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AT LOS ANGELES
GIFT OF
R, L. Linscott
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A BRIEF HISTORY
OF
Roman Literature
FOR
SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.
Translated and Edited from the German of
HERMANN BENDER
BY
E. P. CROVVELL and H. B. RICHARDSON,
PROFESSORS OF LATIN IN AMHERST COLLEGE.
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GINN & COMPANY
BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, ^X
H. B. RICHARDSON,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Wasliington
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AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
THE present Outline History of Roman Literature is spe-
cially designed to meet the wants of schools. It is in-
tended primarily to contain what a gymnasium student needs to
know, and at the same time all such material taken'from Roman
literary history as can well be employed in Gymnasium instruc-
tion. For this reason, completeness of treatment has from the
outset not been designed. On the other hand, I trust I have
not omitted anything essential to the purpose already stated. In
respect to form, I have had in view brevity and compactness of
statement, together with the greatest possible comprehensiveness
and precision.
As regards the arrangement of the work, I have in the main,
within the separate periods, followed the principle of division
according to topics, yet it has not seemed to me expedient to
preserve entire consistency on this point in the case of those
poets and prose-writers who have lieen active in more than one
department. I have preferred, in each case, to give the full
treatment of these writers under the head of that department in
ivhich they were most important; for example, Cicero under the
head of Oratory. This inconsistency, by means of which a con-
nected and complete view of such literary phenomena is gained,
seems to me justifiable.
It will not be required of a teacher, who prepares a work like
i
407238
ii AUTHORS PREFACE.
the present, that he shall have made special investigations in
every direction. What may properly be demanded is, that he
show thorough knowledge of the literature itself, — not merely of
school literature, — and independent judgment. I trust that these
necessary requisitions have been met.
The accompanying tables contain all the names cited in the
text.
In the preparation of the work I have received very kind
assistance from my honored teacher. Professor Dr. von Teuffel,
of the University in this place, not only through the abundant
information drawn from his History of Roman Literature, but
also through personal advice, for which I herewith express to
him my most heartfelt thanks.
H. BENDER.
Tubingen, April, 1876.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
THE favorable reception given to Professor Hermann Ben-
der's " Grundriss der Romischen Literaturgeschichte,"
published a few years since in Germany, and its extensive
adoption as a text-book in the secondary schools of that
country, suggested its translation for the use of schools and
colleges in America.
The author enjoyed peculiar advantages in the preparation
of the work, from the fact that he was a pupil of the late
Professor Dr. Teuffel, of the University of Tiibingen, the cele-
brated author of a complete History of Roman Literature,
lately made accessible to English scholars in a translation.
In preparing the present manual, the aim has been to faith-
fully reproduce the original, both in subject-matter and form,
with only such slight changes and omissions as seemed to
be demanded for clearness of expression.
For the convenience of teachers and students, numerous
references have been made to the best English works on
Roman Literature, and also to valuable treatises on particular
authors.
The somewhat meager table of contents has been greatly
enlarged, so as to furnish a complete analysis of the work.
Also the charts at the end have been thrown into much
more convenient form than in the German edition.
Ill
IV PREFACE.
It is hoped that the work, as thus constituted, will meet a
want, long felt by classical teachers, of a text-book on Roman
Literature, which should contain, in compact and convenient
form, what every student ought to know, and which at the
same time should serve as a basis for courses of lectures or
for more extended study.
No reference has been made to American editions of Latin
authors, since it has been taken for granted that teachers are
well acquainted with them. For a complete bibliography of
Latin Literature, teachers are referred to the admirable work
of Professor Mayor, published by Macmillan & Co.
Special acknowledgements are due to Mr. G. H. Stock-
bridge, late of the L^niversity of Leipzig, for very valuable
assistance in the work of translation and in the revision of the
proof-sheets, and also to Mr. W. G. Hale, Tutor in Harvard
University, for many timely suggestions.
Amherst College,
Dec. 20, 187J.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
THE changes in the present edition consist mainly in the
insertion of the Author's Preface, the recasting of certain
paragraphs, and the correction of a few typographical errors.
Amherst, March, 1880.
ABBREVIATIONS.
C. — Cruttwell's History of Roman Literature.
Con. — Conington's Miscellaneous Writings.
Diet. Antiqq. — Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
Mer. — Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire.
Mom. — Mommsen's History of Rome.
Parry. — Parry's Commentary on Terence.
Pn. — Papillon's Comparative Philology applied to Latin and Greek
Inflections.
B. — Roby's Grammar of the Latin Language.
Ry. — Ramsay's Roman Antiquities.
S. — Sellar's Roman poets of the Republic.
T. — Teuffel's History of Roman Literature, translated by Wagner.
W. — Wordsworth's Fragments and Specimens of Elarly Latin.
Wh. — Whitney's Language and the Study of Language.
ANALYSIS.
INTRODUCTION.
Late development of Roman
Literature i
Character of the Romans . . i
Their lack of imagination . . i
Their practical tendency . . i
Comparison with the Greeks . i
Attitude of contempt towards
Greek culture i
Want of time for literary pur-
suits I
Character of Roman Litera-
ture in the first five centuries 2
Comparatively late develop-
ment of poetry 2
Lack of a native Heroic Epos ;
the reason for this .... 2
Need of an impulse from with-
out 3
Indebtedness of Roman Liter-
ature to the Greek .... 2
Gradual advance of Greek
ideas 2
2. The Italic language .... 3
The Latin language .... 3
The Alphabet 3
Slovir development of the lan-
guage
Influence of Ennius and Cicero
Special adaptation to prose .
Characteristics of the Latin .
Stages of its decline ....
3. Periods of Roman Literature
FIRST PERIOD.
PRE-HISTORIC to 240 li.C.
Struggle for political supremacy 7
Independent development of the
Romans 7
The practical direction of prose
and poetry 7
Character of archaic Latin . . 8
Literary barrenness of this period 8
I. Poetry.
Lack of a national Epos ... 8
Niebuhr's theory refuted ... 8
The Carmen. Versus Saturnius 8
Songs on historical subjects . . 8
Hymns to the dead 9
Carmina triumphalia .... 9
Sacred songs 9
Carmen Saliare, Carmen Ar-
valium 9
Ritual precepts 9
Epitaphs 9
The Drama 9
Its origin 10
Fescennini 10
Satura 10
Atellana 10
Rude character of the above . . 11
VUl
ROMAN LITERATURE.
II. Prose.
Crude and fragmentary nature
of early prose ii
Conservative spirit of the Ro-
mans II
Official Documents :
Treaties ii
Leges regiae 12
Commentarii regum .... 12
Commentarii magistratuum . 12
Libri magistratuum .... 12
Priestly Literature :
Libri pontificum . . .
Commentarii pontificum
Fasti
.Annales pontificum
Private chronicles
Laudationes funebres
Leges XII Tabularum
I us Flavianum . .
First prose-writer :
Ap. Claudius Caecus .
12
12
12
12
13
13
13
13
13
SECOND PERIOD.
From Livius Andronicus to Cicero
General character 14
Growing influence of Greek
culture 14
Causes contributing to it . . . 15
Opposition to it unsuccessful . 15
Its restriction to the aristocracy 15
Growing unpopularity of the
national writers 15
Influence of Ennius 15
Prominence of comedy . . = 15
Beginnings of oratory, history,
and legal writings 16
I. Poetry.
a. — T/ie Drama.
The national popular comedy.
Satura and Atellana .... 16
Chief representatives :
Novius 16
L. Pomponius 16
Popular character of comedy 16
The Hellenistic Drama.
The Roman Theatre. ... 17
Unpopularity of the actor's
profession 17
Classes appealed to by the
drama 17
240-70 B.C.
Hellenistic comedy.
Fabula palliata 17
Its prototypes 17
Its general character. ... 17
Scene of the palliata . ... 18
Different varieties i3
Combination of two or more
plays 18
Chief representatives :
Livius Andronicus ... 18
Ennius 18
Cn. Nasvius 18
T. Maccius Plautus ... 19
His life and extant writings 19
Characterization of Plau-
tus 20
His wit and vivacity . . 20
Character of his verse . . 20
His fame in later times . 20
P. Terentius 20
His life and writings . . 20
Comparison between Ter-
ence and Plautus . . . 21
His defects and excellences 21
Elegance and dignity of
his language .... 21
His fame 21
ANALYSIS.
IX
Statius Cascilius .... 21
Luscius Lavinius .... 21
The National Drama.
Fabula togata 22
Its general character ... 22
Chief authors :
Titinius 22
T. Qiiinctius Atta .... 22
L. Afranius 22
Tragedy.
Hellenistic tendency .... 22
Comparatively slight cultiva-
tion 22
Faults of the Roman tragic
writers 22
Fabula praetexta 22
Chief authors :
Livius Andronicus. ... 22
Cn. Naevius 22
Q. Ennius 22
M. Pacuvius 22
L. Accius 23
b. — The Epos.
Its character 23
Chief authors:
Livius Andronicus .... 23
Cn. Naevius 24
Q. Ennius 24
His life and chief work . . 24
Character of the Annales . 24
Use of the hexameter . . 24
Genius of Ennius .... 25
His work a great national
Epos 25
His estimation in later
times 25
Satura ; its new meaning ... 25
Chief representative :
C. Lucilius 25
His life 25
His sharp criticism of pub-
lic affairs 25
IL Prose.
General character rude and un-
developed 26
Comparison with early German
prose 26
a. — History.
Annalistic character 26
Discussion of its trustworthi-
ness 26
Writers in Greek :
Q. Fabius Pictor 26
L. Cincius Alimentus ... 27
C. Acilius Glabrio .... 27
A. Postumius Albinus ... 27
Latin writers :
M. Porcius Cato 27
27
27
27
27
28
28
28
His life and character .
His versatility ....
The Origines ....
Character of the narrative
Introduction of speeches
Cato's authorities . . .
Cicero's estimate of him
Cassius Hemina 28
L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi . .
C. Sempronius Tuditanus . .
L. Caslius Antipater ....
Writers of contemporary history :
P. Rutilius Rufus . .
Q. Lutatius Catulus .
Sempronius Asellio .
L. Cornelius Sulla .
L. Cornelius Sisenna
Claudius Quadrigarius
Valerias Antias . .
C. Licinius Macer .
28
28
28
28
28
28
28
29
29
29
29
b. — Oratory.
Favored by the character of the
Romans, and by the freedom
of their political life .... 29
ROMAN LITERATURE.
Necessity to the political aspirant 29
Cicero's requirements for the
orator 30
Most important orators :
M. Porcius Cato 30
S. Sulpicius Galba .... 30
C Gracchus 30
M. Antonius 30
L. Crassus 30
Q. Hortensius 30
Rhetorica ad Herennium . . . 31
Cornificius 31
c. — Special Sciences.
Jurisprudence 31
Development of Roman law
normal 31
Beginnings of legal science , 31
Legal tradition in certain fam-
ilies 21
Chief writers :
S. ^lius Paetus 31
P. Mucius Scaevola ... 32
Q. Mucius Scaevola ... 32
Archaeology 32
Chiefly occupied with linguis-
tic matters 32
Zealous pursuit of philologi-
cal studies 32
First Roman philologist :
L. iElius Stilo 32
Domestic Economy and Agri-
culture 33
Cato 33
Mago 33
Condition of other sciences . . 33
THIRD
Golden Age of Roman
Predominance of Greek culture 34
Roman students in Greece . . 34
Greek teachers in Rome ... 34
Contempt for the Greeks ... 34
Real dependence upon them . 34
Translation of Greek works in
the schools 34
Development of the book-trade 34
Founding of public libraries. . 35
Consequent increase of literary
activity 35
Diverse character of the Cicero-
nian and Augustan Ages . . 35
Freedom of literature under the
Republic 35
Its restraint under the Empire . 36
Withdrawal of poetry to the
court 36
Importance of oratory in the
Ciceronian Age 36
Its highest development in Cicero 36
PERIOD.
Literature, 70 B.C.-14 a.d.
Cultivation of rhetoric, history,
and philosophy 36
Comparative unimportance of
poetry 36
Diplomatic character of litera-
ture under the Empire ... 36
Supression of individuality . . 36
Cautious treatment of oratory
and history 36
Prominence of the professions . 37
Courtly tone of poetry . ... 37
Increased attention to literature
in the provinces 37
None of the great Augustan
authors native Romans ... 37
I. Poetry.
a. — 77/1? Drama.
The artistic drama little culti-
vated 38
Its restriction to limited circles. 38
ANALYSIS.
XI
Its retreat before the Mime and
Pantomime 3^
The Mime: its character and
subjects 38
Chief representatives :
Decimus Laberius . . • ■ 39
Publilius Syrus 39
The Pantomime:
Its development by Bathyllus
and Pylades 39
Its general character ... 39
b.— The Epos.
Its extensive cultivation ... 39
Its varieties 39
Chief representatives :
Cicero 40
P. Terentius Varro .... 40
L. Varius 4°
Pedo Albinovanus .... 40
Rabirius 4°
Lucretius Carus 40
His didactic poem de reriim
natura 40
The poet's purpose ... 40
His difficulties and success 41
His literary importance . . 41
P. Vergilius Maro .... 41
His life and character . 41-42
Order of his poems ... 42
1. Bucolica 42
Their character and fame . 42
2. Georgica 43
Their subject 43
Aim of the poet 43
Degree of independence . 43
Their gciieral character. . 43
3. ^neis "43
Subject of the poem ... 44
Virgil's purpose .... 44
Defects of the poem ... 44
Its finest parts 44
Its great fame 44
Minor poems of Virgil. ... 45
Virgil in the Middle Ages . . 45
Gratius Faliscus 45
Manilius 45
c. — Satire and Epistle.
Character of the satire .... 45
Its poetic form 45
Deviation from this form by
Varro 45
Q. Horatius Flaccus .... 46
His life 46
Description of his person . . 46
Varieties of his poems ... 47
Probable order of publication 47
1. Satires ...._.... 47
Varied character of their
contents 47
Their careless style ... 48
Their effect upon the reader 48
2. Epistles ...."... 48
Their beauty of style ... 48
Questions discussed in them 48
The finest ones 48
3. Odes 49
Their time of publication . 49
Imitation of Greek poets . 49
Growing independence of
Horace 49
Reflective character of the
odes 49
Their beauty of thought and
expression 50
4. Epodes 50
Their relation to the odes
and satires 5°
Subiects of the epodes . . 50
General estimate of Horace . . 50
Reflective cast of his mind . 50
His sound common sense . . 50
His aim 50
His independence in social
relations 50
Xll
ROMAN LITERATURE,
His importance as a poet . . 51
Comparison between Horace
and Virgil 51
d. — Lyric Poetry.
Its growth in importance ... 52
Copying the elegy from the
Alexandrian poets .... 52
Introduction of the erotic elegy
by Catullus 52
General character 52
Lyric poets of the Ciceronian
Age :
C. Licinius Calvus .... 52
C. Valerius Catullus .... 52
His life 52
Subjects of his poems . . 52
Character as a poet ... 53
Lyric poets under Augustus :
Cornelius Gallus 53
P. Ovidius Naso 53
His life in Rome . . . ■ 53
Banishment by Augustus . 53
Cause assigned by Ovid . 54
His writings 54
His facility in versification . 55
Lack of earnestness ... 55
Comparison with the Ger-
man poet Heine ... 56
Superficiality of Ovid's po-
etry 56
Popularity of the Metamor-
phoses in the Middle Ages 56
Albius Tibullus 56
His life and writings ... 56
His elegiac nature. ... 57
S. Propertius 57
Subjects of his poems . . 57
Cultivation of the erotic
elegy 57
Smoothness and finish of
his poetry 58
Quintilian on the Roman elegy . 58
II. Prose.
a. — Oratory.
The genus Asiaticum .... 58
The genus Atticum 58
The genus Rhodium .... 58
Their most prominent repre-
sentatives 58
Restriction of oratory in the
Augustan Age 58
Supplanted by Rhetoric ... 58
Oratory of the schools . ... 59
Orators of the Ciceronian Age :
Caesar 59
M. Calidius 59
C. Mummius 59
C. Curio 59
M. Caslius Rufus 59
Asinius PoUio 59
M. Valerius Messala .... 59
Chief representative in the Au-
gustan Age :
Cassius Severus 59
Quintilian's characterization of
these orators 59
M. Tullius Cicero 59
Survey of his life and writ-
ings 59-61
His activity in different de-
partments 61
1. Orations 62
Quintilian's judgment of
Cicero as an orator . . 62
Cicero's oratorical endow-
ments 62
His zeal for knowledge . . 62
Character of his orations . 62
Most important ones . . 62-63
2. Rhetorical writings .... 63
Cicero's acquaintance with
the theories of the schools 63
His dissatisfaction with
them 63
ANALYSIS.
xni
Practical nature of his own
system 63
His rhetorical works in de-
tail 64
b. — Cicero and Philosophy in Rome.
Unfriendly reception of Greek
philosophy by the Romans . 64
Expulsion of Greek philosophers
from Rome 64
Later popularity of Greek phil-
osophy 65
Predominance of Stoicism . . 65
The different systems, with their
representatives 65
Dependence of the Romans in
philosophy 65
Constraint of Cicero's political
life
His wide but superficial ac-
quaintance with the Greek
philosophers . . ' . . .
His preference for the New
Academy
His hostility to Epicureanism
Cicero's chief service . . .
Form of his writings . . .
List of his philosophical works
65
66
66
66
66
66
66
c. — Cicero's Letters.
The four collections 68
Their publication by Tiro and
Atticus 69
General character of the letters 69
Their value as an historical
authority 69
The diverse nature of the let-
ters 69
Description of tlie collections . 70
Popularity of Cicero's letters in
antiquity 70
General criticism of Cicero . . 70
Existing spirit of hypercriticism 70
Defects of Cicero's character . 71
His historical significance . . 71
Virtues and services of Cicero . 71
d. — History.
Activity in this department .
Artistic treatment of history .
The writers chiefly men en
gaged in politics ....
Diversity of subjects in the Cice-
ronian and Augustan Age
Writers of the Ciceronian Age
T. Pomponius Atticus .
M. Tuilius Cicero . . .
Q. /Elius Tubero . . .
C. lulius Cassar . . .
His life
His position as an orator
Works on various subjects
His most important works
Survey of their contents.
General characterization o
Caesar
His literary style . . .
His motives in writing .
Continuation of Cresar's his
tories by Aulus Hirtius .
Cornelius Nepos ....
His life and writings . .
His purpose in writing .
His sincerity and aim at im
partiality
Defects of his works . .
Theory to account for them
C. Sallustius Crispus . .
His life and chief writings
1. Catilina
Most interesting portion
2. Bellum lugurthinum . .
Its general character .
3. Historiae
72
72
72
72
72
72
72
73
73
73
73
73
73
74
74
74
75
75
75
76
76
76
76
76
76
77
77
77
77
77
XIV
ROMAN LITERATURE.
Martial's judgment of Sal-
lust 77
Sallust's historical insight . 78
Contrast between his life
and his writings .... 78
His impartiality 78
His strength and his weak-
ness 78
Peculiarities of his lan-
guage 78
Writers of the Augustan Age :
Augustus 78
M. Vipsanius Agrippa ... 79
M. Valerius Messala ... 79
Asinius Pollio 79
T. Livius 79
His life and writings ... 79
His aim in writing history . 79
Livy's qualities of mind. . 80
Judgment of the ancients
concerning him .... 80
His stand in religion and
politics 80
Defects of his work ... 80
His authorities 81
Excellences of his work . . 81
His popularity 81
Pompeius Trogus 82
lustinus 82
The acta senatus and acta populi 82
c. — Special Sciences.
M. Terentius \'arro. .... 82
His life and learning ... 82
The scope of his works ... 83
List of his most important
works 83
General criticism 83
Value of \'arro's works ... 84
S. Sulpicius Rufus 84
A. Ofilius 84
C. Trebatius Testa 84
M. Antistius Labeo 84
C. Ateius Capito 84
Writers on Archaeology and
Philology :
P. Nigidius f'igulus .... 84
M. Verrius Flaccus .... 84
Pompeius Festus 84
lulius Hyginus 85
Architecture 85
Vitruvius Pollio 85
Geography 85
Agrippa 85
FOURTH PERIOD.
The Silver Age of Roman Literature, 14-117 a.d., from
Tiberius to the Death of Trajan.
Imperial despotism unfavorable
to literature 86
Suppression of freedom in
speaking and writing ... 86
Consequent insincerity ... 86
Character of the language . . 87
Changes in style 87
Influences favorable to literature 87
Prominence of poetry and rhet-
oric 88
Learned character of the for-
mer 88
Predominance of the Epos . . 88
Its cultivation by the emper-
ors 88
Its artificiality 88
School oratory and learning. . 88
History still under constraint . 88
Literary importance of Spain
and Gaul 89
ANALYSIS.
XV
I. Poetry.
a. — The Drama.
Predominance of the Mime and
Pantomime 89
89
89
89
89
89
89
90
Lucanus 9°
Absence of acting dramas
Tragic poets :
Pomponius Secundus
, Curiatius Maternus .
Seneca
His ten tragedies .
Their authenticity .
French imitators of Seneca
b. — The Epos.
Nero
M. Annseus Lucanus .
His life and writings .
His poem, Pharsalia
His repubhcan bias .
His Stoicism . . .
General character of his
C. Valerius Fiaccus . .
C. Silius Italicus . . .
His life and writings .
C. Papinius Statius . .
Character of his poems
The Silvae ....
Writers of Didactic Epos
Germanicus ....
Caesius Bassus . . .
Lucilius Junior . .
c. — Satire and Fable
Abundance of materials forSat-
Its restriction to literary and
cial matters ....
Crabbedness of its tone
Its chief representatives
A. Persius Fiaccus .
Nature of his satires
ks
90
90
90
90
90
91
91
91
91
91
91
92
92
92
92
92
92
93
93
93
93
93
Seneca 93
His attack on the emperor
Claudius 93
Petronius Arbiter 94
His satirical romance . . 94
Abstract of the story ... 94
Its coarseness and wit . . 94
Question of identity dis-
cussed 94
Decimus lunius luvenalis . 95
Subjects of his satires . . 95
Their origin 95
His views on mankind and
religion 95
His power of vivid portrayal 95
Languidness of his later
satires 95
The most interesting satires 96
The Fable :
Phaedrus 96
His fables 96
Aim of the poet 96
d. — • Lyric Poetry and Epigram.
Artificiality of Lyric Poetry . . 96
Csesius Bassus 97
Statius 97
Aruntius Stella 97
Sulpicia 97
The Epigram 97
M. Valerius Martialis ... 97
His life 97
Character of his epigrams . 97
His excellences 97
Lessing's estimate of him . 97
His defects 97
II. Prose.
a. — History.
Suppression of free thought .
Fate of A. Cremutius Cordus
98
98
XVI
ROMAN LITERATURE.
Writers on contemporary history :
Augustus 98
Tiberius . 98
Claudius 98
Agrippina the Younger ... 99
Vespasian . 99
Aufidius Bassus 99
Pliny the Elder 99
Fabius Rusticus 99
Cluvius Rufus 99
Velleius Paterculus .... 99
His life and writings ... 99
His summary treatment of
the earliest history ... 99
Diffuseness of the latter part
of his work 99
Its subjective character . . 99
Its artificial style .... 99
Excellences of the work . . 99
Valerius Maximus .... 100
His collection of models for
rhetoricians loo
Arrangement of the work . 100
The absurdity of its style . 100
Its value as a compilation . 100
Q. Curtius Rufus 100
His history of Alexander the
Great 100
General belief respecting the
time of writing .... 100
Defects of the work . . . 100
The author's purpose. . . 100
His imitation of Livy. . . loi
His skill in dramatic group-
ing loi
Cornelius Tacitus loi
Discussion respecting the
place of his birth . . . loi
His life and writings . . . loi
I. Dialogus de oratoiibus . . loi
General character . . . loi
Discusssion of its authen-
ticity 102
2. De vita et moribus lulii
Agricolas 102
General character . . . 102
3. Germania 102
The monographic charac-
ter of the work . . . 102
Its satirical purpose . . 102
4. Historiae 102
Most interesting portions 103
Time of composition . . 103
5. Annales 103
Its relation to the His-
toriae 103
General character . . . 103
Characterization of Tacitus . 103
His carefulness in research 103
Nature of his authorities . 103
His ruling political princi-
ple 103
His admiration of the Re-
public 104
His reluctant recognition of
the Empire 104
The underlying bitterness in
his writings 104
His conscientiousness and
chief excellences . . . . 104
Lack of philosophical creed 104
His position in religious
matters 104
His doubt concerning the
divine government . . . 104
Development of Tacitus'
style 105
Its dignity and solemnity . 105
b. — Oratory.
The great number of rhetorically
educated men ic^
Lack of freedom and opportuni-
ty of speaking 105
Restriction of oratory .... 105
Its retirement into the schools . 105
ANALYSIS.
XV 11
Seneca the Elder io6
Character of his writings . . io6
Their importance for the his-
tory of oratory io6
M. Fabius Quintihanus . . . io6
His Ufe and character . . .106
His Institutio oratoria . . . 106
His preference for Cicero . . 107
Scope of the work .... 107
Pliny the Younger 107
His life and writings .... 107
His letters 107
Comparison with Cicero's let-
ters 107
The man as seen in his works 108
Most interesting letters . . . 108
c. — Philosophy.
Activity in this department . . 108
Character of philosophical wri-
ters 108
Predominance of .Stoicism . . 108
Punishment of Greek philoso-
phers 108
Seneca the Younger 108
His life and character . . . 108
His sincerity of purpose . . 109
Loftiness of moral view . . . 109
Tradition concerning him . . 109
His style 109
Varieties of his works . . . 109
Th.^ EpistulcB ad Liicilium . no
Seneca's views compared with
Christianity no
d. — Special Sciences.
Writers on Law :
Masurius Sabinus no
Sempronius Proculus . . .110
The two schools of law . . .110
Science of language no
Interest of the Emperors in
it no
Claudius no
Grammarians and Commenta-
tors:
Q. Remmius Palsemo . . . in
Q. Asconius Pedianus . . .111
M. Valerius Probus . . . .111
^milius Asper in
Flavius Caper . " m
Velius Longus m
Mathematical writers :
Sextus lulius Frontinus . . in
Life and writings . . . .in
Hyginus m
Their works on military sub-
jects in
Geography 112
Pomponius Mela 112
Pliny the Elder 112
His life and writings . . . 112
Scope of his work .... 112
His style 113
Cornelius Celsus 113
Scribonius Largus . . . .113
Agriculture 113
Moderatus Columella . . .113
FIFTH PERIOD.
The Later Empire, after the Death of Trajan, 117 a.d.
Comparative unimportance of
poetry 114
Literary importance of the prov-
inces 114
Decline in politics and literature 114
Lack of independence . . . .114
Artificiality of literature . . . 114
Pedantry 114
Archaistic tendency 114
Style of the provincial writers . 115
XVIU
ROMAN LITERATURE.
Political confusion of the third
century 115
Triumph of Christianity . . . 115
Decay of the old Roman charac-
ter 115
General estimate 115
I. Poetry.
a. — Lyric.
The Pervigilium I 'ever is .
Decimus Magnus Ausonius
His life and writings . .
Variety of his works . .
His Idyll Mosella . . .
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
116
116
116
116
116
116
fi. — Epic.
General character 117
Claudius Claudianus . . . .117
Character of his poems . . . 117
Christian poets :
C. Vettius Aquilius luvencus . 117
Flavius Merobaudes . . . .117
Apollinaris Sidonius .... 117
Dracontius ■ . . 118
Venantius Fortunatus . . .118
c. — Didactic.
Nemesianus 118
Festus Avienus 118
Claudius Rutilius Namatianus . 118
His descriptive poem . . .118
Fable 119
Avianus 119
II. Prose.
a. — Oratory.
Cornelius Fronto ....
His life and character . .
His reliance upon rhetoric
His archaistic preferences .
• 119
. 119
. 119
• "9
. 119
. 120
. 120
. 120
. 120
. 120
. 120
. 120
L. Apuleius
His life
Character as a writer
His Aletamorphoseon .
Imitation of Lucian
Other works of Apuleius
Q. Aurelius Symmachus .
His orations and epistles
b. — Philosophy.
Opposition to it 121
Marcus Aurelius 121
Mystic character of philosophy . 121
Apuleius 121
Christianity opposed to philos-
ophy 121
Effect of this opposition . . . 122
Boetius 122
His life and w orks .... 122
His de consolatione . . . .122
c. — History.
Activity in this department . . 122
Lack of freedom 122
Influence of rhetoric .... 122
Biographical treatment .... 122
Compendia 122
Ecclesiastical history .... 122
C. Suetonius Tranquillus . . . 122
His life and writings .... 122
His biographical works . . . 123
Importance of his extant work 123
Its anecdotical character . . 123
Defects of the work • . . 123
Floras 123
His writings 123
L. Ampelius 124
Granicius Licinianus .... 124
Marius Maximus 124
Scriptores Historias Augusta? . 124
Their biographies of the Em-
perors 124
Value of their writings . . . 124
ANALYSIS.
XIX
Aurelius Victor 124
His historical works .... 125
Works ascribed to him . . . 125
Eutropius 125
Ammianus Marcellinus . . .125
His life and writings .... 125
The author's standpoint . . 126
His style 126
Defects of the work .... 126
Sulpicius Severus 126
Orosius ......... 126
Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorius . 126
His works 126
lordanis 126
Gildas 126
Gregorius of Tours 126
Official state-records . . . .126
d. — Special Sciences.
Law 127
Highest development under the
Emperors 127
Civil law 127
Later codification of legal au-
thorities 127
Most important jurists :
Salvius lulianus 127
Sextus Pomponius 127
Gaius 127
His introduction to legal
science 127
iEmilius Papinianus .... 128
His responsa and quccs- 128
tiones 128
Domitius Ulpianus 128
lulius Paulus 128
Herennius Modestinus .... 128
Collections of constitutiones :
Codex Gregorianus .... 128
Codex Hermogenianus . . . 128
Fragmenta Vaticaua .... 128
Codex Theodosianus . . .128
Corpus iuris 128
Its separate parts :
Codex lustinianeus. . . 128
Institutiones 129
Digesta or Pandects . . 129
Novellas 129
Philology and Archaeology . . 129
Their high standing 129
Encyclopaedic character . . . 129
1. Compilers:
Aulus Gellius 129
His iXoctcs AtticcB .... 130
Importance of the work . . 130
Nonius Marcellus .... 130
Macrobius Theodosius . . . 130
Martianus Capefla .... 130
His writings 130
2. Writers of text-books and
commentaries :
Terentius Scaurus .... 131
C. Sulpicius Apollinaris . . 131
Helenius Aero 131
Pomponius Porphyrio . . .131
Plotius Sacerdos 131
Terentianus 131
luba 131
Marius Victorinus . . . .131
^lius Donatus 131
Flavins Charisius 131
Diomedes 132
Servius Honoratus .... 132
Priscianus 132
His grammatical works . . 132
Geography 132
C. lulius Solinus 132
.^thicus Ister 132
The itinerarla 132
Notitia and curiosum iirbis
RomcB 132
Maps 132
Astronomy 132
Firmicus Maternus (pagan) . 132
Firmicus Maternus (Christian) 133
XX
ROMAN LITERATURE.
Military science . .
Flavius Vegetius .
Scope of his work
Medicine
Marcellus Empiricus
Cselius Aurelianus
Agriculture ....
Gargilius Martialis
Palladius Rutilius .
133
133
^33
133
133
^33
133
^33
133
e. — Patristic Literature,
The Church Fathers .... 134
Minucius Felix 134
His Octavius 134
Tertullianus 134
His character and writings . 134
Cyprianus 134
Arnobius 134
Lactantius Firmianus . . . 135
Beauty of his style .... 135
His acquaintance with the
classics 135
Ambrosius 135
His personal character . . 135
Hisliymns 135
Hieronymus 135
His learning 135
His translation of the Bible 135
Aurelius Augustinus .... 135
His versatility 135
His ecclesiastical impor-
tance 135
The de civitate Dei . . . 135
The confessiones .... 136
Pope Leo I ...... . 136
Pope Gregory I 136
INTRODUCTION.
1.
IT was only at a late period that Roman literature rose to
any thing like a high plane, namely, after the time when
the Romans came into more active interco.urse with the
Greeks, and received from them abundant and varied in-
citement. The Roman character was in itself poorly adapted
to literary development. There were wanting just those
qualities which fit a people for literary and especially for
poetical productions, and by which the Greeks were distin-
guished, — wealth and creative power of imagination, fine
sense of form and instinctive appreciation of the beautiful,
tendency towards the ideal, and free development of indi-
viduality. The peculiarities which make up the Roman
character lie in the domain of the practical, — keen intel-
lect, dispassionate reflection, a cast of mind masculine in
its earnestness yet not youthful, inclination to work, ener-
getic striving after the real, restraint of individuality by the
interests of the whole, strict subjection of the individual to
the state.
