A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

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The Augustan Age 317
Tiberius, has been mentioned in the chapter which treats P. 74-
of the sources for Greek history.
In the same age Vergil, Rome's most splendid poet, Vergil,
wrote an epic poem, the ^Eneid. In this story of the
wanderings of ^^neas he glorifies the beginnings of Rome Rome, 17,
and, at the same time, the imperial family, which claimed Wokd, 461.
descent from the hero of his poem.
Horace, author of Odes and Satires and Epistles in Horace,
verse, was the poet of contentment and common sense, Ancient
who bade his friends
Snatch gayly the joys which the moment shall bring,
And away every care and perplexity fling.
Leave the future to the gods, he taught. A comfortable
villa, some shady nook in summer, and in winter a roaring
fireplace, good wine, pleasant friends, and a mind
free from care make an ideal life. After the stormy end
of the republic, the world needed such a lesson; and
though he remained independent in spirit, Horace quietly
served his prince. His work abounds in references to
manners, customs, and events, and hence is valuable for
an understanding of the age.
In the same age lived Ovid, the polished poet of the Ovid.
gay, immoral circle which surrounded Julia, granddaughter
of Augustus. To the student of history his most valuable
work is the Fasti, a metrical calendar containing much
curious information regarding Roman religion.
World, 461.
Under Tiberius the republican reaction against the Velleius Paprincipate
was at its height; the time was therefore so
unfavorable to literary work, that this administration
produced no writers of talent or especial merit.
Velleius
Paterculus, who had served Tiberius as a military officer,
wrote a short History of Rome to the year 30 A.D. The
earher period he treats briefly, his own age with greater