![]() ![]() Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 B.C.): poet laureate. ![]() 45 B.C.): a slave who became famous for his mimes. De Bello GallicoĬornelius Nepos (99-24 B.C.): writer of biographies. Gaiius Julius Caesar (102-44 B.C.): orator, politician, dictator, author. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.): the greatest Roman orator 96 -55 B.C.): De Rerum Natura - a powerful didactic poem on happiness achieved through the Epicurean philosophy.Ĭaius Valerius Catullus (ca 84-54 B.C.): lyric poet. This was a period of civil wars and dictators, of military might against constitutional right, of selfish interest, of brilliant pomp and power, of moral and religious laxity. But it was an artificial movement which made Latin somewhat imitative and static compared with the spontaneous, living language which it had been during the Middle Ages. Renaissance scholars scorned medieval latin and turned to Cicero in particular as the canon of perfection of Latinity. In the twelfth century, the first universities emphasised on secular learning and professional training in medicine and law, and started to search out, copy and edit new Latin texts of the classical period. Jerome's translation of the Bible, called Vulgata, became a standard in grammar for later Latin usage.Įmperor Charlemagne (800) conserved many works of classical Latin authors in his cathedral and monastic schools. Within communities of the educated, it became a spoken language as the medium of teaching. This Christian Latin was transmitted by education in an unchanging form and students had to learn it painfully. It remained the medium of Western Christianity as a written language of liturgy and administration. It was an international language for Europe. Latin continued as the living language of the Church and of the intellectual world. In the fifth century, Latin did not survive the collapse of central Roman authority in the peripheral parts of the Empire. Native languages in Spain and Gaul were converted by Latin into Romance languages. Greek was the second language other than the official Latin in eastern Mediterranean. Latin was spoken and was the official language of the Roman Empire. and imitated Greek literary forms, such as comedies of Plautus (ca. Romans started contact with the Greek civilization in the 3rd century B.C.
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