The hterary activity of the Greeks appeared to the Ro-
mans as an aimless pastime and as busy idleness ; even the
Roman otium — at least in the earlier times — was filled
with a more earnest activity than the free and easy otium
Grtzcum, and the lively TroXvTrpayfj.ocrvi'r] (busy curiosity)
of the Athenians. On this account the Romans stood for a
2 ROMAN LITERATURE.
long time in an exclusive and contemptuous attitude towards
the Greek mind ; indeed, even when the higher circles had
long begun to allow themselves to be penetrated by the
elements of Greek culture, they displayed, in public at
least, in view of the continued unpopularity of such Grecian
tendencies, an aristocratic disdain and an often affected con-
sciousness of their own superiority. With their conscien-
tiousness in the service of the family and the community,
the Romans had neither time nor inclination for purely
literary occupations. For more than five centuries, there-
fore, nothing was produced except in such departments as
from the outset made no demand for artistic perfection, as,
for example, the popular farce, or such as served a defi-
nite practical purpose, as, for example, the sacred lyric,
the writing of matter-of-fact chronicles, and the collection
of legal formulae.
In close connection with this stands the fact that among
the Romans — in distinction from most other nations —
prose, which can confine itself more to essentials, was de-
veloped to classical perfection before poetry, for which
beauty of form is a chief consideration.
The reason why the Heroic Epos, which forms the earliest
and at the same time the brightest ornament of Greek poetry,
did not make its appearance in Rome as a native produc-
tion, is found in this fact, that the unimaginative Romans
had no mythology rich in imposing figures and events, and
that in their religion the idea outweighed the symbol.
Since, thus, literature found unfavorable soil with the
Romans, a strong impulse from without was necessary in
order to set Roman literature in motiori ; accordingly, Ro-
man poetry in its highest forms rests in reality upon Greek
foundations ; and also prose, even in those departments
■which in their nature and origin were peculiar to the
INTRODUCTION, 3
Roman nation, particularly in oratory, has derived its artistic
form from the Greeks. This permeation with Greek ele-
ments did not find its full and unhindered completion until
in the sixth and seventh centuries of the city, and there-
fore all that was produced before this time, though often
possessing originality and strength, is still crude and unde-
veloped, only an attempt at and beginning of artistic sym-
metrical production.
The Italic language, like its sister languages, Greek
and Sanskrit, is a member of the Indo-European family of
languages. 1 The Latin is a dialect of the Italic language.
By its side stand the coordinate Umbrian and Sabellian
(Oscan) dialects, which, however, gradually fell into disuse.^
The alphabet of the Latin language was borrowed from
the Greek, probably before the founding of Rome. It con-
sisted originally of twenty-one letters, but suffered in the
course of time many changes, k, for example, disappear-
ing, and g being added. There were changes, also, in the
orthography and pronunciation, r, for example, being often
substituted for s, while the aspiration of the mutes first
appeared in the time of Sulla, and the doubling of the con-
sonants not before Ennius."^
Thus the Latin language did not obtain rules and perma-
nency in orthography, pronunciation, and grammar until the
time when literature at Rome had begun to take a loftier
flight, i.e., in the sixth and seventh centuries of the city.
Moreover, the acquaintance with the Greeks had a great
1 Pn. II ; Wh. 192.
2 C. 9 ; Mom. i. 33 ; Pn. 12 ; W. 2.
3 C. II ; Mom. i. 281 ; Pn. 46; R. i. 21 ; W. 5.
4 ROMAN LITERATURE.
influence upon the development of the language. Among
the Romans themselves, Ennius marks an epoch in the
formation of the language by introducing the hexameter.
Not until the time of Cicero, however, did classical Latin
take the place of archaic.
The entire character of the Latin language, as well as
of the Romans in general, was peculiarly suited to prose.
In earlier times, especially, the language was too stiff and
angular to serve as a light and flowing dress for poetry ; and
in general those qualities do not prominently belong to the
Latin language which are found in the Greek, and which led,
of themselves, to their use in poetry. These are lightness
and elegance, freedom and flexibility, natural euphony and
rhythm.
The qualities which characterize the language of the
Romans are, rather, an intelligence aiming at precision of
expression, logical accuracy and syntactical completeness,
rhetorical dignity and moderation, and an immobility
amounting almost to clumsiness. Thus the Latin language
was especially suited to use in prose in the practical de-
partments of jurisprudence, legislation, oratory, and annal-
writing, which has chiefly to do with the statement of facts.
Prose reached its highest development among the Ro-
mans in Cicero, but it was not until the Augustan Age that
it acquired the roundness, grace, and flexibility necessary for
poetry. If, therefore, we call the Ciceronian-Augustan Age
the classical period of prose and poetry, from that time on
a gradual decline in the language becomes noticeable. Sim-
plicity and naturalness disappear more and more ; the lin-
guistic sense, as well as the clearness of distinction between
prose and poetry becomes turbid ; artificial adornment and
rhetorical overloading get the upper hand ; the cultivated,
literary language becomes more widely separated from the
INTRODUCTION.
language of the people ; provincial elements win themselves
a place. Thus arise successive periods of decline, which
have been termed the Silver, Brass, and Iron Ages of the
language.
The following periods of Roman literature are to be dis-
tinguished : ' —
I. — The Pre-Historic Period, to Livius Andionicus, 240 B.C.
II. — The Archaic Period, from Livius Andionicus to Cicero,
240-70 B.C.
III. — The Golden Age, 70B.C.-14A.D.
1. The Ciceronian Period.
2. The Augustan Period.
IV. — The Silver Age, 14-117A.D.
V. — The Period of Positive Decline (Brass and Iron Ages),
117 A. D. to the Sixth Century.
iC.s.
I
ROMAN LITERATURE.
FIRST PERIOD.
Pre-Historic, to 240 B.C.
IN the first five centuries the Romans had too -little time
and too little culture and freedom of movement to be
able to achieve any thing important in literature. It was a
time of contest and struggle ; externally, for the existence of
the city and state, and for winning and maintaining the su-
premacy over Italy ; internally, for placing the constitution
on a firm basis and fixing the rights of the patricians and
plebeians.' The Roman people were in great measure cast
upon their own resources ; they advanced according to
their own national standards and laws ; not, however, as if
isolation had taken place, — there was no lack of contact
with the Greeks in Lower Italy ; but this contact was not
continuous, not sought, and not understood, and hence it
lacked that deeper influence without which the Romans
could not attain to a literary development. Poetry was still
a thing of natural growth, without art or form, and having
no ideal content. The practical ends of social life, of his-
torical and family tradition, and of religion, gave it direc-
tion. In like manner, prose served only practical interests
and needs. No genius had yet appeared to furnish rule and
1 C. 23.
8 ROMAN LITERATURE.
form to the language and literature, or give them a higher
content. The language of this early period was scarcely or
not at all understood in the time of Cicero and Horace ;
and while it has for us a high historical and linguistic inter-
est, it has none from a literary and aesthetic point of view.
I. POETRY.
In Epic poetry the Romans have nothing which is worthy
to be mentioned beside the writings of Homer among the
Greeks. Neither in this nor in any subsequent period did
the national spirit of the Romans produce such an Epos.
Niebuhr's theory of a national Epos containing the oldest
Roman legends presupposes a poetic endowment, and espe-
cially a myth-creating imagination, such as the Romans did
not possess.'
On the other liand, a rhythmic form is not wanting, which
was employed in all cases outside of the simplest notices and
records. This is the carmen {casmen, from cano), some-
thing intermediate between prose and poetry.^ This carmen
employed the so-called versus Saturnius, which appears
most frequently in the form
and which is characterized by a division into an Iambic
and a Trochaic half, as well as by a certain proportion of
accented syllables (the unaccented syllables can be sup-
pressed), while, in other respects, it appears to be well-nigh
without rules.3
This rhythm was used in the oldest songs on histori-
cal subjects, which — perhaps generally with musical
1 C. 26; Mom. i. 291. 2 C. 25; T. i. 79.
<* C. 30 ; Mom. i. 296 ; W. 396.
FIRST PERIOD. 9
accompaniment — were sung at table ; ^ also in hymns to
the dead {nenice), sung originally, perhaps, by the rela-
tives, later by professional mourners ; in the carmina
triumphalia, both as responsive song and with the re-
frain lo triumphe ! and especially, also, in sacred songs,
such as the Carmen Saliare^ which the Salii chanted in
their festal processions in honor of Mars, and the song of
the Arval Brethren, sung in May on tlie occasion of the
ambarvalia (circuit of the fields), which, by a discovery
made in Rome in 1777, has been in part rescued from
oblivion.^
Besides the above, there were rhythmic ritual precepts,
of which an example is seen in the tab nice Igiwince'^ found
at Iguvium in 1444, oracles, formulae relating to the weather,
incantations, and the like. Also, epitaphs employed the
same rhythm ; for example, that of L. Corn. Scipio, consul
298 B.C. : ^ —
Cornelids Lucius | Scipio Barbatus
Gnaivod patre prognatus | fortis vir sapiensque,
Quoids forma virtu- | tei pari'suma fuit,
Consol censor aidi'Iis | quel fui't apdd vos,
Taurasia Cisadna | Samnio cepit,
Subigit omne Loucanam | opsidesque abdodcit.
The Drama appeared early in the form of a popular
play, which found fruitful soil in the bantering disposition
1 Cic. Tusc. i. 2 ; iv. 2. Hor. Od. iv. 15, 25, seqq., and elsewhere.
2 C. 15; T. i. 81; W. 564.
3 The beginning reads —
Enos, Lases, juvate !
Neve lue rue, Marmar, sins incurrere in pleores;
i.e., Nos, Lares, juvate neve luem ruem (^ ruinam), Mamers, sinas incur-
rere in plures. C. 14 ; Mom. i. 294 ; W. 385.
* T. i. 83 ; Diet. Geog. s. Iguvium.
5 C. 17 ; Mom. i. 579 ; Pn. 237 : R. i. 41S ; T. i. 97 ; W. 397.
lO ROMAN LITERATURE.
inherent in the character of the people, and in the talent for
observation and improvisation peculiar to the Italians. ^ The
germ of this lay already in the form of the responsive song
(for example, that of the Arval Brethren) ; and when music,
dancing, and disguises were added, the national comedy
was complete, though it was, indeed, without plan, and im-
provised at will as a sort of carnival play.
The Fescennini,^ for example (so called from the town
Fescenninum,-^ in southern Etruria), possessed this simphcity,
and were far from being suited to stage representation. They
were exhibitions of a rather loose character at country festi-
vals, abounding in rude personal jokes, and confined in later
and more cultivated times to wedding occasions.
The Satura'' also had a primitive character. This was
a comic representation, accompanied with song, dance, and
flute-playing, conducted at first by the country youth, but
after the erection of a theatre in Rome, 364 B.C., it was
placed in the hands of professional ballad-singers and actors
{hisfriones). It was thus somewhat more subject to rules,
and better suited to the stage, than the Fescennini.^
After the drama as based on rules of art came into vogue,
the Satura was employed as a lively after-play {exodium).
The same fate was also suffered by the Atellana,^ a play
introduced into Rome soon after 210 B.C., that is, not until
the Second Period. This, in other respects similar to the
Satura, was characterized by certain standing figures,'^ and
1 T. i. 2. 2 C. 28; Mom. i. 295. 3 Cf. Hor. Epp. ii. i, 139, seqq.
■• Either scil. lanx, a disli filled with all sorts of fruits, i.e., tutlifrutti
potpourri : or = song, masquerade of the Saturi, " full people."
6 T. i. 5; C. 29.
6 Sc. fabula, so called from the Campanian town .Atella; also called
ludicrum Oscurn. T. i. 12; Mom. i. 297.
■^ These were Maccus, the harlequin ; Bucco, the gourmand ; Pappus, the
bamboozled old man = pantaloon ; Dossenus, the sly pickpocket ^=dcttore.
FIRST PERIOD. II
was represented not by regular actors, but by masked Ro-
man youth, and so had a liigher character than the Satura.
All these representations depended, for the most part,
upon improvisation and not upon written compositions, and
from their lack of plan and unity, as well as from their
rough and uncouth nature, had no real literary importance.
Not until the following period did the Satura and Atellana
receive artistic treatment.
II. PROSE.
Literary prose was not developed in Rome until in the
course of the sixtli century of the city. The pioneer writer in
prose literature was the elder Cato. All the literary remains
of the earlier period consist, with few exceptions, of short,
crude records of events, laws, formulae for worship, and the
like, in which also the Saturnian verse was not unfrequently
employed. 1 The conservative spirit of the Romans, the
tenacity with which they held to tradition, prompted them
to make official as well as private records of past events, for
the most part, indeed, with a panegyric tendency and with-
out historical conscientiousness.
Official documents of an historical nature were : a few
treaties- belonging to the earliest times, — for example,
that of Tarquinius Superbus with the Gabii, written upon
bullock's hide, and the treaty with the Latins (493 B.C.),
engraved upon a brazen pillar.^
Ancient in subject matter, but in respect to the time
of their writing incorrectly referred to the kings, were the
1 C. 35 ; T. i. 40. 2 T. i. 84.
3 The commercial treaty with Carthage, usually assigned to the year
509, Is referred by Mommsen and others to the year 348.
12 ROMAN LITERATURE.
leges regiae,' old laws established by precedent, later
called Ills Papinanum ; also the commentarii regum,
which, without doubt, contained formulae and instructions
concerning the ofificial duties of the kings.
The commentarii magistratuum- were a sort of
business hand-book for those filling the secular offices, and
among these the statistical tables of the censors, tabuhe
censorice, were of special importance. The names of the
officers were recorded in the libri magistratuum, of
which those written on linen were called libri lintei.
Priestly literature was more extensive than secular. To
this belonged the libri pontificum,^ which contained the
ritual for religious services and the axioms of priestly law ;
also the commentarii pontificum, probably a collection
of legal decisions. In like manner, also, libri and com-
mentarii of other colleges of priests are mentioned, — for
example, those of the augurs.
The priests also had charge of the fastij^* which were lists
of the festivals, court-days, and games, together with brief
historical notices, and from which the calendar took its
origin. Under the name fasti are included, also, lists of
the consuls {fasti consiilares), of the triumphs {fasti triiim-
phales), and of the priests {fasti sacerdotaks).
The annales pontificum^ — also called annates maximi
— were intended for public use. They were brief records
of the most remarkable events, in particular of the prodigies,
posted up on a white tablet in a public place. Copies of
these annals afterwards formed a collection of eighty books,
1 W. 253 ; C. 15 ; Clark : Early Roman Law.
2 C. 88; T. i. 93; Mom. i. 586.
« C. 88, 104 ; Diet. Antiqq. 941 ; Ry. 328 ; T. i. 86.
< Diet. Antiqq. 522 ; Ry. 366 ; T. i. 87 ; W. 539.
6 Mom. i. 588 ; C. 103 ; T. i. 91.
FIRST PERIOD. I3
and were considered a main authority for the earliest his-
tory, though tliey were not so in reality, on account of their
prevailingly priestly character and standpoint, and especially
since the oldest annals were destroyed in the Gallic con-
flagration, 390 B.C. On the other hand, several private
chronicles ' reached back without doubt beyond this time,
having probably been begun in the noble families at a very
early period. Though the main purpose of these records
was the glorification of some particular family, yet they were
more reliable than the laudationes funebres,^ or funeral
orations, which were likewise written and preserved in the
family archives, and contributed not a little to. the corrup-
tion of Roman history.
The leges XII tabularum,^ which were committed to
memory in the schools as late as Cicero's time, and wliich
were destroyed in the Gallic conflagration, were yet in exist-
ence in a restored copy in the second century, a.d. The
legis actiones, commonly called ius Flavianum,'' and pub-
hshed, together with the fasti, in 304 B.C., by Cn. Flavius,
served as a commentary to the laws of the twelve tables.
These actiones were originally in the exclusive possession of
the Patricians.
The first and only Roman that appeared in this period as
a prose writer was Ap. Claudius Csecus,^ Censor in 312,
whose oration against the peace with Pyrrhus, held in the
senate in 280 b.c, was extant for a long time after,
1 C.325; T. i.94-
2 Diet. Antiqq. 559 ; Ry. 426.
3 W. 503; C. 15; Mom. i. 365; Ry. 151; T. i. 99; Hadley: Roman
Law, 74.
* Mom. i. 598 ; Ry. 244; T. i. lOO.
5 C. 34; Mom. i. 580.
SECOND PERIOD.
Livius Andronicus to Cicero, 240-70 b. c.
THIS period, in which Rome attained the summit of
its poHtical greatness, was, in a hterary point of view,
still incomplete and immature. 1 The national productions
still remained clumsy and crude ; the language itself needed
to be shaped and moulded, but, to that end, the imitation
of Greek models permitted as yet too little independence
and freedom of movement, and only near the close of this
period did Greek culture become so far prevalent as to
gradually fit the Romans for original productions of a
higher order.
The artistic literature of the Romans rests, however, en-
tirely upon a Greek basis.- Greek influence, which had
never been entirely wanting, became ever deeper, more
general, and more potent. Intercourse with the Greeks in
Lower Italy, and, after the first Punic war,^ in Sicily, and
also, after the second Punic war, in Greece and Asia Minor ;
the influence of Ennius in Rome after 204 ; the warm re-
ception of the new culture on the part of most of the noble
families, especially by the Scipios ; the presence of numer-
ous Greeks in Rome ; the spread of the Greek language and
i C. 23; T. i. 103. 2 c_ 26. Mom. i. 298, 600; ii. 492. S. 5, 8.
8 Cf. Cell. N. A. xvii. 21 : —
Poenico bello secundo musa pinnato gradu
Intulit se bellicosam in Romuli gentem feram.
14
SECOND PERIOD. 1 5
the multiplication of Greek authors ; the employment of
Greek poets in the instruction of the youth ; the increasing
intercourse of the nations consequent upon the extension of
the Roman empire ; — all these causes naturally contributed
to this result, that the unyielding nature of the Romans bent
or gradually gave way before the power of the higher for-
eign culture. The opposition of the conservative element
(like that of the elder Cato) against innovations, and the
repeated banishment of Greek philosophers and orators
from Rome, was no longer of any avail.'
This process of development brought with it, liowever,
this result, that only the aristocracy, on the one hand, were
caught and permeated by this incoming stream of culture,
while, on the otlier hand, those literary workers who kept to
the national track could no longer maintain their place on a
level with the culture of the time, and lost their attractive-
ness for the more refined circles. Ennius, as an apostle
of Greek culture, exerted a revolutionizing influence, not
only on the form of literature, but also on the language
itself.- The hexameter, which he introduced, since it fixed
the quantity, compelled the giving up of the prevalent laxity
and variety of the Saturnian verse and the scenic metre
as to quantity, position, and the like, and aided much in
forming the literary language.
In poetry the drama, and especially comedy, still occu-
pied the foreground, but with a prevailing tendency to
follow Greek models ; ^ by its side stood the epos, repre-
sented especially by Ennius.
1 Cf. Hor. Epp. ii. i, 156, seq. ; —
Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes
Tntulit agresti Latio.
T. i. 106 ; C. 91. 134 ; M. ii. 563.
2 C. 71 ; T. i. 109, 133. 3 -p. i. 16; Mom. ii. 503.
l6 ROMAN LITERATURE.
In the field of prose we find beginnings of oratory, his-
tory, and legal writings, which are, in part, very respectable ;
nevertheless, in spite of the great advance made by the
Romans in this period, everything still bore an archaic
stamp, for which the later, classical period had little taste
and understanding,' and which did not again find a lively
appreciation until the second century, a.d.
Of the poets of this archaic period only the patriarch of
poetry, Ennius, enjoyed the honor of such men as Cicero.
In point of time, however, Livius Andronicus stands at
the head of this period.
I. POETRY.
a. — The Drama.
Although the National Popular Comedy still con-
tinued, yet it was gradually giving way before the Hellenistic
drama. The Satura and the Atellana were not, indeed,
suppressed, but they were only attached as afterpieces (ex-
odia) to the artistic drama, and, to that end, they, also, were
composed according to rules of art.- This was done, near
the close of this period (about 90 B.C.), by the poets
Novius and L. Pomponius, otherwise not known to
us. It lay, however, in the nature of these farces that they
should preserve a popular character, calculated to excite
general merriment ; that they sliould be rude, and even, at
times, obscene, as well as retain the standing figures and
certain stereotyped subjects.^
1 Cf. Hor. Epp. i. I, so, ff. 2 c. 82; T. i. 5, 14.
8 The ridicule of certain classes, such as peasants, fullers, and pimps;
also, in connection with these, mythological subjects.
SECOND PERIOD. l^
Far more important, however, became the Hellenistic
Drama. At the same time, it may be noted as character-
istic of Rome that, in spite of the great production of these
plays, and in spite of the fact that women were admitted
to the exhibitions, where the attendance was free, and so,
at all events, not small, yet a permanent and conveniently-
arranged theatre, such as was first built by Pompey, 56 B.C.,
did not exist in this period.' It is also worthy of note
that the actor's profession remained in disrepute, and,
moreover, that only freedmen and slaves appeared upon
the stage.
The artistic drama, hke the other varieties, still reckoned
upon the taste of persons in general less cultivated, and
having little appreciation for serious and deep subjects ;
hence comedy occupied decidedly the foreground, and
especially the fabula palliata,'- i.e., the comedy com-
posed after Greek models.
This style of poetry found its prototypes in the New Attic
Comedy of the third and fourth centuries, B.C., the chief
representatives of which were Menander, Philemon, and
Diphilos. For the most part, a love story forms the subject
of these pieces, and the characters are rather stereotyped :
fathers, sometimes over-strict and avaricious, sometimes in-
dulgent and generous ; young men, some light-minded and
some discreet ; parasites, courtesans, and finally slaves,
tricky, but faithful to their love-sick young masters, and
ready to serve them in all kinds of dirty work. The ma-
terials for the plays are taken from everyday life ; they are
not lofty in tone, and they avoid all reference to politics ;
hence the subject was always a general one, of wide appli-
1 C. 41 ; Mom. ii. 500.
2 C. 46; M. ii. 509; T. i. 19; Schlegel : Dramatic Lit. 204.
1 8 ROMAN LITERATURE.
cation, easily understood, and suited to mimic representa-
tion, — all the better adapted to Rome, since the government
did not favor political allusions on the stage.
Although the scene of the paUiata was laid on Greek soil,
still additions of a local character are not wanting. The
technical arrangements are entirely Greek ; the chorus is
wanting, and the text is divided into dialogue {diverbiutn)
and chants {cantica), with flute accompaniment. The
metre is, for the most part, handled with skill, but not yet
fixed in form. According to a greater or less vivacity of
movement are distinguished, /f?/^///^ motorics (especially in
Plautus), statoricE, and 7nixtce.
Not unfrequently one Latin play is put together from two
or more Greek ones, a proceeding which was called contam-
ination {coiitaminare)}
The following are the chief representatives of the paUlata :
Livius Andronicus- (about 2S4-204 b.c), who came
at an early age to Rome as a prisoner of war, was set
at liberty by a certain Livius (Salinator?), and became
a writer of comedies and tragedies, as \\-ell as of epic
poems (see p. 23). He was also an actor. — Ennius (see
p. 24). — Cn. Naevius^ (about 264-194), a native of
Campania. He was punished at Rome with imprisonment
and banishment for his plain-speaking on political matters,
and died at Utica. His first piece was produced in the
year 225. He was a popular, bold, and original genius,
and his consciousness of his own literary importance is ex-
pressed in his epitaph composed by himself in Saturnian
verse : —
1 C.53; Wr.9.
2C. 37; T. i. Ill; Mom. ii. 498; S. 56; Con. i. 298.
8 C. 38 ; T. i. 113 ; Mom. ii. 519 ; S. 58 ; Con. i. 302.
SECOND PERIOD. 19
Immortales mortales | si foret fas flere,
Plerent divEe Camenae | Naeviiim poetam
Itaque postquam est oici'no | traditus thesadro,
Obliti sunt Romai | loquier lingua latina.
Far more important, however, is T. Maccius Plautus,
a native of Sassina in Umbria. He was of humble birth,
and was forced by poverty to become a common laborer
(factotum to bands of actors, and a worker in mills), and
afterwards a play-writer to gain his support. ^ He died
in 184.
His plays are, without exception, palUatce. From about
130 which have been ascribed to him, the le;irned Varro
selected 21 as genuine. These, with one exception, are
extant.- They are entitled : Amphifruo (a parody on a
mythological subject, the so-called fabula rhinthonicd)^
Asinaria (comedy of the ass), Aulnlaria (comedy of the
money-pot, imitated in Moliere's "I'Avare"), Baccliides
(treating of the twin sisters Bacchis), Captivi (without love-
plot, very moral in tone, and declared by Lessing to be
the most excellent jjlay ever put uj)on the stage), Ctir-
cnUo (corn-worm, name of the parasite), Casina (proper
name), Cistellaria (little chest: half the play extant),
Epidicus (proper name), Mostellaria (ghost comedy),
Mencechmi (proper name, imitated by Shakspeare in the
"Comedy of Errors"), Miles Gloriosus (the braggart sol-
dier, imitated by A. Gryphius in the " Horribilicribrifax "),
Alercator (merchant), Pseii dolus (proper name), Pcenuliis
(remarkable for several Punic words), Persa, Rudens (the
cable), Stichus (proper name : half the play extant), Tri-
nummiis (the treasure), Truculentus (the grumbler).
1 Cf. Hor. Epp. ii. i, 175. ^ C. 46; T. i. 117.
2 C.44; T. i. 115.
20 ROMAN LITERATURE.
The best plays are, perhaps, Bacchides, Captivi, AuUilaria,
Menaechmi, Miles Gloriosus.^
The following epitaph, said to have been written by him-
self, may serve to characterize Plautus : —
Postquam est mortem aptus (adeptus) Plautus, comcedia luget,
Scsena est deserta (ac) dein risus jocus ludusque
Et numeri innumeri simul omnes collacrimarunt.
Plautus is distinguished by a popular, ever-ready wit
adapted to a rude public, by genuine, telling humor, by
vivacity of dialogue and skill in handling the language and
metre." On the other hand, the arrangement and complica-
tion of the plot is not always satisfactory. In prosody,
Plautus forms an intermediate grade between the Saturnian
verse and the Greek metres. In the freer treatment of the
metre is seen the influence of the popular speech.^' Plautus
was ranked high in later times, especially by Cicero and
Varro. He was less acceptable to Horace.'' Single plays,
particularly the Captivi, were long read in the schools, and,
in the earlier times, were brought out on the stage.
P. Terentius, born at Carthage in 185, was somewhat
younger than Plautus. He was brought as a slave to Rome,
and there set at liberty. The fact that he was received into
the society of Scipio Africanus and C. Lselius gave rise to
the opinion that they were the authors of his plays. ^ He
died at the early age of twenty-six (in 159), while on a
journey in Greece. Of the works of Terence we have six
palliake, mostly imitated from Menander, and in part com-
1 Other critics add the Trinummus and Rudens.
2 C. 47 ; T. i. 125 , Mom. ii. 523.
8 Wagner's Aulularia of Plautus: Introduction.
4 Cf. Epp. ii. I, 170, seqq. ; ii. 270, seqq.
6 C. 50; Mom. iii. 542; Wagner's Terence : Introd. 2; Parry: Introd. xx.
SECOND PERIOD. 21
binations of two or more plays : Andria (maid of Andros),
Eunuchus (the Eunuch, a play which brought 8000 ses-
terces), Heaiitontimorunienos (the self-tormentor), /%^r»i/V,
Hecyra (mother-in-law), Adelphi (the brothers, the most
successful play of all).
Terence forms, in many respects, a contrast to Plautus.^
In Plautus we find the natural, popular tone, in Terence,
the colloquial language of the cultivated circles ; in Plautus,
originality and inventive faculty, in Terence, dependence
and imitation ; in Plautus, sparkling wit, in Terence, re-
flection and study ; in Plautus, nature, in Terence, art ;
in Plautus, roughness and boldness, in Terence, smooth-
ness and moderation \ in Plautus, a vivacity often farcical,
but always telling, in Terence, measured calmness.
In general, Terence is lacking in the virtus ac vis comica;
he excels in cultivated, elegant language, dignity, artistic
arrangement, and correct delineation of character.^ For this
reason he was a favorite author in the Middle Ages. He
was much read and played, especially in the schools, on
account r ■" his moral tone."^
Amon the remaining composers o{ palliatce were Statius
Caecili ..s,'' an Insubrian, who came as a prisoner of war to
Rome, and appears to have taken a position, in respect to
time and style of composition, intermediate between Plautus
and Terence; and Luscius Lavinius (or Lanuvinus), a
rival and enemv of Terence.
1 Mom. iii. 538; Wagner, 8 ; Parry, xvii.
2 C. 51 ; T. i. 146; Parry, xxiii. On the metres and prosody of Terence,
see Parry, xxvii. ; Wagner, 12 ; and on the relation of Terence to the " New
Comedy," Parry, 487.
3 The Eunuchus was translated into German as early as i486, and all
the plays in 1499.
* C. 48 ; T. i. 135 ; Mom. ii. 523.
22 ROMAN LITERATURE.
Before the much-fostered palliata, the national comedy,
fabula togata,^ retired into the background. This had
for its subject the daily life of the lower classes, espe-
cially the small gossip of the municipal towns ; and since
Rome and its citizens could not be brought upon the
stage, the scene was customarily laid in a Latin country
town.
Little has been preserved of the togata. Its chief authors
were Titinius, a contemporary of Terence ; T. Quinctius
Atta, who died in 77 ; and especially L. Afranius, who
wrote somewhere about the year 100.
In Tragedy,- also, the Hellenistic tendency prevailed,
but the greater expense of production, as well as the pub-
lic taste, which sought after fun and entertainment, caused
tragedy to be less cultivated than comedy. Moreover, the
Roman tragic writers did not strike the right tone, in that,
with them, seriousness and pathos too often degenerated
into heaviness and bombast. Their model was, for the most
part, Euripides.
Beside the tragedy based upon Greek models, the Ro-
man national play, fabula praetexta,^ which dealt with
historical subjects, could attain to no very important posi-
tion. In the department of tragedy are to be mentioned ;
Livius Andronicus, whose plays treated of mythological
subjects, taken chiefly from the legends centering about
Troy; Cn. Naevius, who also \\xo\q prcEtextcE ; Q. Ennius ;■*
especially, however, M. Pacuvius ^ and L. Accius,*^ (At-
1 C. 55 ; T. i. 25 ; Mom. ii. 525.
2 C. 56; T. i. 16; Mom. iii. 536; S. 129; Con. i. 294.
3 C. 38 ; T. i. 19.
4 C. 58 ; S. 89 ; T. i. 131 ; Con. i. 304.
6 C. 62 ; T. i. 134 ; S. 143 ; Con. i. 309.
6 C. 65 ; T. i. 167 ; Mom. iii. 537 ; S. 153 ; Con. i. 317.
SECOND PERIOt). 23
tius). The former was born at Brundisium about 220 B.C.,
and died at Tarentum about 132. He was brought to Rome
by his uncle Ennius, and was a painter as well as an author.
His works consist of twelve tragedies and one prcetexta enti-
tled Paulus (probably referring to ^milius Paulus). Accius
lived about 1 70-94, and was author of about forty tragedies
and several/rf^/^jc/^^, of which, for example, the Decius treats
of the voluntary death of the younger P. Decius Mus, near
Sentinum. Cicero, Horace, and others give Accius high
rank as gravis, ingeniosjis, altiis poeta. He also wrote Di-
dascaliea (a history of Greek and Roman poetry), Prag-
viatica (treating of literary history), and Annales.
Of all these tragedies and prsetextse only fragments are
extant.
Z>. — The Epos.
The Romans could not possess an heroic epos of their
own, like the Homeric, because the needful legendary
material, as well as gods and heroes, were wanting. Hence
the national epic writers were obliged to confine themselves
to historical subjects instead of mythological.
Livius Andronicus, indeed, the first epic writer in
point of time, contented himself with a heavy translaticvi
of the Odyssey^ in the Saturnian metre, which was in later
times no longer readable, though, according to Horace,* it
was used by Orbilius as a school-book.
The following epic writers turned their attention resolutely
1 The first verse reads, according to Gellius, X. A. xviii. 9 : —
Virum mihi Camena | insece versutum.
2 Epp. ii. I, 69, seqq.
24 ROMAN LITERATURE.
and with success to the history of their native land. Thus,
in the first place, Cn. Naevius,^ still, however, in the
Saturnian metre, treated of the First Punic War? This
work, of which only fragments remain, has been well com-
pared to the rhyme-chronicles of the Middle Ages.
Naevius was far surpassed by Q. Ennius.-^ The latter
was born, 239, at Rudiee in Apulia, was taken to Rome by
Cato on his return from Sardinia, found there an apprecia-
tive reception in aristocratic circles favorable to Hellenic cul-
ture, especially from Scipio Africanus the Elder, and from M.
Fulvius Nobilior, obtained Roman citizenship, and died 169.
