
(Romans 15:19), and before mentioning Aquila and Priscilla, presented in the
Acts 18:2 (and greeted in Romans 16:3), a verse in which the author of Acts
also notes that “Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome”.
Haimo does not mention Josephus as a source for the expulsion, and neither
does he place it in the ninth year of Claudius’ reign. He does not mention
impulsore Chresto/ Christo or any other reason for the expulsion. 36 In the
Chronicle by Frechulf of Lisieux (bishop c. 825–851) the words “Claudius
imperator Iudæos urbe depellit” are used in Haimo’s context, without both

32
H. Chisholm (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, I, Cambridge 191011, 210; M.L.W. Laistner,
Thought and Letters in Western Europe, A.D. 500 to 900 (1931), rev. ed., Ithaca 1966, 266; cf.
C.V. Franklin, The Latin Dossier of Anastasius the Persian. Hagiographic Translations and
Transformations (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. Studies and Texts 147), Toronto
2004, 226-227.
33
See Zangemeister, Pavli Orosii Historiarvm, 245, and cf. the source in n. 41. These
words are borrowed also by other authors, such as Frechulf of Lisieux; see the 9 th century
Codex Sangallensis 622, p. 309.
34
Depellit is equal to expulit. Urbe, the City, was the common Roman way to refer to
Rome.
35
This work was previously attributed to bishop Haimo of Halberstadt (d. 853), as were
other works now by some scholars believed to be written by the contemporary Haimo of
Auxerre; see Y. Wada, A Companion to Ancrene Wisse (2003), Cambridge 2010, 231, n. 10.
Unfortunately, no consensus seems to have been reached regarding the authorship, and I hold no
opinion on this matter.
36
J.-P. Migne, Haymonis Halberstatensis Episcopi Opera Omnia, III, Paris 1852, 829.
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 363

tumultuantes and impulsore Chresto/Christo.37 This is obviously based upon

Eusebius’ 4th century account

40
See the 11th/12th century Corpus Christi College, MS 290, p. 106.
41
Adonis Viennensis Archiepiscopi Breviarivm Chronicorvm ab Origine Mvndi ad sua
vsque tempora, id est, ad regnum Karoli Francorum regis cognomento Simplicit, An. Domini.
879, Basel 1568, 111-112.
in his Church History (II.18.9), translated (or rather paraphrased) into Latin by
Rufinus (c. 402 CE).48 Haimo’s main text is also based on Rufinus, 49 who does
not use the word tumultuantes. It is not probable that Haimo utilized Bede’s
shorter text in De Temporum Ratione, since Bede dates the expulsion and uses
the words Roma expulit, and Haimo uses the Rufinian words urbe depellit.
Haimo’s context is Rufinian and not Orosian. Hence, there seems to be no
reason to believe that Haimo is reliant on Bede or Orosius. Since Haimo
seems to have read the expulsion passage in Suetonius, 38 the lack of impulsore
Christo in his text could indicate that his copy of Suetonius did not contain
Christo, as a Christian author reading the title “Christ” in an early pagan work
likely would have reproduced this important word (but v.i).
Reginon, abbot of Prüm, Germany (c. 845-915) wrote in the highly
derivative first part of his Chronicon, that in the year 53, counting from “the
incarnation of the Lord”,39 “Claudius Iudeos tumultuantes Roma expulit”. This
information has been said to be based on Bede, 40 which seems highly
probable, considering Reginon’s regular use of Bede. 41

Wessner, Scholia in Iuvenalem Vetustiora collegit, Stuttgart 1931, 64; and Riesner, Paul’s
Early Period, 189-190.
48
Lake, Eusebius, 161; cf. Rufinus’ Latin version of Eusebius’ Church History in Pietro
Tommaso Cacciari, Ecclesiasticae Historiiæ Eusebii Pamphili Libri Novem Ruffino Aquilejensi
Interprete ac Duo Ipsius Ruffini Libri Opus, I, Rome 1741, 93, and in the 15th century Cologne,
37
See Codex Sangallensis 622, p. 311. An imprecise mentioning of an expulsion of Jews is
also evident in the Scholia to Juvenal (c. 400 CE), but without impulsore Chresto or tumult; see
P.
38
“Scriptor, Haymo [in II:23 of the Epitome] ad ipsa Suetonii verba alludens”, is stated in
C.A. Heumann, “Dissertatio De Chresto Svetonii: In Qva Christvm Ton Θeanθρωπon Intelligi
Adversvs V. C. Antonivm Van Dale Defenditvr”, in Dissertationvm Sylloge Diligenter
Recognitarvm Novisqve Illustratarvm Accessionibvs, I, part 3, Göttingen 1745, 541.
39
Reginon rejected Dionysius Exiguus’ dating of the incarnation, used in Western
chronology (I CE), and placed it four years earlier; see J.K. Schulman (ed.), The Rise of the
Medieval World, 500-1300. A Biographical Dictionary, Westport 2002, 365. Reginon’s year 53
is thus year 49 CE.
40
F. Kurze (ed.), Reginonis Abbatis Prumiensis Chronicon, cum Continuatione Treverensi,
Hannover 1890, 5.
41
“Indeed, Regino of Prüm has a poor reputation as a historian, and is a particularly
problematic source for the early Medieval Period, especially for the time preceding 813. Much
of his work was copied from known sources like Bede” says P. Sørensen, “Jutes in Kent?
Consideration of the problem of ethnicity in southern Scandinavia and Kent in the Migration
Period”, in G. De Boe - F. Verhaeghe (ed.), Papers of the ‘Medieval Europe Brugge 1997’
conference, I.A.P. rapporten, X, Zellik 1997, 167.
364 Jobjorn Boman

