CHAPTER II.

THE CONTEMPORARIES OF QUINTILIAN.

Petronius 242 Seneca the Younger 245 The satirists 248 Persius 248 The Prologue and First Satire 248 Examination of this 251 Juvenal 253 Martial 256 The style of the Epigrams 258

Précis of their critical contents 260 Statius 268 Pliny the Younger: Criticism on the Letters 270 The _Dialogue de Claris Oratoribus_ 280 Mr. Nettleship’s estimate of it 283 The general literary taste of the Silver Age 284 “Faultlessness” 285 Ornate or plain style 287