# Quote — Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars

> However, he had a particular bent for mythology and carried his researches in it to such a ridiculous point that he would test professors of Greek literature – whose society, as I have already mentioned, he cultivated above all others – by asking them questions like: "Who was Hecuba's mother?" – "What name did Achilles assume when he was among the girls?" – "What song did the Sirens sing?"

- Author: [Suetonius](https://www.leafyquotes.com/suetonius.md)
- Book: [The Twelve Caesars](https://www.leafyquotes.com/suetonius/the-twelve-caesars.md)
- Original (la): Maxime tamen curavit notitiam historiae fabularis usque ad ineptias atque derisum; nam et grammaticos, quod genus hominum praecipue, ut diximus, appetebat, eius modi fere quaestionibus experiebatur: "Quae mater Hecubae, quod Achilli nomen inter virgines fuisset, quid Sirenes cantare sint solitae."
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Suetonius#Tiberius) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/suetonius/the-twelve-caesars/however-he-had

## More from this book

> A few months before the murder [of Domitian] a raven perched on the Capitol and croaked out the words: "All will be well!" – a portent which some wag explained in the following verse:
>
> There was a raven, strange to tell,
>
> Perched upon Jove's own gable, whence
>
> He tried to tell us "All is well!" –
>
> But had to use the future tense.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/suetonius/the-twelve-caesars/a-few-months.md)

> No one was allowed to leave the theatre during his recitals, however pressing the reason. We read of women in the audience giving birth, and of men being so bored with listening and applauding that they furtively dropped down from the wall at the rear, since the gates were kept barred, or shammed dead and were carried away for burial.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/suetonius/the-twelve-caesars/no-one-was.md)

> That he had love-affairs in the provinces, too, is suggested by another of the ribald verses sung during the Gallic triumph:
>
> Home we bring our bald whoremonger;
>
> Romans, lock your wives away!
>
> All the bags of gold you lent him
>
> Went his Gallic tarts to pay.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/suetonius/the-twelve-caesars/that-he-had.md)