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Ancient Greek and Roman writers divided the history of the universe into a number of Ages. In sequence, these included the Golden Age (a time of perfection), the Silver Age (a time of self-indulgence), the Bronze Age (a time of heroic endeavour) and the Iron Age (the present—usually categorized as dismal). Critics of Latin literature fell on the first two of these Ages, using them to pigeonhole works according to perceived stylistic or thematic merit. ‘Golden’ authors included Cicero, Horace, Ovid, Virgil and others from the 1st century  BCE and early 1st century  CE. ‘Silver’ authors were those immediately following, such as Lucan, Martial, Tacitus and others. The categories tell more about the minds of their inventors than of the authors concerned; inexplicably, the labels are still in use today. KMcL |
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