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A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

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<strong>The</strong> Ao-e <strong>of</strong> Cicero 315<br />

arose till the closing years <strong>of</strong> the republic, when the great<br />

men <strong>of</strong> Rome began to attract all eyes. At this time lived Nepos.<br />

Cornelius Nepos, mentioned above among the <strong>source</strong>s for<br />

Greek <strong>history</strong>. <strong>The</strong> same chapter speaks <strong>of</strong> his Greek P. 73 f-<br />

contemporary, Diodorus, whose Historical Library treats<br />

<strong>of</strong> both Greek and Roman affairs.<br />

In this age Roman oratory reached the height <strong>of</strong> its<br />

J^g'"c^ce?o^'<br />

development in Marcus Tullius Cicero. As Caesar em- 106-43 B.C.<br />

bodied imperialism, Cicero represented the better spirit<br />

<strong>of</strong> the republic. As a statesman he cherished high ideals<br />

<strong>of</strong> republican freedom; as a citizen he was intensely patri- Rome, 182;<br />

^<br />

1 J<br />

• 1,1 Ancient<br />

otic; and his private character was worthy and amiable. WoHd, 44s<br />

f-<br />

His achievement was to bring the prose <strong>of</strong> his country to<br />

formal perfection,—to make Latin a great classical language.<br />

This result he accomplished by developing, refining,<br />

and enriching his mother tongue not only in oratory<br />

but in nearly every style <strong>of</strong> prose from philosophy to familiar<br />

correspondence. It is chiefly owing to his creative<br />

genius that Latin has been the universal language <strong>of</strong> learning<br />

and culture from his time almost to the present day.<br />

If in reading his Orations we make allowance for their<br />

rhetorical coloring and their political bias, we shall find<br />

them valuable for the study <strong>of</strong> the age. More trustworthy<br />

are his Letters to friends, in which he speaks candidly <strong>of</strong><br />

passing events.<br />

As the temperament <strong>of</strong> the Romans was realistic and Lucretius,<br />

practical, they met with little success in imaginative literature.<br />

Lucretius, a poet <strong>of</strong> the Ciceronian age, composed<br />

in verse a work On the Nature <strong>of</strong> the<br />

World, in which he<br />

tried by means <strong>of</strong> science to dispel from the mind all<br />

fear <strong>of</strong> death and <strong>of</strong> the gods,—to free men from superstition.<br />

Notwithstanding the scientific details in which<br />

the poem abounds, it is a work <strong>of</strong> genius. Catullus, a CatuUus.

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