In Latin literature, the period from 0441; AD 18 to 133, second only to the preceding Golden Age in literary achievement.
Satire was the most vigorous literary form, exemplified by Juvenal , Martial , and Petronius . Other figures included Tacitus and Suetonius in history, Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger in letter writing, and Quintilian in literary criticism. Prose was characteristically elaborate and poetical in style, and many of the best works of the period were psychologically perceptive and humanist in tone. See also Augustan Age .