Dombibliothek, Codex 1035, fol. 26v. The Latin sentence reads “Claudius Imperator Judæos
urbe depellit”. Christensen states that “we must remember that in the Middle Ages Rufinus’s
Latin historia ecclesiastica [Church History] – not Eusebius – was the most prominent source
to scholars in the Latin West of the history of the Church up to the Emperor Constantine’s
victory over Licinius in 324”; see T. Christensen, Rufinus of Aquileia and the Historia
Ecclesiastica, Lib. VIII-IX, of Eusebius (Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 58), Copenhagen
1989, 10. Frechulf’s main source for Roman history is Orosius, but he also uses Rufinus; see P.
Magdalino, The Perception of the Past in Twelfth-Century Europe, London 1992, 107.
49
The epitome has been called “an abbreviated version of Rufinus’s translation of
Eusebius’s Historia”; see C.L. Smetana, Aelfric and the Homiliary of Haymo of Halberstadt
(Traditio 17), New York 1961, 457.
Herman the Cripple (1013-1054), a mathematician, poet and monk in the
monastery of Reichenau, Germany, wrote in his Chronicon, founded on
Rufinus’ translation of Eusebius’ Church History, Cassiodorus and Bede,54
that in 51 CE “Claudius Iudæos urbe expulit”, and that in 52 CE there was a
great famine in Rome (mentioned in Jerome’s words from the Chronicle,
“magna fames Romae”, “facta est” added). The information about the
expulsion is believed to be based on Bede. 42 E.g. the Austrian Annals of Melk
(1123 CE43), the Annals of Admont (ending in 1250 CE) and the Chronicon
Wirziburgense, of Würzburg, Germany (11th century44) contain the same
information as Herman about the expulsion and the famine (the Würzburg
chronicle without “Romae”, stating that the expulsion occurred in Claudius’
ninth imperial year).45 However, the employed phrase need not be derived
from Suetonius at all, but could be from Eusebius’ Church History, since
expulit means the same as the Rufinian depellit,46 and Urbe and not Roma is
used. Thus, I will not note other annals using this phrase.
In the 11th/12th century Annals of Tigernach, from Ireland, 47 it is stated that
“Claudius Roma expulit [or expulsit] Iudeós tumul[tu]antes”.48 Thereafter the
famine in Rome is mentioned. These annals are believed to be based on a lost
10th century Irish chronicle which is “much indebted to the chronicles of
Eusebius… and Bed[e]”.49 Also words of Orosius are alluded to in the

42
P. Aemilian Ussermann, Chronicon Hermanni Contractii etc., I, St. Blaise 1790, 4; G.H.
Pertz (ed.), Monvmenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, V, Hannover 1844, 75.
43
Magdalino, The Perception of the Past, 33.
44
F.H. Bäuml - M.D. Birnbaum, Attila: the Man and His Image, Budapest 1993, 58.
45
See G.H. Pertz (ed.), Monvmenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, IX, Hannover 1851,
485; Hieronymus Pez (ed.), Scriptorum Rerum Austriacarum etc., II, Leipzig 1725, col. 152; J.-
P. Migne, Patrologiæ Cursus Completus etc., second series, vol. 154, Paris 1853, col. 462.
46
Cf. Henry de Valois, Eusebii Pamphili Socratis Scholastici Hermiæ Sozomeni etc.
Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ, Cambridge 1720, 72.
47
The annals were formerly attributed to the abbot Tigernach Ua Braín (d. 1088) – hence
the name, which is “too well established to be changed”; see J.T. Koch (ed.), Celtic Culture. A
Historical Encyclopedia, vol. 1-5, Santa Barbara - Oxford 2006, 72.
48
Ch. O’Conor (ed.), Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores, II, Buckingham 1825, 21; cf. W.
Stokes (ed.), The Annals of Tigernach (Revue Celtique 16), Paris 1895, 412.
49
Koch, Celtic Culture.
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 365

annals.50 Hence, this work is likely not an independent “witness” to the

Suetonian text.
The English monastic writer Orderic Vitalis (c. 1075-c. 1142) wrote in the
first part of his Historia Ecclesiastica, that in Claudius’ ninth imperial year
“Judaeos tumultuantes Roma expulit”, and that a famine occurred in the
follow-

54
J.E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship from the Sixth Century B.C. to the End of
the Middle Ages, Cambridge 1903, 499.
ing year.64 The entire paragraph in which this passage is located appears to be
borrowed from Bede.65
In the Flores Historiarum (Flowers of History), a chronicle compiled in the
12 -14th centuries, it is stated that in 49 CE “Iudæos tumultuantes à Roma
th

expulit”, referred to by Luke in Acts.66 This account resembles the accounts by

Bede, Ado and the Annals of Tigernach.
Bishop Otto of Freising (c. 1114-1158) writes in his Chronica sive Historia
de Duabus Civitatibus (Chronicle or History of the Two Cities), book III, that
not only Josephus, but also Suetonius, referred to the Claudian expulsion of
Jews. Otto states: “Claudius, inquit [he says; sic! There is no Claudius in the
Suetonian sentence], Iudaeos impulsore Christo [“inpulsore x̊ ” in a manuscript
which I have checked51] assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit”. The context is
that of Orosius,52 who is the obvious source of the information, 53 which
therefore does not derive directly from Suetonius.
The imperial chaplain Godfrey of Viterbo, Italy (c. 1120-c. 1196) compiled
a shortened version of Otto’s account, in his Pantheon. Here, the expulsion is
mentioned in the same context as in Otto, but Godfrey has excluded
“impulsore Christo”, quoting Suetonius as saying “Claudius [he says] Iudaeos
assidue tumultuantes ab Urbe expulit”. 54 There is no reason to suspect that this
quote is independent of the earlier Christian sources cited above. 55
50
E.g. “equites Romanos minimis causis” in O’Conor, Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores, 19;
and Stokes, The Annals of Tigernach, 411; cf. Zangemeister, Pavli Orosii Historiarvm, 245.
51
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM 23597 (c. 1300), fol. 49r.
52
G.H. Pertz (ed.), Ottonis Episcopi Frisingensis Opera, I, Hannover 1867, 142. In English,
A.P. Evans - Ch. Knapp (ed.), The Two Cities. A Chronicle of Universal History to the Year
1146
A.D. (1928), New York 1966, 240; cf. Orosius’ text in Fear, Orosius, 333.
53
“Orosius’ influence can be observed particularly in the Chronicon of Otto of Freising”,
according to M. von Albrecht (ed.), A History of Roman Literature. From Livius Andronicus to
Boethius, II, Leiden 1997, 1387. See Evans - Knapp (ed.), The Two Cities, 24, n. 121.
54
Johann Pistorius (ed.), Germanicorvm Scriptorvm, qvi Rervm a Germanis per Mvltas
Ætates Gestarvm Historias vel Annales Posteris Reliqvervnt, Tomvs Alter: quo Continetvr
Gotefridi Viterbiensis Pantheon etc., Regensburg 17263, 254.
55
Cf. B. Askani, Das Bild Kaiser Ottos II. Die Beurteilung des Kaisers und seiner
Regierung in der Geschichtsschreibung vom 10. Jh. bis zur Gegenwart (dissertation),
Heidelberg 1963, 90.
366 Jobjorn Boman