His chief work (besides comedies, tragedies, and saturce)
was the Annaks, which treated, in 18 books, of the history
of Rome from yEneas to his own times. In respect to
metre, forms of speech, inflections, and word-formations,
this work marked an era through the introduction of the
hexameter in place of the Saturnian verse. "• It is true, the
hexameter of Ennius was somewhat awkward ; for example,
Gives Romani tunc facti sunt Campani,
or,
Introducuntur legati Mintuinenses ;
also in bad taste, as
O Tite, tute, Tati, tibi tanta tyranne tulistl,
and forced, as in the well-known tmesis :
Cere comminuit brum.
But we also find places of great poetic power and beauty ; ^
1 C. 39 ; Mom. ii. 540.
2 According to Cicero, Brut. 19, 75, luculente sad minus polite.
3 C. 68 ; T. i. 129 ; Mom. ii. 542 ; S. 68 ; Con-, i. 329.
< C. 71 ; S. 91, 107.
* See Cic. de Div. i. 20, 40, seqq. 48, 107, seq. de Off. i. 12, 38.
SECOND PERIOD. 25
for Ennius was a man of remarkable talent ; he possessed a
lively imagination, warm feeling, and a great faculty for
moulding forms and language.' His work, though it was
long looked upon by the Romans as their greatest national
epic, put the artistic, Hellenic epos in place of the naive
national one. Ennius was particularly admired by Cicero.
Quintilian says of him,^ " Ennium sicut sacros vetustate
lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia et antiqua robora jam
non tantam habent speciem quantam religionem."
The Satiira,^ too, acquired a new meaning through En-
nius, inasmuch as he gave this name to a collection of
miscellaneous poems of a didactic nature, written in different
metres. His successor in this department was C. Luci-
lius,'* born about 150 at Suessa Aurunca in Campania, of
equestrian family. He was a friend of the younger Scipio
Africanus, and died 103. In his poems, varied, indeed, in
form and contents, but without elegance and finish, Lucilius
subjected, in a bold and witty manner, public affairs and
personages to sharp and searching criticism ; and in so
doing, he gave to the Satura the character which has since
been associated with the name Satire ; to wit, that of an
invective poem. In this respect Horace gave it its com-
plete form.
n. PROSE.
Prose, in both oral and written form as necessity or pre-
ference dictated, was, indeed, employed in the senate and
in the forum, by orators and jurists, historians and profes-
1 S. no; T. i. 133.
2 Inst. Orat. x. i, 88.
3 C. 75 ; T. i. 32 ; Mom. ii. 539 ; S. 159.
* T. i. 171 ; Mom. iii. 551 ; S. 168.
26 ROMAN LITERATURE.
sional men, but it had not been brought to any high perfec-
tion of style. 1 For this reason, the prose writers beibre
Cicero, whose continuous succession began with Cato, and
of whom our knowledge is very incomplete on account of
the relatively small range of what has come down to us,
were, with few exceptions, even in Cicero's time, regarded
as rough, antiquated, and scarcely readable. To this archaic
prose, German prose before the Reformation presents an
analogy.
a. — History.
For a long time historical composition was mere annal-
writing, a dry, chronological recording of the events of the
year,- — a plane of literature which corresponds in some
degree to the chronicle-writing of the Greeks before Herod-
otus. These annals were, for the most part, written by men
active in politics, or, at least, interested in them. The older
chronicles, down to the time of the Gracchi, though by no
means entirely accurate, were yet, on account of their naive
simplicity, more trustworthy than the later ones, which,
although or because gradually more attention was paid to
form and critical treatment, displayed a more conscious
distortion of history in the interest of the state and of par-
ticular families and persons, and betrayed the prominence
of party considerations. Some of these annals were, to ali
intents and purposes, autobiographies.
The earlier annalists wrote in Greek, doubtless on account
of the clumsiness of the Latin language. Thus Q. Fabius
Pictor,-' the same that was sent to consult the Delphic ora-
cle in 216, wrote, after the Second Punic War, a History of
1 Mom. ii. 544; T. i. 40; C. 87. ^ C. 89 ; T. i. 149.
2 T. i. 43 ; Mom. ii. 550 ; S. 192.
SECOND PERIOD. 27
Rome from ^neas to his own time, of which much use was
made by later historians, especially by Livy. It is uncertain
whether the Latin annals which bore his name were a sepa-
rate production, or a re-shaping of his Greek work by himself
or some one else. Other writers in Greek were, L. Cin-
cius Alimentus, a younger contemporary of Fabius, and,
somewhat later, C. Acilius Glabrio and A. Postumius
Albinus.
The first to write in Latin, and the one who thus became
the real founder of Latin prose literature, was M. Porcius
Cato,' born at Tusculum 234. He was consul in 195,
censor (hence called Censorius) 184, died 149. He was
the last genuine type of the old Roman character, yet in
connection with his laborious political and military activity,
he was not only a copious and many-sided writer, the first
prose author that could be read in later times,- but, also,
— and nothing gives a more striking proof of the irre-
sistibility of Greek culture, — in spite of his anti-Hellenic
prejudices, he condescended in extreme old age to master
Greek.
He wrote a historical work in 7 books, which he entitled
Origines (Beginnings) because the first three books con-
tained an account of the rise and growth of Rome under
the kings, as well as of the origin of the Italian cities, prob-
ably in connection with their subjection to the Roman
dominion. Book IV contained the First, Book V, the
Second Punic War, Books VI and VII, the later wars
down to 149.
The narrative, though enlivened by geographical and
mythological notes and curiosities, was still uneven and
crude, and perhaps, also, not impartial to the nobility. The
1 T. i. 153 ; C. 91 , Mom. ii. 546. 2 cic. Brut. 18, 69,
28 ROMAN LITERATURE.
introduction of speeches, especially those delivered by the
writer himself, was an innovation. As authorities, the old
Roman legends and traditions were used ; also his own
experiences, and probably Italian municipal records. The
work was highly valued by later writers ; Cicero ^ styles Cato
gravissi?nus aiictor. Only a few fragments of the work are
extant. — Cato also prepared a collection of witty sayings
{dTro(f>OeyiJ.aTa) ; those of his own which were particularly
apt and pungent were collected afterwards.
Concerning Cato as an orator, see p. 30 ; as an agricul-
turist, see p. ;^;^.
To the earlier annalists, who, in the old, established way,
treated in archaic language of tradition and history from
^neas to their own time, belonged Cassius Hemina,
a contemporary of Cato, L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi,
Censor 120, and C. Sempronius Tuditanus. The list
of younger annalists began with L. Caelius Antipater,-
who, about 120, wrote a Histo7-y of the Second Punic
War, with somewhat more attention to style and rhetorical
form.
Among writers of ai^folu'ograpliies or contemporary his-
tories, may be mentioned, P. Rutilius Rufus, who was
consul in 105, was banished as an aristocrat, and died about
77 in Asia, — a man of the noblest character and well edu-
cated in philosophy and law; Q. Lutatius Catulus, who
was consul in 102, and died in 87 ; Sempronius Asel-
lio, who aimed at objective treatment, and wrote with
special reference to the internal relations of the state ; L.
Cornelius Sulla, the dictator, who wrote memoirs from a
one-sided, personal, and party standpoint ; L. Cornelius
1 Tusc. iv. 2, 3.
2 C 100; T. 190; Mom. iii. 562.
SECOND PERIOD. 29
Sisenna^ (119-67), who wrote a History of the Marsian
War and that of Sulla, and who, in spite of his artificial,
antiquated style, was preferred by Cicero to all earlier
annalists.
On the other hand, more comprehensive works, reaching
down to their own times, were written by contemporaries of
Sulla: Claudius Quadrigarius, who wTote at least 23
books, beginning with the Gallic conflagration ; Valerius
Antias, who began with the earliest times, and is notorious
for his exaggerations, especially in numbers, which were only
gradually recognized as such by Livy, who cited him often.
Hence he exerted an injurious influence upon the trust-
worthiness of later writers. C. Licinius Macer (died
in 66), likewise beginning from the earliest times, wrote
from a democratic standpoint, and distinguished himself
by industrious use of the old records. He was much used
by Livy.
fc. — Oratory.
The natural talents and character of the Romans, their
practical nature, their bent toward precision, pathos, and
effect, were all favorable to oratory. Especially the open
and free character of their political life early led to the
frequent employment of oratory.- A certain degree of ora-
torical readiness was indispensable to every one that de-
sired to make himself popular and to advance in the
political career. Hence, even before the more intimate
acquaintance with the Greeks, oratory was esteemed and
cultivated ; for a long time, it is true, without art and
method, although instruction and practice in oratory went
1 T. i. 213 : Mom. iv. 715. 2 f. i. 52 ; C. 105 ; S. 190.
30 ROMAN LITERATURE.
with the Roman from youth through his entire pubHc Hfe.^
Only through the influence of Greek rhetoric did Roman
oratory acquire form, system, and artistic treatment, both in
theory and practice.
But seldom or never could an orator unite in himself ah
the qualities which Cicero- requires, — a broad culture,
especially in philosophy, knowledge of law and history, the
power to change from grave to gay speech, the ability to be
at one time abstract and at another concrete, and, according
to necessity or pleasure, to convince and charm the hearers,
and put them into any mood.
Those orators who marked epochs in the history of
oratory were, according to Cicero (Brut.) : M. Porcius
Cato,-^ the first (after App. Claudius Caecus) to commit
his orations (over 150 in number) to writing. His char-
acter as an orator is set forth by such expressions as :
Orator vir bonus est dicendi peritus ; Rem tene, verba se-
quentur; S. Sulpicius Galba, consul in 144, who, under
Greek influence, made use of rhetorical adornment ; C.
Gracchus,"* who, though not a man of thorough culture,
was yet as eloquent as he was rich in thought ; the two
orators, M. Antonius, consul in 99, and L. Crassus,^
consul in 95, of whom the former was remarkable rather
for natural gifts, memory, imagination, and vivacity of ac-
tion ; the latter for a finer culture, legal knowledge, choice
language, and wit.
The transition to the perfection of Roman oratory in
Cicero is formed by Q. Hortensius*' (114-50), the repre-
sentative of the gt'fii/s Asiaticum, which, in contrast to the
1 Mom. ii. 553; iii. 529. ^ Mom. iii. 563; C. 114; T. i. 185.
2 Brut. 93, 322. 5 c. 118; T. i. 204.
8 C. 109; T. i. 154. 6 c. 124; T. i. 251.
SECOND PERIOD. 3 1
simplicity of the genus Atticum, was marked by a florid, and
often overloaded style.
Of the works of all these orators only a few fragments are
extant. We possess a hand-book of Rhetoric, in 4 books,
entitled Rhetorica ad Herenniinn} which was compiled for
practical purposes, from Greek sources, but from an inde-
pendent Roman standpoint. It was written about 80 B.C.,
probably by a certain Cornificius, at all events, not by
Cicero.
c — Special Sciences.
Among these. Jurisprudence ^ stands at the head, for
which, as well as for oratory, the Romans were especially
fitted. Roman law developed itself in a normal manner,
with a national character and independence. The syste-
matic development of criminal and especially civil law kept
pace with the mainly consistent development of the Roman
constitution. After the legal code had become generally
known through the lus Flavianum (see p. 13), there soon
appeared a succession of learned men, who, by collecting
and publishing explanations, legal opinions, judgments, rul-
ings, and the like, founded the science of law with a success
and influence all the greater from the fact that legal knowl-
edge was absolutely necessary for the political career.
Gradually there was formed a legal tradition, which was
cherished in single families, as especially among the Much,
Aelii, and Sulpicii, and which was passed down like an in-
heritance, as it were, from father to son.
S. iElius Paetus,^ consul in 198, was the author of the
first law-book, under the title Triperiita, an interpretation of
1 C. 132; T. i. 222; Mom. iii. 565. 3 x. v. 163; Mom. ii. 555.
2 T. i. 61, 208 ; C. 129.
32 ROMAN LITERATURE.
the Laws of the Twelve Tables, later called the ius ^liamim,
and regarded as the cradle of Roman law. Also, Cato and
his son Marcus wrote legal works.
From the family of the Mucii came the celebrated jurists
and authors, P. Mucius Scsevola,i consul in 133, and
afterwards pontifex maximus, and his still more famous
son, Q. Mucius Scaevola, consul in 95, who also be-
came pontifex maximus, and was murdered in 82. The
latter was the first to lay down a uniform and well-arranged
system, and, by this means, as well as by training a large
number of pupils, he exercised a great influence upon the
following period.
Archaeology 2 busied itself partly with hnguistic matters,
and partly with antiquities in general. In the former case,
it had to do with fixing the written language, with etymology
and the interpretation of words ; in the latter, with the
explanation of the antiquities referred to in the earlier
literary productions. Grammatical studies received a power-
ful impulse from the Greek Crates of Mallos, who taught
in Rome 159 B.C. Antiquarian studies, particularly those
pertaining to language, gradually became the fashion, and
were pursued with zeal ; especially since the Latin language
was brought into close connection with the Greek. The
real founder of these studies in language and antiquities, and
the first Roman philologist, was L. iElius Stilo,^ born at
Lanuvium about 150, the most learned man of his time,
teacher of Varro and Cicero. He interpreted the oldest
literary remains, such as the song of the Salii, the Twelve
Tables, and the early poets.
1 C. 131 ; Mom. iii. 566-568; H. 62.
2 T. i. 50; M. ii.552.
' T. i. 200 ; C. 133 ; Mom. iii. 564.
SECOND PERIOD. ^^
In Domestic Economy and Agriculture, Cato wrote
a complete hand-book, entitled i/e re rustica} which is still
extant ; also a work on the same subject by the Carthaginian
Mago was translated into Latin by order of the senate, after
the conquest of Carthage.
Other sciences, such as Geography, Mathematics, and As-
tronomy, were not treated in a literary way in this period,
although many Romans were not without a knowledge of
them. It was not until the time of the Emperors that mili-
tary science found systematic treatment.
1 T. i. 159; C.95-
THIRD PERIOD.
The Golden Age of Roman Literature, 70 B.C.-14 a.d.
THE most flourishing period of Roman literature is
characterized and measured by the positive predomi-
nance of the Greek mind. The amnis abinidantissimus
Grcecannii disciplinaruvi et artium ^ showed at this time its
fructifying power in all directions.- An acquaintance with
Greek works in art and science, with their home and places
of nurture, especially with Athens, became more and more
a necessity, or, at least, the fashion, for Romans in good
society, who generally spoke and wrote Greek with ease,
and were wont to pursue their studies in Athens, Rhodes,
and other parts of Greece.
On the other hand, a great number of Greeks made their
appearance in Rome, and were employed as teachers of
rhetoric, tutors, readers, and the Hke. It is true they were
often held in light esteem (Graeculi) on account of their
windy and bombastic style of talk, yet they were indispen-
sable. For, with all the apparent prudery towards everything
Greek, which was manifested even by men like Cicero, with
all their boasting of the superiority of tlie Roman mind and
nature, there yet prevailed an utter dependence in everything
pertaining to artistic form. Greek writings, especially ora-
tions, were translated as exercises in the schools and else-
where. By means of the increasing book-trade, Greek
1 Cic. de Rep. ii. 19, 34.
2 T. i. 227 et seqq. ; C. 141 ; Mom. iv. 681 ; Mer. ii. 530.
THIRD PERIOD. 35
authors received a quicker and more general distribu-
tion. Public libraries were founded by Asinius PoUio and
Augustus. Hence arose a lively, and, indeed, irresistible
impulse to literary activity. The otium, devoted to the
Muses, gained its rightful place beside the negoiium, in
the service of the state. On a lower plane, beside this
Hellenistic tendency, was the national literature, represented
by only a few, as Lucretius and Varro. It was, however, by
no means independent of Greece.
Within this unity of character, however, there was mani-
fest, both in politics and in literature, a wde difference
between the first and the second half of this period, between
the Ciceronian and the Augustan Age, the last stage of the
Republic, and the beginning of the Empire. i On the one
hand, extreme activity in political life ; on tlie other, a
systematic quieting and suppression of the same ; there,
freedom even to license; here, limitation and restraint, — a
shaping of thought and word with an eye to court favor;
there, an almost exclusive bent toward public life ; here, an
accommodation to the will and taste of the court and the
emperor ; there, the studies which have to do with political
life — oratory and political literature — prevailed ; here, those
departments (particularly poetry) in which the peaceful de-
velopment of artistic form, that is, the aesthetic principle is
prominent ; there, practical results and material success were
kept in view ; here, perfection of form and the satisfaction of
the aesthetic sense were all important. Thus each half of
the Golden Age serves to supplement the other ; what the
one has in a greater degree appears less prominently in the
other, — the excellence of the one is the lack of the other.
Under the circumstances, however, it was inevitable that,
1 T. i. 384.
36 ROMAN LITERATURE,
with the empire, while taste, elegance, and perfection of form
increased, independence, freshness, and energy should de-
crease. Literature, especially poetry, withdrew from public
life, from the market-place, and from contact with the masses
of the people, into the study, the salon, and to the court.
Its popularity was lost in the aristocratic exclusiveness of
fine culture.
In the Ciceronian Age (80-40 B.C.), oratory held the
first place in importance. ^ It was then that it found its
widest sphere of action, its most abundant success, and
reached in Cicero its highest development. Hand in hand
with it went the theoretical development, rhetoric, which
was, for the most part, in the hands of the Greeks. Histor-
ical writing also flourished, but its most important represen-
tatives, Caesar and Sallust, wrote from a political, or rather
personal, standpoint.^ Philosophy had its chief representative
in Cicero, learning, in Varro. In this stormy period, poetry
found few prominent representatives, — the didactic epos,
Lucretius, lyric poetry, Catullus.^ The drama passed into
the mime. Cicero is to be regarded as the central point of
the literary life of this period, the creator of the normal
prose style.^
After the establishment of the Empire, political activity
came to a standstill, nay, even to a state of torpor. Regard
for the monarch made caution and diplomatic behavior
necessary ; the voice of political literature ceased to be
heard ; the principle of equalization and levelling, not only
of the parts of the Empire, but also of minds, crippled and
suppressed individual peculiarity and independence of char-
acter. Oratory and history, which flourished under the
1 T. i. 229; Mer. ii. 536; Mom. iv. 723.
2 Mom. iv. 719. 3 T j_ 232.
* T. i. 235 ; Mom. iv. 677 ; Schlegel : Hist, of Lit. yj.
THIRD PERIOD. 37
Republic, were now treated in a manner suited to the cir-
cumstances.' The former retired from the forum, partly into
the Senate and the courts, and partly into the schools ; the
latter turned its attention chiefly to the older periods. In
their place, the professions, as being politically safe and
possessing practical value, took a broader field. Poetry
increased in importance, being favored at court by Augustus,
Maecenas, and others, but it was confined to the narrower,
educated circles.- It was — and, indeed, consciously and
purposely — no longer popular, but courtly in tone and
correct in sentiment, often more remarkable for the form
than the contents. By many, poetry was written according
to technical models, mechanically, and because it was the
fashion. Machine poetry {invita Minerva) came into vogue,
furthered by the public recitations introduced by Asinius
Pollio.
In respect to particular departments, lyric poetry (Horace,
Ovid, TibuUus, Propertius) and epic (Virgil) were promi-
nent; also, didactic (Virgil, Ovid) and satiric (Horace);
the drama remained unimportant from a literary point of
view. On the whole, an extremely active production showed
itself; but, in the case of the majority, on account of the
lack of individual poetic impulse, originality, and inward
truth, poetry was only a thing of fashion, based on ostenta-
tion.
The more distant parts of Italy, and even single provinces,
became more and more possessed with this literary move-
ment, particularly through the development of the book-
trade, which was furthered especially by T. Pomponius
Atticus.3 All the famous writers of the first rank in the
1 T. i. 385 ; Mer. iv. 563 ; C. 246.
2 T. i. 387; C. 242; Schlegel: Hist, of Lit. 71 ; Sellar: Roman poets of
the Augustan Age. ^ T. i. 234.
407238
38 ROMAN LITERATURE.
Augustan Age were not native Romans, but originated from
Italian country towns. Yet, at least in prose, the specific
Roman urbanitas stood more or less positively and con-
sciously in contrast with the provincial tone.
I. POETRY.
a. — The Drama.
The Artistic Drama in its different varieties — palliata,
togata, prgetexta — found few new writers. 1 The new plays,
such as the tragedies of Asinius Pollio, Ovid, and Varius,
were designed for the more limited circles, and for reading,
and hence the public presentations were confined to the
older plays. In Comedy, Roscius shone as an excellent
actor ; in Tragedy, ^sop.^ After the time of Sulla, however,
both the artistic and the popular play were more and more
crowded back by the Mime and the Pantomine.
The Mime -^ was old Italian, nearly related to the Atella-
na, and mainly distinguished from it by the even greater
prominence given to gesticulation > The Mime was marked
by caricature in the farcical action, and in the often im-
provised dialogue, seasoned with personal allusions ; by the
forced striving to excite laughter ; by an obscenity carried
t© the very extreme, the female parts being played by
women. The subjects were taken mostly from every-day
life, particularly from married life, and occasionally from
mythology. The play was principally in the hands of one
actor, called the archimimus, and the other players (such
1 Mom. iv. 689. 2 c. 212.
3 wz/iof, a term used to denote both the play and the actor ; in Latin
also called planipes.
1 C. ao8 ; T. i. 8.
THIRD PERIOD. 39
as the parasite) were subordinate to him. The language was
common plebeian, and the flute served as accompaniment
in the song and dance.
Among the writers of Mimes were the Roman knight
Decimus Laberius (105-43 e.g.), who was compelled
by Cassar to appear publicly on the stage as a punishment
for his boldness ; and his younger contemporary, the senten-
tious Publilius Syrus, of Antiochia.' These writers in-
troduced the Mime into literature.
In the time of the Emperors, the Mime was displaced by
the Pantomime (Ballet), which, under Augustus, was devel-
oped into a special art by Bathyllus and Pylades.-
The subject of the Pantomime was almost always mytholog-
ical, and, indeed, for the most part tragical. The play itself
consisted of a union of solo dancing, chorus singing, and
loud orchestral music. It was the task of the dancer to
supply the lack of a text by mute action. The Pantomime,
therefore, demanded and produced, on the one hand, the
highest gracefulness and smoothness, elasticity and litheness
of movement, — in truth a " speaking dance " (diserte sal-
tare) ; but, on the other hand, it led to a one-sided predom-
inance of sensuous attractions, and, like the modern ballet,
from an aesthetic and moral point of view, had a corrupting
effect.
b. — The Epos.
Far richer and more fruitful was the cultivation which the
Narrative and the Didactic Epos found, as well as the nearly
related varieties, the Poetic Narrative, the Satire, the Poetic
Epistle, and the Idyll. The Narrative Epos was further divi-
ded into the Historic, whose subjects were taken from Roman
1 C. 210; T. i. 310; Mom. iv. 692. ^ C. 211.
40 ROMAN LITERATURE.
history, and the Heroic, which had to do with mythological
subjects, and which rested entirely upon Greek models,
especially Alexandrian. Virgil's ^neid was a combination
of both kinds.
The chief representatives of Didactic Poetry were Lucre-
tius, Virgil, and Ovid ; of the Satire, Varro and Horace ; of
the Poetic Epistle, Horace and Ovid ; of the Idyll, Virgil,
and, in single poems, Horace.
Prominent among the numerous epic writers are Cicero,^
with his unfortunate epic poems, written for his own glorifi-
cation, de suo consulatu, composed in the year 60 B.C.,
and de temporibiis meis (concerning my misfortunes),
written in 55 ; P. Terentius Varro- from Atax (Ata-
cinus) in Gallia Narbonensis (82-37 B.C.), who both
worked over Greek originals with skill, as, for example, the
Ai-gonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, and wrote a poem en-
titled bellum Sequanicum, probably in honor of Csesar ;
also, satires and elegies; L. Varius, the well-known friend
of Virgil, and writer of epic poems in honor of Ccesar
{de morte Casaris) and Augustus ; Pedo Albinovanus,
author of a Theseis, and an epos concerning the occurrences
of his times ; Rabirius, author of a poem concerning the
civil war between Octavian and Antony,
In Didactic Epos, the most prominent writer was T.
Lucretius Carus,=^ a Roman knight, who lived 98 (95?)-
55 B.C. He was the author of an unfinished didactic poem,
in 6 books, entitled, de rerum natura. It was the object of
the poet to free the mind from the burden of the fear of
the gods and of death, and, in general, from the varied
1 C. 184, 213 ; T. i. 305. 2 c. 231 ; T. i. 362.
8 C. 220; T.i. 338; S. 199; Mom. iv. 694; Munro's Lucretius; Schlegel;
Hist, of Lit. 66.
THIRD PERIOD. 4'
forms of superstitton * by a rational contemplation of nature.^
The Epicurean philosophy served him as a means to this
end : — the gods do not trouble themselves about men,
and death puts an end to all things. The dr>' subject-
matter and the unpoetic character of the soulless, mechan-
ical Epicureanism, as well as the then existing poverty of
the Latin language in philosophical terms, presented the
greatest difficulties to the poet ; still, his enthusiasm for the
idea, his energetic grasp of the system, his earnest, inde-
pendent cast of mind, his wxestling with subject-matter and
language, and his high poetic talent, manifesting itself in
the very contest with these difficulties, render the work
one of the highest interest. Yet, on account of the an-
tique coloring, and the often abstruse contents, it is not
always easy to understand and enjoy. Lucretius exercised
a great influence upon subsequent poets, among them
Horace and Ovid. By the later writers, with a perverted
admiration for antiquity, he was preferred to the poets of
the Augustan Age.
In the department of Epic Poetry, however, P. Ver-
gilius Maro^ rises above all others.'' Virgil, the son of a
farmer in easy circumstances, was born at Andes, near Man-
tua, on the 15th of October, 70 B.C. He pursued his stud-
ies, especially rhetoric and philosophy, under Greek teachers
at Cremona, Milan, and, after the year 53, in Rome. He
then returned home, lost his estate twice by the distributions
of land in 41 and 40, but recovered it on the petition of
Asinius Pollio and Maecenas, came into intimate relations
1 Artis relligionum animum nodis exsolvere pergo. i. 930 f.
- Naturae species ratioque. ii. 60.
3 C. 252; T. i. 406; Mer. iv. 573; Kennedy's Virgil: Introd.; Sellar:
Roman poets of the Augustan Age, 59.
* Vergilius was the original manner of writing ; Virgilius did not come
into use until the Middle Ages.
42 ROMAN LITERATURE.
with the latter in 39, and thenceforth lived highly esteemed
by Augustus, Horace, and others. He dwelt, for the most
part, in Campania, in comfortable circumstances, though in
poor health, and died at Brundisium, on his return journey
from Athens, on the 21st of September, 19 B.C., and was
buried near Naples. An ancient epitaph on him reads : —
Mantua nie genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc
Parthenope, cecini pascua rura duces.
As a man, Virgil was an aniiiia Candida, gentle, pure
in morals, amiable, true-hearted, bashful and awkward in
appearance ; ' as a poet, especially fitted for the expression
of gentle and deep emotions and tender relations, for
drawing idyllic pictures, sentimentally conceived and carried
out. Hence he was a sincere and enthusiastic admirer of
the era of peace brought about by Augustus. Not original
in flow of fancy, nor impelled by genius to write poetry, he
worked slowly and laboriously with a definite object in view,
patiently and incessantly polishing, and so became a model
of correctness and elegance.
The probable order of his poems is as follows : in the
years 41-39 (or 37?) Eclogse H, HI, V, I, IX, IV, VI, VHI,
VII, X; in the years 37-30, Georgica ; 29-19, ^neis.
I. Biicolica^ consisting of 10 idylls, also called EclogcE,
a kind of poetry which is really foreign to the Roman mind,
not national in its character. Virgil imitated Theocritus,
but mostly with an intermingling of personal relations.
Hence the shepherd characters are in the main allegorical
persons."^ The situations are taken from the circumstances
1 Cf. Hor. Sat. i. 3, 29, seqq.
2 C. 259; T. i. 411; Mcr. iv. 575; Conington's Virgil, i. 2; Sellar : A.u-
gustan poets, 132.
3 For example, Ed. i. Tityrus = Virgil ; Eel. v. Daphnis = Caesar.
THIRD PERIOD. 43
of the poet,' and thus he writes with a definite purpose in
view, — a method of treatment of which this kind of poe-
try, naturally naive and popular, does not admit. Never-
theless the Bucolics were greeted with great applause on
the part of the Roman public, not in spite of the allegory,
but on account of it, and especially on account of their
elegance of language and versification.
2. The Gforgica- were written at the suggestion of
Msecenas. The subject was Italian agriculture. Book I
treats of farming, II, of the culture of trees, III, of cattle-
raising, IV, of bee-culture.
The main object of the poet was to bring these old Roman
occupations into honor again, especially in the -eyes of the
cultured proprietors of large estates, with no intention that
the poems should be considered a hand-book for the common
peasants. In some particulars, Virgil depended upon Greek
models, as Hesiod, Aratus, and others ; on the whole, how-
ever, the treatment is independent, because the subjects
suited his individual genius and his personal experience.
The tone is warm and lively, the language skilfully used, and
the episodes-'^ give occasion for the most pleasing variety, so
that the poem " is the most perfect production of any con-
siderable length that Roman poetry has to offer " (Teuffel).
3. The ^-Eneis,^ in 12 books, was not completed, and
1 Cf., for example, Eel. v., relating to Caesar; i., thanks to Octavian ; ix.,
complaint about the second loss of his estate; iv., praise of Pollio ; x., to
Corn. Gallus.
2 C. 261 ; T. i. 413; Mer. iv. 441 ; Schlegel : Hist, of Lit. 72 ; Coning-
ton's Virgil, i. 124; Sellar, 174.
3 Especially ii. 136-176, the praise of Italy ; ii. 323-345, the praise of
spring; ii. 458-540, the praise of country life; iii. 339-383, the shepherd life
of the Scythians ; iii. 478-566, the Noric cattle pest ; iv. 315-558, the myth
of Aristaeus.
* <2. 265 ; T. i. 415 ; Mer. iv. 443 ; Conington's Virgil, ii. 2 ; Sellar, 292.
44 ROMAN LITERATURE.
hence it was Virgil's wish at his death that it be destroyed.
It was published, however, by his friends Varius and
Tucca, but without additions (hence the 58 incomplete
verses). The poem treats of the adventures of ^neas
after the destruction of Troy, his arrival in Italy, his alli-
ances and contests with the inhabitants. The model for
the first six books is the Odyssey, and for the last six,
the Iliad.
Virgil's purpose is, on the one hand, to trace Rome back
to the settlement of the Trojans in Italy under the special
leadership of the gods, and, on the other, to show the de-
scent of the patrician families from the Trojan colonists,
especially of the Julian family, from ^neas's son lulus.
The poem was, therefore, a glorification of the Roman
people and the Julian dynasty. However, the legend of
^neas had too little footing in the national consciousness,
and hence Virgil was obliged to weave in a multitude of
learned notes, acquired by industrious study. The least
successful part of all is the character of JEneas himself,
who appears not as the strong hero of antiquity, but as a
weak, sentimental man, led like a puppet by the gods {J>///s
^neas) .
The finest parts of the poem are those in which passion
plays the chief part ; before all, the episode of Dido in the
fourth book. Here Virgil reaches the height of his theme.
The language is carefully polished, yet — particularly when
compared with that of Homer — not simple and naive, but
rhetorical, and often needlessly pathetic.
It was inevitable that the poem should win great applause
with the Romans, especially with the higher circles, on
account of its loyal and patriotic motive, its scene reminding
them of home, and, also, from the national and local allu-
sions, and the stateliness of the verse.
THIRD PERIOD. 45
Besides the above, lesser poems have been attributed to
Virgil, — Culex, Moretum (the most successful), Copa,
Catalecta, Ciris ; ' it is, however, certain that Virgil did not
write the Ciris. They are mostly idyllic pictures of every-
day life.
Virgil was held in great honor by the Romans.^ His
poems soon came into use in the schools, and were often
imitated and interpreted.^ They were also used as oracles,
the book being opened at random {Sorfes Vergiliance).
In the Middle Ages the person of Virgil was invested with
a multitude of romantic legends. He was considered a
miracle-worker and magician. Dante represents himself as
led by Virgil through the infernal regions.
Among the writers of didactic poetry under Augustus may
be mentioned : Gratius Faliscus, author of Cynegetica
in 536 hexameters, and especially Manilius,'* the person-
ally unknown author of Astronomica, in 5 books, which, by
their originality, in spite of the bias for astrology, testify to
a many-sided culture, and are very correct in fonn.
c. — Satire and Epistle.
The Satire had received from Lucilius the character
of a criticism of the existing state of things, and had taken
on the form of poetry. From this form M. Terentius
Varro (see p. 82) made a deviation, inasmuch as he
united poetry and prose in his 150 books SaturcB Menip-
1 C. 257 ; T. i. 420.
2 Cf. Prop. iii. 32, 65, seq.
Cedite Romani Scriptores, cedite Graii,
Nescio quid maius nascitur Iliade.
3 Commentary of Servius in the fourth Century. See p. 132.
* C. 313; T. i. 487.
