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you will in vain endeavor to appease by any cringing debasement. The thieves of the world! when lands fail to satisfy their rapacity that devastates all, they ransack the seas also. If their enemy be rich, they are greedy for his wealth; if he be poor, they are eager for his enslavement: a nation which East and West cannot glut; the only nation in the world which covets with equal ardor rich states and poor. Extortion, murder, rapine, in their false tongue, are known as power; and where they make a solitude they call it peace.

But all the incentives to victory are on our side. No wives inspire the Roman courage; no parents are with them to reproach their flight. The majority have either no native country, or some foreign one. Few in number; fearful through ignorance of their position; looking around with horror on these skies, seas and forests - all unknown, completely hemmed in, the Gods have given them up to us, as it were, already conquered.

There is nothing to fear behind these: ungarrisoned forts; colonies of old men; towns disaffected and torn with altercations between disloyal subjects and unjust governors. Here is your general, here your army; there exactions of tribute; drudgery in mines; and the other punishments of slaves. To choose these as our lasting portion, or at once to avenge our wrongs, depends on this field. As you rush into action, bethink you of your ancestors and your posterity.

MINOR AUTHORS OF THE SILVER AGE.

In addition to the foregoing, the principal authors of what is known as the Silver Age of Latin literature, there are others of minor importance, of whom we may more briefly speak. Among the earliest of these was Sil'ius Ital'icus, born 25 A.D. He left a ponderous work, which still exists, the dullest and most tedious poem in the Latin language. Its title is Punica, being an epic, in seventeen books, on the second Punic war. It is harmonious in versification, which is about its only merit.

Vale'rius Flac'cus lived in the reign of Vespasian. There is a poem of his extant, called the Argonautica, which is an imitation, and in some parts a translation, from Apollonius Rhodius. It is a work with no serious faults, being melodious, correct, and in good taste; but it is destitute of genius or fervor. It never rises above a dead level, and displays originality only in its most commonplace form.

Domitian, the emperor, like his predecessor Nero, also wrote verses. His extant work is a paraphrase of the Phonomena of Aratus, a production not without merit in language and versification, though not particularly poetical.

The earliest prose writers of this epoch were Aufid'ius Bas'sus and Cremu'tius Cor'dus. The former wrote a history of the German and civil wars. Of the works of the latter only a few fragments remain. They contained a history of the civil wars, and roused the wrath of the emperor Tiberius by an attack on his favorite Sejanus. Seeing that there was no hope of escaping condemnation from the cruel tyrant, the author starved himself to death.

Velle'ius Pater'culus was a supporter of Seja'nus, and was probably put to death on the fall of that base favorite.

He left a short historical work, being a history of Rome, in two books. It is skillfully performed, considering the great condensation required. The most striking events are selected, and told in a lively and interesting manner. But in his account of his own times he is partial and prejudiced. In fact, it was impossible to write true contemporary history in those days and survive the fatal crime of telling the truth. Vale'rius Max'imus has left a work called Dictorum Factorumque Memorabilium, which consists of a collection of historical and biographical anecdotes. His object is to illustrate the beauty of virtue and the deformity of vice. Nothing is known of him, except that he probably wrote during the reign of Tiberius. His style shows evident marks of the decline of the language from its classic purity.

Arue'lius Corne'lius Cel'sus, who also probably flourished in the reign of Tiberius, wrote numerous works on philosophy, rhetoric, agriculture, etc., being a man of the greatest knowledge. The only work of his extant is one in eight books, on medicine. It is a work of great merit, showing a clear knowledge of surgery and practical acquaintance with disease. The highest testimony to its merits is that it is still in use as a text-book. His style has all the purity of the Augustan age, which has gained for him the appellation of the "Cicero of Physicians." He was followed by Scribo'nius, an obsequious court physician of the reign of Claudius, who wrote several works, one of which, a large collection of prescriptions, is extant.

Pomponius Me'la may be considered as the representative of Roman geographers. He lived in the reign of Claudius. He has left a work, called De Situ Orbis, which is learned and systematic. Its information, however, is all at second-hand, being taken from books, and is rendered entertaining by well told myths and lively descriptions. The style is simple and pure, but the work little more than a bare skeleton of the geographical knowledge of his day.

Ju'nius Modera'tus Columel'la has left the most complete treatise on practical agriculture, as it existed in the first century of our era. His work, De Re Rustica, is in twelve books, and embraces a great variety of subjects connected with farming life, as the choice of a farm, arrangement of buildings, rearing of stock, cultivation of fruit. trees, household economy, etc. It is written in a fluent though too diffuse style, and is full of useful information.

Sex'tus Ju'lius Fronti'nus has left two works, still extant. The first of these is a treatise on military tactics, its doctrines being given in the form of precepts and anecdotes of celebrated generals. In this way the theory and practice of ancient warfare are elucidated in a straightforward, soldierlike style. His other work is an architectural treatise, descriptive of those wonderful monuments of Roman art, the aqueducts. Besides these there are fragments of his on surveying and the laws relating to landed property. These are valuable, as being the only reliable information extant on the subject. Frontinus lived in the reign of Vespasian, and held a military command in England.

Q. Curtius Rufus, an author of very doubtful date, has left a biography of Alexander the Great, which, though not pretending to historical truth, has all the interest of a romance. He never loses an opportunity to exalt his hero, nor are his talents as a story-teller checked by any undue attention to tactics, geography or history. His work is,

however, deeply interesting.

L. Annæ'us Flo'rus has left a short historical summary, compiled from authorities extant in his time, probably in greater part from Livy. It is a mere dry skeleton, and very uninteresting.

These comprise the chief of the minor authors, of whom any works are extant; with them ends any active Roman literature which may strictly be called classical, though in the succeeding ages an occasional flash of genius appeared.

THE IRON AGE OF ROMAN LITERATURE.

WITH the death of Juvenal and Tacitus, of the younger Pliny and Suetonius, the classic literature of Rome may be said to have died also. Some sparks of the old spirit survived in its embers, and occasionally broke into a tempered glow, but as an active and valuable literature it had ceased to exist.

There were books enough written, abundance of them, such as they were. Many Christian authors used the Latin tongue as their vehicle, and a number of these attained literary celebrity. But they should be viewed as the commencement of a new epoch of literature—the Middle Age period rather than as the close of the classic age, and therefore do not come properly within the limits of this work.

The public taste of the Roman people had rapidly and greatly degenerated, while the Latin tongue had lost its classic purity. Literary genius and independence vanished with the prosperity of the empire, history becoming panegyric or epitome, and poetry sinking into declamation. The language itself gradually ceased to be employed as a literary vehicle, Roman authors writing in Greek, as in the infancy of their literature. This partly arose from the long residence of the emperor Hadrian in Athens, which had a powerful effect in Hellenizing his taste, and that of Rome after him.

After Nerva the emperors of Rome ceased to be Romans, but came from all parts of the wide-extended empire. The literary influence of the capital declined in consequence.

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