mentaries will always be mentioned with the Anabasis of Xenophon, as a model of the narrative style of writing. Sallust (86–34 B.C.) was the contemporary and friend of Caesar. The two works upon which his fame rests are the Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jugurthine War.
Livy (59 B.C.–A.D. 17) was one of the brightest ornaments of the Augustan age. Herodotus among the ancient, and Macaulay among the modern, writers of historical narrative, are the names with which his is most frequently compared. His greatest work is his Annals, a history of Rome from the earliest times to the year 9 B.C. Unfortunately, all save thirty-five of the books[1]—the work filled one hundred and forty-two volumes—perished during the disturbed period that followed the overthrow of the empire. Many have been the laments over "the lost books of Livy." As a chronicle of actual events, Livy's history, particularly in its earlier parts, is very unreliable; however, it is invaluable as an account of what the Romans themselves believed respecting the origin of their race, the founding of their city, and the deeds and virtues of their forefathers.
The most highly prized work of Tacitus is his Germania, a treatise on the manners and customs of the Germans. Tacitus dwells with delight upon the simple life of the uncivilized Germans, and sets their virtues in strong contrast with the immoralities of the refined and cultured Romans.
Ethics, Science, and Philosophy.—Under this head may be grouped the names of Seneca, Pliny the Elder, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus. Seneca (about A.D. 1–65), moralist and philosopher, has already come to our notice as the tutor of Nero (see p. 312). He was a disbeliever in the popular religion of his countrymen, and entertained conceptions of God and his moral
- ↑ It should be borne in mind that a book in the ancient sense was simply a roll of manuscript or parchment, and contained nothing like the amount of matter held by an ordinary modern volume. Thus Cæsar's Gallic Wars, which makes a single volume of moderate size with us, made eight Roman books.
