Latin Literature

The novel --•as also of some importance, to judge by the con siderable fragments of a picaresque romance, the Satyricon, by Petronius, the arbiter elegantiarum or semi-official Master of the Revels in Nero's court, and one of those who perished in the con spiracy of Piso. Apart from literary interest, it throws a great light on the colloquial speech of the time.

In literary criticism the great name is that of M. Fabius Quin tilianus c. 35–c. also the greatest Latin writer, save Cicero, on rhetoric and literary education generally. His , chief work, the lnstitutio Oratoria ("Training of an Orator") was written probably about the last decade of the 1st century.' He was a classicizer, and a passionate admirer of Cicero's style, yet by no means in favour of mere imitation of classical models; for him, the decay of Latin literature had not begun. Like so many writers of this age, he was a Spaniard.

Later Writers.

For two centuries after Juvenal we can name no verse-writers but Q. Serenus Sammonicus, with his pharma copoeia in verse (c. 225), and M. Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus, who, besides imitating Calpurnius, as mentioned above, wrote (283) a dull piece on the training of dogs for the chase.' To wards the middle of the 4th century we have Decimus Magnus Ausonius, a professor of Bordeaux and afterwards consul (379), whose style is as little like that of classical poetry as is his prosody. His Mosella, a detailed description of the river Moselle, is the least unattractive of his works. A little better is his con temporary, Rufius Festus Avienus, who made some free transla tions of astronomical and geographical poems in Greek. A gen eration later, in what might be called the expiring effort of Latin poetry, appeared two writers of much greater merit. The first is Claudius Claudianus (c. 40o), the court poet of the emperor Honorius and his minister Stilicho. Claudian may be properly styled the last of the poets of Rome. He breathes the old national spirit, and his mastery of classical idiom and versification is for his age extraordinary. Something of the same may be seen in Rutilius Namatianus, a Gaul by birth, who wrote in 426 a descrip tion of his voyage from the capital to his native land, which con tains the most glowing eulogy of Rome ever penned by an ancient hand. Of the Christian poets only Aurelius Prudentius Clemens

(c. 348-41o) need be mentioned. He was well read in the ancient literature ; but the task of embodying the Christian spirit in the classical form was one far beyond his powers.

Prose.—In prose, the rise of M. Cornelius Fronto (c. loo-175), a native of Cirta, marks the beginning of an African influence. Fronto, a distinguished orator and intimate friend of the emperor M. Aurelius, broke away from the traditional Latin of the Silver and Golden ages, and took as his models the pre-classical authors. The reaction was shortlived ; but the same affectation of antiquity is seen in the writings of Apuleius, also an African, who lived a 'Editions of the Life of Julius (H. E. Butler and M. Cary) and that of Vespasian (A. W. Braithwaite) have been published by the Clarendon Press, 1927.

'Good editions are available in English of Book i. (F. H. Colson, 1924) and Book x. (W. Peterson, 1891).

'The Pervigilium Veneris, or Vigil of Venus, is of unknown date, but probably early in this period. Its 9o-odd lines would do credit to any age, but it stands alone.

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later than Fronto and was a man of much greater natural parts. In his .Metamorphoses, which were based upon a Greek original, he takes the wonderful story of the adventures of Lucius of Madaura, and interweaves the famous legend of Cupid and Psyche. His bizarre and mystical style has a strange fascination for the reader; but there is nothing Roman or Italian about it. Two epitomists of previous histories may be mentioned; Justinus (of uncertain date) who abridged the history of Pompeius Trogus, an Augustan writer; and P. Annius Florus, who wrote in the reign of Hadrian a rhetorical sketch based upon Livy. The Augus tan History (q.v.) is marked by puerility and poverty of style. Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330-400) had a higher conception of the historian's function. His narrative of the years 3 78 (all that now remains) is honest and straightforward, but his diction is awkward and obscure. The last pagan prose writer who need be mentioned is Q. Aurelius Symmachus (c. 350-410), the author of some speeches and a collection of letters. All the art of his ornate and courtly periods cannot disguise the fact that there was nothing now for paganism to say.