46 ROMAN LITERATURE.
pece} In very arbitrary form,- and with loose connection,
Varro treated of philosophical questions and the condition of
his times. His standpoint was the national Roman one of
the good old times, and hence opposed to modern ideas.
Only fragments of his works remain. Satire received its
highest development from Horace.
Q. Horatius Flaccus-'was born at Venusia"* on the 8th
of December, 65 b.c.^ He was the son of a freedman,^ who,
however, had him carefully educated at Rome.''' Becom-
ing acquainted with M. Brutus at Athens, he accepted the
post of tribunus militum^ in his service, but was unable, at
Philippi, to save the fortunes of the Republic b\- his bravery.^
After being deprived of his estate by the distribution of
lands under Octavian, he became a scribe for the qusstors,
and devoted himself to writing poetry.'" Through his poems
he became acquainted with Virgil and Varius, and through
them (in 39), with Maecenas ; " after which time, received
also into the circle of Augustus' friends, he lived in the
most comfortable circumstances. In the year 37 he accom-
panied Maecenas to Brundisium,'- and received from him
(in 2,Z) a modest but fuiely-situated estate near Tibur, — the
often-mentioned Sabiiium.'^ He died on tlie 2 7t]i of No-
vember, 8 B.C., fifty-seven years of age. In jjerson, Horace
1 The name Saturne Menippese comes from the fact that Varro imitated
the cynic Menippus, who had written such satires. T. i. 238 ; C. 144 ; Mom.
iv. 704.
■■2 Prose and poetry, an intermixture of Greek words and sentences,
variety in the metre.
s C. 280; T. i. 433; Mer. iv. 452; Macleane's Cominentary : Introd.
* Sat. ii. I, 34, seq. 9 Od. ii. 7, 9, seqq.
5 Epp. i. 20, 27; Od. iii. 21, i. i" Epp. ii. 2, 50, seq.
6 Sat. i. 6, 6, seqq. H Sat. i. 6, 54, seqq.
T Sat. i. 6, 71, seqq. 12 g^t. i. J.
8 Sat. i. 6. 48. ^^ Sat. ii. 6, i, seqq.
THIRD PERIOD. 47
was short and fleshy ; ' his dark hair he lost in his later
years.-
The poems of Horace are, in part, Satires and Epistles, —
both together also called Sermones, — and, in part, lyric
poems. Odes and Epodes. As regards the time of publi-
cation. Sat. I was probably published in the year 34, Sat. II
in 30, and, also, the Epodes, at about the same time with
the latter; Odes I-III in 23, Epp. I in 20, Carmen Sseculare,
16; Od. IV was composed after 18, and Epp. II after 17.
His latest production was probably Epp. II, 3, the Ars
Poetica.
I. Satires. "^ — The contents of the Satires are extremely
varied. A specifically invective motive is not found in all of
them. In some, Horace presents to a cultivated public
rather his own life-experiences and maxims of conduct,
rarely, indeed, without occasional side-thrusts and stabs ;
thus, in Sat. I, 4, II, i, he sets forth the nature of his satire ;
in Sat. I, 10, his relations to Lucilius ; in II, 6, his relations
to Maecenas and the happiness of country retirement ; in I,
6, the enjoyment of modest independence ; in II, 2, the
praise of frugal contentment. In most of the Satires, how-
ever, Horace makes a target of particular moral obliquities,
or, at least, weaknesses, and ridiculous phases, either of the
existing time or of mankind in general; thus, in I, i, the
constant discontent of men with their lot ; in I, 2, the ex-
tremes to which the passions may extend ; in I, 9, the
despicable forwardness of many in their attempt to get into
the higher circles : in II, 3, the exaggerations of Stoic Phil-
osophy ; in II, 5, legacy-hunting ; in II, 8, the plebeian boast-
fulness of the rich parvenu.
1 Sat. ii. 3, 309; Epp. i. 20, 24. - Epp. i. 7, 26.
• C. 292 ; T. i. 439 ; Mer. iv. 449 ; Schlegel : H^st. of Lit. 74.
4^ ROMAN LITERATURE.
To such a variety of contents this may be added, that
Horace, in accordance with the form of the Seniio, i.e., of the
conversation, does uot proceed in detail according to careful
arrangement, but, though fully conscious of his theme, goes
on with easy carelessness ; furthermore, that he does not so
much attack with sharpness and moral indignation what is
really immoral, as make the perversities which present a
laughable side, the petty doings of men in social and literary
life, the object of good-natured ridicule, yet without any
lack of earnestness when occasion demands ; and finally,
that lie keeps himself far removed from the captious and
vexatious sphere of politics. All this contributes toward
awakening and preserving in the reader a good-humored
state of mind and a lively interest, especially since, for the
most part, such traits of human character are made promi-
nent, as, unrestricted by national or local bounds, are found
at all times and in all places.
2. Epistles.' — The Epistles are written from the stand-
point of one who takes a settled and calm view of life ; and
they are also shaped with greater care than the Satires.
Beginning, at the start, with personal matters and relations
(to which only the shorter Epistles are confined, as, for exam-
ple, I, 4, 8, 9, 2o), but generally going beyond these, Horace
treats of the most varied relations of life, and especially Hte-
rary life, in a style rich in apt maxims, but never over-adorned
nor wanting in taste, and lays down in these letters, with a
calm and comprehensive understanding of life, the results of
long observation and experience. Those Epistles are of es-
pecial interest which treat of his relations with Maecenas,^ as
well as those of the second book, in which Horace sets forth
his literary views, and places as the ultimate goal, the imitation
1 T. i. 448 ; C. 293 ; Mer. iv. 457. 2 s. i. i, 7, 19.
THIRD PERIOD. 49
of Greek perfection of form in contrast to the affected return
to tlie old Roman poets ; ' he also shows the false sesthetic
theories of the times, which seem to him enough to render
the poet's avocation unendurable.- The richest and most
comprehensive Episde is II, 3, Ep. ad Pisones, designated
by Quintilian as Hber de arte poetica, in which Horace,
without professing to be full and systematic, discusses, with
excellent and independent judgment, a series of literary
questions, with special reference to the drama.^
3. Odes.'' — In respect to time, the first three books of
the Odes lie between the Satires and Epistles. To these
was added, later, the fourth book. The lyric writings of
Horace take their root in the imitation of Greek models,
and especially of those ^olic melic poets, who portray in
the simplest form the common human feelings and senti-
ments ; namely, Alcaeus, Sappho, and Anacreon. He rises
gradually, however, with an increasing consciousness of his
powers, to an independent position. In harmony with the
thoughtful nature of the poet's disposition, his lyrics are
essentially poetry of the reflective kind, his poems are in
general the product of industry and study ; for this reason
lofty flights of imagination and stormy feeling are excluded,
but not warmth and inwardness of sentiment.^ Those Odes
are the most successful which present in easy style the pic-
ture of an otium contented with itself, in agreeable, nat-
ural, and human surroundings, or which set forth in quiet
tone the worldly wisdom of the poet, — Odes in which Horace
expresses his own peculiar nature ; ^ while those which strike
a higher tone, not quite corresponding to the genius of the
1 Epp. ii. I. 2 Epp. ii. 2. 3 c. 295 ; Macleane, 696.
* C. 287; T. i. 442; Schlegel: Hist, of Lit. 73 ; Milman's Life of Horace,
5 Cf. Od. iv. 2, 31, seq.
6 For example, B. i. 4, 7, 22, 37 ; ii. 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14 ; iii. 13, 21.
, 50 ROMAN LITERATURE.
poet, or at discord with it, as well as those Odes which are
prompted by external motives, make a less harmonious im-
pression.' Throughout all, however, we find an abundance
of true and finely-expressed thoughts ; and the form, first
artistically wrought out by Horace according to the various
metres, became, by virtue of a constantly-increasing correct-
ness and elegance, a model for the technique of the Roman
poets, which paved the way before them, and was never
afterwards equalled.^
4. Epodes.-^ — The Epodes are related to the Odes in
form, and to the Satires in subject-matter.'' They contain,
for the most part, attacks upon individual persons in a tone
prevailingly sharp, and sometimes cynical.
The personality of tlorace is reflected in his poetry in an
uncommon degree.^ He is preeminently endowed on the
side of the understanding and reflection ; his views and
principles are not taken from any given system of philoso-
phy, though he speaks of himself as an Epicurean, but they
are the outflow of an eminently sound common-sense, of
shrewd and sharp observation, and of a self-contained, har-
monious nature. His aim is to acquire restfulness and
contentment by a cheerful, but temperate enjoyment of life,
by calmness in view of external things, and by an ever-ad-
vancing culture and inward deepening. In his relations
with others, kindly, social, and reliable, he still preserves
his independence, and, when necessary, disagrees even with
1 As, for example, iii. 1-6.
2 Quint. Inst. Orat. x. i, 96: Lyricorum Horatius fere solus legl dignus ;
nam et insurgit aliquando et planus est iucunditatis et gratias et variis
figuris et verbis felicissime audax.
3 This name, which did not originate with Horace, denotes the union of
a long with a short verse. Horace himself calls these verses iambi.
4 C. 286; T. i. 441. s T. i. 437.
THIRD PERIOD. 51
the highest personages, as, for example, with Augustus, when
his own views do not accord with the wishes of others.
In fuhiess and variety of thought, wealth of practical ex-
perience, charity of judgment, kindly humor, and grace
and elegance of form, Horace is a poet of never-failing
interest and never-waning importance. For this reason he
has always found admirers, imitators, and commentators, as
scarcely any other ])oet has done. Indeed, the one-sided
presumption of his faultlessness has led to error, as when, for
example, Hofman Peerlkamp in Holland (in 1834), and
others since his time have attempted summarily to cast out
as not genuine the less perfect parts of his works.
From ancient times the scholia of Porphyrid (about 200
A.D.) are preserved. A collection of scholia made in the
seventh century bears the name of Aero.
Virgil and Horace, though sustaining relations of inti-
mate friendship, still form, in many respects, a contrast to
each other. Virgil was tall, lank, sickly in appearance, stiff,
and almost offensively awkward in his movements ; Horace,
short and thick-set, sleek and well favored, moving in society
with the ease of a man of the world ; Virgil, shy, slow, and
stammering in his speech ; Horace, ready in conversation,
witty, and sharp, upon occasion ; Virgil a feminine, gentle,
introspective nature ; Horace, cultivated by contact with the
world, grasping outward circumstances with sure hold, and
using them for his purposes ; Virgil, a man of the heart,
religious, and earnest ; Horace, a man of the understanding,
with a bent toward philosophic calm, undisturbed either by
external things or by passion ; Virgil, devoting himself from
conviction to Augustus as his benefactor, and the author of
universal peace ; Horace, with all his devotion, still keeping
at such a distance as to insure his independence ; Virgil, as
a poet, rhetorical and lofty, of almost feminine gentleness
52 ROMAN LITERATURE.
and tenderness ; Horace, natural, clear, transparent, full of
manly, self-reliant consciousness.
<?. — Lyric Poetry.
Up to this time Lyric Poetry had occupied a subordi-
nate position ; but it rose in this period, particularly under
Augustus, to a higher plane. This was true in the highest
degree of the Elegy, a variety of the Lyric which was copied
after the Alexandrian poets, but in which the Romans ex-
celled the originals in form and subject-matter ; but especially
of the erotic Elegy, which, already introduced by Catullus,
was treated with skill and success by Ovid, Tibullus, and
Propertius, while Horace confined himself to the writing of
Odes. Roman lyric poetry, turning away from political life,
took its subject-matter from the sphere of those sentiments
and emotions which are common to humanity, and which
lie at the basis of song in all times.
Among the lyric poets of the Ciceronian age, the most
important one" (excepting C. Licinius Calvus, of whose
writings only a few verses are preserved) is C. Valerius
Catullus, born at Verona, 87 b.c, of a wealthy family to
which the peninsula of Sirmio in the Lago di Garda belonged.
He lived chiefly at Rome, in the higher, light-minded circles,
was with the propraetor Memmius (57-56) in Bithynia, and
died about the year 53.
His erotic poems have reference to a woman bearing
the pseudonym Lesbia, probably the sister of the notorious
P. Clodius. Other poems relate, among other things, to
the death of his brother, which took place in Bithynia ; to
his relations with both friends and enemies, — as when he
1 The greatest lyric poet of Roman literature. T. i. 373.
THIRD PERIOD. 53
sharply attacks Caesar, not so much on political grounds as
from personal antipathy against Caesar's favorite, Mamurra.
Among his longer poems (not including his imitations of
Alexandrian poems), the ]iymn on the marriage of Manlius
Torquatics deserves special mention. Catullus achieved his
greatest success, however, in his short love-songs and pic-
tures of every-day life. He is a thoroughly naive poet ;
impetuous in love and hate, he is frequently tender and
ardent ; full of cheerful humor, he is often cynically harsh
and sharp ; always characterized by skilful handling of his
very varied and occasionally rare metres.* The common
collection, arbitrarily arranged, contains ii6 poems.^
Under Augustus lyric poetry was chiefly represented by
Cornelius Gallus, Ovid, Tibullus, and Propertius.
Cornelius Gallus,-^ born at Forum lulii, 69 h.c, was a
friend of Virgil (who addressed his Tenth Eclogue to him),
and for a long time, also, of Augustus ; but having fallen into
disfavor with the latter after his administration in Egypt,
he committed suicide in the year 26. None of his poems
have been preserved.'*
P. Ovidius Naso was born March 28, 48 B.C., at Sulmo,
in the country of the Peligni. He was the son of a well-to-
do Roman knight, pursued rhetorical studies at Rome, filled
judicial offices for a short time, then made a journey to
Greece and Asia, was married three times, was suddenly
banished by Augustus, in 9 a.d., to Tomi (near the modern
Kostendsche), on the Black Sea, and died there in the year
1 7, unpardoned, in spite of the most urgent complaints and
1 As, for example, the Galliambus in the poem entitled Atih.
2 C. 233 ; S. 337 ; T. i. 373 ; Mom. iv. 702 ; Ellis's Commentary : Pro-
lego m.
3 C. 298 ; T. i. 431.
* A romantic treatment of his career may be found in Becker's " Gallus,"
54 ROMAN LITERATURE.
entreaties. As the cause of this hard treatment, Ovid men-
tions 1 carmen et error? By carmen is doubtless to be un-
derstood the ars amatoria, which may have been offensive
to Augustus on account of its frivolity. On the other hand,
concerning the term error we can only make conjectures.
If Ovid, with his somewhat effeminate nature, accustomed
to the sensuous and the intellectual enjoyments ot Rome,
displayed little composure in exile, it finds its excuse, per-
haps, in the nature and position of Tomi.
Ovid's earliest poems belong to the department of erotic
elegy : A mo res, in 3 books, published 14 b.c. ; Epis/ulce^
(or Heroides), imaginary love-letters by women of the He-
roic Age, for example, Briseis, Penelope, Phaedra ; Ars
amatoria, in 3 books, published, probably, 2 B.C. ; as the
counterpart of this, Rcmedia amoris, one book, and the
JMedicamina faciei, only partially preserved. All the above
were written in a light, and some in a frivolous tone. The
15 books Metamorphoseon,'^ written in epic metre, are taken
from mythological sources. They deal with such myths,
from the beginning of the world to the apotheosis of Caesar,
as end with a metamorphosis. The myths are freely handled
after Greek models, and often loosely connected with each
other. On account of his banishment, the work was not fully
completed. Simpler, more practical, and more earnest are
the 6 books Fastoriim,'' a calendar written in elegiac metre,
which contains, in addition to astronomical data, a connect-
ed mythological and historical account of the origin of the
1 Trist. ii. 207. 2 c. 309; T. i. 471.
3 C. 306; T. i. 473; Mer. iv. 462; Palmer's Ovidii Heroides. " The Loves
of the Heroines is the most elevated and refined in sentiment of all elegiac
compositions of the Romans." Mer. iv. 463.
^ C. 308 : T. i. 477-
* Mer. iv. 463 ; Ramsay's Ovid ; Paley : Ovid's Fasti.
THIRD PERIOD. 55
Roman festivals. The completion of this work, also, which
had been planned to consist of 1 2 books corresponding to
the 1 2 months, and which, in spite of the author's superficial
methods, contains a great number of important notices re-
specting the old Italic religion, was rendered impossible by
his banishment.
At Tomi, Ovid wrote, in elegiac metre, the Tristia in 5
books, — complaints respecting the troubles of the journey
and of life in a strange land, together with a letter to Augus-
tus, ^ and letters to his wife ; EpisfulcB ex Ponto, 4 books,
consisting of letters to various persons whom he mentions by
name ; then, Ibis, an abusive poem against an anonymous
person ; finally, an incomplete didactic poem entided Hali-
eiitica (132 Hexameters), treating of the fish in the Black
Sea.2
Other poems, especially a paurgyric on Augustus, written
in the Getic language, are not preserved.
Ovid possessed a poetic nature, richly gifted and hap-
pily endowed ; but as a poet, no less than ar, a man, he is
without earnestness and self-control.^ His talents manifest
themselves, therefore, chieflv in his uncommon facilitv of
\'ersification, which became to him a second nature and a
necessity ,'' while the labor w-hich is necessary to supplement
even the best natural gifts quickly becomes distasteful to him.
Hence what he says in special reference to political activity^
may be applied also to his poetical labor. Even the ancient
1 Book ii. - T. i. 479 ; C. 310. ^ -p j ^69 ; Mer. iv. 464.
* Trist. iv. 10, 26 : Et quod temptabam dicere versus erat.
5 Trisl. iv. 10, 37-40 : —
Nee corpus patiens nee mens fuit apta labori,
Sollicitaeque fugax ambitionis eram.
Et petere Aoniae suadebant tuta sorores
Otia iudicio semper amata meo.
56 ROMAN LITERATURE.
critics lamented tlie fact that he gave himself up too much to
his ready skill in form, and to the wealth of his imagination/
and that he likes to see a stain upon what is pure and per-
fect in order that it may thus seem piquant.^ In this re-
spect he may be compared to the German poet Heine.
Living for a long time in happy circumstances, moving in
the high circles of the capital, and penetrated with modern
views and customs, Ovid is the poet of fine, courtly, but also
of light-minded, superficial, and frivolous society. His tal-
ents serve only to entertain, without stirring deeply. He
treats his subjects with pleasing playfulness, with keen wit,
and not seldom with open or concealed irony, but he sinks
too often into wordy jingle and trifling, because earnestness
and moderation are wanting to him.
In the Middle Ages the Metamorphoses in particular was
much read, and a paraphrase of it was written in German
couplets, about the year 1200, by Albrecht von Halberstadt,
at the suggestion of the landgrave Hermann of Thiiringen.
Albius TibuUus was born, about 54 b.c, of a wealthy
equestrian family, nor was he left without means after his
losses by the distribution of lands in 41. He attached him-
self to Valerius Messala, whom he accompanied in 28 to the
Aquitanian war, and died in 19.
After some practice in Alexandrian versification, ■* TibuUus
reached his highest plane in the sotigs addressed to his be-
loved 06113,"^ and in those on the relations of Sulpicia and
1 For example, Quint. Inst. Oiat. x. i, 98 : Ovidii Medea, — a tragedy not
extant, — videtur mihi ostendere, quantum ille vir praestare potuerit, si inge-
nio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset.
2 Sen. Controv. ii. 10, 12 : Aiebat decentiorem faciem esse, in qua aliquis
nsevos fuisset.
^ Cf. the panegyric on Messala, iv. 1, if this is, indeed, by him.
* Book i.
THIRD PERIOD. 57
Cerinthus.' In Book II the relation to Nemesis forms the
subject. Book III is not by Tibullus, but by an unknown
imitator.
Tibullus is the greatest Roman elegiac poet, a truly elegiac
nature, revelling in the passion of love, in the sentimental
portrayal of peaceful, frugal, idealized country life, with a vein
of longing and sadness,- simple, warm, and sympathetic, pos-
sessed of fine taste and a power of artistic shaping, as com-
plete as it is naive in its manifestation.^
The younger contemporary of Tibullus was S. Proper-
tius,^ born about 50 c.c. in Umbria, probably at Asisium.
He lost a part of his property in the distribution of lands in
41, then lived in Rome, where he made himself acquainted
with the Alexandrian writers, especially with Callimachus.
He was introduced to Maecenas about 26, after the appear-
ance of his first book of poems, and died in 15.
The subject of Book I is his first, complete love for
" Cynthia." ^ It was published by Propertius himself in the
beginning of 26. Books II and III (or, according to Lach-
man, II-IV) appeared later. Book IV (or V), which con-
tains several pieces having reference to the early history of
Rome, similar to the Fasti of Ovid, was probably not issued
till after the poet's death.
T\\Q Erotic Ekgy is with Propertius the immediate outflow
of his nature and his life. He is sensuous, passionate, and
full of imagination.*^ The enjoyment of his poems is not un-
frequently disturbed by mythological additions, which border
1 iv. 2-7, while iv. 8-12 are perhaps by Sulpicia herself.
2 Cf. especially i. I, 3, 10; ii. i.
3 Horace addressed to Tibullus, Od. i. 33 and Epp. i. 4. C.301 ; T. i. 460,
* Paley's Propertius : Preface.
5 A mistress of his, whose real name was Hostia.
6 C. 303 ; T. i. 241.
58 ROMAN LITERATURE.
upon overloading and obscurity. They owe their smooth-
ness and finish, however, to the study of the Alexandrian
writers ; and the same is true, indeed, of their forced concise-
ness of expression.
Quintilian says,' concerning the Roman elegy : Elegia
Graecos provocamus, cuius mihi tersus atque elegans maxi-
me videtur auctor Tibullus, sunt qui Propertium malint ;
Ovidius utroque lascivior, sicut durior Gallus.
II. PROSE.
a. — Oratory.
In contrast to the genus Asiaticiim, — the overloaded,
bombastic style of oratory, — stood the genus Atticuni, the
other extreme, associated chiefly with the name of Lysias,
and characterized by artificial simplicity, homeliness, and
sobriety of expression. Midway between these stood the
genus Rhodium. The genus Asiaticum was chiefly repre-
sented by Hortensius, the genus Atticum by Caesar, M.
Brutus, Cselius Rufus, and others, — later by Asinius Pollio ;
the genus Rhodium, by Cicero. In the Augustan Period,
political activity, and, with it, oratory, had to disappear from
the public stage.- It retired into the Senate, into the sittings
of the centumviri, but particularly into the schools and
audience-rooms ; while, in the place of public, practical
oratory, appeared rhetoric and the oratory of the schools ;
in place of the orator, appeared the rhetorician.^ Indeed,
even in the time of Sulla, rhetoric had been introduced into
Rome by Greek teachers, and Cicero had joined with his
practice the writing of theoretical books ; but the condition
1 Inst. Orat. x. I, 93. " T. i. 385; C. 319; Mer. iv. 431.
3 Cf. Tac. Dial. 14: novorum rhetorum — veterum oratorum.
THIRD PERIOD.
59
of things under the Empire first brought rhetoric to its full
development.^ No regard was now paid to practical ends ;
the subjects were invented ; the main thing was practice in
form and skill in delivery. The school-orations were divided
into confroversice, siiasoricE, and laudationes, or vituperatioties?
x\s public orators in the first half of this period, may be
mentioned (besides Hortensius, see p. 31): Caesar^ (sum-
mis oratoribus aemulus),'* M. Calidius, C. Memmius, C.
Curio, M, Caelius Rufus ; somewhat later, Asinius
Pollio, who represented the extreme of the Attic style, was
hard and antiquated, after the model of Thucydides, and
M. Valerius Messala, who more nearly resembled Cicero
in style ; in the Augustan Period, Cassius Severus, who,
on account of the aggressiveness of his oratory, was banished
about 12 A.D.
Quintilian -^ thus characterizes these orators : Vim Cresaris,
indolem Cselii, subtilitatem Calidii, diligentiam Pollionis, dig-
nitatem Messalae, gravitatem Bruti, acerbitatem Cassii re-
periemus.
At the head of Roman oratory stood M. Tullius Cicero.
Survey of His Life and Writings.
B.C.
106
90, seqq.
Jan. 3. Cicero born at Arpinum.
Instructed in oratory at Rome
by Greek teachers, especially
Molo ; became acquainted
with the orators Antony and
Crassus ; introduced to the
study of law by Q. Mucius
1 T. i. 3Q2, 537.
4 Tac. Ann. xiii. 3.
2 T. i. 544 ; C. 321.
5 Inst. Orat. xii. 10, 11.
3 C. 196; T. i. 314.
6o
ROMAN LITERATURE.
B.C.
Screvola, Augur, and Q. Mu-
cius Scaevola, Pont. max.
89
Cicero in the army of Cn. Pom-
peius Strabo; instructed in
philosophy by Phsedrus and
Philo.
de inventione (the year un-
certain).
81
His first oration : pro Quintio.
80
Oratio pro S. Roscio Amerino.
79-77
Went to Greece, Rhodes, and
Asia Minor for purposes of
study.
77
Married to Terentia.
75
Quaestor in Sicily.
70
Engaged in the suit of the Si-
cilians against Verres.
Orationes Verrinae,
69
^dile.
68-43
Epp. ad Atticum.
66
Prsetor.
Oratio de imp. Cn. Pompei.
63
Consul; called />a/er pafn'ce on
account of the suppression
of the Catilinarian conspira-
cy ; goes over to the party of
the Optimates.
Orationes iv. in Catilinam; pro
Murena.
62
Orationes pro Sulla,pro Archia.
62-43
Epp. ad Familiares.
60-54
Epp. ad Quintum fratrem.
58
Cicero, banished, goes to Thes-
salonica.
THIRD PERIOD.
6i
B.C.
57
55
54-51
53
52
51-50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
Sept. 4th, returns to Rome.
Vacillates between the Trium-
viri and the Senate.
Augur.
Governor in CiHcia, iniperator.
Cicero goes in June to Pompey
at Dyrrhachium.
In September returns to Italy;
forced stay at Brundisium.
September. His return to Rome
is permitted by Ci^sar.
Divorce from Terentia ; mar-
riage with Publilia.
Death of his daughter Tullia;
divorce from Publilia.
Joins the murderers of Caesar.
Dec. 7. Murdered.
de oratore.
de republica.
Oratio pro Milone.
Oratio pro Lig., Brut., Orator,
de legg., paradoxa, de part,
orat.
Oratio pro Deiot., de fin.,
Acad. (Consol., Timseus).
Or. Phil. xiv. (Sept. 2, 44-Apr.
22, 43), Topica, de opt. gen.
or., Tusc. disp., de nat. deor.,
de sen., de div., de fato, de
amic, de officiis.
Cicero performed an important work for oratory, partly by
means of his orations, and partly by means of his theoretical
writings.
62 ROMAN LITERATURE.
I. The Orations. — Of Cicero, as an orator, Quintilian^
says : Apiid posteros id est consecutus, ut Cicero iam non
hominis nomen, sed eloquentise habeatur.
Cicero was created, both physically and mentally, to be an
orator. Besides a good voice, and a tall and attractive fig-
ure, he possessed an excellent memory, a power of rapid
grasp and combination, fiery feeling, vivid imagination, quick
and telling wit. To these natural gifts were added a bound-
less desire for learning and wisdom, tireless industry, and
zealous and systematic study. Cicero's orations are distin-
guished by resisdess energy, moving pathos, variety and rapid
change of sentiment, fiery delivery, often by redundance
of expression, by a brilliant use of those means especially
which appeal to the senses and feelings of the hearer ; in a
less degree by moral earnestness and a regard for accuracy,
in which respects Cicero is certainly inferior to Demos-
thenes.-
Of Cicero's orations, fifty-seven are preserved entire, and
about twenty in a fragmentary condition. All that is known
of thirty-three others is, that they were delivered. Among
those preserved, the following deserve special mention : ^ pro
Quifitio, the first oration pronounced by Cicero ; pro S. Ros-
cio Amerino, interesting from the fact that in it an attack is
made upon Chrysogonus, a favorite of Sulla ; the Verrincp,
against C. Verres, the plundering praetor of Sicily, together
with the introductory divinatio in Cceci/ii/f>i, through which
Cicero maintains his right of impeachment. These orations
against Verres are also important for the understanding of
Roman provincial government. Further, (fc imperio Cii.
Pompei, by which Cicero secured to Pompey the supreme
1 Inst. Orat. xi. 112.
2 T. i. 265 ; C. 169; Mom. iv. 726; Mer. ii. 422.
8 Long's commentary on Cicero's orations ; Forsyth's Life of Cicero.
THIRD PERIOD. 63
command in the Third Mithradatic War ; /n L. Catilinam,
deHvered on the ytli and 8th of November, and the 3d and
5th of December, (^t^ ; pro Murcna, a defense of the consul,
Licinius Murena, de ambitu, spiced with witty sallies against
the judges ; pro Sulla, a defense against the charge of com-
plicity in the conspiracy of Catiline ; pro Archia, gaining of
the right of Roman citizenship for the poet Archias : pro Sestio,
against a charge of vis, together with an extended account
of the affairs of the Roman parties ; pro CcbUo, interesting in
its relation to the history of morals ; pro Milone, defense of
Milo, charged with the murder of P. Clodius, not finished in
its present form until a later time ; pro Ligario, a petition to
Caesar in behalf of Ligarius, an adherent of Pompey ; pro
Deiotaro, defense of King Deiotarus of Galatia, charged
with an attempt upon the life of Cassar ; the 14 Philippicce^
against M. Antonius, of which the most important is the
second, which was, however, produced only in written
form.
2. The Rhetorical Writings.- — Cicero had made
himself perfectly acquainted with the theories of the schools,
through the instruction he had received from Greek rhetori-
cians, and from the study of Greek theorists and orators,
especially of Hermagoras (second century, B.C.), Aristotle,
Demosthenes, and Isocrates. Nevertheless, his scientific edu-
cation and his practical career caused him riot to remain sat-
isfied with existing theories, but to keep constantly in view
the requirement and experiences of Roman praxis. His
writings contain, therefore, a system resting, for the most
part, upon his own experience. They are, in detail, as fol-
1 T. i. 277; C. 168; King's commentary; Mayor's Second Philippic:
Introd.
2 T. i. 280; C. 180; Mom. iv. 728.
64 ROMAN LITERATURE.
lows : de inventione, in 2 books, a crude work of his youth ;
de oratore, in 3 books, in form a dialogue, set in the year 91,
in which the two great orators, L. Crassus and M. Antonius,
take the chief part. In vivacious tone and beautiful, compact
language Cicero speaks, in Book I, of the proper training
for an orator ; in Book II, of the manner of treating the sub-
ject ; in Book III, of form and delivery. Bnifiis, sive de
Claris oratoribus, also in dialogue form, is a condensed his-
tory of Roman oratory ; Orator ad M. Brutum describes
the ideal orator ; partitioiies oratories is a kind of rhetorical
catechism ; Topica is an explanation of Aristotle's Topica ;
de optitno genere oratorum treats of the Asiatic and the
Attic style.
6. — Cicero and Philosophy in Rome.
The second department in which Cicero worked in a
productive manner was that of Philosophy.
The first contact of the Romans with Greek philosophy
was no friendly one. Ennius, it is true, translated the writ-
ings of the Greek rationalist, Euhemerus ; but the very
thought that danger threatened from this rationalistic move-
ment in religion, which disintegrated and destroyed the
traditional world of deities, and also the idea that philos-
ophy, — which had, indeed, at that time, passed its culmi-
nating point in Greece, and appeared in Rome essentially
as Sophism, — stood in the way of healthy, practical aims
and occupations, had this result, that, so late as the year
155, the three philosophers who came to Rome as ambas-
sadors from Athens, Carneades, the Academic, Diogenes,
the Stoic, and Critolaus, the peripatetic, were, at the insti-
gation of Cato, sent away as quickly as possible. Never-
theless, the younger generation made themselves accjuainted
THIRD PERIOD. 65
with Greek philosophy, and it gradually became a require-
ment of education to have heard Greek philosophers. ^
Of the prevailing systems, Stoicism, with its earnest
morality and its practical direction, suited the Romans best,
because it conceded most to positive religion, and, in gen-
eral, adapted itself to Roman institutions. Beginning with
the younger Scipio, the majority of statesmen and jurists
were Stoics.
Q. Sextius Niger- and his son of the same name,
who wrote in the Greek language in the time of Caesar and
Augustus, both followed a system made up of Sfoic and
Pythagorean doctrines. In connection with this, Epicurean-
isfu, and the New Academy, which cherished scepticism,
also found adherents ; the former, especially, in the poet
Lucretius.'' Others did not attach themselves to any one
system, but took from each what suited them. This Eclec-
ticism was specially represented by Cicero.
On the whole, the Romans remained entirely dej)tndent
upon the Greeks in philosophy, without producing any thing
original. The main point with them was, always, not the
theoretical, but the practical side of philosophy ; accord-
ingly, Cicero "* designates philosophy as i?ene vivendi dis-
ciplina.
