FLAVIAN LITERATURE 89 



writers, then, who like Quintilian and Martial came from the outlying 

 parts of the empire, cherishing no fond traditions of the old order of 

 things, might find it much easier than their urban contemporaries to 

 acquire the habit of adulation. 



The education of the day, with its narratio poetarum and declamation, 

 has a very perceptible connection with the character of the literature. 

 Facility of production was acquired from the school even in early 

 years, and it would not be hard to predict the sort of product. As a 

 rule the poetry thus inspired would have just as much life and meaning 

 as the prescribed Greek and Latin verse of later days. Given a sub- 

 ject, an educated young Roman would turn off any required number 

 of lines with neatness and despatch. Thus Statius 1 , whose pride is in 

 his studied and barren epic, insists on the public's knowing that his 

 Silvae are dashed off at about so many lines per hour as occasional 

 productions. And, indeed, the composition of Latin and Greek verse 

 was considered a proper and enjoyable recreation for a gentleman. 

 It is scarcely remarkable that many of these scribblings, when the 

 author with fond partiality ambitiously endeavored to give them vogue, 

 either fell flat at their recitation, or, if published, came to serve as 

 wrappers in the corner groceries. 



The declamations could have an influence only for evil. To begin 

 with, they fostered a spirit of conscious effort to gain approval, thereby 

 developing a peculiar sort of vanity. They emphasized the sense of 

 form and brought the subject-matter to be regarded merely as an excuse 

 for the exhibition of stylistic skill. They developed an extravagance of 

 imagination that helped to remove literature even farther than it was 

 already straying from its proper field in human deed and thought; 

 and this extravagance operating in another direction assisted in that 

 cumbering of literature with what it was pleased to consider ornaments. 



The fashion of recitation had one influence in common with decla- 

 mations: it increased the striving after popular praise. The author 

 at the reading of his poem or speech stretched his neck for every token 

 of approval from his auditors, whose opinion was of more import than 

 that of their modern representative, the book reviewer. This pre- 



■ Silv., I, Praef. 



