Now that the chief centres of Latin literature are found to be in Gaul and Africa, not in Rome or even Italy, the history of Roman literature has apparently reached its end; and yet throughout the fourth century, yes, even into the sixth century, the stream of old Roman tradition can be traced, and in the poems of Ausonius and Claudian and the De Consolatione Philosophiæ of Boëthius classical literature still survives. It is hard to fix a date for the beginning of the Middle Ages, and even harder to assign a definite time for the end of classical Roman literature. The first great independent and original Christian writings in Latin—those of Tertullian—may be regarded as the beginning of mediæval literature; but classical Latinity was by no means yet dead. In fact, in the fourth century, after Constantine had recognized Christianity as a state religion on an equal footing with the ancient belief, there was a revival of literature. Christian writers wrote in the ancient Roman manner, and secular writings by Christians are not to be distinguished from those of the adherents of the old religion. The religious writings of the leaders of Christian thought—St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, St. Jerome and St. Augustine— belong to the history of the church rather than to that of Roman literature, and can be mentioned here only in passing, while the writings of many lesser lights of the church must be altogether neglected. There still remain, however, many works in which something of the old Roman literary spirit survives, even after Rome herself has ceased to be the seat of empire.
CHAPTER XX
THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES
Nonius, early in the fourth century—Macrobius, 410 (?) A. D.—Martianus Capella, about 400 A. D.—Firmicus Maternus, 354 (?) A. D.—Marius Victorinus, about 350 A. D.—Ælius Donatus, about 350 A. D.—Charisius, about 350 A. D.—Diomedes, about 350 A. D.—Priscian, about 500 A. D.—Servius, latter part of the fourth century—Itineraries—Notitia, 354 A. D.—Peutinger Tablet—Palladius, about 350 A. D.—Vegetius, about 400 A. D.—Aurelius Victor, 360 A. D.—Eutropius, 365 A. D.—Festus, 369 A. D.—Julius Obsequens, about 360 A. D.—St. Jerome, 331-420 A. D.—Ammianus Marcellinus, about 330-400 A. D.—Sulpicius Severus, early in the fifth century—Orosius, 417 A. D.—Gregorianus, about 300 A. D.—Hermogenianus, about 330 A. D.—Codex Theodosianus, 438 A. D.—The Code of Justinian, 529 A. D.—The Pandects and Institutes, 533 A. D.—Symmachus, about 345-405 A. D.—Dictys (L. Septimius), second half of the fourth century—Dares, fifth century—Hilarius, about 315 to 367 A. D.—Ambrose, about 340-397 A. D.—Jerome, 331-420 A. D.—Augustine, 354-430 A. D.—Optatianus, early in the fourth century—Juvencus, early in the fourth century—Avienus, 370 A. D.—The Querolus, about 370 A. D.—Ausonius, about 310 to about 395 A. D.—Prudentius 348 to about 410 A. D.—Claudian, 400 A. D.—Namatianus, 416 A. D.—Avianus, about 400 A. D.—Sedulius, about 450 A. D.—Dracontius, end of the fifth century.
The prose writings of the fourth century are, with the exception of theological treatises, almost all mere compilations or abbreviations of earlier works. In the early years of the century Nonius Marcellus, a Peripatetic philosopher of Thubursicum, in Numidia, wrote for his son a work in twenty books, De Compendiosa Doctrina, in which he discusses many questions pertaining for the most part to early Latin literature. This work is modelled on the Noctes Atticæ of Gellius, to which it is vastly inferior. It is nevertheless of value as our only authority for the titles of some lost works and even for extracts from them. Nonius. Macrobius. Martianus Capella. For similar reasons the Saturnalia, in seven books, by Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, is of some importance. Macrobius, who was probably, like Nonius, an African, appears to be identical with the Macrobius who was proconsul of Africa in 410 A. D. The imaginary conversations of which his Saturnalia consists treat of Roman literature and antiquities, especially of the poetry of Virgil. Like Gellius and Nonius, Macrobius uses the works of earlier critics and commentators, and gives many quotations from Greek and Roman authors. Macrobius also wrote a commentary on Cicero’s Dream of Scipio, in which he quotes many authors, especially Greeks, but displays little or no originality. The encyclopædia, in nine books, written about the end of the fourth century by a third African, Martianus Capella, is of less value than the compilations of Nonius and Macrobius, though it, too, goes back to good authorities, such as Varro.
The chief seat of philosophy in the fourth century was Athens, and philosophical writings were almost all in Greek. Philosophy. Grammar. For the most part they expounded the mystical doctrines of Neoplatonism.[134] The grammarian Ælius Donatus, who flourished at Rome about 350 A. D. and was one of the teachers of St. Jerome, wrote commentaries on Terence and Virgil to which he prefixed the lives of the two poets from the lost work of Suetonius. The work on Virgil is lost, and the commentary on Terence contains in its present form many later additions. The extant grammars (Ars Grammatica) of Charisius and Diomedes, which have preserved much of the learning of earlier grammarians, belong to a very slightly later time. The last and most complete ancient grammar was written under the Emperor Anastasius (491-518 A. D.) at Constantinople in the Latin language by Priscian, from Cæsarea, in Mauretania. This work, in eighteen books, is entitled Institutiones Grammaticæ, and contains a vast quantity of material from the earlier literature. Much of the grammatical terminology, even of the present time, is derived from Priscian. The important commentary on Virgil by Servius was written in the latter part of the fourth century, and is preserved in two forms, in one of which numerous additions have been made to the original work.[135]
In 360 A. D., Aurelius Victor wrote a short history of the emperors (Cæsares) from the time of Augustus to the tenth consulship of Constantius and Julian, i. e., to the date of his writing. He makes free use of Suetonius, and his style is sometimes an imitation of that of Sallust. History. A second entirely distinct work attributed to the same author is a brief epitome of the history of the emperors to the death of Theodosius I (395 A. D.). Under Valens (364-378 A. D.) Eutropius wrote a Breviarium ab Urbe Condita, a short sketch of Roman history from the beginning to the year 365 A. D., which is distinguished for its simple, easy style and pure Latinity, but has no independent value as an historical work.[136]
Much more important is the Chronicle of St. Jerome (331-420 A. D.), a translation from the Greek of Eusebius with important additions. The Chronicle begins with the first year of Abraham (2016 B. C.). From this point to the Trojan War, Jerome merely translates Eusebius, from the Trojan War to 325 A. D. he translates Eusebius and adds much information concerning Roman history and literature, and from 325 to 378 A. D. the work is entirely his own. His information concerning the history of Roman literature is derived chiefly from Suetonius (De Viris Illustribus) and is of the utmost importance, though the dates given are sometimes wrong, which is not surprising when one remembers the carelessness in respect to dates exhibited by Suetonius in his extant Lives of the Cæsars. Jerome’s Chronicle was continued in the fifth century by Prosper of Aquitania to the year 455 A. D., and further additions were made after that time. The Chronicle is of great importance to the historian, but is itself merely the dry bones of history. The only real history that the last centuries of Roman literature produced, the only serious and original historical work after Tacitus, is that of