It is a mosaic from Virgil, Ovid, Lucan and Fortunatus, composed in the manner of Einhard's use of Suetonius, and exhibits a true poetic gift.
Virgil, Statius, Terence, Juvenal, Horace, Persius and Lucan are specially named as entering into a course of training which was rendered more stimulating by a free use of open discussion.
We find now only imitative echoes of the old music created by Virgil and others, as in Statius, or powerful declamation, as in Lucan and Juvenal.
The spirit of Rome appears only as animating the protest of Lucan, the satire of Persius and Juvenal, the sombre picture which Tacitus paints of the annals of the empire.
The Pharsalia of Lucan (39-65), with Cato as its hero, is essentially a Stoic manifesto of the opposition.