According to the custom of the times, Cicero pursued his
philosophical studies at first only as a means for rhetorical
education. He did not write upon these subjects until
after free political activity became impossible for him
through Caesar's supremacy. On the basis of an acquaint-
ance with the Greek philosophers, many-sided, indeed, but
^ T. i. 66, 231; C. 134; Mom. iii. 512, iv. 667 ; Ritter : Hist, of Ancient
Phil. iv. 75; Grant's Ethics of Aristotle, i. 273. - C. 334.
3 S. 224; Mom. iv. 669; Ritter, iv. 84. * Tusc. iv. 3, 5.
66 ROMAN LITERATURE.
superficial and desultory, without capacity or need for deep
and original speculations, he wrote, in a very short time, a
large number of philosophical treatises, which betray, only
too clearly, the haste of their preparation. In his efforts to
establish a certain balance between theory and practice, he
shows the greatest preference for the New Academy on
account of its Sophism, that being in harmony with the aims
of the advocate and orator ; also for Stoicism, on account
of its moral tone. On the other hand, he is no friend to
Epicureanism, which was understood by the Romans as
really affording license for sensual pleasures. He is only
superficially acquainted with the older systems of Plato and
Aristotle. Cicero's main service consists in this, that he
rendered Greek philosophy accessible to the Romans, and
an object of lively and general interest, in a terminology for
the most part created by himself, and enriching the Latin
language.' In imitation of Plato he throws his writings, for
the most part, into dialogue form, but he is far from reaching
the freshness and vivacity of his model.
The philosophical writings of Cicero are given below, in
chronological order.^ The de repiiblica, in 6 books, discusses
the best form of government.^ The dialogue is conducted by
the younger Africanus, Laelius, and others, and, with the ex-
ception of the Somnium Scipionis, preserved by Macrobius,
and belonging to the sixth book, scarcely any thing is extant
1 T. i. 263, 290; C. 174; Ritter, iv. loi, 108 et seqq. ; Schlegel, Hist, of
Lit. 69; Reid's Academica : Introd.
2 Cf. de div. ii. i ; C. 178.
3 T. i. 290; Ritter, iv. 157; Mom. iv. 728. " Tlie Republic — a work to
be named with all honor, and indescribably attractive, even in the frag-
ments of it which our age has been privileged to recover — concludes with
a vision of the noble-minded elder Scipio, which is radiant with faith in the
divine origin of the Kosmos and the immortality of the soul." Bunsen:
God in History, ii. 373.
THIRD PERIOD. 67
but the first two books, and these, even, not in complete
form. Most of this was discovered in 1822 by Cardinal
Angelo Mai in a Vatican palimpsest. The second book
contains an essay on the earliest Roman history, especially
the constitutional history. The de Icgibus is not complete.
From the probable number of six books, only three are extant,
and those in corrupted form.^ The work contains an outline
of church and state law, based upon the principles of the
Stoic philosophy. The paradoxa is a discussion of Stoic prin-
ciples. The cousolaiio was occasioned by the death of TuUia ;
only fragments are extant, as is also true of the Hortensius,
a recommendation of the study of philosophy. De finibus bo-
noruin et malorum^ in 5 books, is a resume of the doctrines
concerning the highest good and evil taught by the Greek
philosophers, with criticisms on the same. The academical in
4 books, is a survey of the theories of knowledge, with special
reference to the Academics ; Tusctilanct disputationcs,^ in 5
books, contains res ad beate vivcndiiin maxinie necessarias,
and treats, (I) de contemneiida inorte, (11) de tolerando
dobore, (III) <be cegritudine ienie/ida, (IV) de rcliqiiis animi
perturbationibus, (V) ad beate vivenditm virtutem se ipsa
esse contentani; the most interesting books are the first and
the fifth. The Tiinceus is a working-over of the dialogue of
Plato of the same name, — a fragment. De natura deorit/ii,^
in 3 books, is a presentation of the views concerning the Deity,
and his relation to the world, especially from the standpoint
1 " The De Lc^ibiis is fraught with all that was loftiest and best in what
apprehension of a divine agency in human affairs yet lingered in the ancient
Roman polity, culture, and manners." Bunsen.
2 T. i. 295 ; Ritter, iv. 145 ; Arnold's School Classics ; De Finibus Bono-
rum et Malorum. 3 i-_ i_ 296.
4 Arnold's School Classics ; Tusculan Disputations.
5 T. i. 298 ; Bunsen, ii. 370.
68 ROMAN LITERATURE.
of the Epicureans (I), the Stoics (II), and the Academics
(III). De divinatione, in 2 books, sets forth in Book I,
the Stoic doctrine of soothsaying, and, in Book II, argu-
ments against it that are often humorous. Cato niaior, sive
de senectute, is a treatise in praise of old age, put in the
mouth of Cato, written in a popular vein, and especially
attractive on account of its cheerful, quiet tone, as well as
style. De fato, a fragment, was written in opposition to the
Stoic doctrine of fate. Lcelius, sive de amicitia, is a treatise
in praise of true friendship, such as rests upon a moral basis,
written in a vivid style, and put into the mouth of Leelius
the younger. De officiis, in 3 books, contains a system of
ethics, sketched with a free hand from the teachings of the
Stoics. 1 Special attention is given in Book I to the nature of
the honestian, in Book II, to the nature of the utile, and
in Book III, to the question of a conflict between the two.
The writings de gloria, de virtutibus, as well as translations
from Xenophon and Plato, are not extant.
c — Cicero's Letters.
The art of letter-writing gained literary significance
through Cicero. We possess four collections of Cicero's
letters : ^ ad farniliares^^ in 1 6 books ; ad Atticum, in 1 6
books ; ad Qiiintum fratreiii, in 3 books ; ad Brutuni, in
2 books. These letters, 864 in number (including the 90
addressed to Cicero), extend from the year 68 to July 28,
43. They are not, however, evenly distributed over this
period, no letter, for example, being extant from the year of
1 Ritter, iv. 150; Mer. ii. 415; T. i. 302.
2 Lcighton's Critical History of Cicero's Letters.
3 This title first came into use with the edition of Stephanus, in 1526,
while the other title, ad diversos, is neither the original one nor good Latin.
THIRD PERIOD. 69
Cicero's consulship ; also, the period before the civil war is
represented by a relatively smaller number than the following
period. The publication, although contemplated by Cicero,
was not arranged for by himself, as is shown by the publica-
tion of many letters, which set his character in an unfavor-
able light ; but it took place soon after his death, or, at all
events, under the reign of Augustus, with the special cooper-
ation of his freedman Tiro, and his friend Atticus, who was
able to give the letters value in the book-market. So much
is beyond a doubt. Moreover, in ancient times, many more
letters of Cicero were in circulation than we now possess.
These letters are an incomparably valuable authority for
the history of that time, so much so that Nepos says of those
written to Atticus : ^ Quae qui legat, non multum desideret
historiam contextam illorum temporum. They are, of course,
different in their nature ; - some being of a more official
character, planned for publication, at least eventually, and so
more carefully considered and more reserved ; some — and
this is especially true of the letters to Atticus — serving only
the ends of confidential communication, and therefore reveal-
ing Cicero's most personal relations and thoughts, joys and
sorrows, sympathies and antipathies. Accordingly, the lan-
guage is sometimes formal and carefully chosen, sometimes
careless and hasty, only hinting at much, and often obscure ;
now earnest and measured, now lively and witty.-^
1 Nep. Att. 16.
- C. 183 ; T. i. 284 ; Mom. iv. 721 ; Watson's Select Letters of Cicero ;
Abeken's Life and Letters of Cicero, transl. by Merivale ; Forsyth's Cicero,
i. 72.
3 " Notwithstanding the manifold attractions offered by the other works
of Cicero, the man of taste, the historian, the antiquary, and the student of
human nature would willingly resign them all rather than be deprived of
the epistles. Whether we regard them as mere specimens of style, at one
70 ROMAN LITERATURE.
The order of the letters in the collection ad Atficiim, is,
in the main, chronological ; on the other hand, the col-
lection ad familiares is arranged, for the most part, accord-
ing to the persons addressed ; thus, for example, Book VIII
contains only letters of M. Cc-elius to Cicero, and Book XIV,
only letters of Cicero to his family. While the collection ad
Attictim contains only letters by Cicero himself, 90 letters
from others to Cicero are included in the ad familiares,
especially from M. Caelius, Caesar, Pompeius, Munatius Plan-
cus, Decimus and Marcus Brutus and Sulpicius Rufus. In
the collection ad Qitinfitmfrafrem, I, r, is especially impor-
tant, a letter which contains a complete list of instructi'ons
concerning the official duties of a Roman governor. Re-
specting the genuineness of the letters ad Brutiim (at least,
those of the second book), scholars are not agreed; it is
doubted by the majority.
In ancient times, Cicero's letters were much read and
quoted ; manuscripts, however, were first discovered by
Petrarch in the fourteenth century.
Concerning Cicero as a poet, see p. 40 ; as a historian,
see p. 72.
x'^s regards the judgment concerning Cicero as a writer and
as a man, an often depreciative hypercriticism has come in of
time reflecting tlie conversational tone of familiar every-day life in its most
graceful form, at another sparkling with wit, at another claiming applause
as works of art belonging to the highest class, at another couclied in all the
stiff courtesy of diplomatic reserve; or whether we consider the ample
materials derived from the purest and most inaccessible sources, which they
supply for a history of the Roman constitution during its last struggles,
affording a deep insight into the personal dispositions and motives of the
chief leaders, — or finally seek and find in them a complete key to the
character of Cicero himself, unlocking, as they do, the most hidden secrets
of his thoughts, and revealing the whole man — their value is altogether
inestimable." Ramsay.
THIRD PERIOD. 71
late,' in place of the earlier unqualified admiration. It cannot
be denied that Cicero can be charged with great deficiencies
and weaknesses ; especially does he lack independence and
firmness in political life ; he allows himself to be swayed by
fortunate and unfortunate circumstances ; is dependent upon
the moment, and capricious ; even in the literary field,
where his chief importance lies, he betrays a straining after
effect in his orations, and haste and superficiality in his
philosophical writings.
But in spite of all this, Cicero is and will remain a remark-
able character in history, and Varro's verdict will have to be
accepted as true : Qua maior pars vitre atque ingenii stetit,
ea iudicandum de homine est.-
Cicero, although living in an extremely corrupt period,
was pure in his manner of life, unselfish and incorruptible ;
a sincere patriot, bending his efforts toward the good, the
beautiful, and the true ; gentle toward his own family, obliging
to his friends, and especially ready to advance the interests
of younger men ; humane in the treatment of his slaves ; a
man of feeling and sentiment, possessed of extraordinary
intellectual capacities, a rare gift of speech, a strong imagi-
nation, and an abundance of esprit and wit. His activity in
the field of literature marks an advance in the development
of universal culture. For the Roman world he was a price-
less mediator of the elements of Greek culture. He raised
Latin language to the highest plane of development in form ;
and although he was not a complete Roman character, still
he furthered the interests of general culture in many direc-
tions.
1 Especially through Drumann and Mommsen.
2 Forsyth's Cicero, ii. 319 ; T. i. 261 ; Ritter, iv. 99.
72 ROMAN LITERATURE.
d. — History.
Writers of history in this period were numerous, and,
as a result of the growing acquaintance with Greek models,
the perfecting of the Latin language, the increasing at-
tention paid to rhetorical finish, and the growing interest
in higher culture in general, there arose an artistic and
methodical treatment of history, which, confining itself, on
the one hand, to the history of the times, or to particular
events, or embracing, on the other, the entire field of Roman
history and even universal history, proceeded on a definite
plan, and employed a method of presentation, well thought
out and suited to the subject-matter. The historical writers
were chiefly men who lived in the midst of political activity,
or, at least, belonged to a particular party, and hence his-
torical works represented, in some degree, the party stand-
point ; memoirs were also frequently written. ^Vhile, in the
time of the Republic, when there was freedom of speech,
historians turned their attention chiefly to tlie present or
the immediate past, the later historians saw themselves, on
account of the limitations introduced by the empire, obliged
to seek out more remote subjects.'
In the first half of this period, the writers were : T. Pom-
ponius Atticus," who compiled an accurate tabular view
of the entire field of Roman history, entitled (liber) An-
na/is, and wlio wrote in a similar way concerning several
aristocratic families; M. Tullius Cicero, who wrote a
detailed account of his consulship, which has not been pre-
served ; and Q. iElius Tubero, who treated of Roman
history up to bis own time.
Far more important, however, are the names that follow.
1 Ritter, iv. 9; T. i. 230; Mom. iv. 719. 2 f, ;_ i^g^
THIRD PERIOD. 73
C. lulius Caesar, born July 12, 100 b.c, was a nephew
of Marius, through whose influence he became flamen dialis
in 87 ; in 8;^, he married the daughter of Cinna, and on
that account was reluctantly spared by Sulla ; 80-78, he
was in Asia ; in 78, accuser of the Optimates ; in 76, with
Molo in Rhodes; in 68, quaestor in Spain; in 65, aedile ;
in 63, pontifex maximus ; in 62, praetor ; in 61, governor in
Further Spain ; in 60, triumvir with Pompey and Crassus ; in
59, consul ; 58-50, proconsul in Gaul. He began, in 49, the
civil war against Pompey and the government of the Opti-
mates ; 48-45, gained the supreme power by defeating Pom-
pey at Pharsalus, and the Pompeian party in Africa and
Spain; was assassinated March 15, 44.
In addition to his unusual versatility, Caesar had also the
gift of oratory in uncommon measure. As an orator, he was
placed by the ancients by the side of Cicero, at least as
regards talent.' He treated the language itself in two books
entitled //e analogia. In his youth he also wrote verse.
Against Cato he wrote two atiticatoties. A work on astron-
omy is also ascribed to him.
Most important of all, however, are his Commetitarii de
bello Gallico and de bello civili? The former work contains,
in 7 books, the exploits of Caesar in Gaul, from 58 to 52 :
Book I, the victory over the Helvetians and Ariovistus in
the year 58 ; II, the conquest of the northern and north-
western peoples of Gaul in 57; III, the maritime war
against the Veneti, and the batiles with the Aquitani,
Menapii, and Morini in 56 ; IV, the conquest of the
Tencteri and Usipetes, the first passage of the Rhine, and
the first expedition to Britannia in 55 ; V, the second
expedition to Britannia, the destruction of fifteen cohorts
1 T. i. 314 ; C. 196. 2 c. 188 ; T. i. 317 ; Mom. iv. 720.
74 ROMAN LITERATURE.
by the Eburones in 54 ; VI, the restoration of peace in the
north, the second crossing of the Rhine, and the annihi-
lation of the Eburones in 53 ; VII, the conflicts with Ver-
cingetorix, and the final subjugation of Gaul in 52.
There is a geographical excursus in Book IV (1-3), con-
cerning the Suevi ; in V (12-14), concerning Britannia, and
in VI (11-28), concerning Gallia.
The Commeiifarii de bello civili contain : Book I, the
breaking out of the war, the expulsion of Pompey from
Italy, and the hostilities in Spain ; II, the contests about
Massilia, Caesar's appointment as Dictator, and Curio's defeat
in Africa ; III, the further progress of the war to the begin-
ning of the Alexandrian War.
In these writings the lines of Caesar's character are most
distinctly seen, — clearness of understanding, keenness of
judgment, sureness of perception, quickness of combination,
a calm mastery of things in the midst of the greatest external
confusion, facility, or rather apparently an entire absence of
labor, in his work ; on the other hand, also, a soberness of
mind, nay, even a coldness of temperament, which grasps
and desires only that which is real and useful, and that spe-
cifically Roman way of looking at things, which accords to
the foreigner no claim to an independent existence. In
respect to style, even the ancients praised the elegance,
ease, simplicity, and clearness of Caesar's Commentaries.^
But in just this apparent objectivity lies a great art ; for
these works are, in reality, written from motives of personal
interest, being intended to justify partly his treatment of the
Gauls, and partly his appearance on the scene of action
1 Cic. Brut. 75, 262: valde probandi, nudi enim sunt, recti et venusti,
omni ornatu orationis velut veste detracta. Schlegel : Hist, of Lit. 70; Mer.
ii. 392 ; Froude's Caesar, 544.
THIRD PERIOD. 75
after the year 50. This purpose pervades the whole, but it
may be traced more clearly in his exposition of the causes
which drive him irresistibly onward, and of the motives
which ever seem to him right and imperative, than in his
narration of the events themselves, which (more indeed in
the bello Gallico than in the generally less carefully written
bello civili) is, perhaps, on the whole, in accordance with truth.
Without doubt, the Commentarii de bello Gallico were
written in the years 52 and 51, and published in 51 ; the
Commentarii de bello civili were composed, but not pub-
lished, in the last year of his life.
Continuations of these works are : dc bello Gallico liber
VIII, and bcllitm Alcx-anilrinum, both without doubt written,
and indeed skilfully, by Cssar's legate, A. Hirtius ; also
the far inferior writings concerning the bellinii Africannm and
bellin/i Hispaniense by imknown authors of little cultivation.'
Cornelius Nepos, born about 94 b.c, in Upper Italy,
lived for the most part in Rome, without office, on friendly
terms witli Catullus, Cicero, and especially Atticus, and died
about 30. He was the author of several works that have not
been preserved : Chfonicon, Exeinpla, Vila Catonis antl
Ciceronis, particularly, however, of the work de viris illustri-
bus, which treated, in at least 16 books, of a great number of
statesmen, generals, poets, etc., and in such a manner that
Greeks, Romans, and barbarians stood in contrast with each
other. Of this work, the book entitled de excclleniibus duct-
bus exterarum gentium is presen'ed. It consists of 19 bi-
ographies of Greek generals, arranged mainly in chronological
order, together with the biography of the Persian Datames,
of the Carthaginians Hamilcar and Hannibal, and of Cato
Maior and Atticus.^
1 T. i. 320; C. 195. 2 c_ igS; T. i. 323; Mom. iv. 719.
76 ROMAN LITERATURE.
Nepos followed, as it seems, the purpose, on the one hand,
of extending historical knowedge among the public at large,
and, on the other, of exercising a moral influence upon
the same. Hence, his language is simple and popular ; he
manifests sincere rejoicing at the good and abhorrence of
the evil ; he strives to be impartial even to a Hannibal, but
he falls into the error of almost always seeing an ideal char-
acter in the hero of whom he happens to be treating. In
general, there is a lack of independent and comprehensive
historical views ; the material is often selected without judg-
ment ; instead of what is really important, often details of the
nature of anecdotes are made prominent, and there appear in
addition not a few obscure and erroneous statements, which
testify to his haste in consulting his authorities. ^ These
failings, together with the fact that the style is monotonous
and impure, have led to the supposition that a certain i^mil-
ius Probus, in the time of Theodosius, worked over the exist-
ing collection after the original of Nepos. Sufficient reasons
for the acceptation of this theory are not at hand. For the
same reason the question whether Nepos is adapted to use
in the schools has been answered by many in the negative.
C. Sallustius Crispus was born in 86 B.C. in the Sabine
town of Amiternum. In his youth he led a gay life at Rome j
became quaestor about the year 59 ; in 52 tribune of the
people ; was an oj^iponent of Cicero and Pompey, and on this
account (ostensibly, however, on account of his bad life) was
expelled from the senate in 50, but was restored by Caesar,
made praetor, and, in 46, sent as proconsul to Africa, where
he amassed great wealth.- After Caesar's assassination, he
devoted himself entirely to literary pursuits, and died in 35.
1 Thucydides, Xenophon, Theopompus, and others.
2 Horti Sallustiani at Rome.
THIRD PERIOD. 77
Sallust wrote three works : Catilina, Bellum lugurthinum,
and HistoricB}
1. Catilina^ or de coniurafiojie Catilince. liber, gives an
account of the conspiracy of Catiline in the years d^, and
62, in connection with which the moral corruption, espe-
cially of the nobility, is disclosed for an ulterior purpose.
The services of Cicero, Sallust's former opponent, are not
depreciated ; also, Cato is treated without bias, and Caesar
with decided partiality.
Of special interest are the orations of Caesar and Cato
(c. 51-54) on the action of the senate concerning the
punishment of the arrested conspirators, and the character-
ization of both men. The work was probably published in
the year 42.
2. Bellum Iiigurthiniim gives an account of the war against
the Numidian king Jugurtha (111-106), in which the
stress falls upon the portrayal of the corrupt condition of
affairs at Rome under the misrule of the oligarchy, which
was exposed especially in the orations of the tribune of
the people, C. Memmius (c. 31), and of C. Marius (c. 85).
At the close of the war, and over against the terror
Cimbricus, Marius appears as the support of the Roman
State.
3. Historic^- embraces the period from 78 to 67. Only
fragments remain ; in particular, a few orations, which bear
witness to a riper historical skill than those found in the
Catilina and the Jugurtha.
Sallust is called by MartiaP /;7;««i- Roniana iti Jiistoria,
and rightly so, considering that he was the first to treat
historical writing as an art, with a conscious method in
the choice of subject and form. His chief model was
1 C. 200 ; T. i. 344. 2 c_ 202. 3 Mar. xiv. 191.
7^ ROMAN LITERATURE.
Thucydides. Although confining himself essentially to
the history of his time, Sallust yet shows a comprehensive
survey of general Roman history, and a correct insight
into the epochs of internal development in government,
culture, and morals. i The existing corruption impels him
to a moral pathos, which, in view of his manner of life in
earlier years, some have been disposed to consider insincere
and affected ; but it has not been sufficiently borne in mind
that a change in his moral principles and views was possible
in later years.
Although personally belonging to the democratic party, or,
as it might be called, the imperial party (that of Ctesar),
and endeavoring to show the inherent weakness of the
republican government, still, he is unpartisan and just in his
judgment even of aristocratic celebrities, such as Metellus,
Cato, and even Sulla, and not blind to the real character
of such a demagogue as Marius. His narrative, however,
is incomplete, and often inaccurate, especially in chrono-
logical matters. His main strength lies in the delineation
of character and in psychological arrangement. The signifi-
cance of prominent individuals in the progress of history is
sharply brought out.-
Sallust's language is often artificially antiquated, studied,
and obscure ; but it is rich in thought, forcible and apt in
characterization, plastic in portrayal and description, often
dramatic in its vivacity and realism.^ Some of the writings
ascribed to Sallust are not genuine, as, for example, two
epistulce ad CcBsarem, invectiva in Ciceronem, and others.
In the Augustan Period, historians stand in the first rank
among prose writers."^ Among others, Augustus and
1 Cf. especially Cat. 6-13; lug. 41, seq; T. i. 348.
2 Cf. especially Cat. 53. 3 q^ 204.
* T. i. 386.
THIRD PERIOD. 79
his friend M. Vipsanius Agrippa treated of their own
time; the former in 13 books, de vita sua, and an index
rerum a se gestarum, the greater part of which was dis-
covered in a copy in the temple of Augustus at Ancyra in
Galatia, — the so-called monuinentum Ancyranum ; Agrippa,
in an autobiography and in memoirs y Also, M. Valerius
Messala wrote memoirs, perhaps in the Greek language.
Asinius PoUio- (75 B.C.-5 a.d) wrote from a republican
standpoint'' a History of the Civil Wars beginning with the
year 60 B.C. This work was not completed and has not
been preserved.
By far the most prominent historian of the Augustan
Period is, however, T. Livius,' born at Patavium (Padua),
59 B.C., without doubt from an illustrious family. He was
trained in philosophy and rhetoric at Rome ; soon took up
his permanent residence there, where he came into intimate
relations with Augustus ; remained without office or political
activity, and died i 7 a.d. in his native city, where a mauso-
leum was raised to him in 1548.
Besides rhetorical and philosophical writings (dia/ogi),
which have not come down to us, he wrote a history of
Rome, from yEneas to at least 9 B.C., in 142 books,^ entitled
ai> urbe condita libri. Of these liave been preserved Books
I-X and XXI-XLV, which embrace the period 754-293
and 218-167. Tlie loss of the other books is poorly sup-
plied by the periochce or epitomce.
Livy's purpose was,*^ in contrast to the unsatisfying and
degenerate present, to call to life again the better past, which
1 T. i. 393. " T. i. 398. 3 Cf. Hor. Od. ii. i.
■* T. i. 492 ; C. 322 ; Mer. iv. 436 ; Seeley's Livy : Introd.
5 Probably designed to reach the number of 150, to the death of
Augustus.
6 Cf. prcefatio.
8o ROMAN LITERATURE.
appeared to him in an ideal light, and, in his history, to hold
before his contemporaries a picture of morality. ^
For this Livy possessed the necessary qualities, — some of
them, indeed, in rich measure, — a vivid imagination, moral
sensitiveness, a warm heart, love of the truth, a genuine sym-
pathy for the good and noble, and a natural oratorical power,
cultivated in the schools of rhetoric.
The ancients gave prominence to the following qualities
as belonging to him : Mira facundia, jucunditas, candor,
lactea ubertas.- Livius candidissimus omnium magnorum
ingeniorum jestimator.^ In religious matters he holds
fast to the traditional and positive as the foundation of
the Roman state. He attaches value to prodigies and
ceremonies, although he sometimes gives utterance to fatal-
istic views. In political matters he is an admirer of the
Republic and of the rule of the Optimates,^ yet probably
without any deep, settled conviction, and, at all events,
without any dangerous inclination to oppose the Empire.
The weakest side of his work is his account of the internal
development of the Roman State.^ Concerning the eariier
Roman government, especially the true relation of things
during the conflict between Patricians and Plebeians, and
also concerning military affairs, he has often incorrect, and
even radically false, views ; also, he does not trouble him-
self carefully to study the existing records and monuments ;
he brings, rather, the externals of history, especially wars,
into the foreground,
1 See, especially, praef. § lo : the present offers no hope, and cannot be
improved, — nee vitia nostra nee remedia pati possumus; history presents
enough examples both of those things which should be done, and of those
which should be left undone.
2 Quint. Inst. Orat. xi. loi. 3 Sen. Suas. vi. 21, seq.
* Hence called by Augustus, Pompeianus, Tac. Ann. iv. 34.
6 C. 327.
THIRD PERIOD. 8l
Among the Roman annalists he makes special use of the
later ones ; among others, of Licinius Macer and Valerius
Antias, whose untrustworthiness he discovers only in the prog-
ress of his work. He employs them often without discrimina-
tion, consistency, or independent judgment. From the third
decade on, he makes use, for the most part, of Polybius,
but without the requisite care ; on which account, mistakes,
repetitions, and contradictions not unfrequently occur. The
arrangement of events is, in the main, the traditional annal-
istic one.'
These failings, however, are gladly forgotten in view of
his love for the truth, only now and then repressed by
patriotism and tradition, — as, for example, in his treatment
of Hannibal ; — in view of his generous, humane temper of
mind, the grace, clearness, and ease of his presentation,^
the charming poetic coloring with which lie invests par-
ticularly the oldest history, and the brilliant rhetoric which
he displays in the numerous speeches.^
Livy's talents found, even in his lifetime, great recogni-
tion,'* though Asinius PoUio thought he discovered a certain
provincial tone (Patavinitas), the nature of which is, for us,
at least, difificult to discover.
As early as 500 a.d., the work was divided into decades,
of which the third, containing the Second Punic War, — the
finest part of the work, — was most frequently read and
copied.^
1 C. 325.
2 Quintilian compares him, in this respect, to Herodotus.
3 T. i. 497 ; C. 329 ; Mer. iv. 438 ; Schlegel : Hist, of Lit. 74.
^ According to Pliny, Epp. ii. 3, a man made a journey from Gades to
Rome for the express purpose of seeing Livy.
5 In the seventeenth century, the philologist, J. Freinsheim, born at Ulm,
and Professor at Upsala and Heidelberg, attempted to supply the missing
books in Livy's style.
8^ ROMAN LITERAIURE.
Pompeius Trogus, a contemporary of Livy, wrote his-
tori(B philippitLt in 44 books, a universal history from Ninus
down to his own time, in which special regard was paid to
Macedonia and the period of Alexander's successors, while
Roman history was treated with comparative neglect. The
work is extant only in the brief, dry compendium made by
lustinus, probably about the year 150 a.d. The epitome,
which professedly " omitted what was neither entertaining
nor necessary," was prepared with little judgment.
The acta senatus^ and the acta populi- (Romani)
constituted an historical authority. The former were pro-
tocols of the senate, which, according to a regulation of
Caesar, were, after the year 59, recorded and published, but
which, afterwards, according to an edict of Augustus, were
only recorded ; the latter,'^ a daily record which contained all
sorts of official and private news, and was kept up through
the entire period of the emperors, but of which no genuine
remains are preserved. Both of these acta were placed for
safe keeping in the Tabularium, and could there be con-
sulted for literary purposes.
e, — Special Sciences.
M. Terentius Varro^ was active partly in the depart-
ment of history, and pardy in different fields of special
science. He was born in 116 B.C. at Reate in Sabinum ;
was a follower of Pompey, for whom he fought unsuccess-
fully in Spain in the year 49 ; was pardoned by Caesar, and
appointed superintendent of the public library ; Avas pro-
scribed in 43, but made his escape, and died in the year
27. He was the most learned man and the most prohfic
1 t^iiO ciiW&A publica, ox diurna. "^ Aler. iv. 330.
2 T. 1. 379 ; Mom. iv. 722. * T. i. 236 ; C. 142.
THIRD PERIOD. S;^
author of ancient Rome, a polyhistor in the highest sense.
His knowledge and his writings embraced almost all con-
ceivable subjects. The entire number of his writings
amounted to over 70 works, in more than 600 volumes.
Among his poetical productions, the Satiira MenippecE
(see p. 45) are worthy of special mention. Of his prose
works,^ the most important are : Libri IX disciplinarum,
an encyclopaedia of the sciences, especially of the later
so-called seven liberal arts, the trivium {^grammar, dialectics,
and rhetoric), and the quadrivium {arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, and music), and, besides these, medicine and
architecture ; the imagines, or hebdomades, in 15 books, con-
taining portraits of celebrated Greeks and Romans, with
short metrical explanations. Roman antiquities were treated
in the libri XLI antiquitatum, of which res humance em-
braced 25 books, and res divince 16; and in a series of
monographs, as, for example, de gcntc populi Romaui, de
vita populi Romani, cetia{= alri'i), explanations of Ro-
man customs, etc. The history of literature was represented
by numerous writings having special reference to the tech-
nique of the drama; law, by libri X de Jure civili ; phi-
lology, by libri XXV de lingua Latina,^ of which. Books V-X
are preserved, though incomplete and corrupt, — a collection
of material which he had not worked over into proper shape ;
agriculture, by libri III re rum rusticarum, almost entirely
preserved, and treating of tillage, cattle-raising, poultry-
breeding, and fish-culture.
In all these works the subject-matter possesses for Varro
the chief interest, while little value is attached to the form.
Hence the language is uneven and frequently mixed with
plebeian and archaic elements. Not unfrequently, however,
1 T. i. 241 ; C. 146. 2 T. i. 247 ; C. 151 ; Mom. iv. 730.
84 ROMAN LITERATURE.
a quaint humor appears. His standpoint is specifically Ro-
man, yet he does not ignore Greek culture. On account
of the abundant material which his works contained, Varro
was much used by later writers, especially by Augustine,
and thus many separate passages have been preserved.
Other writers on special sciences follow. In Law, S.
Sulpicius Rufus ^ and A. Ofilius were important. The
former was born 105 B.C., was consul in 51, and died in 43 ;
he was a friend of Cicero, and the most learned jurist of his
time, and also the author of numerous works ; Ofilius, his
pupil, was also a very prolific writer, and held in high esteem,
especially by Caesar. C. Trebatius Testa, born about
90, was a high legal authority in Augustus' time. His pupil
was M. Antistius Labeo- (60 b.c.-ii a.d.), who, in re-
spect to thorough and comprehensive learning, as well as
independence of character and political attitude, stood far
above his rival, C. Ateius Capito (34 B.C.-21 a.d.), who
courted the favor of Augustus, and was preferred by him.
Both were copious writers.
Archaeology and Philology were represented (besides
by Varro) by P. Nigidius Figulus=^ (d. 45 b.c), who
wrote commentarii grammatici, in 30 books, as well as works
on theology and natural science; also by M. Verrius
Flaccus,'* a freedman, whom Augustus chose as teacher for
his grand-children, and who died under Tiberius. He wrote
fasti, and a very learned antiquarian work, de verbonun signi-
ficatu, of which, probably in the middle of the second cen-
tury, A.D., Pompeius Festus made an epitome, which has
been in part preserved, from which, in turn, a priest named
Paulus, living under Charlemagne, made excerpts. In spite
of the corrupt form in which the epitomists have left this
1 T. i. 257 ; C. 157. ^ T. i. 327 ; C. 158 ; Mom. iv. 669.
2 T. i. 387, 526. * T. i. 511 ; C. 333.
THIRD PERIOD. 85
work, the extant portions are of value as a repository of
facts. lulius Hyginus,^ a freedman of Augustus, and
director of the Palatine Library, wrote numerous works on
geography, history, agriculture, etc. ; also commentaries
on Vifgit. His 277 Fables, a hand-book of Mythology, the
present form of which does not, however, go back to
Hyginus, and 4 books de astronomia, are, in great part,
preserved.
