Note 365 — Chapter II · THE CONTEMPORARIES OF QUINTILIAN.

This, of course, is the old invidious distinction between tragedy and comedy revived in other material. Cf. the curious passage in Tacitus (Ann., xiii. 31) in which he, for his part, glances disdainfully at those who think “beams and foundation-stones” (Nero’s amphitheatre) worth mentioning. such things should be kept for journals (diurnis urbis actis): it is for the dignity of the Roman people that only illustrious matters should find place in Annals. The two thoughts are characteristic of the two men.