A symptom of the general intellectual decline of the later empire is the dying out of Greek in the western empire. While up to the middle of the third Christian century the world of letters had been bi-lingual, from that time onwards, largely as a result of the political conditions which led to a separation of the eastern and western parts of the empire, the knowledge of Greek began to disappear in the West until in the late empire it was the exception for a Latin-speaking man of letters to be versed in the Greek tongue.
Pagan Latin literature. A wide gulf separated the pagan Latin literature of the fourth century from that of the early principate. Poetry had degenerated to learned tricks, historical writing had taken the form of epitomies, while published speeches and letters were but empty exhibitions of rhetorical skill. The influence of rhetorical studies made itself felt in legal phraseology, which now lost its former clarity, directness and simplicity. Still there are a few outstanding literary figures who deserve mention because they are so expressive of the tendencies of the time or because they have been able to attain a higher level.
Ausonius and Symmachus (c. 345–405 A. D.). The career of Ausonius, a professor of grammar and rhetoric at Bordeaux, whose [pg 398]life covers the fourth century, shows how highly rhetorical instruction was valued. His ability procured him imperial recognition, and he became the tutor of Gratian, from whom he received the honor of the consulate in 379. His poetical works are chiefly clever verbal plays, but one, the Mosella, which describes a voyage down the river Moselle, is noteworthy for its description of contemporary life and its appreciation of the beauty of nature. Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, city prefect, and the leader of the pagan party in Rome under Gratian and Valentinian II, is a typical representative of the educated society of the time which strove to keep alive a knowledge of classical literature. He left a collection of orations and letters, poor in thought, but rich in empty phrase.
Ammianus Marcellinus, fl. 350–400 A. D. A man of far different stamp was Ammianus Marcellinus, by birth a Greek of Antioch, and an officer of high rank in the imperial army. Taking Tacitus as his model, he wrote in Latin a history which continued the former’s work for the period from 96 to 378 A. D. Of this only the part covering the years 353 to 378 has survived. His history is characterized by sound judgment and objectivity, but is marred by the introduction of frequent digressions extraneous to the subject in hand and by a strained rhetorical style. However, it remains the one considerable pagan work in Latin prose from the late empire.
Claudius Claudianus and Rutilius Namatianus (both fl. 400 A. D.). The “last eminent man of letters who was a professed pagan” in the western empire was Claudius Claudianus. Claudian was by birth an Egyptian Greek who took up his residence in Rome about 395 A. D. and attached himself to the military dictator, Stilicho. He chose to write in Latin, and composed hexameter epics which celebrated the military exploits of his patron. He also wrote mythological epics and elegiacs. Claudian found his inspiration in Ovid and reawakened the charm of Augustan poetry. A contemporary of Claudian, and, like him a pagan, was Rutilius Namatianus, who was a native of southern Gaul but a resident of Rome where he attained the highest senatorial offices. His literary fame rests upon the elegiac poem in which he described his journey from Rome to Gaul in 416 A. D., and revealed the hold which the imperial city still continued to exercise upon men’s minds.
Christian Latin literature: Lactantius (d. about 325 A. D.). It is among the writers of Christian literature that the few great [pg 399]Latin authors of the time are to be found. At the beginning of the fourth century stood Lactantius, an African, who became a teacher of rhetoric in Nicomedia, where he was converted to Christianity. His chief work was the Divinae Institutiones, an introduction to Christian doctrine, which was an attempt to create a philosophical Christianity. His purity of style has caused him to be called the “Christian Cicero.”
Ambrose, (d. 397 A. D.). Ambrose, the powerful bishop of Milan, who exercised such great influence with Gratian and Theodosius the Great, also displayed great literary activity. In general, his writings are developments of his sermons, and display no very great learning. Their power depended upon the strength of his personality. More important from a literary standpoint are the hymns which he composed for use in church services to combat in popular form the Arian doctrines. In his verses Ambrose adhered to the classic metrical forms, but in the course of the next two centuries these were abandoned for the use of the rhymed verse, which itself was a development of the current rhetorical prose.
Jerome, 335–420 A. D. The most learned of the Latin Christian writers of antiquity was Jerome (Hieronymus), a native of northern Bosnia, whose retired, studious life was in striking contrast to the public, official career of Ambrose. A Greek and Hebrew scholar, in addition to his dogmatic writings he made a Latin translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew (the basis of the later Vulgate), and another of the Greek Church History of Eusebius.
Augustine, 354–430 A. D. The long line of notable literary figures of the African church is closed by Augustine, the bishop of Hippo who died during the siege of his city by the Vandals in 430 A. D. In his early life a pagan, he found inspiration and guidance in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. But while Jerome was still dominated by Greek religious thought, Augustine was the first Latin Christian writer to emancipate himself from this dependence and display originality of form and ideas in his works. Of these the two most significant are the Confessions and On the City of God. The Confessions reveal the story of his inner life, the struggle of good and evil in his own soul. The work On the City of God was inspired by the sack of Rome by Alaric in 410 and the accusation of the pagans that this was a punishment for the abandonment of the ancient deities. In answer to this charge Augustine develops a philosophical inter[pg 400]pretation of history as the conflict of good and evil forces, in which the Heavenly City is destined to triumph over that of this world. His work prepared the way for the conception of the Roman Catholic Church as the city of God.
Boethius (d. 524 A. D.) and Cassiodorus (c. 480–575 A. D.). Between the death of Augustine and the death of Justinian the West produced no ecclesiastical literary figure worthy of note. However, under the Ostrogothic régime in Italy, profane literature is represented by two outstanding personalities—Boethius and Cassiodorus. The patrician Boethius while in prison awaiting his death sentence from Theoderic composed his work On the Consolation of Philosophy, a treatise embued with the finest spirit of Greek intellectual life. Cassiodorus, who held the posts of quaestor and master of the offices under Theoderic, has left valuable historical material in his Variae, a collection of official letters drawn up by him in the course of his administrative duties. His chief literary work was a history of the Goths, of which unfortunately only a few excerpts have remained. In his later years Cassiodorus retired to a monastery which he founded and organized according to the Benedictine rule. There he performed an inestimable service in fostering the preservation of secular as well as ecclesiastical knowledge among the brethren, thus giving to the Benedictine monks the impulse to intellectual work for which they were so distinguished in medieval times.