In the printed 1611 edition of the chronicle attributed to the priest Magnus
of Reichersberg (d. 1195),56 it is stated that in 51 CE “Claudius Cæsar Iudæos

64
A. Le Prévost, Orderici Vitalis Angligenæ Coenobii Uticensis Monachi Historiæ
Ecclesiasticæ Libri Tredecim, I, Paris 1838, 97. Cf. Giles, The Complete Works of Venerable
Bede, 302.
65
Cf. M. Chibnall (ed.), The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis (1980), I, New
York 2003, 127.
66
Flores Historiarvm per Matthaevm Westmonasteriensem collecti, etc., London 1573,
95; cf. C.D. Yonge, The Flowers of History, Especially Such as Relate to the Affairs of Britain,
I, London 1853, 145.
tumultuantes Roma expulit”. Therafter Prisca and Aquila from Acts, and also
Paul, are mentioned, as in the Eusebian Church History. In the account of
Claudius’ undertakings in 52 CE, the wording is similar or identical to that of
Orosius (“correptus … infestatus”, “simul … causis”). 57 Accordingly, it can be
inferred that this account is not independent of earlier Christian sources.
Sicard, bishop of Cremona, Italy (c. 1150-1215) wrote in his Chronica
Universalis that in Claudius’ ninth imperial year “Iudeos tumultuantes Roma
eiecit” (eiecit meaning the same as expulit). The same sentence appears in the
Chronica Imperatorum, attributed to the notary of Reggio nell’Emilia in
northern Italy, Alberto di Gerardo Milioli (c. 1220-1286). Because of their
dating of the expulsion, these authors seem dependent of Orosius, or another
source reliant on Orosius. It is improbable that these accounts are directly
dependent on Suetonius.58
The Annals of Waverley, written at Waverley Abbey, England, is a
chronicle beginning in 1 CE and ending (incomplete) in 1291. In the only
extant MS the entries about 1-999 CE are written in a 12 th century hand. Bede
was one of the major sources for the early period (1-379 CE). 75 In the annals it
is said that in year 52 “Claudius Iudæos Roma expulit” and that the famine
which Luke referred to (Acts 11:28) occurred in the year 53. The historian
Henry Richards Luard (1865), who studied the Annals, believed that this

56
Ch. Gewold (ed.), Chronicon Monasterii Reicherspergensis in Baioaria Ante Annos CD.
Congestvm etc., Munich 1611, 7. However, this passage is not included in the version printed in
G.H. Pertz (ed.), Monvmenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, XVII, Hannover 1861, 476;
consequently, I write “(?)” next to the name Magnus, in the following text.
57
Cf. Zangemeister, Pavli Orosii Historiarvm, 245.
58
G.H. Pertz (ed.), Monvmenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, XXXI, Hannover 1903,
103, 589. These authors do not mention the famine in this context. If Josephus actually did date
the expulsion to Claudius’ ninth year as princeps, Sicard and Alberto could in theory be
depending on both Josephus and Suetonius, this making them independent “witnesses” to the
Suetonian passage (cf. L.W. Jones [ed.], An Introduction to Divine and Human Readings, New
York 1966, 57). If so, the same argument as regarding Haimo applies (v.s.). This, however,
seems unlikely regarding such late Christian authors, not (as far as I know) known to have been
keen on using ancient pagan sources; Sicard’s “sources are almost entirely early Christian and
medieval”, according to K. Eisenbichler - N. Terpstra (ed.), The Renaissance in the Streets,
Schools, and Studies etc., Toronto 2008, 114. 75 H.R. Luard, Annales Monastici, II, London
1865, xxx-xxxi.
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 367

information derives from Bede. 59 Also the Annals of Jumièges, the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle and the Annals of Bury St. Edmunds all include “Claudius
Iudeos Roma expulit” in regard to the year 52, and the latter two also claim
that there was a famine which Luke referred to. The words used regarding the
famine (“fames maxima” rather than “magna fames”, and “Lucas refer[t]” [i.e.
Luke refers]) remind of Bede’s account in De Temporum Ratione.60 The words
used need not be Suetonian (v.s.). I see no reason to note other chronicles
using this particular phrase.
The Italian notary and compiler of chronicles, Riccobaldo of Ferrara (c.
1251-1318?), wrote in his Compendium Romanae Historiae, book VIII, chap.
47, that “Iudeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit”,
without identifying this Chresto with Christ. The context is that of Suetonius,
which also is the source of the information, according to the editio princeps.78
In a later chapter (54) Riccobaldo states that in his eighth imperial year
“Claudius Iudeos urbe expulit ut supra habetur” (the last words meaning “as
stated above”), after which a famine in the ninth imperial year is mentioned.
According to the editio princeps the latter chapter is primarily derived from
Jerome’s Chronicle and Orosius’ seventh book.61 (In his earlier work
Pomerium [IV, 4, 13], Riccobaldo uses Orosian words and context when
writing about the expulsion, though dating it to Claudius’ eighth year62).
The law professor Andrea Dandolo, doge of Venice (1306-1354), writes in
his Chronica extensa (chap. 2, part. 1) that “Claudius, Iudeos, inpulsore
Christo, assidue tumultuantes, Roma expulit”. He explicitly refers to Orosius,
his source, stating that the meaning of the sentence, which Dandolo oddly
enough does not attribute to Suetonius, is unclear.63
The Austrian historian and theologian Thomas Ebendorfer (1388-1464)
wrote in his chronicle about Roman imperial history, Chronica regum
Romanorum, that in Claudius’ ninth imperial year “Judeos e Roma pellit, ut
refert Swetonius, contra Christum assidue tumultuantes”. Orosius and Bede
use the words “contra Christum tumultuantes” (v.s.).64 Ebendorfer’s following
sentence is about Claudius inflicting the death penalty on 35 senators and 300

