A history of the ancient world, for high schools and academies . ecture and engineering the Ro- *^^*man shows his power. The massive buildings, the enduringroads, the extensive and graceful aqueducts, the ruins ofwhich remain in all the lands that acknowledged the im-perial sway, these are the witnesses of that practical geniusso truly characteristic of the Roman. That genius reachedits height under the Empire in such buildings as the Coli-seum, the palaces of the Caesars and the aqueducts ofRome. 456. The literature of the time, like the art, was widely Literaturedistributed and highly finish
A history of the ancient world, for high schools and academies . ecture and engineering the Ro- *^^*man shows his power. The massive buildings, the enduringroads, the extensive and graceful aqueducts, the ruins ofwhich remain in all the lands that acknowledged the im-perial sway, these are the witnesses of that practical geniusso truly characteristic of the Roman. That genius reachedits height under the Empire in such buildings as the Coli-seum, the palaces of the Caesars and the aqueducts ofRome. 456. The literature of the time, like the art, was widely Literaturedistributed and highly finished, but it was not genuine 390 WorldEmpire under the Principate Under the Julian Caesars. Seneca. Petronius. Under the Flavian Caesars. Statins. and powerful. Following the Augustan writers (§431)came a variety of authors of whom only a few strike is remarkable, also, that they hail mostly from theprovinces. To the period of the Julian Caesars belongsSeneca, the minister of Nero, as its chief literary star, THE According toPtolemy 160 ;.. ( 4-65). He wrote essays and letters on morals inthe spirit of the Stoic philosophy and in an ornate rhetori-cal style which is always clear and strong and sometimeseloquent. His tragedies, while attaining some fame, areless significant works. Another courtier of Nero, whowas also a writer, was Petronius, who has the distinctionin literary history of having written the first novel. Thefragments of it which have been preserved are witty andrealistic. One of its characters, Trimalchio, a rich fool,has been the original of many similar personages in richer literary life opens under the Flavian Caesars—a period which, in comparison with that of Augustus, hasbeen called the Silver Age. Its chief poet was Statins(about 45-96), whose epic poem, the Thebais, cen- Literature in the Silver Age 391 tring about the mythical wars of Thebes, falls just shortof greatness. Martial (43-101 ) wrote Epigrams, Marti
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