diff --git a/src/main/java/scala/tools/asm/ByteVector.java b/src/main/java/scala/tools/asm/ByteVector.java
index 3bca7af..4754a7f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/scala/tools/asm/ByteVector.java
+++ b/src/main/java/scala/tools/asm/ByteVector.java
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ public ByteVector putLong(final long l) {
     public ByteVector putUTF8(final String s) {
         int charLength = s.length();
         if (charLength > 65535) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException();
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Maximum String literal length exceeded");
         }
         int len = length;
         if (len + 2 + charLength > data.length) {