59
Luard, Annales, 130.
60
P.S. Baker, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A Collaborative Edition, VIII: MS F, Bury St
Edmunds 2000, l-li. Cf. Giles, The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 302.
61
Ibidem, 515 with n. 1.
62
G. Zanella (ed.), Riccobaldo da Ferrara: Pomerium Ravennatis Ecclesie, Cremona 2001,
IV, 41. The Compendium “marks an advance in scholarship… he now uses the ancient Romans
directly” says R.G. Witt, In the Footsteps of the Ancients, Leiden 2000, 114, n. 89 (drawing on
Hankey).
63
E. Pastorello (ed.), Andreae Danduli Ducis Venetiarum Chronica per extensum descripta,
Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (new edition), vol. 12, part 1, Bologna 1938-58, 10-11. In
Muratori’s edition the spelling “impulsore” is used; see L.A. Muratori (ed.), Andreæ Danduli
Venetorum Ducis Chronicon Venetum etc., Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. 12, part 1, Milan
1728, col. 15.
64
Zangemeister, Pavli Orosii Historiarvm, 245; Laistner, Bedae Venerabilis Expositio, 68.
368 Jobjorn Boman

Roman knights (cf. Suetonius, Claudius 29),65 and his words about this
incident are similar to the words of Otto of Freising and Godfrey of Viterbo. 66
There is nothing to suggest that Ebendorfer used a copy of Suetonius
including the Orosian words “contra Christum” etc.
Since it is estimated that in 1100 CE about sixty universal chronicles were
written in Western Europe, and since many more appeared in the centuries

78
A.T. Hankey (ed.), Ricobaldi Ferrariensis Compendium Romanae Historiae (Fonti per la
storia d’Italia 108), II, Rome 1984, 509, n. 2, 510. I have had no reason to confirm the reading
Chresto by checking any manuscript, since it is reasonable to trust this modern edition.
thereafter,67 also other medieval chroniclers, predating the first printed edition
of Suetonius (1470), have alluded to the Suetonian sentence. I have, however,
not noticed any other significant and clear 68 reference; other existing allusions
are most likely reliant on the sources now mentioned and discussed. The
sources above appear to include all relevant medieval allusions to the
Suetonian passage.
The MSS that I have checked, of the Christian sources to the impulsore-
part of Suetonius’ sentence – Orosius, Bede, Ado and Otto – recurrently (but
not always) read inpulsore. Also Andrea Dandolo used this spelling according
to the latest edition of his chronicle. This mutual spelling appears to point
towards a common non-Suetonian source – seemingly Orosius (or his
source69). Riccobaldo, evidently using Suetonius directly, confirms the modern
critical reading Chresto, and not Christo. Another interesting fact is that most
Christian works – Haimo, Reginon, Herman, Orderic, Flores Historiarum,
Godfrey, Magnus (?), Sicard, Alberto, Riccobaldo and all the above-
mentioned annals – allude to the Suetonian sentence without connecting it to
Christ or Christianity. However, if these writers (all except Haimo and
Riccobaldo, who seem to have read Suetonius; v.s.) were using Bede’s shorter
mention of the expulsion, in De Temporum Ratione, as their source, no

65
H. Zimmermann (ed.), Thomas Ebendorfer, Chronica regum Romanorum (Monumenta
Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, nova series), Hannover 2003, 116.
66
Ebendorfer uses “[35 senators and 300 knights] parvis ex causis perdidit” (ibidem), Otto
and Godfrey “…parvis de causis perdidit” (G.H. Pertz, Ottonis Episcopi Frisingensis Opera, I,
142; Pistorius, Germanicorvm Scriptorvm, 254) and Orosius “minimis causis interfecit”
(Zangemeister, Pavli Orosii Historiarvm, 245).
67
D.W. Kling - D.A. Sweeney (ed.), Jonathan Edwards at Home and Abroad. Historical
Memories, Cultural Movements, Global Horizons, Columbia SC 2003, 21.
68
Statements like “Claudius Judæos pellit Roma” – from the Compilatio chronologica of
Riccobaldo of Ferrara, as rendered by J.G. von Eckhart (ed.), Corpvs Historicvm Medii Ævi,
sive Scriptores res in Orbe Vniverso, Præcipve in Germania, etc., I, Frankfurt - Leipzig 1743,
col. 1240; cf. the 14th century Laur. 83.2, fol. 49v – do not seem to be derived from Suetonius at
all, but rather from Rufinus’ translation of Eusebius’ Church History, and thus by extension
from the Acts of the Apostles. Also, it is not necessary in this study to repeat already mentioned
phrases in absurdum only because they were used by other chroniclers as well as the mentioned
ones; the sources and contexts are still the same.
69
It of course cannot be ruled out that the MS Orosius used (if he read Suetonius himself)
read inpulsore, a spelling evident in four examined less reliable MSS (v.i.).
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 369

impulsore Christo would be expected. The absence of impulsore Christo (or

rather xpo) in Haimo, Magnus (?) and Godfrey – the latter two apparently
using Christian sources containing the impulsore-reference, but omitting it –
could mean that these authors doubted that the Suetonian sentence was to be
connected to Christ or Christianity, possibly because there was no Christo in
the copies of Suetonius that they (perhaps) had read. However, other reasons
to omit these words could be theorized, since also Bede omits them in De
Temporum Ratione but apparently still considers them important enough to
quote in Expositio Actuum Apostolorum, and since Thomas Ebendorfer
preferred Orosius’ interpretation of the Suetonian words instead of Suetonius’
actual words. Perhaps the authors who did not quote the impulsorepart
regarded these words as too obscure (as expressively did Orosius, Bede and
Andrea Dandolo) and the Orosian interpretations as too vague (as Thomas
Ebendorfer apparently did not), and knew of no sources clearly connecting
Christ or Christians to tumults in Rome during Claudius’ reign (which is not
expressively done in Acts nor in Rufinus), and thus chose to exclude the
expression from their chronicles. My conclusion is that the texts of the above-
mentioned authors – all learned Christians accustomed to write the title
Christus (abbreviated or not) – cannot be said to provide us with the original
reading of Suetonius. The sources including the Suetonian words seemingly
derive – with two exceptions (Haimo and Riccobaldo) – from a common
source, Orosius, often via Bede. It is more than likely that Orosius, or scribes
of the MSS of his work, changed an original Chresto into Christo/xpo. The
presumed sources allegedly used by Orosius – a lost work by Josephus and
perhaps a lost copy of Eusebius’ Chronicle, translated by Jerome – are not
extant, and perhaps never existed,70 and thus the original reading of the critical
word in the sentence discussed is rather to be sought within the ancient MSS
of Suetonius themselves.

