FLAVIAN LITERATURE 9 1 



And so it was with the majority of the composers of verse. Fault - 

 lessness of form it was quite possible to attain, but the very perfection 

 of the exterior would only serve to emphasize the worthlessness of 

 the contents. One could not wish a better subject for Goethe's 

 Wir waschen und blank sind wir gans und gar, 

 Aber auch ewig, unfruchtbar. 



In conclusion it may be said that, despite all the weakness we have 

 been criticizing, a literature including the works of Martial, Juvenal, 

 and Tacitus can never be without strong claims to greatness. Martial, 

 though he may be proved thoroughly contemptible on so many counts, 

 stands unchallenged as the greatest epigrammatist in all literature. 

 But it is Juvenal and Tacitus that bring to the age its glory. These 

 two men saw with bitterness of spirit that the evil day was hard upon 

 the country that ruled the world. In the blinding splendor of imperial 

 sway over ever- broadening dominions their eyes did not fail to per- 

 ceive evidences of the storms that were gathering to darken the scene 

 and overwhelm theatre and actors together. It may be argued that it 

 was by prejudice that their words were given to their pens, and that 

 for the evils they decried they offered no remedy; but when men have 

 frankly confronted the problem of their age, it is unsafe to assert that 

 they have been influenced by the sinister aid of prejudice rather than 

 by the sane help of genius. That they suggested no tangible remedy 

 may be true ; but it is possible there was no remedy to suggest other than 

 the different social life they implicitly advocate throughout their works. 

 At any rate they saw existing evils and cried out against them with no 

 uncertain voice; they caught visions of impending ruin and can hardly 

 be blamed for not proposing means to avoid what had become inevitable. 



