and for
fourteen days the Vandals ravaged it at pleasure. Genseric then left
Rome, taking with him Eudoxia.

This was the last sack of the city by barbarians. But twenty-one years
elapsed before the Roman Empire came to an end (476).

CHAPTER XLIII. ROMAN LITERATURE.

PLAUTUS (254-184).

PLAUTUS, the comic poet, was one of the earliest of Roman writers. Born
at Sarsina in Umbria, of free parentage, he at first worked on the stage
at Rome, but lost his savings in speculation. Then for some time he
worked in a treadmill, but finally gained a living by translating Greek
comedies into Latin. Twenty of his plays have come down to us. They are
lively, graphic, and full of fun, depicting a mixture of Greek and Roman
life.

TERENCE (195-159).

TERENCE was a native of Carthage. He was brought to Rome at an early
age as a slave of the Senator Terentius, by whom he was educated and
liberated. Six of his comedies are preserved. Like the plays of Plautus,
they are free translations from the Greek, and of the same general
character.

ENNIUS (139-69).

QUINTUS ENNIUS, a native of Rudiae, was taken to Rome by Cato the
Younger. Here he supported himself by teaching Greek. His epic poem, the
_Annales_, relates the traditional Roman history, from the arrival of
Aeneas to the poet's own day.

CICERO (106-43).

MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, a native of Arpinum, ranks as the first prose
writer in Roman literature. As an orator Cicero had a very happy natural
talent. The extreme versatility of his mind, his lively imagination, his
great sensitiveness, his inexhaustible richness of expression, which was
never at a loss for a word or tone to suit any circumstances or mood,
his felicitous memory, his splendid voice and impressive figure, all
contributed to render him a powerful speaker. He himself left nothing
undone to attain perfection. Not until he had spent a long time in
laborious study and preparation did he make his _debut_ as an orator;
nor did he ever rest and think himself perfect, but, always working,
made the most careful preparation for every case. Each success was to
him only a step to another still higher achievement; and by continual
meditation and study he kept himself fully equipped for his task. Hence
he succeeded, as is universally admitted, in gaining a place beside
Demosthenes, or at all events second only to him.

There are extant fifty-seven orations of Cicero, and fragments of twenty
more. His famo