The Manuscripts of Suetonius

At the monastery of Fulda in Germany a manuscript of Suetonius was

located in the beginning of the 9 th century. This manuscript is now lost. 71 The
MS regarded as the now oldest extant is the Parisinus Lat. 6115, commonly
called Memmianus (after the former owner Henri de Mesmes). It is believed
to have been copied at Tours, France, in c. 820. There are no direct
descendants of the Memmianus, although there are related manuscripts, such

70
Cf. n. 30. On Orosius’ reference to Josephus, see Slingerland, Claudian Policymaking,
128, but cf. E.S. Gruen, Diaspora: Jews Amidst Greeks and Romans, Cambridge 2002, 271, n.
148.
71
About this manuscript, see E.K. Rand, “On the History of the De Vita Caesarum of
Suetonius in the Early Middle Ages”, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 37 (1926) 1-48
(especially 20-25).
370 Jobjorn Boman

as the next earliest MS, the 11 th century Guelf. 268 Gud. Lat. at the Herzog
August Library in Wolfenbüttel, Germany.72 Every extant manuscript of
Suetonius begins with the following sentence, concerning Gaius Julius Caesar:
“In the course of his sixteenth year he lost his father”. 73 Since there is no
information about the imperator’s birth, childhood etc. it is believed that all
extant manuscripts share an archetype lacking this information. 74 More than
two-hundred manuscripts of Suetonius are extant, and over half of them were
written after 1375. In the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century a
few studies on the MSS were published. The Belgian scholar Léon
Preud’homme constructed a scheme of relationship among the extant codices
in 1904.93 The manuscripts of De Vita Caesarum are placed in two classes,
called the X family and the Z family, the latter of less value. The hypothetical
archetypes of the families, X and Z, are believed to be derived from a common
source, supposedly the Fulda MS. Although scholars – like Maximilian Ihm
(1907)75 and Preud’homme – agree about these families, there is no consensus
regarding the relationships of the MSS within them. Apart from the above-
mentioned MSS, the X family is mainly represented by the 12 th century
Laurentianus 68.7 (also called Mediceus 3),76 Parisinus Lat. 5801,
Laurentianus 66.39 (Mediceus 1), Montpellier (Montepessulanus) 117 and the
14th century Berlin Lat. Fol. 337. More interpolations and errors are evident in
the Z family, which is represented by a vast amount of MSS, the oldest of
which is the 11th century Durham C III 18 (formerly Dunelmensis).77 Ihm
used, from this family, the 12th century Parisinus Lat. 6116, Parisinus Lat.
580278 and British Library Codex Royal 15 C III. 79 Preud’homme took in his
72
“It approaches most nearly to the readings of the Memmian[us] and is undoubtedly from
the same original.” according to J.B. Pike, Gai Suetoni Tranquilli De Vita Caesarum, Libri III-
VI: Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Boston 1903, xxiv-xxv. Lee states that this MS “suffers
from the mistaken corrections of a scribe”; see S.M. Lee, A Commentary on Suetonius’ Galba
(thesis, The University of British Columbia), Vancouver 1985, 15; cf. J.C. Rolfe, Suetonius, I,
London - New York 1914, xxii.
73
This is the translation of Rolfe; see Rolfe, Suetonius, I, 3.
74
D.W. Hurley, Divvs Clavdivs, Cambridge 2001, 21-22, with notes and noted sources. This
75
See Ihm, C. Svetoni Tranqvilli Opera.
76
According to Pike (Gai Suetoni Tranquilli De Vita Caesarum) “it often approaches the
Memmian[us] in value, and, either with it or alone, preserves the correct reading for certain
words”. This MS has also been dated to the 11 th century; see A.W. Braithwaite, C. Svetoni
Tranqvilli Divvs Vespasianvs, Oxford 1927, xx.
77
“[T]his book appears to be the best of the Z family”, according to J. Bridge, De
quibusdam libris Suetonianis qui ex fonte Z emanaverunt, summarized in “Summaries of
Dissertations for the Degree of Ph.D., 1929-30”, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 41
(1930) 184-185. In his treatise, Bridge presents a scheme of relations between the MSS of the Z
family.
78
J. Bridge found, about this MS, and the Cambridge University Library MS. Kk. 5. 24
(v.i.), that “the evidence of these books is of little or no value for determining the correct text of
the author”; ibidem, 186.
79
Cf. Icart, G. Suetoni Vides, 29-30; Hurley, Divvs Clavdivs, 22; W.H. Alexander, “Some
Textual Criticism on the Eight Book of the Vita Caesarum of Suetonius”, University of
California Publications in Classical Philology 2/1 (1907) 4-5; K. Sallmann (ed.), Handbuch
der lateinischen Literatur der Antike. IV: Die Literatur des Umbruchs: Von der römischen zur
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 371

scheme no account of manuscripts written later than the thirteenth century,

since, in the words of William Hardy Alexander (1907), in the 14 th and 15th
centuries “correction and revision of the Mss. solely on the basis of the
opinion of this or that scholar was the established practice, the original text
becoming in

source is used also for other statements in this section. Pike informs that in the Memmianus, the
initial words are written in red ink with the first letter higher than the other letters, proving that
the loss of the first part of the life of Gaius Julius Caesar predated the MS; see Pike, Gai
Suetoni Tranquilli De Vita Caesarum, xxiv.
93
See L. Preud’homme, “Troisième étude sur l’histoire du texte de Suétone De Vita Caesarum:
classification des manuscrits”, Mémoires couronnés et autres mémoires 63 (1903-1904); the
scheme is located on p. 61.
this way farther and farther obscured”. 99 The independent value of the 15 th
century MSS seems not to have been established; according to Rolfe (1914)
they “frequently offer good readings not found in the earlier codices”, but Karl
Ludwig Roth in the 1850s, Ihm and Preud’homme and other modern scholars
have come to the conclusion that these readings are mere conjectures, without
value when determining the original reading.100
Some of the other noted manuscripts of the X family are the 12 th century
Egerton 3055 (closely related to the Montpellier 117), 80 the 14th century
Burgerbibliothek Bern, Codex 104 (Codex Bernensis), the 14th or 15th century
Parisinus Lat. 5804 (which was highly esteemed by Preud’homme but not by
Ihm),81 the 15th century Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Codex Monacensis
Latinus 5977,
Wolfenbüttel August. 80.2, Laurentianus 20 sin. 4, 64.5 and 89 inf.8/2,
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Canon. Class. Lat. 133, and the 16 th century
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ÖNB), Codex 184 (or
Vindobonensis 2).82
Some of the several other noted manuscripts of the Z family are the 12 th
century San Marino, California, Huntington Library, MS HM 45717 (formerly

christlichen Literatur 117-284 n.Chr., München 1997, 53.

