And, indeed, it must in fairness be admitted that the shield has another side. However unstable the form of government, there is something in material prosperity which up to a certain stage, makes for intellectual eminence as well. And so in this first century of the Roman Empire there was no dearth of great men. The golden age of literature was the time of Augustus; the silver age was the time of his immediate successors. The poets and philosophers have left us such names as Valerius Maximus, Asinius Pollio, Seneca, Lucan, Valerius Flaccus, Martial, Quintilian, and Statius. History and science were never more fully represented than in the day of Paterculus, Mela, Quintus Curtius, Florus, Pliny, Josephus, Suetonius, and Tacitus. A time which produced such men as these was not wholly bad. Unfortunately no future century of Roman history will be able to show us such another list.[a]
FOOTNOTES
[19] Dion relates this incident with a little variation. According to him, the German soldier said, “I will give you the best assistance in my power;” and thereupon he stabbed Vitellius, and despatched himself. Dio, lib. LXV.
[20] [See Volume II, Ch. 14.]
[21] Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian.
[22] [All the gossip about the avarice of Vespasian seems to have resulted (1) from his increased taxation, and (2) from his economy. Such examples of humour as those here given were distorted into proofs of avarice.]
[23] [Domitian is called “bad” partly because he opposed the senate.]
[24] [Or rather the improvement, though actual, was not at once manifest.]
[25] [The real reasons were probably (1) that he was a senator, and (2) that his advanced age gave the ambitious an opportunity to intrigue for the throne.]
[26] [Importance attached primarily to the suffrage of the prætorian guards, who were stationed at or near Rome. The Roman populace itself had also to be considered. The legions stationed at a distance might support the prætorians, or might, on the other hand, bring forward their own candidates, as we have seen.]