336
DEPRESSED STATE OF LITERATURE.
The West was now gained for Theodosius, who was emperor
of the whole Roman world. Tn his latter years, he had the
weakness to give himself up entirely to a favorite Rufinus, who
was his praefectus praetorio. ThisRufinus was insatiably ava-
ricious and blood-thirsty; so that even before Theodosius’
death, he spread misery over the empire. The sovereign was
a truly noble prince, and yet his subjects were ill-governed.
Antioch had provoked the emperor; but Libanius and St.
Chrysostomus prevailed upon him to forgive it. On another
occasion, however, he allowed himself to be carried away by
his passion, and was obliged to do penance. The separation of
the empire had already become so natural, through the circum-
stances of the times, that Theodosius also determined to adopt
it; but it was an unpardonable mistake that he divided it be-
tween his two sons, neither of whom were capable of carrying
on the government, especially as Honorius was only eleven
years old; for which reason, Theodosius appointed Stilicho his
guardian. But the idea of an hereditary empire had already
taken such firm root, that Theodosius implicitly trusted to
Stilicho’s preserving the empire for his son, just as in our
times, a minister or a general would do.
During the period from Diocletian to Theodosius, Roman
literature was in the most wretched condition. Ausonius is
the only poet of that time, and he is incredibly bad: it is no-
thing but the reverence of the French scholars of the sixteenth
century that has raised him to a somewhat elevated position;
but he is in reality as bad as the worst poets of the middle ages.
Prose, too, is extremely barren. About the middle of the fourth
century, arose the epitomisers, especially Eutropius and Victor ;
and it is possible that the epitome of Livy also was made at
that time. These epitomisers were men altogether without
talent. Latin grammar, on the other hand, assumed the form
in which it has come down to us. Donatus, the instructor of
St. Jerome, is the real father of Latin grammar: Charisius does
not belong to his school, but is independent; he is an encyclo-
paedist, who compiled the earlier works. Diomcdes, too, is a
writer of the fourth century; towards the end of which, we
meet with Servius, who, in accordance with the character of
his age, condensed into a small compass what he collected from
his predecessors. The only work of his which has come down
to us in its genuine form, is the commentary on the first two
LITERATURE.
337
books of the Aeneid; that on the other books exists only in an
abridgment, which was probably made in the seventh or eighth
century. Festus, a similar author, who reduced the ^work of
Verrius Flaccus into the form of a dictionary, is very useful to
us, although he did not always understand Verrius. Nonius
Marcellus lived probably somewhat later, but he belongs to the
same school of grammarians, to which the impulse had been
previously given. Macrobius, lastly, also belongs to the end of
the fourth century.
LECTURE CXXXV.
A better prose style began after the reign of Theodosius.
Ammianus Marcellinus, a very talented writer, though not
always correct, belongs to the time of Theodosius. He is par-
ticularly honest and noble-minded : he had served himself as a
soldier, and was a man of experience, without which no one
can be an historian. From the time of Alexander Severus to
that of Diocletian, no one had written history in the Latin
language; in the reign of the latter, at the beginning of the
fourth century, we meet with the so-called Scriptores Historiae
Augvstae, whose works are beneath all criticism : from that time
till the reign of Theodosius, there is again a vacuum. Ammi-
anus was a Greek of Antioch ; and one can see, from his work,
that he is a foreigner.
The rhetoricians continued as before. Marius Victorinus,
bad as he is, formed an epoch. Wemay also mention theprae-
fect Symmachus, who belonged to the school of the rhetoricians,
and whose letters are altogether imitations of those of Pliny,
but very barren in historical matter. His panegyric, too, be-
longs to a school which reminds us of that of Pliny. Panegyric
writers in general now came to be in vogue, such as Eumenius,
Pacatus and others. This is a sad branch of literature, from
which we see that people had ceased to be ashamed to flatter.
Of poetry there is not a trace until the time of Tlieodosius,
if we except the epigram on the obelisk of Constantius, and
that upon Constantine, which was placarded as a pasquinade.
With Theodosius a new spirit appeared in Latin literature.
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