80
A.J. Dunston, “Two Manuscripts of Suetonius’ De Vita Caesarum”, The Classical
Quarterly 2 (1952) 148. I place this MS in the X family, although it was not noticed by Ihm or
Preud’homme.
81
Rolfe, Suetonius, I, xxii-xxiii. Hurley states that this manuscript “may have come directly
from M[emmianus]”; see Hurley, Divvs Clavdivs, 21, n. 71; but cf. Alexander, who introduces
a hypothetical MS (E), the thought archetype of both the Parisinus 5804 and the Memmianus;
“Some Textual Criticism”, 4, n. 20.
82
Preud’homme, “Troisième étude”, 63-78, is used to date and classify MSS in this and the
following sections.
372 Jobjorn Boman

London, Sion College, MS Arc. L.9, or Sionensis),83 Bodleian library, MS.

Lat.

99
Alexander, “Some Textual Criticism”, 5; the scheme of relationships of
Preud’homme is in p. 4.
100
Rolfe, Suetonius, I, xxi-xxv; the quote is from p. xxv. “Some scholars still hold that
certain MSS. of the 15th century, giving plausible variant readings, have independent authority,
but until this has been demonstrated more clearly, it seems better to accept the explanation of
Ihm and Preud’homme that these readings are due to the conjectures of scribes and may be
ignored in the reconstruction of the original text”, Braithwaite stated in 1927; see Braithwaite,
C. Svetoni Tranqvilli, xix. The same opinion is held by Icart, G. Suetoni Vides; cf. Alexander,
“Some Textual Criticism”, 5. Lee affirms this view by stating that “the methods of textual
criticism employed by the scribes of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were not scientific
and, consequently, their emendations ought to be treated with caution”: Lee, A Commentary,
16. But see Howard, who states that “[i]n the absence of convincing evidence to the contrary,
the presumption must necessarily be that the readings of the [15 th century] manuscript were
copied from an earlier manuscript”: A.A. Howard, “Notes on a Fifteenth Century Manuscript of
Suetonius”, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 12 (1901) 261. I hold no opinion on matters
of dating or determining the value of, or relationships between, different manuscripts, and can
only refer to all the works cited in this section. I however acknowledge that it, for the reasons
cited, could be kittle to trust too recent MSS.
class. d. 39 (formerly London, Sion College, MS Arc. L.21, or Sionensis), the
12th or 13th century Laurentianus 64.8 (Mediceus 2),105 the 13th century
Cambridge University Library MS. Kk. 5. 24, the British Library Codex Royal
15 C IV,106 the 13th or 14th century Laurentianus 20 sin. 3, 107 the 14th century
Laurentianus 64.9, the 15th century MS PER F 4 (or Perizonianus), located in
the Leiden University Library, Haarlem SB MS 187 C 11 (or Harlemensis),84
Laurentianus 64.3, 64.4,85 64.6, 64.7, and 89 inf.8/1, 86 Vienna, ÖNB, Codex
65, Parisinus Lat. 5809 (highly esteemed by Dr. A.A. Howard in 1901 87), and
Leipzig (Lipsiensis) Rep. I. fol. 9 (or Foucaultianus).88
Some other manuscripts mentioned by scholars are the 14 th century Exeter
College 186 (the personal copy of the Italian scholar and Humanist Petrarch,
who made several notations in it) 89 and the 15th century Vienna, ÖNB, Cod.
83
“The Sion Suetonius is certainly a scriptorium product… A specimen collation indicates
that the text is a good example of the usual 12th century type. The second of the two scribes
who wrote it has carefully corrected his own work and that of the first, using another text,
presumably the exemplar,” says R.M. Thomson, “The Library of Bury St Edmunds Abbey in
the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries”, Speculum 47 (1972) 639, n. 141. It has also been dated to
the 13th century; see N.R. Ker,
84
These two MSS (mostly the Harlemensis) resemble the printed Venice edition of 1471
(v.s.), and are noted in G.H. Becker, Quaestiones Criticae de C. Suetonii Tranquilli De Vita
Caesarvm Libris VIII, Memel 1862, viii; see also Preud’homme, “Troisième étude”, 76.
85
See M.C. Davies, An Enigma and a Phantom. Giovanni Aretino and Giacomo Languschi
(Humanistica Lovaniensia 37), Leuven 1988, 26.
86
Laur. 64.6 (which 89 inf.8/1 looks like) and 64.7 resemble Parisinus 5802; Preud’homme,
“Troisième étude”, 74.
87
See Howard, “Notes”.
88
Roth, C. Suetoni Tranquili, xxxi; Ihm, C. Svetoni Tranqvilli Opera, xxiii; cf.
Preud’homme, “Troisième étude”, 76.
89
P. France - W. St Clair, Mapping Lives. The Uses of Biography, Oxford - New York
2002, 40, with the source noted in n. 7 in fine. According to J. Gómez Pallarés, Stvdiosa Roma:
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 373

132 and 183 (the latter MS also called Vindobonensis 183 or Vindobonensis
I)90, the latter two unclassified by Preud’homme.
It would be difficult and unnecessary to collect the readings of the
examined passage in all the hundreds of manuscripts of Suetonius. Many
manuscripts are late and copied from earlier now extant archetypes. I will
limit my examinations to the accounted forty-one MSS (17 of the X family, 21
of the Z family, and three unclassified) – which include the oldest and highest-
esteemed MSS, men-

Medieval Libraries of Great Britain. A List of Surviving Books (Royal Historical Society Guides
and Handbooks 3), London 19642, 21.
105
Rand, “On the History”, 2, n. 4. Pike (Gai Suetoni Tranquilli De Vita Caesarum) says
that the MSS in Roth’s third class, headed by the Mediceus 2 and the Parisinus 6116, “are badly
corrupted, [but] they are the only source confirming some of the readings found in the
Memmian[us]”.
106
Ailloud calls this MS a twin brother of the Royal 15 C III – see H. Ailloud, Suétone.
Vies des douze Césars, I, Paris 1931, xlv – and according to Ihm the Royal 15 C IV is related to
the 15 C III, but hardy copied from it; see M. Ihm, Richard Bentley’s Suetonkritik
(Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin), Berlin
1901, 677, n. 2.
107
Rand, “On the History”.
tioned and used by Hurley (2001) 115 and Rolfe, and used by Ihm 116 along with
other early MSS mentioned by Preud’homme 117 – assumed by me to be a
representative sample. I will now present the different readings of the critical
word in these MSS.

