84 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



read, Statius, Quintilian, Pliny, Juvenal, Martial and Tacitus, the 

 three last represent very markedly this general tendency. Statius 

 escapes, probably because he comes dangerously near being a courtly 

 pedant in comfortable circumstances, untroubled about the inner mean- 

 ing of current events. Quintilian, from the nature of the subjects he is 

 treating, is not affected by the satirical vein of the day. Pliny, the cul- 

 tured gentleman, admiring polished dignity, loving praise and penning 

 private letters gracefully for public circulation, does not exhibit the 

 tendency in his own writings, although he is not so far removed from 

 the general run of opinion that he cannot appreciate the salt of Mar- 

 tial's epigrams. Juvenal is an avowed satirist and on the thoroughness 

 of his satire we need not enlarge; Martial in his epigrams is scarcely 

 less fundamentally and effectively satirical than Juvenal; and Tacitus 

 is hardly second even to the arch-satirist. 



For this tendency Juvenal formally gives the reasons in his first 

 satire, and the terrible list collected by him might be enlarged indefi- 

 nitely from other sources. Generally the position taken by the satirist 

 is about this: Socially and morally Rome has become unnatural and 

 corrupt, politically she is presenting a farce which must soon have a 

 tragic ending; let us try whether a little heroic treatment in the form 

 of satire will benefit her in the evil hour. 



The social condition of a people is always a difficult problem, and if 

 it is hard to solve for one's own age, it is not easy to treat for another. 

 However, the evidence for the period under discussion is exceptionally 

 abundant and we should not be far astray in an estimate. On the 

 whole, the social and moral life indicated by the literature is not attract- 

 ive; but it is much better than it is represented in many writers. When 

 one has floundered through the bog of a complete edition of Martial, 

 feeling at every stage the pressure of the noxious air, one begins to think 

 that life was only death. This pessimistic view is strengthened by the 

 fact of the great epigrammatist's unquestioned popularity, and the 

 frequent assertions 1 that he is read the world over, even by the chastest 

 maidens of the outlying towns, where a little stricter morality might be 

 hoped for than in the vicious capital. The culmination of one's amaze- 



• V, 13, 16; VI, 61; VII, 52, 80, 88, 90; VIII, 72. 



