In Rome, from the time of Diocletian down to Theodosius, there was the greatest poverty of literature. Of poets, we have in the whole of this period only Ausonius, who is bad beyond belief: it was but the veneration of the French philologists of the sixteenth century which raised him to some consideration; he is quite as bad as the most wretched poets of the middle ages. In prose also there is a grievous dearth. About the middle of the fourth century, arose the writers of epitomes, such as Eutropius and Victor; nor is it unlikely that the epitome of Livy likewise dates from that time: these men have not a spark of genius. On the other hand, the Latin grammar has its beginning in that form in which we know it. Its real father is Donatus, the master of St. Jerome: Charisius does not belong to his school, but is independent; he is an encyclopedist who gives one a general view of the older works. Diomedes also is a writer of the fourth century. To the latter end of it likewise belongs Servius, who bears the stamp of his age, which was the condensing of everything into summaries. The only part of his commentary which we have in a genuine form, is that on the two first books of the Æneid: the rest we have in an abridgment only, which very likely was made in the seventh or eighth century. Another writer of the same kind is Festus, who has arranged the work of Verrius Flaccus in alphabetical order: he is very useful to us, although he does not everywhere understand Verrius. Nonius Marcellus is very likely somewhat later; yet he belongs to the same school of grammarians, to which the impulse had now been given. Lastly, at the end of the fourth century, Macrobius also flourished.

The better Roman prose begins after Theodosius. Ammianus Marcellinus, an ingenious writer although not always correct, still belongs to the reign of Theodosius. He is particularly honest and high-minded: he had himself served as a soldier, and he is what a historian ought always to be, a man of experience. From Alexander Severus down to Diocletian, no one had written history in Latin: in the reign of the latter, at the beginning of the fourth century, were what are called the Scriptores Historiæ Augustæ, who are beneath criticism. From thence again, down to Theodosius, there is not one. Ammianus is a Greek of Antioch, and one sees at once that he is a foreigner.—The rhetoricians still continue: Marius Victorinus, bad as he is, has made an epoch in his time. Of the school of the rhetoricians, the præfect Symmachus remains to be mentioned, whose letters are altogether got up after the pattern of those of Pliny, and are without any historical substance. His Panegyric also is of a school which reminds one of Pliny. Now, on the whole, the Panegyrists get into vogue, such as Eumenius, Pacatus, and others;—a wretched kind indeed of literature; people were no more ashamed of flattering.—Of poetry, not a trace is found until the time of Theodosius, except the epigram on the base of the obelisk of Constantius, and that on Constantine which was placarded as a lampoon.

With Theodosius, a new life is infused into Latin literature. Now arose Claudian, a Greek of Alexandria, who at first also wrote Greek. There are few instances besides of foreigners having written in a strange tongue so well as he did; except, perhaps Goldoni:^[68] M. Antoninus also writes very good Greek. Claudian’s language is everything that one could wish: one can see that he made Latin his own with heartfelt liking. He is a true poetical genius, although tainted indeed with the mannerism of the later Greek poets; he is a wonderful master of mythology, and is gifted moreover with great facility and brilliancy of language: sometimes he is lascivious. One reads him with about the same gratification as one does Ovid: John Matthias Gesner was very fond of him. Claudian’s influence was very great, and a particular school of poets followed in his steps: one of his disciples was Merobaudes, whose fragments I had the good luck to discover at St. Gall. The language of Merobaudes, although he is a native of the West, has much in it that is faulty; yet he is a man who does not merely hunt for words, but whose words are the expression of his feelings. He is quite enthusiastic for Aëtius. The same Merobaudes is no doubt the author of a most beautiful poem, which is contained in Fabricius’ Poëtæ Christiani,^[69] a poem of as great depth as any can have. He seems likewise to have been the author of another poem on the miracles of Christ, which is placed among those of Claudian, who was a heathen Greek, whilst the other was a Christian. At the close of the century, comes Sidonius Apollinaris, whom Gesner rightly calls a great genius. His Latinity is Gallic with a sprinkling of Romanic, and we see from him that the common language was very different from the classic style: but for all that we find him to be a man of most varied acquirements. There were, however, at that period also some writers of history, as the times were stirring, and afforded a good subject; but the greater part of them have been lost: of Renatus Profuturus,^[70] a fragment which is still extant, gives one a very favourable impression.