The Manuscript Readings

I have collected the readings of the words which are rendered “impulsore
Chresto” in modern editions of Suetonius, in the above-mentioned forty-one
manuscripts,118 and will now present the different readings of the latter word. I
will not differentiate between lower case and upper case letters in this
compilation, but present every result with a capital first letter.
In the X family, c. 70.6 % (twelve of 17) of the collected manuscripts –
including the oldest MSS – read Chresto (in one case the words impulsore
chresto are written distinctly as impulso rechresto).91 In the oldest manuscript,
Los Generos Literarios En La Cultura Romana, Barcelona 2003, 51, this MS belongs to the Z
family, but since it seems not classified by Preud’homme it is unclassified here.
90
Baumgarten-Crusius, C. Suetonii Tranquilli, I, 25; and Ihm, C. Svetoni Tranqvilli Opera,
xxiii. I have excluded from this collection one of the most important MSS (Vaticanus 1904),
since it does not contain the book about Claudius.
91
See Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Clm 5977 (fol. 108v), Berlin Lat. Fol. 337 (fol. 30r),
Burgerbibliothek Bern, Cod. 104 (fol. 125r), Egerton 3055 (fol. 81v), Guelf. 268 Gud. Lat. (fol.
109v), Laur. 20 sin.4 (fol. 84r), 66.39 (fol. 109v) and 68.7 (fol. 126r), Parisinus
6115/Memmianus (fol. 78r), Montpellier 117 (fol. 96r), Parisinus 5801 (fol. 74v) and Parisinus
5804 (fol. 86v; the words read impulso rechresto, distinctly separated, the first r in rechresto
having the form it usually has when written in the beginning of a word – cf. Roma).
374 Jobjorn Boman

the Memmianus, the word orchestra in the line below impulsore chresto is
misspelled orchresta. Of the five others – four written in the 15 th century and
one in the 16th century – one has Cresto,92 one (impulsure) Cheresto,93 one
Cheres-

115
Hurley, Divvs Clavdivs, 21-22, 27.
116
Rolfe, Suetonius, I, xxiiff.
117
E.g. Preud’homme, “Troisième étude”, 71.
118
I have mainly consulted photographic reproductions of the MSS, but in some cases
asked library staff to provide me with the readings. I wish to thank the following persons
for kindly providing me the readings of the nine MSS mentioned within brackets: Dr. Bruce
C. Barker-Benfield (Bodleian library, Lat. class. d. 39, plus additional information about
marginalia, and Can. Class. Lat. 133), Dr. Justin Clegg (British library, Royal 15 C. III and
IV, and Egerton 3055), Dr. Robert Giel (Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Lat. Fol. 337), Dr. Florian
Mittenhuber (Burgerbibliothek Bern, Cod. 104), Jayne S. Ringrose (Cambridge University
Library MS. Kk. 5. 24), Alexandra Ilginus (Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, Cod.
August. 80.2). I would like to thank also Anneke van den Bergh of the Bibliotheek
Haarlem. In one case (Parisinus 5809) I have relied on A.A. Howard for the reading.
to corrected into Cherestro,122 one (the 16th century MS) Cherestro,123 and one
Cristo.124
In the Z family, c. 42.9 % (nine of 21) of the collected manuscripts read
Chresto, sometimes written as impulso_rechresto or inpulso_rechresto.125 This
group include all the oldest MSS from the 11 th, 12th and 13th centuries, except
two, the British Library Codex Royal 15 C IV, reading xpisto,94 and the
Bodleian MS. Lat. class. d. 39, having the abbreviation xpo. Alongside, in the
right margin, is a gloss by a contemporary hand, probably the main scribe
writing smaller. In this gloss a reference is made to Orosius (“Verba Orosii
sunt”), and the Orosian words, about it being unclear what is meant by the
Suetonian sentence, are quoted. 95 Also the 15th century Parisinus Lat. 5809 has
Christo.96 The 15th century Haarlem SB MS 187 C 11 (fol. 74r) is alone in
reading Chrestro (which is the reading also of some 15 th century printed
editions; v.s.), which Burman (1736) incorrectly has rendered as Chestro.97

92
Laur. 64.5 (fol. 110v).
93
Bodleian Library, MS. Canon. Class. Lat. 133 (fol. 127v).
94
British Library Royal 15 C IV (fol. 44).
95
Bodleian MS Lat. class. d. 39 (fol. 79r, col. II, line 21).
96
Howard, “Notes”, 263. I do not know if the word is abbreviated in the MS, but treat it as
an unabbreviated Christo.
97
Burman, C. Suetonius Tranquillus, 772. Chrestro is the reading also of the Venice edition
of 1471 (v.s.).
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 375

The rest of the collected manuscripts of the Z family – c. 38 % or eight MSS –

have Cherestro.98
The three unclassified manuscripts all read Cherestro,99 even though the
Exeter College 186 erroneously has been quoted as reading Chrestro.100In
total, a majority of c. 51 % (21 of 41) of all the collected manuscripts read

122
Laur. 89 inf.8/2 (fol. 70r; the r is inserted in superscript). In the left margin Cherest ṛo
is noted in red ink, with a dot below the second r. I count the MS reading as a Cherestro,
since I do not know who made the correction, which is not made in the red ink of the
marginalia.
123
Vienna, ÖNB, Codex 184 (fol. 106v).
124
Wolfenbüttel, Cod. August. 80.2 (fol. 100r).
125
British Lib. Royal 15 C III (fol. 58r), Cambridge University Library MS. Kk. 5. 24
(fol. 69r; the words are written as “inpulso [end of line] rechresto”), Durham. C. III 18 (p.
100; the words are written as inpulso-rechresto), Huntington Library HM 45717 (75v; the
words are written as impulso_rechresto), Laur. 64.4 (fol. 104v), 64.6 (fol. 114v) and 64.8 (fol.
45v; the words impulsore and chresto are separated with a ‘ and the r in chresto is inserted by
superscript), Parisinus 5802 (fol. 43v), Parisinus 6116 (p. 73 [2]; the words are written as
inpulso-rechresto, inpulsore and chresto separated by ,´ ).
Chresto. If the one MS reading Cresto is included, the Chresto group include
c. 53.7 % (22 of 41) of the collected MSS. The second largest group is the c.
31.7 % (13 of 41) reading Cherestro. The MSS reading a variant of the title
Christ (xpo, xpisto, Christo and Cristo) form a small group of c. 9.8 % (4 of
41). The hapaxes are Cresto, Chrestro and Cheresto (c. 2.4 % – one MS –
each). A spelling with an e is used in 90.2 % (37 of 41) of the collected
manuscripts.

