Latins, believing they had reached the zenith of the Greeks, seemed to
draw less inspiration from the eternal models.

QUINTUS CURTIUS.--However, the Latin sap is still strong. Quintus
Curtius, romantic historian, who wrote a history of Alexandria which is
too generous towards the legendary, narrates brilliantly and strews his
pages with vigorously phrased maxims and apothegms. He is a remarkable
author. The elder Pliny, a very erudite sage and a somewhat precious
writer, is a worthy successor of Varro.

SENECA.--Seneca, who certainly was well nurtured in Greek philosophy,
preached stoicism in concise, antithetic, and epigrammatic styles, all in
highly thoughtful points which sometimes attain power.

PETRONIUS; LUCIAN; MARTIAL.--Petronius was a man possessing highly
refined taste who painted extremely ugly morals. Tragedy endeavoured to
obtain renaissance with Seneca the tragic, who is perhaps the same as the
moralist Seneca, alluded to above, and the effort was sufficiently
brilliant for our tragedians of the sixteenth century, and even Racine in
his _Phedre_, frequently to follow it. Perseus, pupil of Horace so
far as his satires are concerned, was concise to the point of obscurity,
but often displayed such vigour and ruggedness as to be powerfully
moving. Lucian, spoilt by a certain taste for declamation, is really a
sound poet, more especially as a poetic orator, and in this respect he is
often admirable. Silius Italicus, Valerius Flaccus, Statius, revert to
the school of Virgil and display talent for versification. Martial,
almost exclusively epigrammatic, was extremely witty.

JUVENAL.--Juvenal, arising sardonically from the crowd, is the prince of
satirists for all time. He possessed a passion for honesty, spirit, and