Chapter 16

at the suggestion of Maecenas, the paean on the great victory at Actium (El. 6), and the noblest of his elegiacs, the Elegy on Cornelia (El. 11).

3. Style.

The aim of Propertius was to be the Roman Callimachus: +Umbria Romani patria Callimachi+ (IV. i. 64).

The flexibility and elasticity of rhythm of the finest Greek elegiacs he made his own. The pentameter, instead of being a weaker echo of the hexameter, is the stronger line of the two, and has a weightier movement. In Book I he ends the pentameter freely with words of three, four, and five syllables, and we find long continuous passages in which there is scarcely any pause: e.g. in I. xx. 33-37:

_Hic erat Arganthi Pege sub vertice montis Grata domus Nymphis umida Thyniasin, Quam supra nullae pendebant debita curae Roscida desertis poma sub arboribus, Et circum irriguo surgebant lilia prato Candida purpureis mixta papaveribus._

'In some respects both Tibullus and Ovid may claim the advantage over Propertius: Tibullus for refined simplicity, for natural grace and exquisiteness of touch; Ovid for the technical merits of execution, for transparency of construction, for smoothness and polish of expression. But in all the higher qualities of a poet Propertius is as much their superior.' --Postgate.

AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS CLEMENS, 348-circ. 410 A.D.

1. Life.

[Sidenote: PRUDENTIUS.]

Prudentius (as he tells us in the brief metrical autobiography prefixed to his poems) was born in the N. of Spain, and, like so many of the Roman poets, began his public life as an advocate. He was afterwards appointed by Theodosius (379-395 A.D.) judge over a district in Spain. His active and successful discharge of this office induced Theodosius (or Honorius, 395-423 A.D.) to promote him to some post of honour about the Emperor's person. His later years he devoted to the composition of sacred poetry, and published his collected works 405 A.D., after which date we know no more of his history.

2. Works.

His best known works are his +Cathemerina+, a series of poems on the Christian's day and life, of which the most graceful and pathetic is the _Funeral Hymn_, e.g.

_Iam maesta quiesce querella, Lacrimas suspendite matres, Nullus sua pignora plangat, Mors haec reparatio vitae est_,

and his +Peristephanon+ (#peri stephanôn# _liber_) in praise of Christian martyrs. 'These represent the most substantial addition to Latin lyrical poetry since Horace.' --Mackail. We also have his +Contra Symmachum+ in two Books of indifferent hexameter verse, in which he combats Symmachus (Consul 391 A.D.), the last champion of the old faith, and claims the victories of the Christian Stilicho as triumphs alike of Rome and of the Cross.

'Prudentius has his distinct place and office in the field of Latin literature, as the chief author who bridged the gulf between pagan poetry and Christian hymnology.' --North Pinder.

MARCUS FABIUS QUINTILIANUS, circ. 35-95 A.D.

1. Life.

[Sidenote: QUINTILIAN.]

Quintilian is the last and perhaps the most distinguished of that school of Spanish writers (Martial, the two Senecas, and Lucan) which played so important a part in the literary history of the first century. Born at Calagurris, a small town on the Upper Ebro, he was educated at Rome, and afterwards returned to his native town as a teacher of rhetoric. There he made the acquaintance of the proconsul Galba (68-9), and was brought back by him to Rome in 68 A.D., where for twenty years he enjoyed the highest reputation as a teacher of eloquence. Among his pupils were numbered Pliny the Younger and the two sons of Flavius Clemens, grand-nephews of Domitian, destined for his successors. In 79 A.D. he was appointed by Vespasian professor of rhetoric, the first teacher who received a regular salary from the imperial exchequer. Domitian (81-96 A.D.) conferred upon him an honorary consulship, and the last ten years of his life were spent in an honoured retirement, which he devoted to recording for the benefit of posterity his unrivalled experience as a teacher of rhetoric.

2. Works.

+Institutio Oratoria+, the _Training of an Orator_, in twelve Books. This great work sums up the teaching and criticism of his life, and gives us the complete training of an orator, starting with him in childhood and leading him on to perfection.

Thus:--