Early Roman Literature

Major Writers of Rome

The literature of Rome holds a secondary position in the classic literature of antiquity; probably because the
Roman was less a thinker and creator and more a doer than the Greek. The early Romans made little
progress in literary composition until they conquered and enslaved the Greeks. When this historical event
happened, the Romans were so impressed by the artistic attainments of the Greeks that they set about
imitating Greek literature resulting in the unique situation of the conquered becoming the conquerors and
the conquerors becoming the conquered.” Roman children were taught by Greek teachers.
Roman literature was greatly imitative of Greek models. Greek literature was translated into Latin, and it
provided the models that the Roman youths studied and learned by heart. There is predominance of satire
in Roman literature. The satire as a literary type is supposed to have been invented by the Romans. The
purpose of satire is to attack evils in society. It flourished in Rome when social conditions were poor and
Roman morals were low.
1. Virgil (70-19 B.C.)
Virgil was the greatest writer that Rome produced. What Homer was to Greeks Virgil was to the
Romans. He was born in woods springs and pools. This close familiarity with, and love of, nature
is clearly evident in his works. Virgil had an excellent education 70 B.C. in Mantua, one of the
loveliest country sides in Italy. His children hood was spent among the fields and in philosophy,
and a love for this discipline remained with him all his life. He learned one of the great laws of
art: that its greatness is in direct proportion to the worth of its philosophy and theology. His
works are therefore an ideal combination of content and form. He began as a lyric poet of great
passion and melody but his masterpiece is the Aeneid, the great epic of Rome, the subject matter
of which is set way back in the Greek legendary age. He selected for his epic the character
Aeneas, a Trojan prince and the bravest men who fought for Troy. In this epic, Virgil makes
Aeneas the founder of Rome and the progenitor of the Romans.
the idea and plan of the Aeneid are derived from Homer, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are stories of
war and adventure, respectively Virgil’s Aeneid inverts this order; it begins with the adventures
of Aeneas and ends with the battle for possession of Latium. Both parts closely follow the
structure of Homer’s epics. Episodes in Homer are duplicated and many characters found in Iliad
are also found in the Aeneid.
Aeneid: A Summary
Aeneas son of Venus, the goddess of beauty is a Trojan hero and a cousin of Hector’s, and like
Hector, he is a brave warrior. the story begins with the burning of Troy and the massacre of the
men while the women and the children are carried off into slavery. Aeneas is saved by his
mother and together with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius and a few other Trojans, he
sails away from burning Troy. Their destination is Latium, where they intend to found a Trojan
colony. But their ships are driven from their course by Athena, who is angry with Aeneas. They
land in Carthage, in North Africa, where they are welcomed by Queen Dido. The queen falls in
love with Aeneas and makes him co-ruler of Carthage. But A
Aeneas has a great destiny—to be the founder of Rome—and much as he would like to stay with
Dido, he is commanded by Zeus to leave for Latium. Dido, broken-hearted, commits suicide as
Aeneas sails away.
He passes through dangers paralleling some of the adventures of Odysseus. After Aeneas
finally reaches Italy, he goes down to the Underworld and learns about his future descendants,
the Romans. He celebrated the anniversary of his father’s death with funeral games in the
Underworld.
He reaches Latium and gains the friendship of King Latinus the ruler of Latium. Oracles have
foretold that the only daughter of the king, Lavinia, would marry a foreigner and become the
mother of an imperial line. Aeneas has a rival for the hand of Lavinia in the brave and powerful
Turnus.
A battle begins between the Trojans and the Latiums and after many pitched encounters, Aeneas
defeats Turnus in single combat and gains the hand of Lavinia. He becomes king, and in
ceremonial rites required by the gods, a new nation is formed and the Trojans are named Latins.