But an entirely new literature was the Christian one, which has not yet been noticed and brought out as much as it deserves. Lactantius, of whom we have already spoken, is of great importance. Ambrose and others are less so as writers. Two great men, moreover, are St. Jerome and St. Augustine; who indeed are giants: what I know of them entitles them to high praise. The literary and critical writings of St. Jerome have not much in them: but in the rest he has liveliness, versatility, an immense range of learning, and, even in his old age, a rich vein of wit, which is a leading trait in him: were he not a writer of the Church, he might have shone by his wit in the same manner as Pascal did. Augustine is a truly philosophic mind, as strongly actuated by a yearning after truth as any of the great philosophers: his language also is very noble. He is by no means witty, like St. Jerome; but he is eloquent, and in many places admirable. The latter half of the fourth, and the whole of the fifth century, are a classical era for Christian literature. Sulpicius Severus’ Church history is a masterpiece; and of this time are also the poems of Cælius Sedulius and Claudius Mamertus. The full life of the Gallic period was in this century: Gaul, in spite of all its misfortunes, had a glorious era for the intellect. The writings of Salvian, who was a priest or bishop of Marseilles, are very remarkable. He wrote on the government of God, and contra avaritiam; and though his language is Gallican, and his rhetorical turn may subject him to censure, he is exceedingly interesting on account of his political feelings which are quite different from those of Orosius. He lays bare the whole misery of the age; yet he makes no sanctimonious exhortations, but inveighs against those who in better times had neglected the favourable moment, and against the rich: this political indignation against the mighty ones of the earth, is quite a particular feature of his. There is a downright republican bias in him, which is remarkable in a psychological as well as in an historical point of view: it is evident what many even in the Church were now driving at, as the Church contained at that time many republican elements of which Salvian is quite aware. What he really aims at, is community of goods under the administration of the presbyters. Prudentius is in order of time the first of the Christian poets; yet his poems are but middling. The greatest Christian poet is Pope Hilary, who is undoubtedly the author of a poem which was formerly ascribed to St. Hilary, whose, however, it cannot be, as it appears from the dedication, that it belongs to the fifth century. Its subject is the creation, and it is full of poetical spirit: it is quite in the manner of Lucretius, whom he evidently took for his pattern; and though there are faults in the language and prosody, it is the work of a fine poet. He was the friend of the great Pope Leo, by whom he was sent as a delegate to the mad Council of Ephesus, there to speak words of peace and reconciliation. Pope Leo’s writings should also be read by posterity: he is a very ingenious writer, and, taking him altogether, a great man.

The Greek literature of the fourth century is quite rhetorical: in the fifth, it rises again, and poets and historians come out. These last are headed by Eunapius, who is followed by a διαδοχή of historians—Priscus, Malchus, Candidus, and others. The Neo-Platonic philosophy likewise went on flourishing, and poetry also revived in the fifth century. The establishment of the eastern empire evidently had a beneficial effect on literature.

Architecture had already quite fallen off in the fourth century. Constantine’s buildings are most barefaced robberies: his arch is taken from that of Trajan, and all that is of his time, is below criticism. Painting is quite supplanted by mosaic, which, however, at that time was beautiful: in the chapel of Pope Hilary there is some very fine mosaic work. This was peculiar to the west, although there is no doubt but that the art originated in Alexandria.

On the whole, ignorance and indifference to literature increased more and more among the higher classes, whilst the memory of the olden times had been entirely lost.