In Architecture, we possess 10 Books de architectura,
by the architect Vitruvius Pollio.~ Books I-VII treat
,of buildings, VIII, of aqueducts, IX, of instruments for
measuring time, X, of machines. The work is dedicated
to Augustus, and is rich and comprehensive . in its con-
tents, but is written in an uneven and often awkward
style.
For Geography, — besides the already-mentioned writ-
ings of Varro and Hyginus, and exclusive of notes of travel,
and occasional remarks in historical and other works, — the
survey of the Roman Empire was important, which was
set on foot by Caesar, and completed under Augustus in 19
B.C. In this undertaking Agrippa -^ took an active part, by
drawing up lists of mountains, bodies of water, and bounda-
ries of places, and also by sketching a map of the world ;
for which reason, after his death, a tablet representing the
world, and based upon this sketch, was placed by Augustus
in the colonnade which bore Agrippa's name.
1 T. i 515. 2 T. i. 522; C. 331. 3 T. i. 217; Mer. iv. 323.
FOURTH PERIOD.
The Silver Age of Roman Literature, 14-117 a.d., from
Tiberius to the Death of Trajan.
THE Ciceronian and Augustan Periods left to the
following generations an unusually rich literary inher-
itance, but the rule of tlie imperial despots from Tiberius
to Domitian (interrupted only by the brief reigns of Ves-
pasian and Titus, 70-81), that is, almost the whole of the
first century after Christ, was extremely unfavorable for in-
creasing this inheritance, or for making it profitable and fruit-
ful. The persistent suppression of freedom in thought, word,
and deed ; the closing up of those avenues of activity in
which the Roman mind had shown an original and creative
power, namely, oratory and history ; the complete cessa-
tion of political life, resulted either in resignation and apathy,
or in stifled animosity and secret opposition, or in servile
fawning and flattery.^ Prevented from speaking in a simple,
natural, and straightforward manner, the writers of this
period sought to supply the want, of which they were only
too deeply conscious, by a pathos incommensurate with the
subject, by a pretentious, but often empty, play with figures
of speech and sententious phrases, by a sort of significant
obscurity and conciseness, and by a forced striving after
contrast and striking effects. Just as in life, so in speaking
and writing, there was a lack of naturalness and frankness ;
1 T. ii. 2; C. 341; Mer. V. 261; Schlegel : Hist, of Lit. 75.
86
FOURTH PERIOD. 87
men were conscious of being watched everywliere and at all
times, and thus were obliged to be watchful in return ;
since their true thoughts and feelings had to shun the light
of day, they fell into a habit of playing a part, into a false
artificiality, into a disgusted aversion to what was near and
healthy, into affectation and mannerism, and in these de-
viations and wanderings which were, in themselves, a clear
sign of retrogression and approaching downfall, they became
wont to see even an excellence and an advance ; they came
to delight in this state of things, and, consciously or uncon-
sciously, helped to make it worse. For the same reason,
the language of the so-called Silver Age took on a very
different character from that of the Ciceronian, or even
of the Augustan Period.' The vocabulary became much
changed, partly by the invention of new words and phrases,
and still more by the loss and rejection of those which had
hitherto been in use ; rhetorical figures took the place of
the proper and natural expression ; the rounded periods of
a Cicero or a Livy were broken up into short, detached
sentences, often having scarcely any connection with each
other ; the law of objectivity, the universal law of language,
was destroyed by subjectivity and arbitrariness ; prose and
poetry were massed together without preserving definite lines
of demarcation, and without a fine sense of the difference
between them. The type of this style is Seneca; Quin-
tilian in vain attempted an opposition to it.
Although, in spite of all unfavorable circumstances, there
were still influences which were favorable to literature, —
knowledge and use of the literary treasures of earlier times,
the increase of the book-trade, the ever more frequent found-
ing and using of libraries, the frequenting of public readings
1 T. ii. 4.
88 ROMAN LITERATURE.
{recihttiones), — nevertheless, all this was of service to litera-
ture only so far as the latter was inoffensive and without dan-
ger to the government. Hence poetry and rhetoric stood in
the foreground ; both were universally employed in the edu-
cation of youth, and hence universally practiced. ' Poetry,
however, was followed, in the main, from no inward im-
pulse, was without originality and inner truth ; it acquired a
learned character, for which reason the poets of this period
were often called docti ; hence the unreal and manufac-
tured lyric poetry of this period is worthless.
Epic poetry is most abundantly represented, especially be-
cause this could draw rich and exhaustless material from the
safe realm of mythology. The Greek and Roman poets of
the Augustan Period, particularly Virgil and Ovid, were
imitated and reproduced ; such poetry won praise and
money {Iionos et pi'mnium), since even the majority of the
emperors had a taste for it. Domitian himself introduced
a poetical contest with the conferring of a poet's wreath
upon the victor. On the whole, however, it was only an
artificial, labored, amateur poetry, or a restrained, calculating,
servile poetry.
Oratory, in the lack of a public theatre of action, confined
itself to the exercises of the schools, taking the form of
declamationes, suasorice, especially controversicB^ in which,
by preference, such questions were discussed as lay far from
reality, nay even from probability and possibility.
Learning, especially as represented by the elder Pliny,
took an important position beside oratory.
History, during the period of depotism, was obliged either
to be altogether silent, or, when it did not flatter, to be
cultivated in secret. A greater freedom of movement, which
1 T.ii. 7. 2 T. i.544; C.321.
FOURTH PERIOD. 89
made a new impulse possible for historical writing as well
as for satire, began first under Nerva and Trajan.
Rome remained, it is true, in this, as in former periods,
the central point, controlling literary culture and production ;
yet literary names appear more and more not from Italy
alone, but also from many provinces, especially Spain and
Gaul.
I. POETRY.
a. — The Drajtna.
On the stage the Mime and the Pantomime^ (see p. 38),
in this, as in the foregoing period, retained a. decided pre-
dominance. Whatever else was produced in the drama,
especially in tragedy, was mostly designed, not for represen-
tation, but for private reading and recitation. As tragic poets
are mentioned : Pomponius Secundus,- who lived under
Tiberius and Caligula, and was reckoned by Quintilian as the
foremost tragic writer of his time ; somewhat later, Curia-
tius Maternus"^ (the same that appears in the Dialogus of
Tacitus), who composed mythological tragedies ?C(\(S. pi-cetextce
of a liberal tendency, as, for example, the Cato.
From this period are extant only the 10 tragedies'^ of the
philosopher Seneca, of which 8 are complete and 2 incom-
plete. They all take their subjects from Greek mythology, and
are composed according to Greek models, but are so rhetori-
cal in their composition that their dramatic character is there-
by lost. Seneca's authorship of these ten plays is not to be
doubted ; on the other hand the prsetexta Octavia, also
ascribed to him, wherein the fate of the unfortunate wife of
1 T. i. 8. 3 T. ii. 116; Mer. vii. 30.
2 T. ii. 32 ; C. 350. ■* T. ii. 49 ; C. 374.
90 ROMAN LITERATURE.
Nero is treated, certainly did not originate with Seneca.
On account of the correctness of the versification and the
abundance of maxims, these tragedies served as models for
the French tragic writers, Corneille, Racine, and others. An
unfinished tragedy of Lucan is mentioned.
b.—The Epos.
■This was partly historical and partly mythological. A
poem by the emperor Nero, entitled Troica} is cited, from
which, probably, the aAojo-is 'lAtou was taken, which Nero
sung with the accompaniment of the cithara, at the burning
of Rome in the year 64 a.d.
The most important epic poet of this period was M. An-
naeus Lucanus,- born 39 a.d., at Corduba in Spain. He
was the nephew of the philosopher Seneca ; was educated at
Rome, and, for a long time, the favorite and panegyrist of
Nero ; afterwards, however, he fell into disfavor, ostensibly
because Nero was jealous of Lucan's fame as a poet.^ For
that reason, he took part in the conspiracy of Piso, and, after
the discovery of the same, was compelled, in the year 65, to
commit suicide by opening his veins. Of his poems of vari-
ous kinds,'* there remains only the Pharsalia^ (incomplete),
in 10 books, which treats of the civil war between Caesar and
Pompey to the time of C?esar's blockade at Alexandria, wTit-
ten in a very, one might say, too historical manner,^ and with a
positive and designedly one-sided party bias for Pompey, as
the representative of freedom, for Cato and the Republic.
1 T. ii. 37; C. 353. 2 T. ii. 82; C. 359; Men vi. 235.
3 Tac. XV. 49.
4 He wrote among other things, saturnalia, s'llvcB, epigrams, a tragedy
called Medea; also prose works. ^ C. 361.
6 Hence it is not without value as an historical authority.
FOURTH PERIOD, Ql
As a zealous Stoic, the poet exhibits an honorable, but
somewhat fickle disposition, and a talent, strong and fresh,
but, on account of his youth, not as yet possessing requisite
moderation, and not trained to a full and even sense of form.^
Pathetic speeches and descriptions are quite too prominent.
The finest portions are the characterizations of dilTerent per-
sons, as of Pompey and Caesar,- and of Cato Uticensis.^ The
defects of the work were correctly apprehended by the
ancients.^
Besides Lucan the following epic writers are worthy of
mention : C. Valerius Flaccus,^ who, under Vespasian,
wrote 8 books entitled Argonautica, after the model of Apol-
lonius Rhodius, correct in form, but in a style diffuse, de-
clamatory, often artificial and obscure.
C. Silius Italicus,^ who was born 25 a.d., was consul in
68, and lived afterwards in the most enjoyable circumstances
in Campania as a man of wealth ; but in 10 1, on account of
some bodily suffering, he died a voluntary death by starvation.
An ardent admirer of Virgil, but possessing only ordinary
ability, Silius wrote an epic poem, in 1 7 books, entitled Pu-
nka, which contains an account of the Second Punic War
up to the triumph of Scipio, with servile imitation of Homer
and Virgil in style, and with a close following of Livy '^ in
subject-matter.
P. Papinius Statius^ was born about 45 a.d. at Naples,
and died about 96. He was a flatterer and freedman of Do-
1 C. 364. 2 i_ 129-150. 3 ii 380-391.
■* Thus Quintilian (Inst. Orat. x. i, 90) says: Lucanus ardens et conci-
tatus et sententiis clarissimus et magis oratoribus quam poetis imitandus;
and Servius, in a note on Virgil (^5n. i. 382) : Lucanus videtur historian)
composuisse non poema.
5 C. 419; T. ii. 114. S T. ii. 120; C. 421 ; Mer. vii. 222.
"^ 'Maiore cura quam ingenio, as Pliny says, Epp. iii. 7.
8 T. ii. 123 ; C. 423 ; Mer. vii. 229 ; Con. i. 348.
92 ROMAN LITERATURE.
mitian, and wrote, besides an unllnished Achilleis in i^ books,
a Thebais, in which the legend of Eteocles and Polynices is
treated in a diffuse, florid, and artificial style, full of mytho-
logical learning. The Silvce, as corresponding to the nature
of the poet, which was suited to light versification, are far
more successful and enjoyable. These consist of 32 occa-
sional poems, in 5 books, which were thrown off in careless
style,' and which treat of deaths, births, partings, the eques-
trian statue of Domitian, and the like, for the most part in
epic metre, partly, also, in Alcaic, Sapphic, and Phal^cian
(pendecasyllabic) metres.
Numerous attempts were made in the department of the
Didactic Epos, as for example, by Germanicus,- the son
of Drusus, who translated, with tolerable skill, the Pheno-
mena of Aratus of Soli, an astronomical text-book ; perhaps
also by Csesius Bassus,^ a friend of Persius, and editor
of his Satires, to whom a didactic poem entitled de mefris is
ascribed ; furthermore, in the time of Nero originated a
poem entitled Aitna, which treats of volcanoes, and which,
made up of 645 correct hexameters, maintains a somewhat
dry tone, and, in contrast to the popular belief, assumes a
rationalistic standpoint in regard to myths. The author is
supposed to be Lucilius Junior,'* who was imperial pro-
curator in Sicily, and is known through his correspondence
with Seneca.
c. — Satire and Fable.
Satire had, indeed, in this period, a rich and even abun-
dant material at its service, but it could not venture upon the
1 In contrast with the Thebais, a work of twelve years.
a T. ii. 9 ; C. 349. 3 T. ii. 87 . C. 356. ' 4 T. ii. 95 ; C. 372.
FOURTH PERIOD. 93
political arena so long as the imperial despotism continued,^
and it was obliged, therefore, to confine itself to literary and
certain social matters. Not until the time of Trajan was
the Satire allowed a greater freedom. Under the pressure
of despotism, it assumed a bitter and crabbed tone, as in
the cases of Persius and Juvenal ; Petronius alone did not
suffer his good humor to be disturbed.
The chief representatives of the Satire are given below.
A. Persius Flaccus- was born 34 a.d., at Volaterrae
in Etruria, and was educated at Rome, chiefly by the Stoic,
Annseus Cornutus. He lived only till the year 62. He
possessed a morally pure mind and manner of life, was
inspired with the Stoic ideal of virtue, and hence was at
variance with the spirit of his times ; but he lacked vivid
poetic endowment and an adequate knowledge of life and
reality. Persius wrote Satires which, indeed (at least, the
first, in whicla the poetical standpoint of the author is set
forth), are not without life, but which are, on the whole,
only theoretical treatises on Stoic doctrines ; for example,
Sat. IV discusses self-knowledge ; V, the true freedom of
the wise man, i.e., of the Stoic ; VI, hfe according to nature.
On account of their obscure sententiousness and concise-
ness of language, their forced metaphors and looseness of
development and connection, the Satires of Persius are
very difficult of comprehension ; still, they were admired
even in antiquity on account of their ethical tendency, and
were much read, especially in the Middle Ages.
The philosopher, Seneca, wrote a pohtical Satire^ entitled
Indus de ftiorte Claiidii (also called Apocolocyntosis, — trans-
1 Only against the emperor Claudius did Seneca feel himself permitted
to direct his Apocolocyntosis.
2 T. ii. 79; C. 355 ; Mer. vi. 233 ; Conington's Persius : Introd.
8 C. 2)11 '> T. ii. 47 ; Mer. v. 463.
94 ROMAN LITERATURE.
formation into a pumpkin), in which he again took up the
form of the Satura Menippea (see p. 45) . This is a venomous
Satire on the apotheosis of the weak-minded emperor Clau-
dius, by whom Seneca was banished to Corsica in the year 41.
Claudius is compelled to throw dice in Heaven, always with
a goblet that has no bottom, so that the dice constantly fall
through ; he is then given over to Caligula as a slave and
spy, and finally to Menander, a freedman of yEacus. In
comparison with Claudius, Nero is extolled.
The satirical romance of Petronius Arbiter ^ (originally
consisting of 20 books) had also the form and character of
the Satura Menippea. Of this work, however, only a series of
fragments remains, in particular the cena Trimalchiojiis, a
description of a feast in the house of an enormously wealthy
upstart, who, though of very plebeian manners, and utterly
lacking in taste and culture, yet makes a foolish exhibition
of himself- with disgusting boastfulness. The scene of the
story is laid in Lower Italy ; the story itself is put in the
mouth of different persons, especially of the freedman En-
colpius, and hence the language varies according to the
grade of culture of the speaker. The work abounds in crude
and often very coarse elements ; is, however, full of spirit
and wit, and highly interesting as giving a knowledge of the
moral and social condition of the times, as well as of the
colloquial language, especially of the lower classes. Accord-
ing to the description of Petronius' character as given by
Tacitus, it is, perhaps, not improbable that the author is
identical with the C. Petronius who, according to Tacitus,^
was the confidant and maitre de plaisir of the emperor
Nero, and was compelled by him to commit suicide in 66
1 T. ii. 88 ; C. 394; Mer. vi. 164. 3 Ann. xvi. 17, seq.
2 Putidissima iactatio, Pelr. ^^ 73.
FOURTH PERIOD, 95
A.D. It is, however, more certain that the work was com-
posed in the time of Nero.
The most important satirist of this period is Dec. Junius
luvenalis, who was born at Aquinum (about the year 50?),
received rhetorical instruction at Rome, was, for a tune, ad-
vocate, and also tribunus militum in Britain under Domitian,
and was banished in extreme old age, probably under Ha-
drian, either to Egypt or Britain, ostensibly on account of
an allusion to a favorite of the Emperor in Sat. VII, 90. It
is probable that he died in exile.
Of Juvenal we have 16 Satires ^ in 5 books, arranged ac-
cording to the time of their composition, which, though not
written until the time of Trajan and Hadrian,. treat almost
entirely, so far as matters are not considered which pertain
to man in general, of Romans and Roman affairs under the
reign of Domitian.
Juvenal's satire ^ is an outcome of Domitian's reign of ter-
ror. The poet expresses his feeling in I, 89 : facit indig-
natio versum, — his indignation makes him a poet. In
consequence of what he has experienced and felt, he is a
pessimist in his view of mankind ; a nihilist, in respect to re-
ligion ; as a delineator of customs and as a poet, a realist,
and the last, indeed, to an extreme. He portrays in its most
naked hideousness the vicious society of his time, — so
vicious as boldly to flaunt its vice, — -with a rhetorical
pathos of delineation reaching to the offensive and disgust-
ing ; yet the language is for the most part forcible, drastic,
and moving, though sometimes difficult to understand.
The later satires'^ have a less passionate, more languid tone
than the earlier, a fact which is explained by the increasing
1 T. ii.156; C. 442; Macleane's Commentary : Introd. ; Mayor's JuvenaL
2 C. 445 ; Mer. vii. 228, 273. 3 Mer. vii. 276.
96 ROMAN LITERATURE.
age of the poet, but which has given occasion to critics'
for groundless and untenable doubts as to the genuineness
of Satires X, XII-XV, and separate parts of other satires.
The most interesting satires are : I, the standpoint of the
poet ; III, the disagreeable features of life in the metropolis ;
IV, an anecdote from Domitian's time ; V, the misery of
clients ; VII, the position of literary men.
The Fable, styled by Seneca- intemptatuin Romanis
ingeniis opus, was first treated as a special kind of poetry
by Phsedrus,-' of whom nothing is known except that he
was a native of Pieria, that he came to Rome as a slave, was
set free by Augustus, and was persecuted under Tiberius on
account of some offensive verses.
His 92 fables of animals, for the most part imitated from
^sop, and written in iambic trimeter, form 5 books. Some
anecdotes are intermingled with them. They have for their
object the moral improvement of the reader, yet, at the
same time, they preserve a sprightly tone.'* They are, on
the whole, metrically correct, and written in fluent, if not
(especially in the later books) quite pure, language. Whether
the fables contained in the appendix are to be ascribed to
Phgedrus is doubtful.
<?.— Lyric Poetry and Epigram.
Lyric Poetry was represented in this period by no im-
portant production, although the preparation of lyric poems
according to set rule and pattern was a very common occu-
1 Among them, O. Ribbeck.
2 Consol. ad Polyb. 8, 27.
' T. ii. 32; C. 349; Mer. v. 262.
* Cf. prolog, to Lib. I : duplex libelli dos est : quod risum movet et quod
prudenti vitam consilio monet.
FOURTH PERIOD. 97
pation, so that many persons considered it a duty, from time
to time, perhaps every day, to produce something in verse.
Quintihan^ mentions Caesius Bassus, the friend of
Persius (see p. 92) as a l>Tic poet. Among the best lyrics
belong the silvce of Statius^ (see p. 91). Erotic poems
were written by Arruntius Stella,^ a friend of Statins, and
Sulpicia,'' the wife of Calenus, to whom is ascribed, also, a
satire which is, without doubt, of later origin, and has often
been appended to the works of Ausonius or Juvenal.
On the other hand, the Epigram found skilful treatment
at the hands of M. Valerius Martialis,^ who, born at
Bilbilis in Spain about the year 40, lived chiefly at Rome in
limited circumstances, althougli he was rewarded by Domi-
tian for his flatteries with the ius trium liberorum and the
office of tribune. About the year 98 he returned to Bilbilis,
received an estate there as a present from a domina Mar-
cella, and died in the year 102, probably at the same place.
His epigrams,'' 1555 in all, in 14 books, together with a
liber spectaciilorum, are partly mere mottoes for presents''' at
the Saturnalia, and partly real epigrams witli a designed
point at the close, in which the whole effect lies. They are
written in elegiac, phalaecian, and choliambic metres. Mar-
tial had a remarkable gift for seizing upon the ridiculous
and piquant, and also upon the common, the ugly, and
the obscene, and combining them into a short poem
with endless wit and surprising turns of thought.*^ Les-
sing says of him : " Only a few have made so many epi-
1 Inst. Oral. x. i, 96. ■* C. 434.
2 T. ii. 126 ; C. 424. * C. 429.
8 T. ii. 133 ; C. 425.
' T. ii. 128 ; Paley and Stone's Commentary : Introd.
" For example, liber XIII, xenia and liber XIV, apophoreta.
8 C. 432 ; Mer. vii. 231 ; Con. i. 429.
98 ROMAN LITERATURE.
grams as Martial, and no one has made, among so many, so
many good ones, and so many really excellent ones." Un-
fortunately, the enjoyment is not seldom destroyed for the
respectable reader, both by the abjectness of mind with
which Martial celebrates, importunes, and glorifies his patrons,
especially Domitian, and by the ruthless wounding of the
moral sense, of which he himself is well aware. The former
is not justified by the poverty of his condition, nor is the latter
sufficiently excused by an appeal to the taste of the public,
the demands and i>et fancies of his patrons, or the precedent
of other poets and his own pure manner of life.
11. PROSE.
a. — History.
An objective apprehension and representation of the
present and the immediate past (up to the last period
of the Republic) necessarily became lost in the century
of despotism ; partly in consequence of tlie unlimited flat-
tery, partly on account of hatred toward the government.'
The free-thinking and free-writing historians could find no
place under the Julian dynasty and Domitian. A. Cre-
mutius Cordus^ was forced to commit suicide under Ti-
berius. His afifiales, which treated in a liberal manner of the
close of the Republic, were ordered by llie enslaved senate
to be burned, and yet tiiey were widely circulated and read.^
The portrayal of their own times was undertaken, for the
most part, by the rulers themselves. Not only Augustus,
but also Tiberius, Claudius,'' and his wife, the younger
1 Libidine assentandi vel odio adversus domlnantes. Tac. Hist. i. i.
2 T. ii. 15 ; C. 349; Mer. v. 182.
8 Cf. Tac. Ann. iv. 34, seq. * T. ii. 9, 36; C. 352.
FOURTH PERIOD. 99
Agrippina, and later, Vespasian 1 wrote commentaries.
Aufidius Bassus wrote, under Tiberius, a history of the
civil wars and the war against the Germans ; the elder
Pliny continued this work, writing 20 books bellorum Ger-
manic, and 31 books a fine Aufidii Bassi. Also Fabius
Rusticus,- who seems to have been still living in the year
108, and Cluvius Rufus wrote the history of their time.
All these works have been lost. The following, however,
have been preserved : —
Velleius Paterculus, tribunus militum beginning with
the year i a.d., served under the command of Tiberius in
Germany, and was made praetor on his recommendation.
The year of his death is unknown. He wrote historice Ro-
mano; ad M. Vinicium cons. (a. 30) til>ri II? The introduc-
tion to the first book, and the time from the rape of the
Sabine women to the war with Perseus of Macedonia, have
been lost. Velleius begins with the earliest history, which,
however, he throws off very summarily, paying special atten-
tion to the chronology. Afterwards the narrative becomes
constantly more diffuse, only at last to empty itself into a sea
of immoderate and verbose glorification of Tiberius. There
is a lack of exhaustive preparatory study, the apprehension
and choice of material is subjective and dilettant, induced
more by interest in persons (as when he comes to speak of
his commander in the war) than in things. The style is far-
fetched, often inflated to the panegyric tone of the court,
with an artificiality far removed from good taste. But at the
same time evidences of sound judgment often appear, and
there is no lack of apt and drastic characterizations.^
1 T. ii. 100. - T. ii. 109. 3 y ij_ 17 ; c. 344 ; Mer. v. 230.
* For example, that of C. Marius. ii. 11 ; of Mithridates of Pontus, ii. 18 ;
of Pompey, ii. 29 ; of Cato Uticensis, ii. 35 ; of Caesar, ii. 41, and of others.
lOO ROMAN LITERATURE.
Valerius Maximus ^ was not an historian but only a
compiler of notes and anecdotes. He wrote, under Tiberius,
factoruni et dictorum ttietnorabilium libri IX, of which two
compendia from the fifth and seventh centuries are extant.
They were probably written as a collection of models for
rhetoricians, and for the purpose of earning money. The
examples, taken alternately from Roman and foreign history,
are arranged according to certain topics, as de religione, de
niiraculis ; according to the different virtues and vices, and
the like. The treatment is in the highest degree lacking in
judgment and taste, frequently even nonsensical and childish,
while the style is often absurdly sprawling and needlessly
pathetic. In addition to this, there occasionally appears
disgusting flattery of the imperial family. At the most,
some value can be ascribed to the compilation for the
material it contains, though it is much too uncritical
and rhetorical to be able to serve as a reliable historical
authority.
Q. Curtius Rufus,- probably a rhetorician, wrote histo-
ricE Alexandri Magni libri X (of which I and II have been
lost), with close dependence upon the existing authorities,
especially the Alexandrian Clitarchus. The common ac-
ceptation now is, that he wrote at the beginning of the reign
of Claudius,^ though by some he is placed under Augustus
or Vespasian.
Curtius exhibits no great historical sense, and, indeed,
little understanding of military affairs. Only the good
fortune of Alexander is made prominent, while his impor-
tance as a statesman is not recognized. The book was
intended to furnish entertaining reading, for which reason
1 T. ii. 20; C. 346. - T. ii. 54; C. 392.
' The passage, x. 9, 3-6, accords best with that supposition.
FOURTH PERIOD. lOi
special stress is laid upon what is wonderful, full of adven-
ture, and exciting to the imagination.
As regards style, the imitation of Livy is very evident in
the choice of words and phraseology. Still, the periodic
sentences of Livy are, for the most part, broken up into the
short, disconnected sentences with poetic coloring which
were suited to the taste of that time.
Finally, Curtius is skilled in dramatic grouping and effec-
tive delineation ; especially the speeches are prepared with
careful attention to rhetorical rules.
Cornelius Tacitus, ^ born of a family of note, probably
not after the year 54, excels all other historians either of this
or of any former period. The conclusion that Interamna
(now Terni) in Umbria was his birthplace has been drawn
from the fact that the emperor Tacitus, who had the his-
torian's works carefully collected, was a native of that place.
But this does not prove that Tacitus was really born there
any more than the fact that the citizens of Terni had a
monument erected to him in the year 15 14.
Tacitus pursued rhetorical studies at Rome under Marcus
Aper, lulius Secundus, perhaps, also, under Quintilian ; mar-
ried, in the year 78, the daughter of lulius Agricola ; filled
the ordinary offices up to the prgetorship under Vespasian,
Titus, and Domitian ; was absent from Rome (as ambassa-
dor?) in the year 90 and after; became consul under
Nerva in the year 97, and died, probably in the beginning of
Hadrian's reign.
His writings, arranged in chronological order, are the fol-
lowing : —
I. Dialogiis de oratoribus^ a dialogue on the decline of
oratory in the time of the emperors, which is represented as
1 Schlegel : Hist, of Lit. 76 ; C. 449. 2 t. ii. 172 ; C. 450.
I02 ROMAN LITERATURE.
occurring in the year 75, and in which Curiatius Maternus,
M. Aper, luUus Secundus, and Vipstanus Messala appear as
the speakers. This dialogue was written under Domitian,
and was denied by many to be the work of Tacitus on ac-
count of its style, which, in imitation of Cicero, was somewhat
diffuse and florid. But the whole spirit of the production
points unmistakably to Tacitus.
2. De vita et moribus lulii Agricolcc} written in 97 or 98,
a biography of the father-in-law of Tacitus, who was gover-
nor of Britain from 78-85, and who, having been recalled by
Domitian, in spite of, or rather on account of his famous
deeds, died under the suspicion of poisoning, in the year 93.
The biography is not really a laudatio, but is a work rhetori-
cal in style, written in loving remembrance of Agricola.
3. Gennania- (also de situ, moribus et populis GermanieB),
probably written in 98, and intended primarily to be simply a
monographic study for a larger historical work, perhaps (if
it be true that Tacitus was in Germany as an ambassador)
founded upon what he himself had seen. In contrast
to the corrupt condition of things at Rome, he pictures
the freedom and spontaneous morality of the Germans in
an ideal light, although the satirical purpose of the work
may not be looked upon as the chief one. The first part
(c. 1-27) treats in commune de omnium Germanorum en-
gine ac moribus ; the second (c. 28-46) of the separate
tribes, in geographical order. This work is the chief author-
ity in all ancient literature for our knowledge of the ancient
Germans.
4. HistoricE^ originally consisting of 14 books, of which,
however, only Books I-IV and a part of Book V have been
1 T. ii. 174; C. 451. - T. ii. 177.
■^ T. ii. 181 ; C. 452 ; Mer. vi. 372, vii. 236.
FOURTH PERIOD. 103
preserved. The work contained an account of the period
from Galba to the death of Domitian (69-96). The extant
portion embraces the year 69 and a part of 70. One of the
most interesting parts is the excursus on Palestine and the
Jews.' The work was composed under Trajan.
5. Annales^ (more accurately, ab excessu Divi Augusti
liber), in 16 books, of which, however, only Books I-IV and
XII-XV have been preserved entire, V, VI, XI, and XVI in
incomplete form. The work was a history of the Julian
dynasty from the death of Augustus to that of Nero, to which
the NisforiiC formed the chronological continuation. The
years 29-31, 37-47, embracing, among other things, the en-
tire reign of Caligula, are wanting ; also, 66-68. The work
was written between 115 and 117. The arrangement, though
annalistic in design, still often allows the events of several
years, when related to each other, to be brought together in
the narration.
A projected account of the time of Augustus, to be fol-
lowed by a history of the reigns of Nerva and Trajan, was
never written by Tacitus.
Tacitus writes on the basis of a careful and exhaustive
study of the authorities.^ These were partly oral traditions,
partly older documents and writings, such as the acta
diiirna, and perhaps also the acta senatus, various memoirs,
as those of the younger Agrippina, the historical works of
Cluvius Rufus, the elder Pliny, and others. He strives
earnestly to proceed in a critical and impartial way,"* but
from the outset he holds firmly to the political opinion that
1 V. 2, soqq.
2 T. ii. 183 ; C. 453 ; Frost's commentary on the Annals ; Nipperdey's
Annals, translated by Browne.
3 T. ii. 163 ; C. 455 ; Mer. vii. 238.
^ Sine ira et studio, Ann. i. i ; fides incorrupta. Hist. i. x.
I04 ROMAN LITERATURE.
the rule of the senate during the good old times of the
Republic was the ideal one, and that the rule of the emper-
ors is a necessary evil. Politically, therefore, he is a pro-
nounced aristocrat and an admirer of the Republic. True,
being hard pressed, he makes so much concession to the
actual state of things, as to assume the position of resigna-
tion and reluctant recognition, yet he is so thoroughly
embittered by despotism, and that, too, the despotism of a
Domitian, under whose bloody suspicion his own relatives
had to suffer, that only under the reign of a Nerva does he
reluctantly acknowledge the union of liber tas andprincipatus.
Accordingly, there may be seen under all that he writes this
bitter humor,' which causes him to doubt even concerning
the government of the gods, and leads sometimes to one-
sided and hypercritical judgments.-
On the whole, however, Tactius earnestly endeavors to
give a really adequate account by means of a thorough in-
vestigation and portrayal of the caiisce and rationes, the ex-
ternal and internal causes and reasons of things ; ^ in which
attempt he displays a perfect mastery in psychological
analysis and in characterization, above all in the history of
Tiberius.^ A fixed philosophical way of looking at things,
taken from an existing system, Tacitus does not have.
Moreover his religious views are not entirely settled and
logical. He is sometimes inclined, in view of what he is
compelled to see and hear, entirely to discard the thought
of a divine government of the world, yet fatalistic touches
1 Mer. vii. 274.
2 This has led recent writers, especially Adolf Stahr, to the much more
one-sided and partizan assertion that Tacitus is an uncritical, prejudiced
writer, nay, even malicious, and a wilful distorter of the truth ; and that he
has in manifold ways knowingly corrupted history, with aristocratic crab-
bedness, especially in his account of Tiberius.
8 Mer. vii. 234. ^ Ann. i.-vi.
FOURTH PERIOD. I05
occasionally appear in spite of the psychological and objec-
tive design.
The style ^ of Tacitus still bears in the first work {Dialogus)
a Ciceronian imprint, reminds one distinctly of Sallust in the
second and third {Agricola and Germania) , but he rises in
the fourth and fifth {HistoricB and Annalcs) to a full inde-
pendence. Tacitus is earnest, stately, and solemn (cre/Aj/os),
full of conscious gravity as an aristocrat, never swept away
into a passionate tone, ponderous in thought, and compact
in style. By his conciseness he arouses thought and imagi-
nation ; he avoids the common and low, and is attracted by
the extraordinar}'.
fc. — Oratory.
