the Hellenic civilization was more ancient and had reached a higher
stage than the Latin, it was inevitable that the latter should borrow
largely from the former and consciously or unconsciously imitate it in
many respects. In fact the intellectual life of Rome never attained the
freedom and richness of that of Greece upon which it was always dependent.
In this domain, as Horace phrased it, "Captive Greece took captive her
rude conqueror."

*New tendencies in Roman education.* A knowledge of Greek now became part
of the equipment of every educated man, the training of the sons of the
well-to-do was placed in the hands of Greek tutors, who were chiefly
domestic slaves, and the study of the masterpieces of Greek literature
created the genuine admiration for Greek achievements and the respect that
men like Flamininus showed towards their Greek contemporaries--a respect
which the political ineptitude of the latter soon changed to contempt.
These tendencies were vigorously opposed by the conservative Cato, who
regarded Greek influences as demoralizing. Following the old Roman custom
he personally trained his sons, and had no sympathy with a philhellenic
foreign policy. But even Cato in the end yielded so far as to learn Greek.
The chief patrons of Hellenism were men of the type of Scipio Africanus
the Elder; notably Titus Flamininus, Aemilius Paulus and Scipio
Aemilianus, at whose house gathered the leading intellectuals of the day.
Intimate associates there were the Achaean historian Polybius and the
Stoic philosopher Panaetius of Rhodes.

*Roman literature: I. Poetry.* More than anything else Greek influences
contributed to the rise of Roman literature. Prior to the war with
Hannibal the Romans had no literature, although Latin prose had attained a
certain development in the formulation of laws and treaties and a rude
Latin verse had appeared.

Not unnaturally Roman literature began with translations from the Greek,
and here poetry preceded prose. In the latter half of the third century
B. C., Livius Andronicus, a Greek freedman, translated the _Odyssey_ into
Latin Saturnian verse, as a text-book for school use. He also translated
Greek comedies and tragedies. At about the same time Cnaeus Naevius wrote
comedies and tragedies having Roman as well as Greek subjects. He also
composed an epic poem on the First Punic War, still using the native
Saturnian.

Dramatic literature developed rapidly under the demand for plays to