Editing Classical Latin (section)

== Authors of the Silver Age ==
[[File:Tiberius NyCarlsberg01.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The second emperor, [[Tiberius]], limited free speech, precipitating the rise of Silver Latin, with its emphasis on [[mannerism]] rather than on solid content, according to Teuffel's model]]

In his second volume, ''Imperial Period'', Teuffel initiated a slight alteration in approach, making it clear that his terms applied to Latin and not just to the period. He also changed his dating scheme from AUC to modern BC/AD. Though he introduces ''das silberne Zeitalter der römischen Literatur'', (The Silver Age of Roman Literature){{sfn|Teuffel|1873|p=526}} from the death of Augustus to the death of [[Trajan]] (14–117 AD), he also mentions parts of a work by [[Seneca the Elder]], a ''wenig Einfluss der silbernen Latinität'' (a slight influence of silver Latin). It is clear that his mindset had shifted from Golden and Silver Ages to Golden and Silver Latin, also to include ''Latinitas'', which at this point must be interpreted as Classical Latin. He may have been influenced in that regard by one of his sources E. Opitz, who in 1852 had published ''specimen lexilogiae argenteae latinitatis'', which includes Silver Latinity.{{Sfn|Teuffel|1873|p=530}} Though Teuffel's First Period was equivalent to [[Old Latin]] and his Second Period was equal to the Golden Age, his Third Period ''die römische Kaiserheit'' encompasses both the Silver Age and the centuries now termed [[Late Latin]], in which the forms seemed to break loose from their foundation and float freely. That is, men of literature were confounded about the meaning of "good Latin." The last iteration of Classical Latin is known as Silver Latin. The Silver Age is the first of the Imperial Period, and is divided into ''die Zeit der julischen Dynastie (''14–68); ''die Zeit der flavischen Dynastie'' (69–96), and ''die Zeit des Nerva und Trajan'' (96–117). Subsequently, Teuffel goes over to a century scheme: 2nd, 3rd, etc., through 6th. His later editions (which came about towards the end of the 19th century) divide the Imperial Age into parts: 1st century (Silver Age), 2nd century (the [[Hadrian]] and the [[Antonines]]), and the 3rd through 6th centuries. Of the Silver Age proper, Teuffel points out that anything like freedom of speech had vanished with [[Tiberius]]:{{Sfn|Teuffel|Schwabe|1892|pp=4–5 }}

{{blockquote|...the continual apprehension in which men lived caused a restless versatility...  Simple or natural composition was considered insipid; the aim of language was to be brilliant...  Hence it was dressed up with abundant tinsel of epigrams, rhetorical figures and poetical terms...  [[Mannerism]] supplanted style, and bombastic pathos took the place of quiet power.}}

The content of new literary works was continually proscribed by the emperor, who exiled or executed existing authors and played the role of literary man, himself (typically badly). Artists therefore went into a repertory of new and dazzling mannerisms, which Teuffel calls "utter unreality." Cruttwell picks up this theme:{{Sfn|Cruttwell|1877|p=6}}

{{blockquote|The foremost of these [characteristics] is unreality, arising from the extinction of freedom...  Hence arose a declamatory tone, which strove by frigid and almost hysterical exaggeration to make up for the healthy stimulus afforded by daily contact with affairs. The vein of artificial rhetoric, antithesis and epigram... owes its origin to this forced contentment with an uncongenial sphere. With the decay of freedom, taste sank...}}

[[File:Marcus Aurelius Metropolitan Museum.png|thumb|upright|right|[[Marcus Aurelius]], emperor over the last generation of classicists and himself a classicist.]]
In Cruttwell's view (which had not been expressed by Teuffel), Silver Latin was a "rank, weed-grown garden," a "decline."{{Sfn|Cruttwell|1877|p=341}} Cruttwell had already decried what he saw as a loss of spontaneity in Golden Latin. Teuffel regarded the Silver Age as a loss of natural language, and therefore of spontaneity, implying that it was last seen in the Golden Age. Instead, Tiberius brought about a "sudden collapse of letters." The idea of a decline had been dominant in English society since [[Edward Gibbon]]'s ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]''. Once again, Cruttwell evidences some unease with his stock pronouncements: "The ''Natural History'' of Pliny shows how much remained to be done in fields of great interest." The idea of Pliny as a model is not consistent with any sort of decline. Moreover, Pliny did his best work under emperors who were as tolerant as Augustus had been. To include some of the best writings of the Silver Age, Cruttwell extended the period through the death of [[Marcus Aurelius]] (180 AD). The philosophic prose of a good emperor was in no way compatible with either Teuffel's view of unnatural language, or Cruttwell's depiction of a decline. Having created these constructs, the two philologists found they could not entirely justify them. Apparently, in the worst implication of their views, there was no such thing as Classical Latin by the ancient definition, and some of the very best writing of any period in world history was deemed stilted, degenerate, unnatural language.

The Silver Age furnishes the only two extant Latin novels: Apuleius's ''[[The Golden Ass]]'' and Petronius's ''[[Satyricon]]''.

