Excerpt from Roman Life and Manners Under the Early Empire, Vol. 3 of 3 Of recitations. Great increase in their num ber. How the reciters presented themselves. Expressions of approval. The younger Pliny on recitations. Emperors present. Readings in the Middle Ages and modern times. Crown ing of poets (especially the Capitoline). Quintus Sulpicius Maximus. Poets crowned in the Middle Ages. Domitian's Alban competition. Precarious livelihood of, poets. Juvenal's description. Their dependence on the generosity of the rich and great. Mutual advantages of this state of things. Imperial generosity to poets. Augustus. The later emperors. Generosity of great men. Maecenas. His relations with Horace. Later poets no more than clients of their patrons. The panegyrics on Messalla and Piso. Worse position of poets in Nero's time. Martial's efiorts to obtain patrons at court, amongst the aristocracy, amongst the knights. Patrons of Statius. Poverty of both poets. Martial's degraded attitude. Poetry as a means of social amusement. Statius's attitude more dignified. The higher occasional poetry a. Substitute for journalism. Large output of occasional poetry. Occasional poems of Martial and Statius on the same subjects. Disagreement between Statius and Martial. Their mutual envy and jealousy. Over-pro duction of poetical literature. Preponderance of (mythological) epos. Influence of Virgil. Poetical trifles. Poetry mostly reproduction. Imitation of Virgil and Catullus. Poetical dilettantism of the younger Pliny. Poetical dilettantism common in the higher circles, even at an advanced age. Revolution brought about in Hadrian's time by sophistic. Greek sophistic and its effects in the Greek and Roman world. Interest taken by the emperors and the Romans generally in the sophistic art. Influence of Greek sophistic on the Roman literature of the second century. Apuleius. Importance of poetry in general education after the Renascence period. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.