This treatise on "Alceste" initiated the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns ("Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes"), which pitted supporters of the literature of Antiquity (the "Ancients") against supporters of the literature from the century of Louis XIV (the "Moderns"). He was on the side of the Moderns and wrote "Le Siècle de Louis le Grand" ("The Century of Louis the Great", 1687) and "Parallèle des Anciens et des Modernes" ("Parallel between Ancients and Moderns", 1688–1692) where he attempted to prove the superiority of the literature of his century. "Le Siècle de Louis le Grand " was written in celebration of Louis XIV's recovery from a life-threatening operation. Perrault argued that because of Louis's enlightened rule, the present age was superior in every respect to ancient times. He also claimed that even modern French literature was superior to the works of antiquity, and that, after all, .