Conclusions

The Christian quotations of the Suetonian sentence in most cases share a

common Christian source, and are of no value in determining the original
spelling of the word after impulsore. Some seemingly deliberate omissions of
the impulsore-part of Suetonius’ sentence, in the Christian corpus, could
however indicate that the spelling was not the common Christo. Considering
the obscurity of the Suetonian words, this is yet impossible to ascertain.

98
Laur. 20 sin.3 (fol. 63r), Laur. 64.3 (fol. 85r; in the right margin someone has noted
“Oro[sius] dicit xpo”), Laur. 64.7 (fol. 83r), Laur. 64.9 (fol. 88r), Laur. 89 inf.8/1 (fol. 75v),
Leipzig Rep. I fol. 9 (fol. 77v), Leiden MS PER F 4 (fol. 84r) and Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 65 (fol.
62v). The last MS reads chẽstro, which must mean cherestro since other words are abbreviated
in a similar way; cf., in the same folio, exponerent (expoñẽnt), exponerentur (expoñẽnt ~),
exponere (expoñẽ) and genere (gñẽ).
99
Exeter College 186 (fol. 40v), Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 132 (fol. 128v) and 183 (fol. 100v).
100
A. Manfredi - C.M. Monti (ed.), L’antiche e le moderne carte. Studi in memoria di
Giuseppe Billanovich, Rome 2007, 70. The manuscript reads (inpulsore) Chēstro, which must
mean Cherestro; cf. n. 130 above and, in the same folio (40v), exponere (exponē), sedere
(sedē), reficeretur (reficētur), vetere (vetē), genere (gnē) and Botere (botē).
376 Jobjorn Boman

The Latin text cannot be considered altogether sound, since there are
indeed several spellings of the critical word, namely Chresto, Cherestro,
Cresto, Chrestro, Cheresto, Christo, xpo, xpisto, and Cristo. The readings
Chestro, Chiresto and Chirestro, mentioned by Burman, Torrentius and
Baumgarten-Crusius, are nonetheless not found, and Chestro and Chirestro
might indeed be only scholarly misspellings. 101 However, the majority of the
41 manuscripts collected, including a vast majority of the oldest and most
trustworthy manuscripts from the 9th to the 13th century, belonging to both
families read Chresto. The misspelling orchresta, right below Chresto, in the
Memmianus, could indicate that the scribe had just read Chresto in his
exemplar. Apparently, it is incorrect to claim that only one manuscript
contains this reading (Torrentius), that Chresto is only an occasional reading
(Botermann) or that no copyist ever wrote Christo (Van Voorst). Various
manuscripts read Cherestro, but all of them are late (mostly 15 th century, with
the Laurentianus 20 sin.3 being the oldest and the Vienna, ÖNB, Codex 184
being the most recent) and most of them are a part of the less trustworthy Z
family. Moreover, Chrestus is a known Roman proper name, 102 but I have not
found Cherestus and Cherestrus attested as proper ancient names, except in
some manuscripts and editions of Naturalis Historia by Pliny the Elder.103
Actually, some scribes seem to have been unaware of what they were writing,
either slavishly copying nonsensical word-separations, like “impulso
rechresto”, or misspelling words such as “impulsure cheresto”. One should
indeed be very cautious when reading 14 th to 16th century manuscripts, for the
reasons stated above. Consequently, I conclude that Cherestro, and other
similar spellings, in all likelihood are at best mere scribal or scholarly
conjectures, but rather pure scribal errors which have been incautiously
transmitted. Of the few readings alluding to the title Christ, one is clearly
derived from Orosius and two are written late (in the 15 th century), when
Christian works including the sentence, like Orosius and Bede, were spread.
The British Library Royal 15 C IV has the Greco-Latin xpisto, i.e. partly
nominum sacrum, a spelling which Suetonius hardly would have used, but the
cognate manuscript British Library Royal 15 C III has the common Chresto,
101
As Baumgarten-Crusius, writing Chirestro, contradicts Torrentius’ Chiresto, albeit citing
Torrentius as his source, it seems clear that Chirestro is a misspelling on the part of
BaumgartenCrusius. Burman apparently rendered the Chrestro in the Harlemensis MS
incorrectly as Chestro, which makes Chestro (a spelling cited by J. P. Mynster in 1825; see n.
16) a probable misspelling as well; cf. Baumgarten-Crusius, C. Suetonii Tranquilli, II, 682.
102
See e.g. K. Linck, De antiquissimis veterum quae ad Iesum Nazarenum spectant
testimoniis, Giessen 1913, 106, n. 2.
103
See Christophero Landino, Historia Natvrale di C. Plinio Secondo di Latino etc., Venice
1534 (lib. xviii, esterni), using Cherestro. For Cheresto, see K.J. Sillig, C. Plini Secundi
Naturalis Historia. VI: Libri XXXVII, Gotha 1855, 227, n. 43; and L. von Jan (ed.), Karl
Mayhoff, C. Plini Secundi Naturalis Historiae Libri XXXVII: Libri I-VI (1906), Stuttgart -
Leipzig 1996, 47, 49. In D. Magri (ed.), Hierolexicon etc., Venice 1735, 142, Cherestus is
treated as a spelling of Christus. S. Bernfeld’s claim that “der Name Cherestus... damals [in
Claudius’ time] häufig vorkam” (“Kritik der Kritik”, Ost und West 13 [August 1913] 611)
appears to be unsubstantiated.
 Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius’ Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts 377

which indicates that the spelling xpisto is invented by the scribe of the latest
MS (conceivably drawing on Orosius, Bede or another Christian writer).
Therefore, it can be concluded that the occasional Christ-spellings in the MSS
most likely are the conjectures by Christian scribes or scholars. About 90 % of
the collected manuscripts use an e, and the most common, earliest and most
trustworthy spelling is indeed Chresto, which is an intelligible Latin word (the
ablative of the proper name Chrestus). Chresto is also lectio difficilior
compared to e.g. xpo. Accordingly, I, in agreement with the modern editions
of De Vita Caesarum, conclude that the original Suetonian spelling of the
word in fact was Chresto.

Jobjorn Boman
MA, Örebro University, Sweden