The critical judgement on ancient Latin satirical literature in 18th literary history

Abstract

The critical judgement on ancient Roman literature started in early times of Empire. Those comments were collected by some scholars during the Enlightenment. It was then, when they summarized the deeds of Roman authors and their contribution to the European literature as well, under the light of reason. Labouring this synthesis, they did not confirm the ancient theory about the early beginnings of Roman satire, as a representative Latin genre since Lucilius. The humorous poems in vernacular were so diverse, that it was difficult to know the very features of this ancient Roman genre.