Writers of the Silver Age include:

===From Tiberius to Trajan===
[[File:Germanicus1914.jpg|thumb|125px|Germanicus Caesar]]
[[File:Seneca-berlinantikensammlung-1.jpg|thumb|125px|Ancient bust of Seneca, part of a [[Double Herm of Socrates and Seneca|double herm]] ([[Antikensammlung Berlin]])]]

* [[Aulus Cremutius Cordus]] (died AD 25), historian
* [[Marcus Velleius Paterculus]] (19 BC – AD 31), military officer, historian
* [[Valerius Maximus]] (20 BC – AD 50), rhetorician
* [[Masurius Sabinus]] (1st century AD), jurist
* [[Phaedrus (fabulist)|Phaedrus]] (15 BC – AD 50), fabulist
* [[Germanicus Julius Caesar]] (15 BC – AD 19), royal family, imperial officer, translator
* [[Aulus Cornelius Celsus]] (25 BC – AD 50), physician, encyclopedist
* [[Quintus Curtius Rufus]] (1st century AD), historian
* [[Cornelius Bocchus]] (1st century AD), natural historian
* [[Pomponius Mela]] (d. AD 45), geographer
* [[Seneca the Younger|Lucius Annaeus Seneca]] (4 BC – AD 65), educator, imperial advisor, philosopher, man of letters
* [[Titus Calpurnius Siculus]] (1st century AD or possibly later), poet
* [[Marcus Valerius Probus]] (1st century AD), literary critic
* [[Claudius|Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus]] (10 BC – AD 54), emperor, man of letters, public officer
* [[Gaius Suetonius Paulinus]] (1st century AD), general, natural historian
* [[Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella]] (AD 4 – 70), military officer, agriculturalist
* [[Quintus Asconius Pedianus]] (9 BC – 76 AD), historian, Latinist
* [[Gaius Musonius Rufus]] (AD 20 – 101), stoic philosopher
* [[Quintus Marcius Barea Soranus]] (1st century AD), imperial officer and public man
* [[Pliny the Elder|Gaius Plinius Secundus]] (AD 23 – 79), imperial officer and encyclopedist
* [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus]] (1st century AD), epic poet
* Tiberius Catius [[Silius Italicus]] (AD 28 – 103), epic poet
* [[Gaius Licinius Mucianus]] (d. AD 76), general, man of letters 
* [[Lucilius Junior]] (1st century AD), poet
* [[Aulus Persius Flaccus]] (34–62 AD), poet and satirist
* [[Quintilian|Marcus Fabius Quintilianus]] (35–100 AD), rhetorician
* [[Sextus Julius Frontinus]] (AD 40 – 103), engineer, writer
* [[Marcus Annaeus Lucanus]] (AD 39 – 65), poet, historian
* [[Publius Juventius Celsus]] Titus Aufidius Hoenius Severianus (1st and early 2nd centuries AD), imperial officer, jurist
* [[Aemilius Asper]] (1st and 2nd centuries AD), grammarian, literary critic
* [[Marcus Valerius Martialis]] (AD 40 – 104), poet, epigrammatist
* [[Publius Papinius Statius]] (AD 45 – 96), poet
* [[Decimus Junius Juvenalis]] (1st and 2nd centuries AD), poet, satirist
* [[Florus|Publius Annaeus Florus]] (1st and 2nd centuries AD), poet, rhetorician and probable author of the [[epitome of Livy]]
* [[Velius Longus]] (1st and 2nd centuries AD), grammarian, literary critic
* [[Flavius Caper]] (1st and 2nd centuries AD), grammarian
* [[Tacitus|Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]] (AD 56 − 120), imperial officer, historian and in Teuffel's view "the last classic of Roman literature."
* [[Pliny the Younger|Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus]] (AD 62 – 114), historian, imperial officer and correspondent

===Through the death of Marcus Aurelius, 180 AD===
[[Image:Apuleius - Project Gutenberg eText 12788.png|thumb|125px|right|Sketch of Apuleius]]

Of the additional century granted by Cruttwell to Silver Latin, Teuffel says: "The second century was a happy period for the Roman State, the happiest indeed during the whole Empire... But in the world of letters the lassitude and enervation, which told of Rome's decline, became unmistakeable... its forte is in imitation."{{Sfn|Teuffel|Schwabe|1892|p=192}} Teuffel, however, excepts the jurists; others find other "exceptions", recasting Teuffels's view.{{clarify|date=March 2014}}

* [[Suetonius|Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus]] (70/75 – after 130 AD), biographer
* [[Justin (historian)|Marcus Junianus Justinus]] (2nd century AD), historian
* [[Salvius Julianus|Lucius Octavius Cornelius Publius Salvius Julianus Aemilianus]] (AD 110–170), imperial officer, jurist
* [[Sextus Pomponius]] (2nd century AD), jurist
* [[Quintus Terentius Scaurus]] (2nd century AD), grammarian, literary critic
* [[Aulus Gellius]] (AD 125 – after 180), grammarian, polymath
* Lucius [[Apuleius]] Platonicus (123/125–180 AD), novelist
* [[Marcus Cornelius Fronto]] (AD 100–170), advocate, grammarian
* Gaius [[Sulpicius Apollinaris]] (2nd century AD), educator, literary commentator
* [[Granius Licinianus]] (2nd century AD), writer
* [[Lucius Ampelius]] (2nd century AD), educator
* [[Gaius (jurist)|Gaius]] (AD 130–180), jurist
* [[Lucius Volusius Maecianus]] (2nd century AD), educator, jurist
* [[Marcus Minucius Felix]] (d. AD 250), apologist of Christianity, "the first Christian work in Latin" (Teuffel)
* [[Sextus Julius Africanus]] (2nd century AD), Christian historian
* [[Marcus Aurelius]] Antoninus Augustus (121–180 AD), stoic philosopher, Emperor in Latin, essayist in [[ancient Greek]], role model of the last generation of classicists (Cruttwell)