In this period, as in the previous one, there was no lack
of rhetorically educated men, some of whom were also active
in literary work, and published orations ; there were want-
ing, however, freedom and opportunity, courage and appre-
ciation for public free speech. Oratory was carefully confined
to the senate and the courts of the Centumviri (civil courts),
which had nothing to do with politics ; it was, therefore, in-
evitable that oratory should fall more and more into disuse.'-^
The rhetorical exercises of the schools were, therefore, all
the more eagerly pursued, in which the entire stress was laid
upon form, expression, and style, upon ingenious and ele-
gant turns of expression, upon witty and subtle conceits,
figures, and contrasts, — in short upon everything that could
1 C. 454 ; Frost's Annals of Tacitus : Life, etc. ; Botticher's Essay in
Smith's Tacitus.
2 This decline, most intimately connected with the political develop-
ment, and the contrast between the old and the new oratory, are treated by
Tacitus, dial, de orat. T. i. 385 ; C. 246.
Io6 ROMAN LITERATURE.
produce a momentary effect.' The svibject-matter of these
rhetorical exercises can be seen from the work of the elder
Annaeus Seneca,'' which is a very valuable contribution
to the history of oratory, and is entitled oratoruni et rhetorum
sententice, divisioiies, colores. This work, which was written
not long before his death at the request of his son, contained
lo books of controversicB, of which about half are preserved
entire, and the rest in a compendium of later date ; also one
book of suasorm, essays upon subjects discussed in the
schools. The task was zealously undertaken by the author,
in rehance upon his extraordinary power of memory, but in
the course of his work, he himself became disgusted with it,
— a sign of his good sense.
The most important rhetorician of this period, however,
was M. Fabius Quintilianus,^ born at Calagurris in
Spain, probably while Tiberius was still on the throne ; he
was appointed by Vespasian as the first salaried teacher of
rhetoric in Rome, an office which he filled for twenty years ;
he was afterwards called by Domitian to be the tutor of his
grand-nephew, received the honors of a consul, and died
about the year 98.
He was a man of noble and benevolent disposition, com-
prehensive learning, and cultivated and temperate judgment.
The only one of his writings that has been preserved is a
work written after he had retired from the office of a public
teacher. It is in 12 books, entitled institutio oratoria, a
complete introduction to the study of oratory, in which,
contrary to the corrupt fashionable tone of his contempora-
1 T. ii. 7.
2 Father of the philosopher, and a native of Corduba in Spain ; he lived
from about 54 B.C. to 40 A.D., mostly in Rome. T. i. 544; C. 321; Mar.
iv. 432.
8 T. ii. 320 ; C. 407 ; Mer. vii. 225.
FOURTH PERIOD. 107
ries (in particular of the philosopher Seneca), the writer sees
in the older orators, especially Cicero, the ideal of an orator.
Book I treats of the preparatory grammatical studies ; II, of
the elements and essence of rhetoric ; III-VII, of iuventio
and dispositio; VIII-XI, of elociitio, together with memoria
and proniintiatio ; XII describes the finished orator. The
tenth book is especially interesting, since it contains a parallel
view and characterization of the most important Greek and
Roman poets and prose authors.
One of the most learned pupils of Quintilian was C.
Plinius Csecilius Secundus,' commonly called the
younger Pliny. He was born at Novum Comum (Como)
in the year 62, became consul in the year joo, was gov-
ernor of Bithynia 111-112, and died, doubtless soon after
his return to Rome.
He was an advocate of very wide practice. Of his
speeches we still possess the panegyricus^ a eulogy on
Trajan in return for the gift of the consulship. The speech
is much injured by the strongly-exaggerated praise which
it contains, the pompous studiedness of its style, and its
diffuse rhetoric. Much more attracti\e and interesting are
his Epistiiliv^ in 9 Books,"* which he uTOte with a view
to publication during the years 96-109,^ and afterwards
actually published. These letters, from the fact that they
were intended for publication, come very far, it is true,
from making the fresh impression of immediateness char-
acteristic of Cicero's letters ; one sees clearly that the smooth,
uniform style is not a product of the moment ; yet they give
us a very valuable and varied picture of that period, espe-
1 T. ii. 187 ; C. 437. 2 T. ii. 192 ; Men vii. 439.
3 T. ii. 190 ; C. 439 ; Mer. vii. 250 ; Church and Brodribb's Pliny : Introd.
4 Exclusive of his correspondence with Trajan.
6 Possibly 96-111 or 112.
Io8 ROMAN LITERATURE.
cially of the often frivolous literary activity, and show us
the writer as a man not at all genial, indeed, and even vain
and pedantic, yet well-meaning, and humane even to tender-
ness, very eager to learn and to know, interesting himself in
everything, striving sincerely for the good and the beautiful.
A separate book is formed by the correspondence between
Trajan and Pliny, during the governorship of the latter in
Bithynia, in which, especially, the letters (96, 97) relating to
the treatment of the Christians are valuable. Book VI, 16,
contains a description of the eruption of Vesuvius in the
year 79.
Concerning Tac. dialogus de oratoribus, see p. loi.
c. — Philosophy.
Philosophy found in this period, as in the preceding one,
not a few disciples. They were, however, for the most part,
dilettanti, who treated philosophical subjects without exhaust-
ive study and without logical system. The majority in these
troublous times inclined to Stoicism, especially men who were
opposed to the government. ^ At the same time, exaggera-
tion and ostentation were sometimes carried to extremes.
The great number of Greek philosophers who flooded Rome
brought philosophy into disrepute, and caused Vespasian and
Domitian to banish them from Italy.
By far the most important philosophical writer is L.
Annaeus Seneca,- born about the year 4 a.d. at Corduba
in Spain, son of Seneca the rhetorician (see p. 106). He
was educated at Rome, became senator, was banished by
Claudius to Corsica in the year 41 at the instigation of
Messalina, was recalled in the year 49 at the request of
1 For example, Paetus Thrasea, Lucan, Persius, Helvidius Priscus, and
others. ^ x. ii. 40 ; C. 378 ; Ritter, iv. 174 ; Farrar : Seekers after God.
FOURTH PERIOD. 1 09
Agrippina, became tutor of Nero, was consul in 57, and,
in the year 65, was compelled by Nero to commit suicide
by opening his veins in a bath, on a charge of participa-
tion in the conspiracy of Piso.
Not always living up to the teachings of the Stoa,' to
which he subscribed in the main, and free, neither in his
life' nor in his writings, from vanity and striving after effect,
Seneca nevertheless sought as far as possible to exercise a
healthful influence, and showed not only a rare versatility
of talent, an uncommon wealth of thought, a fine faculty
of observation, and a sound, practical mind, keeping itself
free from the exaggerations of the Stoics, but also, for that
time and society, a surprising loftiness of moral view.- In
this he outstrips his time, inasmuch as he both abandons
that which is specifically Roman and adopts a cosmopolitan
humanity ; for which reason. Christian tradition has even
made him a Christian and a friend of the apostle Paul.
Seneca's style,-* the antipodes of the Ciceronian,^ is forced
and ornamental, according to the taste of the period. It
moves, for the most part, in brief, disconnected, and often
paradoxical sentences and phrases and piquant antitheses.
The same thought is forever varied, ingeniously indeed, but
not seldom to weariness.
Of Seneca's writings, which are preserved only in part,
some are poetical,-'' some prosaic, and some of the latter,
1 This is shown by the fact that he had great wealth, was indulgent
toward Nero's sensuality (of necessity, it is true, and to avoid something
worse), and that he excused the murder of Agrippina.
2 C. 382; Mer. vi. 112, 231; Ritter, iv. 180.
3 T. ii. 42 ; C. 390 ; Mer. vii. 225 ; Ritter, iv. 175.
■* According to Quintilian, Inst. Orat. x. i, 129 : ahiindans dulcibus vitiis,
and according to Caligula's correct comparison. Suet. Calig. 53 : arena
sine cake.
5 Tra^^xdicE (see p. 89). Also a part of the Apocolocyntosis (see p. 93)
is in poetry.
no ROMAN LITERATURE.
again, relate to natural science,^ and some to morals.^ Of
most general interest are the 124 EpistiiltR ad Liici/iiim^
(see p. 92), written, like Pliny's epistles, with a view to pub-
lication ; they are, in reality, popular treatises, containing an
abundance of apt observations and rules of morals, as well as
many characteristic features of life at that time. A corre-
spondence with the apostle Paul (14 letters), ascribed to
Seneca^ by the church-father Hieronymus (about 400), is not
genuine, but rests on the correct perception that the moral
views of Seneca are often aUied to those of Christianity in
a surprising degree.
d. — Special Sciences.
The most important points respecting the special sciences
in this period are the following : —
In Law, Capito (see p. 84) was followed by Masurius
Sabinus,^ who lived from Tiberius to Nero, and was the
author of a much commentated work, /idti III iiiris civilis.
Labeo was followed by the somewhat later Sempronius
Proculus. The two schools were commonly called, after
these men, the Sabinian^ and the Proculian." Both schools
had distinguished literary representatives.
The Science of Language became more and more an
object of study in connection with Rlietoric. Many of the
emperors took a lively interest in it. Claudius had under
consideration a reform of the alphabet, and wished to intro-
1 Naturales qucBsfiones libri III, used as a text-book in physics in the
Middle Ages.
2 For example, de ira libri III, de beneficiis libri Til, several cofisola-
tiones, de tranquillitate animi, and others. T. ii. 46 ; C. 379.
8 T. ii. 45 ; C. 385. 4 T. ii. 48 ; C. 386 ; Mer. vi. 230. 5 t. ii. 27.
6 Also Cassian, from Cassius Longinus, a pupil of Sabinius.
■^ Hadley's Introd. to Roman Law, 63.
FOURTH PERIOD. Ill
duce three new letters. ^ Vespasian appointed Quintilian as
teaciier of philology.
The following writers were distinguished as gramma-
rians and commentators : —
Q. Remmius Palaemo,- from Vicenza, the author (un-
der Claudius) o{ z grammar which was much used ; Q. As-
conius Pedianus,-^ who wrote under Claudius, Nero, and
Vespasian, and from whom we have commentaries on five
of Cicero's orations (among them, pro Miloiie), containing
valuable material, but not preserved entire; M. Valerius
Probus'* of Berytus, about the year 60, a critical commen-
tator, especially of the Roman classic poets ; under Domi-
tian, ^milius Asper ; ^ under Trajan, Flavjus Caper*'
and Velius Longus, from both of whom works de ortlio-
graphia are preser\'ed.
Among mathematical writers, the land surveyors,
agrimensores, or gromatici," are worthy of special mention.
Of these the most distinguished were Sex. lulius Fron-
tinus*^ and Hyginus.^ Frontinus, born about the year 40,
was consul three times, served as general in Gaul, Britain,
and Germany, was curator aquarum in 67, and died about
103. Of his works on surveying only extracts are pre-
served. As curator aquarum he wrote a work entitled de
aquis urhis Roma libri II, which is valuable for the infor-
mation it contains. Hyginus wrote under Trajan a work
on surveying which has been preserved only in fragments.
Both were also writers on military subjects, Frontinus, as
1 F= consonantal f, D antisigma, for bs and/^, I- representing an inter-
mediate sound between i and u. T. ii. 38 ; C. 11.
2 T. ii. 29 ; C. 348. 6 T. ii. 200 ; C. 442.
8 T. ii. 62 ; C. 393. "^ From groma, a measuring-staff.
4 T. ii. 73 ; C. 394. 8 T. ii. 147 ; C. 410.
6 T. ii. 151 ; C. 412. 9 T. ii. 203 ; C. 442.
112 ROMAN LITERATURE.
author of a lost work on tactics, and an extant one of strate-
gemata (military stratagems), in 3 books, together with a
fourth, strategematica, as a supplement ; Hyginus, as author
of a work entitled de iniinitionibtis, and perhaps also of
another, de limitibiis.
In the department of Geography, may be mentioned
Pomponius Mela,' from Tingentera in Spain, author of
the oldest Roman description of the world that has come
down to us. He wrote under Claudius, after older written
authorities, 3 books entitled de situ orbis (or de chorogra-
phid). To geographical literature belong also, wholly or in
part, the Gerinauia and Agricola of Tacitus, the Natiirales
Qiicestiones of Seneca, and especially Books III-VI of the
NatiiraUs Historia of C. Plinius Secundus^ (the elder
Pliny). He was born in the year 23 at Novum Comum,
served in the year 45 in Germany, was afterwards imperial
procurator in Spain, was employed by Vespasian as an effi-
cient officer in the financial and marine department, and
perished on the 24th of August, 79, during an eruption of
Vesuvius, as a sacrifice to his scientific zeal.-^ He was the
uncle of the younger Pliny, and the most industrious and
learned man of his time."* Besides his historical works (see
p. 99), and his writings on tactics, grammar, and rhetoric,^
which have not come down to us, he wrote the extant work,
Naturalis Historia^ in 37 books, an encyclopaedia of natural
science, embracing astronomy, geography, anthropology, zool-
ogy, botany, mineralogy, and many departments of medicine.
This encyclopaedia, written with the aid of the works of nearly
1 T. ii. 64, i. 77; C. 394. 3 cf. Plin. Epp. vi. 16; Mer. vii. 58.
2 T. ii. 102 ; C. 400. * Mer. vi. 187 ; vii. 264.
5 As, for example, de iaculatione equestri, dubii sermonis libri VIII,
studiosi libri III.
6 T. i. 72, ii. 104 ; C. 404 ; Mer. vii. 226.
FOURTH PERIOD. II3
five hundred writers, representing nearly 2000 volumes, is
an exceedingly rich mine of curiosities, and contains almost
everjthing worth knowing, though, to be sure, it is often
enough crudely put together, and without the critical care
which could be desired. Since an abundance of material
was of foremost importance to the author, the style ^ is, for
the most part, dry, and at times also marked by rhetorical
artificiality. It is lofty in those places where the greatness
and majesty of nature and the universe are set forth, though
Pliny stands in opposition to the popular belief in the gods.
Of the encyclopedic work of Cornelius Celsus,^ writ-
ten in the time of Tiberius, there are still extant 8 books de
fuedicina {de re medica), including surgery.^ In the same
work, the science of war, agriculture, rheto7-ic, and practi-
cal philosophy wtx^ also treated. Inferior, from a scientific
and literary point of view, is the collection of prescriptions
{compositiones medicamentorum) of Scribonius Largus,"*
private physician of the emperor Claudius. Of these pre-
scriptions, 271 are extant.
Agriculture, as such, was treated by Moderatus Colu-
mella ^ of Gades, a contemporary and countryman of Sen-
eca, in his work de re rustica Ubri XII. The production
bears witness to the author's technical knowledge, candid
disposition, and good taste. Of this work, Book X, con-
cerning gardening, is written in heroic metre, after the ex-
ample of Virgil, though by no means equal to the model.
1 T. ii. 107 ; C. 406. 4 T. ii. 60 ; C. 393.
2 T. ii. 25 ; C. 347. 6 T. i. 73, ii. 57 ; C. 393.
3 T. i. 74.
FIFTH PERIOD.
The Later Empire, after the Death of Trajan, i i 7 a.d.
THIS period is a time of continual decline, both in poli-
tics and literature. 1 The capacity for original and in-
dependent production, which, up to this time, had appeared
at least in individual cases, ceases entirely. In its place, we
find uncertainty, perversity, and dulness of judgment and
taste, a slavish and unintelligent imitation of earlier and es-
pecially archaic writers, an affected and distorted style, an
artificial rhetoric, dressed out with wordy ornamentation, but
wanting any important inner significance answering to the
lavish use of outward means. Instead of independent pro-
duction, there appears a boastful and ostentatious display of
pedantic and often laboriously-gathered knowledge.
The corruption of taste shows itself, especially, in the
archaistic tendency, which places the classic standard authors
below the ante-classic writers. The chief representative of
this tendency is the rhetorician Fronto. As a consequence
of the intellectual barrenness and tameness, and also of the
persistent advance of Greek sophism and rhetoric, which
found high favor and abundant reward in the cultured
circles,^ poetry comes to occupy a less prominent position
than prose.
The provinces become more and more important in the
1 T. ii. 205, 337.
2 Especially with a number of the emperors, as Hadrian, Antoninus Pius,
and Marcus Aurelius.
114
FIFTH PERIOD. 115
department of literature. A number of \\Titers, especially
Christian writers, spring up in Africa. Their latinity is char-
acterized by a want of logical accuracy, by intemperateness
of expression, rhetorical overloading, and an arbitrary con-
struction of words and sentences. Moreover, Gaul, expe-
cially Lugdunum (Lyon), becomes an important seat of
rhetorical instruction.
^Vhereas the earlier emperors of this period, as Hadrian
and Marcus Aurelius, and also Alexander Severus, took a
lively interest in literature, it was compelled, in consequence
of the political confusion of the third century, to retire into
the background.
Not until after the triumph of Christianity, and the recon-
struction of the empire by Constantine the Great, did more
important writers. Christian as well as Pagan, appear. Mean-
while, the specifically Roman character was steadily dying out,
especially since, by the edict of Caracalla, which extended
the right of Roman citizenship to the provinces, universal
equality was being furthered through the agency of the state.
Literary production took refuge, partly in the bosom of the
Christian church, and thus became the property of the Chris-
tian clergy • (patristic literature), partly at the court, where,
without free, ideal movement, it was compelled to yield itself
to the service of special, practical ends, particularly the glori-
fication of the emperors (panegyric literature), and the ex-
tension of legal learning. This period, if one considers at
the same time content and form, produced scarcely a writer
of the first or even of the second rank ; on the other hand,
in the special sciences, particularly in the Department of
Jurisprudence, important, and in some respects great and
standard work, was done.
1 T. ii. 468.
Il6 ROMAN LITERATURE.
I. POETRY.
a. — Lyric.
Lyric poetry is represented in this period by only a few
names worthy of mention. Of uncertain date is the Pervigi-
lium Veneris} a glorification of Venus Genetrix and of Spring,
in 93 well-constructed trochaic septenarii. Half lyric, half
epic, are the poems of Dec. Magnus Ausonius^ of
Burdigala (Bordeaux), in Gaul ; a poet of fine parts, and es-
pecially successful in the form of his verse. He was a teacher
of the emperor Gratianus, became consul in 379, and was
converted to Christianity, though he made little use of it in
his writings. In his later years, he lived under Theodosius I in
his native place, absorbed in literary pursuits. His poems are
very varied in form and content ; epigrams and epistles; poems
on living and deceased persons ; on emperors and celebrated
cities. His idylls are best known, and among these, the
tenth, entitled Mosella, a description of a journey on the
Moselle, from Bingen to Trier, in 683 hexameters, charming
on account of the variedness of its contents, and the sensi-
tive appreciation of nature displayed in it.
Among poets specifically Christian, special mention should
be made of Aurelius Prudentius Clemens,^ who was
born in Spain in 348, was a rhetorician and high official, and
died about the year 410. He composed odes in praise of
the martyrs, and hy^nns in Horatian metres ; also dogmatic^
polemic, and epic poems.
^ T. ii. 247 ; C. 468.
2 T. ii. 385.
3 T. ii. 431 ; Trench, 121 ; Schaff : History of the Christian Church, iii.
594 ; Ozonam : Civilization in the Fifth Century, ii. 196.
FIFTH PERIOD. II7
6.— Epic.
Epic poetry in this period is partly mythological, partly
employed for panegyrics, — poems in praise of emperors and
other persons in high standing, together with corresponding
depreciation of their opponents. Claudius Claudianus ' of
Alexandria is, for his time, a brilliant representative of both
styles. He composed, about the year 400, numerous /c'^'wj-,
some on historical subjects^' some on mythological^ also
epistles, idylls, and epigrams, mostly in elegiac metre. There
appears everywhere great skill in the treatment of the form,
vivid imagination, extended acquaintance with the classic
poets, and enthusiasm for the greatness of Roiiie ; but these
excellences are dimmed and injured in their effect by the
insignificance of the material, which the poet endeavors in
vain to conceal and make good by rhetorical exaggeration.
Less important than the pagan Claudianus are the Chris-
tian poets : —
C. Vettius Aquilius luvencus,* Spanish presbyter in
the time of Constantine the Great, and author of a Netv
Testament History in hexameters ; Flavius Merobau-
des,^ Spanish rhetorician, and author of a poet/i on Christ,
and of historical poems in praise, especially, 0/ the comman-
der, ^tius ; Apollinaris Sidonius^ (about 430-488),
from Lugdunum, bishop of Clermont, and writer oi panegyrics
on several of the emperors, abounding in pedantic phrase-
1 T. ii. 438; Ozonam, i. 170.
2 For example, poems in praise of the emperor Honorius, and especially
of Stilicho, with attacks upon the minister Rufinus and the eunuch Eutro-
pius in Constantinople. The poems are written without any essential warp-
ing of the facts.
3 Three books de raptu ProseipitKs.
4 T. ii. 346. 5 T. ii. 490. 6 x. ii. 499
Il8 • ROMAN LITERATURE.
ology; Dracontius^ of Carthage, author of mythological
epics, also of a didactic poem, de deo, and others ; Venan-
tius Fortunatus,^ in the sixth century, bishop of Poitiers,
and writer of an epic i?t honor of St. Martin of Tours, and
numerous poems iji praise of persons in high standing.
c — Didactic.
In Didactic and Descriptive Poetry, the following
names are worthy of mention : Nemesianus-^ of Carthage
(about 280), writer of a didactic poem on hunting entitled
Cynegetica ; Festus Avienus'* (about 370), writer of
poems on astronomical, historical, and especially geographi-
cal subjects ; particularly, however, Claudius Rutilius
Namatianus,''' a native of Gaul, who was prsefectus urbi
in 414, and who, in 416, described his homeward sea-
voyage from Rome to Gaul^ in a charming style, orna-
mented with numerous episodes of a descriptive and
personal character. The poet is an enthusiastic adherent
of ancient Rome "^ and the old Pagan religion, and a de-
cided enemy of Jews ^ and Christians.^
1 T. ii. 519. 2 X. ii. 563 ; Trench, 131 ; Schaff, iii. 595.
8 T. ii. 308. 4 T. ii. 382. 5 T. ii. 470.
6 De reditu suo libri II, of vviiicli tlie second book has not been pre-
served entire.
■^ Cf. i. 47-164 ; especially verse 53, seq :
Obruerint citius scelerata oblivia solem,
Quam tuus ex nostro corde recedat honos.
and 81, seq:
8 i. 397, seq:
9 i. 525, seq :
Omnia perpetuo qua servant sidera motu.
Nullum viderunt pulchrius imperium.
Latis excisje pestis contagia serpunt
Victoresque suos natio victa premit.
Non rogo deterior Circeis secta venenis?
Tunc mutabantur corpora, nunc animi.
FIFTH PERIOD. I19
A collection of Fables, afterwards much used as a
school-book, is that of Avianus,' who, about the year 400,
reproduced 42 yEsopian fables in elegiac verse, after the
model of ^sop, Babrius, Phcedrus, and others.
II. PROSE.
a. —Oratory.
Rhetoric, with Cornelius Fronto- as its most able and
illustrious representative, stood for a long time foremost in
the estimation of the public. Fronto was born at Cirta in
Africa, lived about 100-175, became consul in 143, was
the teacher and friend of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
He was affectionate (^tAoo-ropyo?) and sincere in disposi-
tion, in his literary efforts and productions the type of a
period spending itself in complacent speechifying. Of his
writings we possess some works on rhetorical subjects, and
also some letters,"^ the latter, for the most part, unimportant
in subject-matter.
Fronto lays all the stress upon rhetoric, to be sure, with
a sincere belief in it alone as a saving power. In respect
to language, Fronto is a worshipper of the most ancient
ante-classical writers and orators, — of Plautus, Ennius,
Cato, C. Gracchus, — and also of Sallust. He recognizes
Cicero with reluctance.'' With him. as w-e have said, the
entire value lies in rhetorical ornamentation (ciKoi/es, verba
1 T. ii. 462. - T. i. 58, ii. 229; C. 463; Mer. vii. 460.
3 Correspondence with Marcus Aurelius, L. Verus, Antoninus Pius and
ad amicos : also letters in Greek.
^ For example, he characterizes the orators thus, ad Verum Impcrat :
Contionatur Cato infeste, Gracchus turbulente, Tullius copiose; in iudiciis
saevit Cato, triumphat Cicero, tumultuatur Gracchus, Calvus rixatur.
120 ROMAN LITERATURE.
notabilia, deminutiva, and the like). But just this artificial-
ity and corruption of taste seemed to his contemporaries the
highest excellence.
Another distinguished African rhetorician was L. Apu-
leius* of Madaura, born about 125, who was, at one time
and another, active in many places as a rhetorician and an
advocate, and was also celebrated as a magician. As a
writer, he was very versatile, productive, and pretentious ;
his style is original, full of needless word-coinings and
strange distortions of sentences, bombastic and overloaded,
yet of a drastic vividness and not without pleasing humor.
The best known of his writings is the fantastic romance,
Metamorphoseon libri XI ^ which contains the experiences
of a man who was changed by magic arts into an ass,
together with many stories of robbers and necromancy, of
which Thessaly is most frequently the scene, all ending
in the glorification of the Isis mysteries. The whole is imi-
tated from the Aoi;Ktos of Lucian, only it is carried much
further, and changes are made that are not always fortunate.
Books IV-VI contain the well-known (allegoric?) legend of
Amor and Psyche. Of the remaining writings of Apuleius,
the following deserve to be mentioned : Apologia, a defence
against the charge of necromancy, written in a comparatively
simple style; and Florida, an anthology of orations and
declamations.
As a rhetorician of the later time, may be mentioned Q.
Aurelius Symmachus the Younger,^ consul in 391, of
whom we possess 9 orations (not one, however, in complete
form), some of which were delivered in the Senate, and
some were panegyrics on the emperor Valentinian I and Gra-
tian. We also have a collection of epistles in 10 books,
1 T. ii. 257 ; C. 469. - T. ii. 261 ; C. 471. » T. ii. 397.
FIFTH PERIOD. 121
composed after the model of the younger PHny, in which the
letters of the tenth book are the most interesting, wherein
Symmachus, in the year 384, intercedes with the emperor
Valentinian II for the restoration of the altar of Victoria to the
Roman curia, whence it had been removed at the command of
Gratian ; — that is, he interested himself in the maintainance
of heathen worship, — an endeavor which was not successful,
serving only to call out several controversial writings on the
side of the Christians ; for example, from Bishop Ambrosius
of Milan.
b. — Philosophy.
Although philosophy was opposed by rhetoricians like
Fronto, yet it was furthered by several emperors, especially
by the Antonines, and in the person of the strict Stoic, Mar-
cus Aurelius,' who wrote in the Greek language 12 books
oi Self- Examinations (eis avrov), even attained to the im-
perial throne. Nevertheless, it could no longer develop a
strong and healthy life ; it degenerated often into obscure
mysticism and vain love of the marvellous, as in the case of
Apuleius (see p. 120) who wrote philosophical books de
miindo, de deo Socratis, and others.
In Christianity, there grew up against this a new and vig-
orous opponent, which, indeed, often made use of the
weapons of pagan philosophy and rhetoric. By this opposi-
tion many energetic spirits were spurred on to the attempt of
renewing philosophy, among them Anicius Manlius Tor-
quatus Severinus Boetius,^the son-in-law of Symmachus,
(see p. 120) consul in 510, and executed in 525 at the com-
mand of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, on the charge of
1 Farrar : Seekers after God, 303 ; Mer. vii. 490 ; T. i. 69.
' T. ii. 525 ; Milman's Latin Christianity, i. 443.
122 ROMAN LITERATURE.
traitorous connections with the court of Constantinople. Al-
though a Christian, he was enthusiastic for classical antiquity.
a translator of many works, particularly those of Aristotle.
He wTOte matlieynatical, grammatical, and other works, but
he is chiefly knowTi through his de consolatione, composed in
prison, and testifying in somewhat involved, yet easily intelli-
gible language, written alternately in prose and verses of
various metres, to a mind morally refined, permeated much
more by the spirit of ancient philosophy, especially of Plato,
than by that of Christianity. Also, theological writings, as,
for example, a work on the Trinity, are incorrectly ascribed
to Boetius.
c — History.
There were numerous writers of history in this period, but
the freedom of thought and word necessary for a lofty flight
was wanting ; the influence of rhetoric asserted itself in this
department of literature as in all others. ^ In place of objec-
tive arrangement and choice of material, of psychological
treatment, of broad and comprehensive views, appeared an
undue attention to what was merely personal, a biographical
treatment of history, with an uncritical preference for the
insignificant and for anecdotes, and an enumeration of
details not seldom amounting to frivolity. The ancient his-
torians were made accessible and enjoyable to the taste of
the public through compendia. With the triumph of Chris-
tianity, historical writing turned its attention more and more
to biblical and ecclesiastical matters.
C. Suetonius Tranquillus,- born about the year 75,
wrote a part of his works as far back as the reign of Trajan.
He was a rhetorician and an advocate ; for a long time, also,
1 T. i. 46. * T. ii. 210 ; C. 457.
FIFTH PERIOD. 1 23
private secretary of the emperor Hadrian, who, however,
dismissed him, whereupon he devoted himself to study and
authorship in the most widely-separated departments, history
of civilization, science of language, chronology, and the like.
From his writings^ have been preserved fragments of the
work de viris illiistribus, concerning literary celebrities of
Rome up to the time of Domitian ; among these fragments
the vita, of Terence and Horace are important, but especially
the vita Caesarum,- written in 120, consisting of biographies
of the first twelve emperors, from Caesar (the beginning of
whose reign seems, however, to be wanting) to Domitian.
This work is very valuable in subject-matter, carefully com-
posed, with an extensive use of authorities, and a striving
after objectivity. In consequence, however, of the interest
attaching to the subject-matter itself, anecdotes and person-
alities prevail ; also things insignificant and low are not
passed by unnoticed, and in view of the division of the sub-
ject according to certain headings (such as faults, virtues,
outward habits, and the like), the chronological order, as
well as the inner connection, and especially the psychologi-
cal arrangement, are neglected. The language is simple,
natural, and easily understood.-^
The following liistorians stand at a considerable distance
below Suetonius : —
Florus'i wrote, probably under Hadrian, belloriim om-
niutn anno rum DCC libri II, Roman history from Romulus
to Augustus, arranged, generally, according to the wars,
without strict chronology, and with many errors as to matters
of fact. Anachronisms, not to say designed falsifications,
appear, and, worst of all, a tasteless and artificial teleology /;/
1 T. ii. 214 ; C. 459. ■- Mer. vii. 248. 3 c. 460.
•* Possibly identical with the poet and rhetorician, P. Annius Florus.
T. ii. 216 ; C. 462.
124 ROMAN LITERATURE.
maiorem gloriam populi Romani. At the same time, he
betrays a complete lack of historical insight and psychologi-
cal apprehension. The style is rhetorically overloaded, full
of stereotyped words and phrases, sometimes, however, in
clear moments, picturesque and to the point.
A certain L. Ampelius,' otherwise unknown, wrote under
Antoninus Pius, a dry encyclopaedic manual, entitled liber
memorialis, on geographical, mythological, and especially
historical subjects.
We possess only fragments of the work of his contem-
porary, Granius Licinianus, who wrote an outline of
Roman history. The writings of Marius Maximus^ are
entirely lost. He wrote, about the year 230, biographies of
the emperors from Nerva to Heliogabalus, and was much
used by later writers, especially by the scriptores histo-
rise Augustae,^ some of whom, as ^Hus Spartianus, Volca-
cius Gallicanus, and Trebellius Pollio, wTote under Diocletian,
and some, as Flavius Vopiscus, yElius Lampridius, and luHus
Capitolinus, under Constantine the Great. Their work (it is
uncertain when and by whom it was collected) contained
the biographies of the emperors, from Hadrian to Numerian
(117-284), written in monotonous style, in halting language,
moving on generally in short sentences, without a proper
separation of the important and the insignificant, and with-
out- an arrangement suited to the subject. Nevertheless, it
is very valuable for the history of this period on account of
the lack of other authorities. The authorship of all the
biographies is not certain ; the most are by Spartianus and
Vopiscus.
Several works bear the name of Aurelius Victor,'' who
was governor of Pannonia under Theodosius the Great : de
1 T. ii. 239 ; C. 468. 2 X. ii. 296. 3 t. ii. 320. « T. ii. 370.
FIFTH PERIOD. 1 25
CcEsaribus, from Caesar to Constantine, an uncritical collection
of material in an excessively compact style ; also an epitome de
Ccesaribus, which deviates in many ways from the original,
and extends further, reaching to the time of Theodosius
the Great ; moreover, it depends upon other authorities,
and, on the whole, is more easily understood than the de
Csesaribus. Both productions are, perhaps, compendia
of a larger work of Aurelius Victor. Of unknown author-
ship are two other writings, which likewise bear his name :
de viris illustribus, covering the period from Procas to
Cleopatra, and written with general good sense ; and origo
gentis Romancr, from Saturn to the death of Romulus, a
silly production having not the least value.
