Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/897

* LATIN LITEBATURE. 818 LATIN LITERATURE. lius Paterculus, an old soldier, and a great ad- mirer of Tiberius, published in a.d. 30 a com- pendium of Roman history, mostly of the Km])ire, in two l)ooks — a work of the tliird raidc. "a- lerius Maximus dedicated to 'J'iberius his facto- rum ct Dictorum Mrmorahiliiim Libri IX., a large collection of historical anecdotes. A. Cor- nelius C'elsus was the author of an encyclopa'dic ■work on very diverse subjects, of which eight books on meclicine {De Mcdieina) have survived, and form our best exposition of the medical science of the Romans. Finally, the Emperor's freedman Pha>drus adapted in Latin scnarii the fal)les of .ICsop with many additions of his own. His animals, however, have not the life-like char- acter of those of .Esiip, nor tlu' wisdom claimed for them by the autlior liimself. In the reigns of Caligula (a.d. .'S7-41) and Claudius (a.d. 41- 54) literature made no important acipiisitions, although granunatii'al studies and juris])rndence continued to l)e cultivated. Perhaps to tliis pe- riod belong the Chorofiraphia of Pomponius Mela, a geography of the ancient world as known at this time, and the Hisloriariim Alexanilri Mufini Libri X. of Q.' Curtius Rufus, a somewhat dry but not altogether uninteresting account of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Claudius's Court ])hysician. Scribonius Largus, published about A.u. 47 a book of useful medical prescrip- tions, which is extant. Claudius liimself was an industrious writer on Etruscan and Roman an- tiquities, but we possess only part of one of his speeches before the Senate, discovered in 1524 at Lyons, engraved on bronze tablets, the substance of which is quoted by Tacitus {Ann., xi. 2.5). The accession of Nero (a.d. ."54-08) marked a revival in letters. The greatest writer was L. Annoeus Seneca, the i)hilosopher (n.c. 4-A.n. ('<5). son of the elder Seneca mentioned above. Seneca's fa- cility iu composition resembled that of Ovid. His philosophy, which was based on that of the Stoics, was more cosmopolitan than Roman, and discloses a loftiness of moral view scarcely con- sistent with the weaknesses of his own life. His style is ornamental and forced, and his .sentences disconnected and brief, and adapted to win ap- plause at recitations. Seneca wrote on a great variety nf sulijecls. both in ju'ose and verse. The most important of his extant works are bis phil- osophical discourses on such subjects as Anger, Clemency, Ccmsolation, the Shortness of Life, etc., and twenty books of Moral Letters (Epis- tiiUr Morales), 124 in all, addressed to his friend Lucilius. He was the author, also, of eight tragedies, with subjects chielly drawn from Euri])ides. of which the best known is the Medra. His satirical pamphlet, .{pocolociintosis Divi ChiKtli, is unique in Latin literature. Seneca's nephew, jI. Anna-us Lueanus (A.n. losophy, and though a young man when he was ]iut to death by Xero for his ]>art in Piso's con- spiracy, he had already gained a high ))laee as a poet by his e|)ic I'luir.salia. an account of the civil war between Pompeius and Ca>sar, which is to be ranked as a wmk of genius, though it abounds in exaggeration, wearisome digression, and misplaced learning. Lucan's intinnite friend, the poet A. Pcrsius Flaccus (a.u. 34-02). is a far more interesting personality: and though he died in his twenties, lu' left six t^iifiris that will always he reail with interest and adiuiratiou. Pcrsius was full of vouthful moral i-iitlni-iinsm — quite in contrast with his contemporary Petro- nius Arbiter, who, if he was really, as seems jirobable, the arbiter ch-ijantiarum of Xero, was (rompelled to put an end to his life in a.d. CO. His tiatiricon (sc. Libri) is a vivacious and well- written satirical romance, the only work of its kind that is left from Roman literature. We possess almost entire the part entitled Vena Trimalchionis, the description of a dinner given at the house of Trimalchio, a rich but vulgar up- start. The various characters are cleverly drawn and the language and conversation of each is in strict kec|)ing with his station.. It remains in this ])eriod merely to mention L. .Junius Mode- ratus Columella, author of an extensive agri- cultural work IJc lie Iltistica. (b) The accession of Vespasian (a.d. GO) marked the appearance in literature of a soberer style than was possible amid the friv(jlous glitter of Xero's Court. The greatest writer of this reign was C. Plinius Secundus, or Pliny the Elder (a.d. 23-7'J), who perished, as a result of his spirit of scientilic investigation, in the great eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pom- jjcii. He was a voluminous writer. b>it we have only his extensive .storehouse of learning entitled Historia Naturulls, which, though mainly a com- pilation, represents a vast amount of laborious research. It was in the reign of Vespasian, also, that C. Valerius Flaccus wrote the first i)art of his poem Aryonantien — an imitation of the Greek work of ApoUonius Rhodius — though most of it was published in later years. The writers of Domitian's reign (a.d. 81-90) were more numer- ous. There were two epic poets of secondary im- portance, Silius Italicus (c. 25-101 A.I>.) an<l P. Papinius Statiis (c.40-!)0 A.u.). the former, au- thor of a description of tlic Second Punic War (I'uiiiea) : the latter of two mythological poems, Thebais and AehiUeis, and a collection of shorter ])oems entitled ,Silra: All are sadly wanting in originality and inspiration. X^ot so with the Epigrams of M. Valerius JIartialis (c. 40-104 A.D. ), the Court poet of Domitiau. His fifteen books possess greater interest for us than any other works of the period for the insight they give into the social life of the day. All the frivolity, license, immorality, and servility of the age of Domitian are mirrored in these little sketches. They are remarkable also for their consummate wit and their polish of form and diction. Martial is in one sense the creator of the epigrani. for it was be who first gave to it the sting which it now carries. The only prose writer of first imiiortance was M. Fabius Quin- tilianus (A.I). 35-95). who. after a long and use- ful life in Rome as a teacher of rhetoric, spent his declining years in the preparation of a great work on the Training of the Orator (histiliitio Oraliiria) . which has always remained a classic. With ripe judgment fouideil on experience. Quin- tilian traces from childhood up the proper educa- tion of the future orator. The tenth book, which is devoted to literary criticism, is of especial interest to-day. .'side from literature as such, perhaps the most scientific writer of all the Romans was Sextus .lulius Fronlinus (c.40103 A.D.), who made an honorable record both at Rome, as aqueduct- connnissioner. and in the field as Governor of liritain. The results of these very diverse ex- ))criences are sunuued up in his Pr Aqiiis Prhi.M-iivc report on the Roman water-
 * !l)-.5), was also imbued with the Stoic phi-