Chapter VIII

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

Independent origin of Roman satire 222
Essentially Roman in form and spirit 224
" " in its political and censorial function 225
Personal and miscellaneous character of early satire 227
Critical epoch at which Lucilius appeared 229
Question as to the date of his birth 229
Fragments chiefly preserved by grammarians 232
Miscellaneous character and desultory treatment of subjects 233
Traces of subjects treated in different books 234
Impression of the author's personality 236
Political character of Lucilian satire 238
Social vices satirised in it 239
Intellectual peculiarities 243
Literary criticism 245
His style 246
Grounds of his popularity 249

CHAPTER IX.

REVIEW OF THE FIRST PERIOD.

Common aspects in the lives of poets in the second century B.C. 253
Popular and national character of their works 256
Political condition of the time reflected in its literature 257
Defects of the poetic literature in form and style 259
Other forms of literature cultivated in that age 260
Oratory and history 260
Familiar letters 262
Critical and grammatical studies 263
Summary of character of the first period 264

SECOND PERIOD.

THE CLOSE OF THE REPUBLIC.

CHAPTER X.

TRANSITION FROM LUCILIUS TO LUCRETIUS.

Dearth of poetical works during the next half century 269
Literary taste confined to the upper classes 271
Great advance in Latin prose writing 272
Influence of this on the style of Lucretius and Catullus 273
Closer contact with the mind and art of Greece 273
Effects of the political unsettlement on the contemplative life
and thought 275
" on the life of pleasure, and the art founded on it 277
The two representatives of the thought and art of the time 278