To the same time with Aurelius Victor belongs Eutro-
pius,' who wrote, under Valens, z. bi-eviarium historice Ro-
mance, in 10 books, covering the period from the foundation
of Rome to the time of Jovian. It is, in general, unpretentious
and true to facts ; but, in the earlier books, it is dry and be-
trays a total neglect of the inner relations of things ; in
depicting the time of the emperors, however, it is fuller and
fresher, containing many good characterizations.- The work
was afterwards much used as a school-book.
The work of Ammianus Marcellinus^ is valuable as
an historical authority. He was born in Antiochia ; after
long service in the army, he wrote, about the year 390, at
Rome, 31 books ret-um gestarum, in which the period from
Nerva to Valens was described. Only Books XIV-XXXI
are extant, embracing the time 353-376. Ammianus, as
an enthusiastic worshipper of Julian the Apostate, writes from
1 T. ii. 372.
2 For example, that of Trajan, viii. 4; that of Constantine the Great, x.
7; that of Julian, x. 16.
8 T. ii. 407.
126 ROMAN LITERATURE.
a pagan standpoint with impartiality and fidelity to the truth.
His intentions are honorable and his judgment good, and he
often writes from a recollection of what he himself has seen
and experienced. His style, on the contrary, is forbidding
and unenjoyable on account of its excessive condensation
and affectation. This was the result of wide reading without
proper digestion, of an attempt to utilize his extensive collec-
tion of notes, and of an unripe half-culture, comprehending
least of all the spirit of the Latin language.
Works were written from the standpoint of Christianity
by the Aquitanian presbyter Sulpicius Severus ^ (about
400), and his contemporary, the Spanish presbyter Oro-
sius,~ who wrote outlines of universal history, from Adam
down to their time. Both works are without special value.
Further, Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorius=^ (-orus?),
who lived from 480 to 575, and was private secretary of
Theodoric, and in the year 540 and afterwards was in
the Bruttian monastery, Viviers, wrote a chronicle from
Adam doivn to sigA.D.; also, a history of the Goths, pre-
served, unfortunately, only in the scanty epitome of the
Goth lordanis'i (about 550); and 12 books variarum, a
collection of official documents, as well as numerous theo-
logical and encyclopcedic zvorks.
The Briton Gildas ^ wrote, in the sixth century, a History
of Britain, from 449 a.d. ; and a History of the Kingdom of
the Fratiks was written by Gregorius of Tours (Bishop in
573 and afterwards) with a mind open to historical truth, in
spite of his orthodox prejudices.
An important authority for the statistics of the later Roman
Empire are the official state records, written at the close of
1 T. ii. 448. 3 T. ii. 539- ^ T. ii. 549.
2 T. ii. 47a. * T. ii. 547.
FIFTH PERIOD. I 27
the fourth century, and entitled, Notitia dignitatiim et admin-
istrationum onmiiim tain civilium quam iniiitarium in parti-
bus orientis et occidentis}
d. — Special Sciences.
Among the special sciences, that of Law- occupies the
foremost place. From tlie outset a national Roman science,
it attained its highest development under the emperors, from
Hadrian's time to about the year 230. Civil law was admira-
bly set forth by the eminent jurists, who lived, for the most
part, at the imperial court, and were held in great esteem,
while their opinions, decisions {responsa), and manuals
became standard in the administration of justice. Thus,
after legal productions ceased about the middle of the third
century, there arose in their place, in tlie fourth century, an
active zeal for collecting and codifying the existing legal
authorities.
The most important jurists are given below : Salvius
lulianus,'* aside from independent works, compiled and
published, under Hadrian, in the year 131, the so-called
E die turn popetuum. This was a collection of opinions of the
Roman prsetors, from the time of the Republic, and a weiglity
legal authority in later times. His contemporary. Sex.
Pomponius, was the author of numerous works, which
were afterwards much used. The four books Institutionum
(introduction to the science of law), which were writ-
ten by Gaius"* about the year 160, and are, in great part,
preserved, were much used as a text-book. They became
the basis of the Institutions of Justinian. Two other very
1 T. i. 78.
2 Sandars' Justinian : Introd. ao, Am. Ed. ; T. i. 64 ; Hadley.
3 T. ii. 219; C. 462. ■* T. ii. 244; C. 466; Hadley, 71.
128 ROMAN LITERATURE.
important jurists were ^Emilius Papinianus^ and Do-
mitius Ulpianus.- The former, prsfectus praetorio under
Septimius Severus, and afterwards executed by command of
Caracalla, was tlie author of much-used responsa and quces-
tiones. He was distinguished by great breadth of views, in-
dependence of apprehension, and strong moral sensibility.
Ulpianus, a native of Tyre, praefectus praetorio under Alex-
ander Severus, and assassinated in 228, was the author of
numerous writings, which are much cited in the Justinian
Digests. lulius Paulus.^a contemporary of Ulpianus, was
active in the same line, and his writings were much used,
especially in the Pandects of Justinian. Herennius Mo-
destinus,"* a pupil of Ulpianus, may also be mentioned.
Among the collections of those constitutions which origi-
nated during the time from Hadrian to Diocletian, the first
was the Codex Gregorianus,^ which was begun by a jurist
Gregorianus ; then followed the Codex Hermogenianus
in the last part of the reign of Constantine the Great, and, at
the same time, the Fragmenta Vaticana.^ About a hun-
dred years later (438) appeared the Codex Theodosi-
anus,^ which contained, in 16 books, the constitutions that
had been published under Constantine the Great, and which
was afterwards the standard in the eastern empire until the
Codex of Justinian. Finally, the key-stone of this imposing
legal structure was the Corpus luris,^ which was prepared
in the reign of Justinian by a commission of jurists, at whose
head stood Tribonianus. The separate parts of this Corpus
luris are as follows : The Codex lustinianeus of the year
1 T,
2 T. ii
268; Hadley, II. 5 T. ii. 325.
283 ; Hadley, 10. 6 x. ii. 348.
3 T. ii. 287. 7 T. ii. 485.
* T. ii. 289.
*T.ii.S53; Hadley, 3; Sandars,23; Milman's Latin Christianity, i. 484,
FIFTH PERIOD. I 29
529; the Institutiones, taking the place of the original
Cod. lust, in 533 ; the Digesta, or Pandects,' and an en-
larged edition of the Cod. lust, from the year 534. To these
were added, after the death of Justinian, three private collec-
tions, Novellae, written mostly in Greek. This Corpus
luris made the earlier wTitings superfluous by absorbing
them, so far as their essential contents were concerned,
established the final stability and uniformity of law, and
served ever after as a foundation for its later unfolding
and development.
Of the remaining special sciences, Philology and Ar-
chaeology - were most cultivated. Under Hadrian, Anto-
ninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, the learned men in this
department, especially those of Fronto's school, were highly
respected and well paid. Nevertheless, independence, cer-
tainty, and correctness of judgment began to disappear, and
the process of making compendia and plundering from older
works was carried on more widely, yet often without taste
and critical care, with the one-sided, more or less perfunctory
purpose of accumulating materials and getting a collection of
notes. The outcome of this activity was, partly encyclo-
paedic collections and compilations of all kinds of antiquarian
notes, partly elementary books on grammar, metre, orthog-
raphy, lexicography, and partly commentaries on the earlier
poets, particularly Virgil.
The following names are especially worthy of mention : —
I. Compilers: Aulus Gellius,^ born about 130,
studied in Athens, and lived afterwards in Rome. He made
it his life-work to make compilations from the older writers,
and he put the results of his long, industrious studies into the
1 Excerpts from the most distinguished jurists, in 50 books,
2 T. i.51. 3 T. ii. 254; C.465.
130 ROMAN LITERATURE.
20 hooks JVoc^es AtticcB^ which (except Book VIII) are ex-
tant, and embrace language, literature, jurisprudence, phil-
osophy, and natural science. Gellius appears in the work as
a pedant, of no independent judgment, giving himself com-
pletely to his work ; but, so far as the material is concerned,
his compilation is very valuable to us, — all the more, inas-
much as some of the authorities used and cited by him have
not come down to us.
About the year 280, Nonius Marcellus,- probably from
Africa, wrote a lexical work entitled, compcndiosa doctrina
per literas, which shows, to be sure, very little judgment and
knowledge, but which has some value on account of its
citations.
About the year 400, a similar compilation to that of Gel-
lius was prepared by Macrobius Theodosius,-^ in his 7
books Saturnalia.'^ He made a liberal use of Gellius' work,
and discussed the most widely-separated subjects, in par-
ticular the peculiarities of Virgil. Moreover, we have a
commentary by Macrobius on Cicero's Somnium Scipionis^
which is thus preserved to us.
Martianus Capella,"^ from Madaura in Africa, a country-
man of Apuleius and related to him in style, wrote about the
year 430 an encyclopaedic work, partly in prose, and partly
in verse, after the model of Varro. He made, moreover,
free use of Varro as an authority for the content of his work.
After describing, in Books I and II, the wedding of Mercury
1 So called, because the work was begun in Attica during the long win-
ter nights. 2 x_ ii_ 214.
3 He filled high offices, and, in his later years, probably became a
Christian. T. ii. 452.
4 The name comes from the fact that the form chosen for the work is
that of a conversation held during the Saturnalia.
6 From de repub. VI. 6 T. ii. 464.
FIFTH PERIOD. 131
and Philologia, he treats, in Books III-IX, of the seven artes
liberales, — gi'ammar, dialectics, rhetoric (the trivium of the
Middle Ages), geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music
(the quadrivium). The work was very frequently used in
the Middle Ages as a school-book.
2. Writers of text-books and commentaries
(commentarii) : Terentius Scaurus,^ author (under Had-
rian) of a Latin Gfaiii/iiar and a treatise on poetry, be-
sides several commentarii ; only the work de orthographia is
extant; C. Sulpicius Apollinaris- of Carthage, teacher
of Gellius, and writer of qucestiones epistolicce ; Helenius
Aero, "^ who wrote about the year 200, commentaries on Ter-
ence, Horace, and Persiits ; on the other hand, the collection
of scholia on Horace, bearing Acro's name, is from the sev-
enth century ; Pomponius Porphyrio (about 200-250),
writer of still extant scholia on Horace ; Plotius Sacerdos,^
writer (under Diocletian) of an extant ars grammatica, to-
gether with a treatise on metre; Terentianus^ (Maurus),
from Mauretania, likewise under Diocletian, who wrote an
elementary book, de Uteris, syllabis, metris, of which the por-
tion devoted to metre has been presented ;^ luba^ (about
300), probably from Africa, writer of an elementary hook
on metre, which was much used by later writers ; Marius
Victorinus^ (about 350), writer of an extant treatise on
metre, also oi commentaries on the Pauline Rpistles ; iElius
Donatus'^ (about 350), writer of a grammar, and a com-
mentary on Terence, — both extant, the commentary, how-
ever, not in its original form ; Flavius Charisius ^^ (about
1 T. ii. 224; C. 463. 3 x. ii. 278. 5 "P. ij_ 227.
2 T. ii. 235 ; C. 467. 4 -p. ii. 326.
6 In describing the different metres, he always employs the metre of
which he is treating.
7 T. ii. 291. 8 T. ii. 360. 9 T, ii. 364. i" T. ii. 378.
132 ROMAN LITERATURE.
380), WTiter of a grammar, a part of which is extant;
Diomedes, who wrote in the same period, and often cov-
ered the same ground as Charisius ; Servius Honoratus^
(about 390), writer of a commentary on Virgil, — very valuable
in subject-matter ; Priscianus"^ (about 500), writer of insfi-
tutiones grammaticcB, in 18 books, a most complete grammati-
cal treatise, which, in connection with Donatus, Diomedes,
and Charisius, was in universal use in the Middle Ages, and
exercised the greatest influence on the treatment of gram-
matical subjects.
In the department of Geography, may be mentioned a
geographical, historical compilation {Collectanea reru?n vie-
morabilium), written with little taste by the grammarian C.
lulius Solinus,^ in the middle of the third century, — a
work which, in the portion devoted to geography, was chiefly
dependent upon the Naturalis Historia of Pliny ; also, a
Cosmography, from the seventh century, ascribed to a cer-
tain .ffithicus Ister ;^ moreover, other unimportant writings.
Of special worth are the Itineraria,^ or guide-books for travel-
lers on land and sea, which originated in the fourth century ;
moreover, the two catalogues of the regiones of Rome, the
Notitia^ and the Curiosum Urbis Romce ; finally, the maps,^
one of which, made in the time of Alexander Severus, served
as a basis for the tabula Peutingeriana, a traveller's map of
the Roman Empire, prepared at Colmar in 1265. It was
named after its former owner, the learned Augsburg coun-
cillor, Conrad Peutinger, and is now in the Court Library in
Vienna.
Astronomy, or rather astrology, found a zealous fol-
lower in the Sicilian rhetorician, Firmicus Maternus,^
1 T. ii. 413. 3 T. ii. 312. s t. ii. 366. ' T. ii. 78.
2 T. ii. 535. < T. ii. 576. 6 t. ii. 368. 8 t. i. 71, ii. 353.
FIFTH PERIOD. 133
who, in the time of Constantine the Great, inspired by a holy
zeal, wrote 8 books Mathesios, from the standpoint of the
Neo-Platonic superstition. This pagan Firmicus Maternus
must not be confounded with a contemporary Christian
Firmicus Maternus, who addressed to the sons of Constan-
tine the Great a work de errore profananim religionum,
urging them on to the annihilation of heathendom. The
greater part of this work is extant.
Important for Military Science is the Epitome ret
militans of Flavius Vegetius,^ a setting forth of Roman
miUtary science, written about the year 390. Book I treats
of the levying and training of recruits ; II, of military disci-
pHne ; III, of war itself; IV, of the art of siege, in partic-
ular.
In Medicine, may be mentioned a dispensatory (de
medicamentis), written under Theodosius I, and bearing the
name of a certain Marcellus Empiricus;^ but especially
the two works of Caelius Aurelianus ^ of Numidia, one,
a treatise on chronic and acute diseases,'' and the other a
medical catechism.^ Moreover, in the fifth century and
aftenvards, many medical writings were translated from the
Greek.
The partly-extant work on Agriculture written by Gar-
gilius Martialis,^ who lived in the third century, belongs
also to medicine, so far as it contains the art of healing
animals and other medical references. Much was trans-
ferred from this work into that of Palladius Rutilius''
(fourth century) consisting of 14 books relating to agricul-
ture.
1 T. i. 75, ii. 416. 2 T. ii. 420. » T. ii. 488.
4 Tardarum et celerum, or chronicarum et acutarum passionum.
5 Medicinales responsiones.
« T. ii. 294. ' T. ii. 365.
134 ROMAN LITERATURE.
e. — Patristic Literature.
Among the authors who wrote in the immediate interest
of the Christian Church, for the defense and justification of
Christianity against Paganism, and for the establishment and
development of Christian doctrine and form of government,
— the so-called Church Fathers,^ — the following are worthy
of special mention : —
Minucius Felix, ^ a Roman advocate, wrote, at the close
of the second century, the dialogue Octavius, in which the
superiority of Christianity to Paganism is shown, especially in
relation to morals and civilization. The work is written in
a scholarly tone, reminding one of Cicero and Seneca, and
in a comparatively natural style.
Q. Septimius Florens Tertullianus^ (150-230) of
Carthage, was a rhetorician and an advocate in Rome, and
afterwards a presbyter in Carthage. He was a montanist, and
an original, fiery spirit, seeking to grasp the divine in concrete
form, an ascetic enthusiast and a keen dialectician. His
language was full of character, but arbitrary and peculiar.
Among his numerous writings the Apologcticiis of the year
199 is of special worth. Thascius Csecilius Cyprianus,'*
bishop of Carthage, martyred in 258, is important in the his-
tory of church government on account of his work de unitate
ecclesicB. Arnobius,^ of Sicca in Numidia, wrote, about 295,
7 books adversus nationes (heathen), in declamatory, un-
even language, and without a deep understanding of Chris-
tianity.
1 T. ii. 207, 338.
2 T. ii. 272; Holden's Octavius of M. Felix: Introd. ; Schaff: Hist, of
Christian Church, i. 525.
3 T. ii. 275 ; Woodham's Apology of Tertullian : Introd. ; Schaff, i. 512.
4 T. ii. 299 ; Schaff, i. 519. ^ T. ii. 329 ; Schaff, i. 527.
FIFTH PERIOD. I35
On the other hand, Lactantius Firmianus ^ (under Dio-
cletian) , a rhetorician in Nicomedia, and afterwards teacher
of Crispus, son of Constantine the Great, is regarded as the
Christian Cicero, so far as style is concerned. His wTitings,
among them, especiall)-, insfitiitionum divinaruffi libri VII,
exhibit an intimate acquaintance with the best classical
writers and poets, and a cultivated, tolerant mind.
A powerful champion of the glory of the church was
Ambrosius,^ who died as bishop of Milan in 398. He was
more important on account of his personal character than on
account of his writings. He took a prominent part in ad-
vancing church music, was a A\Titer of rhymed hymns^ in
iambic dimeters, but not of the later so-called Ambrosian
Hymn, " Te Deum laudamus."
An extremely learned and copious wTiter was Hierony-
mus'* of Stridon in Dalmatia (336-420), " the disputator and
dialectician of the contending church," at the same time in-
timately acquainted with classical literature and a connoisseur
in Hebrew. The most important of his works is the Latin
translation of the Bible ^' the foundation of the still received
Vulgate.
By far the most prominent of all the Church Fathers was
Aurelius Augustinus,*^ who was born at Tagasta in Nu-
midia, 354 a.d., was bishop of Hippo Regius, and died in
430. He was an extremely versatile spirit, who united in
himself the most varied gifts and talents. He was of the
greatest importance for the development of ecclesiastical
dogma. Among his many writings the 22 books de civitate
1 T. ii. 330 ; Schaff, iii. 955. 3 Trench, 86 ; Schaff, iii. 590,
- T. ii. 423 ; Schaff, iii. 961. 4 T. ii. 425 ; Schaff, iii. 967.
5 His translation of the Bible is in its way a masterpiece. T. ii. 427;
Schaff, iii. 972.
6 T. ii. 441 ; Schaff, iii. 989.
136 ROMAN LITERATURE.
Dei^ are most worthy of mention, a historical, philosophical
work, which exhibits a thorough knowledge of Roman and
Greek literature, and has preserved to us much from both.
His confessiones is his most popular work.^
Among the popes may be named Leo the Great ^
(Leo I), pope 440-461, the founder of the greatness of
the papal throne, and a strenuous defender of church unity.
His writings are partly sermones (delivered on festival occa-
sions), partly epistulce, written in comparatively pure style.
Gregory the Great '^ (Gregory I), pope 590-604, also
deserves mention. He was a man of monastic tendency,
disdaining grammatical rules and worldly science. His most
important works are his epistles and hyinns. He was like-
wise active in the furtherance of church music.
1 The grandest and most characteristic work of later Roman literature.
Schlegel, 138 ; Schaff, iii. loio.
2 Schaff, iii. 1005 ; Shedd's Introd. to Am. Ed.
« T. ii. 480; Schaff, ii. 314. * T. ii. 569.
SURVEY OF ROMAN LITERATURE.
138
ROMAN LITERATURE.
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INDEX.
A.
Accius, 23.
Acilius Glabrio, 27.
Aero, see Helenius.
Acta senatus, 82.
Acta populi, 82.
j'Elius Donatus, 131.
yElius Lampridius, 124.
jElius Psetus, 31.
iElius Spartianus, 124.
ililius Stilo, 32.
yElius Tubero, 72.
/Emilius Asper, iii.
(Emilius Papinianus, 128.
jf^milius Probus, 76.
yEsopus, the tragedian, 38.
jEthlcus Ister, 132.
yEtna, 92.
Afranius, 22.
African latinity, 115.
Agriculture, 33, 113, 133.
Agrippa, see Vipsanius,
Agrippina minor, gg.
Albius TibuUus, 56.
Ambrosius, 121, 135.
Ammianus Marcellinus, 125.
Ampelius, 124.
Anna;us Lucanus, go.
Annseus Seneca, rhetorician, 106.
Annseus Seneca, philosopher, 8g.
Tragedies, 89.
Satire, 93.
Philosophical writings and epistles,
108.
Annales maxlmi, 12.
Annales pontificum, 12.
Annalists, 26, 27, 28.
Anthropology', 112.
Antistius Labeo, 84, no.
Antonius, M., orator, 30.
Apollinaris Sidonius, 117.
Apuleius, 120, 121.
ArchEeology, 32, 84, 129.
Archaic prose, 25, 26.
Architecture, 83, 84.
Arithmetic, 83, 131.
Arnobius, 134.
Arruntius Stella, 97.
Artes liberales, 83, 131.
Artistic Drama, 16, 17, 18.
Asconius Pedianus, in.
Asinius Pollio, 59, 79, 81.
Astrology, 132.
Astronomy, 33, 112, 131, 132.
Ateius Capito, 84, no.
Atellanae, 10, 16.
Atticus, see Pomponius.
Aufidius Bassus, 99.
Augustinus, 135.
Augustus, 78, 98.
Aurelius Cassiodorius, 126.
Aurelius Symmachus, 120.
Aurelius Victor. 124.
Ausonius, see Magnus.
Avianus, 119.
Avienus, see Festus.
Bathyllus, 39.
Boetius, see Manlius.
Book-trade, 34, 37, 87.
Botany, 112.
147
148
ROMAN LITERATURE.
Caecilius Cyprianus, 134.
Caelius Antipater, 28.
Caelius Aurelianus, 133.
Caelius Rufus, 59.
Caesar, see lulius.
Ccesius Bassus, 92, 97.
Calidius, 59.
Calpurnius Piso Frugi, 28.
Carmen, 8.
Carmen Arvalium, see Sacred songs.
Carmen Saliare, see Sacred songs.
Carmina Triumphalia, 9.
Cassiodorius, see Aurelius.
Cassius Heraina, 28.
Cassius Longinus, no.
Cassius Severus, 59.
Catullus, see Valerius.
Celsus, see Cornelius.
Charisius, see Fiavius.
Chronicles, 13, 26.
Church Fathers, 134.
Cicero, see Tullius.
Cincius Alimentus, 27.
Claudius Caecus, 13.
Claudius Claudianus, 117.
Claudius, Imperator, 98, no.
Claudius Quadrigarius, 29.
Cluvius Rufus, 99.
Codex Gregorianus, 128.
Codex Hermogenianus, 128.
Codex lustinianeus, 128.
Codex Theodosianus, 128.
Columella, see Moderatus.
Comedy, 17, 22.
Commentarii magistratuum, 12.
Commentarii pontificum, 12.
Commentarii regum, 12.
Contaminare, 18.
Cornelius Celsus, 113.
Cornelius Fronto, iig.
Cornelius Gallus, 53.
Cornelius Nepos, 75.
Cornelius Sisenna, 28.
Cornelius Sulla, 28.
Cornelius Tacitus, loi.
Cornificius, 31.
Corpus iuris, 128.
Crassus, L., orator, 30.
Cremutius Cordus, 98.
Curiatius Maternus, 89.
Curio, sg.
Curiosum urbis Romae, 132.
Curtius Rufus, 100.
Cyprianus, see Caecilius.
Dialectics, 83, 131.
Didactic poetry, 37 7(9, 40, 92, 116, 118.
Digesta, 129.
Diomedes, 132.
Domestic economy, 33.
Domitius Ulpianus, 128.
Donatus, see jElius.
Dracontius, 118.
Drama, 9, 16, 38, 89.
E.
Edictum perpetuum, 127.
Elegy, 52.
Encyclopaedic literature, 82, 112, 129.
Ennius, 14, 15, 18, 22, 24.
Epic poetry, 8, 23, 37, 39, 88, 90, 116, 117
Epicureanism, 65.
Epigram, 97, 116, 117.
Epistle (poetical), 39, 40, 48, 116, 117
Epistle (prose), 68, 107, no, 120.
Epitaphs, 9.
Erotic poetry, 52, 53, 56, 57.
Eutropius, 125.
Exodium, 10, 16.
Fable, 96, 119.
Fabius Pictor, 26.
Fabius Quintilianus, 106.
Fabius Rusticus, 99.
Fabula palliata, 17.
Fabula praetexta, 22.
Fabula rhinthonica, 19.
Fabula togata, 22.
Fasti, 12.
Fescennini, 10.
INDEX.
149
Festus Avtenus, 118.
Festus, see Pompeius.
Firmicus Maternus, 132.
Flavius Caper, 11 1.
Flavius Charisius, 131.
Flavius Merobaudcs, 117.
Flavius Vegetius, 133.
Flavius Vopiscus, 124.
Florus, 123.
Fragmenta Vaticana, 128.
Frontinus, see lulius.
Fronto, see Cornelius.
Gaius, 127.
Gargilius Martialis, 133.
Gellius, izg.
Genus Asiaticum, 30, 58.
Genus Atticum, 31, 58.
Genus Rhodium, 58.
Geography, 33, 84, 85, 112, 132.
Geometry, 83, 131.
Germanicus, 92.
Gildas, 126.
Gracchus, C, 30.
Grammar, see Philology.
Granius Licinianus, 124.
Gratius Faliscus, 45.
Greek influence, 2, 7, 14, 30, 34, 64.
Gregorius I (Magnus), 136.
Gregorius Turonensis, 126.
H.
Helenius Aero, 131.
Herennius Modestinus, 128.
Hexameter, 24.
Hieronymus, 135.
Hirtius, 75.
Historical songs, 8
History, 16, 26, 72, 88, 98, 122.
Horatius, 46, 51.
Satires, 47.
Epistles, 48.
Odes, 49.
Epodes, 50.
Horace and Virgil, 51.
Hortensius, 30.
Hyginus, 85.
Hyginus (Surveyor), iii.
Hymns to the dead, 9.
Idyll, 39, 40, 42, 116, 117.
Iguvinae tabulae, 9.
Institutiones, 129.
lordanis, 126.
Italic language and dialects, 3.
Itineraria, 132.
luba, 131.
lulius Ca;sar, 59, 73.
lulius Capitolinus, 124
lulius Frontinus, in.
lulius Paulus, 128.
lulius Solinus, 132.
lunius luvenalis, 93.
lus jElianum, 32.
lus Flavianum, 13. 31.
lus Papirianum, 12.
lustinus, 82.
Tuvencus, see Vettius.
L.
Laberius, Dec, 39.
Lactantius Firmianus, 135.
Latin language, 3.
Laudatlones funebres, 13.
Law, 16, 31, 83, no, ns, 127, 130.
Leges XII tabularum, 13.
Leges regiae, 12.
Leo I (Magnus), 136.
Libraries, 35.
Libri lintei, 12.
Libri magistratuum, 12.
Libri pontificum, 12.
Licinius Calvus, 52.
Licinius Macer, 29.
Livius Andronicus, 18, 22, 23.
Livius, T., 79.
Lucanus, 90.
Lucilius, C, 25.
Lucilius Junior, 92
Lucretius, 40.
Ludicrum Oscum, lo.
150
ROMAN LITERATURE.
Luscius Lavinius, 21.
Lutatius Catullus, 28.
Lyric poetry, 37, 49, 50, 52, 96, 116.
M.
Maccius Plautus, 19.
Macrobius, 130.
Msecenas, 41, 46.
Magnus Ausonius, ii5.
Mago. 33-
Manilius, 45.
Manlius Boetius, 121.
Marcellus Empiricus, 133.
Marcus Aurelius, 115.
Marius Maximus, 124.
Marius Victorinus, 131.
Martialis, see Valerius.
Martianus Capella, 130.
Masurius Sabinus, no.
Mathematics, 33, in, 122.
Medicine, 83, 112, 113, 133.
Mela, see Pomponius.
Memmius, 59.
Merobaudes, see Flavius.
Military writings, in, 113, 133.
Mime, 38, 89.
Mineralogy, 112.
Minucius Felix, 134.
Moderatus Columella, 113.
Monumentum Ancyranum, 79.
Mucius Scaevola, P. and Q., 32.
Music, 83, 131.
N.
Naevius, 18, 22, 24.
Namatianus, see Rutilius.
Nemesianus, 118.
Nenise, see Hymns to the dead.
Nepos, see Cornelius.
Nero, go.
New Academy, 65.
Nigidius Figulus, 84.
Nonius Marcellus, 130.
Notitia dignitatum, 127.
Notitia Urbis Romae, 132.
Novellae, 129.
Novius, 16.
Octavia, praetexta, 89.
Ofilius, 84.
Oratory, 16, 29, 88, 105, 1 19.
Orosius, 126.
Ovidius, 53.
P.
Pacuvius, 22.
Palladius Rutilius, 133.
Palliata, 17.
Pandects, 129.
Panegyric Literature, 115.
Pantomime, 39, 89.
Papinianus, see VEmilius.
Papinius Statins, 91, 97.
Patristic literature, 115, 134.
Pedo Albinovanus, 40.
Persius Flaccus, 93.
Pervigilium Veneris, 116.
Petronius Arbiter, 94.
Peutingeriana tabula, 132.
Phaedrus, 96.
Philology, 32, 83, 84, no, 122, 129, 131.
Philosophy, 64, 108, 113, 121, 130.
Plautus, see Maccius.
Plinius maior, 99, 112.
Plinius minor, 107.
Plotius Sacerdos, 131.
Pompeius Festus, 84.
Pompeius Trogus. 82.
Pomponius, L., 16.
Pomponius Atticus, 69, 72.
Pomponius Mela, 112.
Pomponius Porphyrio, 131.
Pomponius Secundus, 89.
Pomponius, Sextus, Jurist, 127.
Popular Epos, 8, 23.
Porcius Cato censorius, 27, 30, 32, 33.
Porphyrio, see Pomponius.
Postumius Albinus, 27.
Praetexta, 22.
Priscianus, 132.
Proculus, see Sempronius.
Propertius, 57.
Provincial literature, 37, 114.
INDEX.
15 1
Prudentius Clemens, 116.
Publilius Syrus, 39.
Pylades, 39.
Quinctius Atta, 22.
Quintilianus see Faoius.
Rabirius, 40.
Recitationes, 37.
Remmius Palaemo, 11 1.
Rhetoric, 50, 58, 88, 105, 113, 114, 119,
131.
Rhetorica ad Herennium, 31.
Ritual precepts, 9.
Roscius, comedian, 38.
Rutilius Namatianus, 118.
Rutilius Rufus, 28.
Sabinus, see Masurius.
Sacred songs, 9.
Sallustius, 76.
Salvius lulianus, 127.
Satire, 25, 37, 40, 45, 47, 92, 97.
Satura, 10, i6, 25.
Satura Menippea, 45.
Saturnius versus, 8.
Scribonius Largus, 113.
Scriptores historiae Augustas, 124.
Sempronius Asellio, 28.
Sempronius Proculus, no.
Sempronius Tuditanus, 28.
Seneca, rhetorician, see Annseus.
Seneca, philosopher, see Annseus.
Septimius Florens TertuUianus, 134.
Servius Honoratus, 132.
Sextii Nigri, 65.
Sidonius, see Apollinaris.
Silius Italicus, 91.
Sisenna, 28.
Solinus, see lulius.
Stage, the, in Rome, 10.
Statins Csecilius, 21.
Statius, see Papinius.
Stoicism, 65, 109.
Suetonius, 122.
Sulla, see Cornelius.
Sulpicia, 97.
Sulpicius Apollinaris, 131.
Sulpicius Galba, 30.
Sulpicius Rufus, 84.
Sulpicius Severus, 126.
Surveyors, 161.
Symmachus, see Aurelius.
Tacitus, see Cornelius.
Terentianus, 131.
Terentius, P , 20.
Terentius Scaurus, 131.
Terentius Varro, polyhistor, 45, 82
Terentius Varro Atacinu?., 40.
TertuUianus, see Septimius.
Theatre in Rome, 17.
Tiberius, 98.
Tibullus, see Albius.
Titinius 22.
Togata, 22.
Tragedy, 22.
Treaties, 11.
Trebatius Testa, 84.
Trebellius Pollio, 124.
Tribonianus, 128.
Triumph, songs of, 9.
Tucca, 44.
Tullius Cicero, 59.
Epic Poems, 40.
Orations, 62.
Rhetorical writings, 68.
Philosophical works, 64.
Letters, 68.
Historical works, 72.
Character, 71.
V (U).
Valerius Antias, 29.
Valerius Catullus, 52.
Valerius Flaccus, 91.
Valerius Martialis, 97.
Valerius Ma.ximus, 100.
Valerius Messala, 59, 79
Valerius Probus. iii.
152
ROMAN LITERATURE.
Varius, L., 40, 44.
Varro, see Terentius.
Vegetius, see Flavius.
Velius Longus, iii.
Velleius Paterculus, 99.
Venantius Fortunatiis, 118.
Vergilius, 41, 51.
V^errius Flaccus, 84.
Vespasianus, 99, m.
Vettius Aquilius luvencus,
Victorinus, see Marius.
Vipsanius Agrippa, 79, 85.
Vitruvius PoUio, 85.
Ulpianus, see Domitius.
Volcacius Gallicanus, 124.
117.
z.
Zoology, 112.
K.yc
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