Introduction

Biography does not loom large in the generic classifications of Roman antiquity, autobiography even less so. For instance, it does not figure at all in Quintilian’s extensive reading list (10.1) for the budding orator. In fact, it is often (if controversially) claimed that autobiography was an invention of the Christian world and in particular of Perpetua and St. Augustine. If the distinctive feature of autobiography is taken to be the extended introspection made possible by the identity of author and subject, then the Confessions does really mark a strong break. It matters more than formally that Augustine rather than anyone else was the writer of his ‘‘life’’ (as ancient biographies were generally called). If, however, we take autobiography merely as the writing of any fragment of one’s life, then earlier texts need to be taken into account. Now, many texts have some autobiographical function. Lyric poetry is largely a series of first-person fragments (which were not so readily read as fiction as they are today); Cicero’s and Pliny’s letters do nearly the same thing; Cicero’s post Reditum orations spend considerable time narrating his exile and recall. For present purposes, however, we may restrict our attention to works whose central purpose is to narrate a significant portion of the author’s life.

Most of the works to be discussed here survive only in fragments, and a few are known only through mentions with no quotation at all. These fragments and testi-monia tend to come not from historians but from antiquarians and grammarians (who scoured texts for oddities more than ‘‘quality,’’ whether literary or informational) and from the Greek biographer Plutarch (who may have felt their project was kindred to his). All this suggests a very marginal place for autobiography in the Roman world, which may in turn explain why the remains are so exiguous. Nonetheless, it is possible to discern some patterns in our record.