evidently that of a highly cultivated man. Trimalchio, however, and some of the other characters speak the popular dialect of southern Italy, which contains many words strange to literary Latin. Their speech is not without mistakes in grammar, and is full of proverbs, like the speech of Sancho Panza in _Don Quixote_. Among the poems contained in the novel, the longest, entitled _De Bello Civili_ (_On the Civil War_), consists of two hundred and ninety-five hexameters, in imitation of Lucan, with touches of parody; the next in length is the _Troiæ Halosis_ (_Capture of Troy_), in sixty-five senarii, probably a parody of Nero’s poem of the same title. The novel of Petronius is, in some places, extremely indecent, but is interesting on account of the specimens of popular speech it contains, and still more, as the only known example of the satirical novel in Latin. It is, moreover, full of wit and humor, and shows keen observation and much knowledge of human nature as well as of literature. The loss of the greater part of the work is greatly to be regretted. [Sidenote: Quintus Curtius.] The only extant historical work of this period is the _History of Alexander the Great_ (_De Gestis Alexandri Magni_), by Quintus Curtius Rufus, of whose personality nothing is known, but who seems to have written under Claudius. The work originally consisted of ten books, the first two of which are lost. The style is modelled upon that of Livy, and is clear and simple for the most part, though not entirely free from the affectation of elegance customary at the time. Some of the descriptions and speeches are exceptionally fine. Curtius is not a critical historian, and follows Greek authorities selected without much attention to their accuracy. Of the other historical works of this period nothing remains. [Sidenote: Memoirs.] The memoirs composed by various more or less important persons are also lost. Among them may be mentioned those of the Empress Agrippina and of the generals Gnæus Domitius Corbulo, who was _consul suffectus_ in 39 A. D., and was put to death by Nero in 86 A. D., and Suetonius Paulinus, who was twice consul, once soon after 42, and again in 66 A. D.