f preface.
Persius possessed a generous, manly character, was the foe of every kind
of vice, and formed one of that graceful band of writers who maintained
their independence under the terrors of a despotic government.

Decimus Junius Juvenalis, of whose life we have few particulars, was
born at Aquinum A.D. 38 or 40, and came up to Rome, where he at first
studied eloquence with great ardor, but at length gave himself wholly to
satirical writing. He offended Domitian by his satires, it is said, and
was sent by that emperor to the extreme boundary of Egypt, where he died
of grief and exile; but scarcely any fact in the history of this great
man has been perfectly ascertained.

We possess sixteen satires of Juvenal, the last of which, however, is of
doubtful authenticity. These satires are full of noble appeals to the
purest emotions of virtue, and of severe rebukes for triumphant vice.
Juvenal's language is often harsh and his taste impure; but his ideas
are so elevated, his perception of truth, honor, and justice so clear,
that he seldom fails to win the attention of his readers.

Epigrams seem to have been a favorite mode of expressing thought at the
court of Augustus, and almost every eminent Roman from the time of
Cicero has left one or more of these brilliant trifles behind him. M.
Valerius Martialis, the chief of the epigrammatists, was born about A.D.
40, at Bibilis, in Spain, from whence he came to Rome, when about
twenty, to perfect his education. Here he lived for thirty-five years,
engaged in poetical pursuits, and patronized by Titus and Domitian. He
seems finally to have returned to his native land, where he was living
in the year A.D. 100. His poems are about fifteen hundred in number,
divided into fourteen books, and are altogether original in their
design. They are always witty, often indecent, and contain many personal
allusions which can not now be understood. Martial is one of the most
gifted of the Roman writers.

The practice of writing epigrams was preserved until a very late period.
Seneca, Pliny the younger, Hadrian, and many others, were fond of
composing them; and in modern times the epigram has been a favorite kind
of poetry with most good writers.

Phaedrus, who lived under Augustus and Tiberius, wrote pleasing fables.
Calphurnius and Ausonius imitated Virgil's bucolics, and fragments of
many other poets are preserved, whom we can not mention here.

Historical writers also abounded under