Chapter VIII

EARLY ROMAN SATIRE. C. LUCILIUS, DIED 102 B.C.

Independent origin of Roman satire 217
Essentially Roman in form and spirit 219
" " in its political and censorial function 220
Personal and miscellaneous character of early satire 222
Critical epoch at which Lucilius appeared 223
Question as to the date of his birth 224
Fragments chiefly preserved by grammarians 227
Miscellaneous character and desultory treatment of subjects 228
Traces of subjects treated in different books 229
Impression of the author's personality 230
Political character of Lucilian satire 232
Social vices satirised in it 233
Intellectual peculiarities 236
Literary criticism 238
His style 240
Grounds of his popularity 243

CHAPTER IX.

REVIEW OF THE FIRST PERIOD.

Common aspects in the lives of poets in the second century B.C. 247
Popular and national character of their works 250
Political condition of the time reflected in its literature 251
Defects of the poetic literature in form and style 253
Other forms of literature cultivated in that age 254
Oratory and history 255
Familiar letters 256
Critical and grammatical studies 257
Summary of character of the first period 258

SECOND PERIOD.

THE CLOSE OF THE REPUBLIC.

CHAPTER X.

TRANSITION FROM LUCILIUS TO LUCRETIUS.

Dearth of poetical works during the next half century 263
Literary taste confined to the upper classes 265
Great advance in Latin prose writing 266
Influence of this on the style of Lucretius and Catullus 267
Closer contact with the mind and art of Greece 268
Effects of the political unsettlement on the contemplative
life and thought 270
" on the life of pleasure, and the art founded on it 271
The two representatives of the thought and art of the time 272