One of the most noted men of the Augustan age was MAECÉNAS, the warm friend and adviser of Augustus. He was a constant patron of the literature and art of his generation. He was very wealthy, and his magnificent house was the centre of literary society in Rome, He helped both Virgil and Horace in a substantial manner, and the latter is constantly referring to him in his poetry. He died (8 B. C.) childless, and left his fortune to Augustus.
The prose writers who lived at this period were Livy, Sallust, and Nepos.
LIVY is the best of these. He was a native of Patavium (Padua), a man of rhetorical training, who spent most of his time in Rome. The historical value of his work cannot be overestimated, on account of the scarcity, and in many cases the utter lack, of other historical documents on the times of which he wrote. His style is spirited, and always interesting. His accuracy, however, is not to be compared with that of Caesar. Only thirty-five out of the one hundred and forty-two books that he wrote are preserved.
NEPOS was a prolific writer, but only a portion of one of his works, _De Viris Illustribus_, has come down to us; it is neither accurate nor interesting, and of little value.
SALLUST left two historical productions, one on the conspiracy of Catiline, the other on the war with Jugurtha. His style is rhetorical. He excels in delineating character, but he is often so concise as to be obscure.
GAIUS ASINIUS POLLIO was a statesman and orator of marked attainments of this time. He was strongly attached to the old republican institutions, a man of great independence of character, and a poet of no mean merit, as his contemporaries testify. Unfortunately, none of his writings are preserved.
The age of Augustus is also noted for the architectural improvements in Rome. Augustus is said to have found a city of stone, and left one of marble. He himself built twelve temples, and repaired eighty-two that had fallen into decay. The FORUM was beautified by five halls of justice (_Basilicae_), which were erected around its borders. The most famous of these was the BASILICA JULIA, begun by Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus. Public squares were planned and begun north of the great Forum, the finest of which was the FORUM OF TRAJAN, finished by the Emperor of that name.