In the long period of construction following the Second Punic War, no name in politics or litera ture at Rome stands out more brightly than that of M. Poreins Cato (n.c. 234-149), a native of Tusculnin, who held all the high offices at Borne, and is familiarly known as 'Cato the Cen sor.' Rigid and conservative, a true type of the stern old Roman, he set his face against the modern spirit of innovation that was steadily broadening as a result of closer contact with the culture of Greece. Yet in his old age. when experience showed him that not all that came from Greece was bad, he frankly accepted the situation and studied the Greek language and literature with avidity. In a most charming way, Cicero makes him the chief speaker in his well-known dialogue De Seneetute, setting forth in imagination the broad and genial philosophy of the liberalized old man. Cato was no less great in his private than in his public life; he was a typical Roman gentleman farmer, watch ing over his estate and his servants with an eagle eye; and in his hours of repose from the Senate and the farm he devoted himself to reading and to writing. Oratory was a native talent of the Roman:, and Cato was a great orator. More over, he was the first to write down and publish his speeches. Of these, no fewer than 151) were extant in Cicero's day; unfortunately, we know them only from fragments, but these fragments suffice to show his effective, mordant style. In historical studios, also, Cato was no less active, and the loss of his important work Oriqines. in seven books, is greatly to be deplored. it was the labor of his old age. Far more compre hensive than the bare Ann/des of Fabius Pictor, it was a sort of loose historical narrative. inter spersing the narrower descriptions with re searches in the field of geography, politics, and social life, and accounts of his personal experi ences. The name °Haines shows the earlier plan of the work. from which his enthusiasm for his subject carried him far afield—to trace the origin of Rome and of all the important tribes of ancient Italy. We are able to judge of Cato's style and of his painstaking accuracy from the one work of his that has survived entire—De Agri Cultu•a. or De Re Rustica, the outcome his practical experience on the farm. Its naivete is wholly charming. Cato lays down the rules for the conduct of the farm and the management of slaves, describes the methods of planting and harvesting. the sacrifices to be made and rites to be performed, household re ceipts and housekeeping, simple medicines, and legal forms for leases and sales. Vergil's debt to Cato in the writing of his Georgics can well be imagined.
A sketch of the development of Roman litera ture would not be complete without a brief notice of Pleuvins of Brundi-ium (n.c. 220 132), though all his works are lost. Ile was a nephew of Ennius, who brought him to home and set him on the road to success as a writer of tragedies. The judgment of posterity placed the nephew above the uncle. Comedy, in this inter mediate period between Plautus and Terence, was represented by Statius Ctecilins (e.219-166 B.c.), an insubrian Gaul who was probably car ried to Rome among the prisoners of war from that region. His comedies were transcriptions from the Greek, less free than those of Plautus, but more original than those of Terence.
At this period Fabius Pictor, the annalist, finds a follower in L. Cineius Alimentus (praetor in B.c. 210). an officer in the war with Hannibal,
but he too wrote his annals in Greek. In the second century B.C.. however, there were a num ber of Latin annalists. whose works, now lost, served more or less as source-hooks for the later historians. Such were L. Cassius Bernina, L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, L. Ctelius Antipater. and Q. Claudius Quadrigarius.
After considering so many authors that are hardly more than names to us. it is refreshing to meet again one of whom we can form a judg ment from his actual works. This is P. Teren tius Afer (e.185-159 B.C.), commonly known as Terence. Not only was Terence not a Roman; he was not even a native of Italy, hut of the race of Rome's great enemies. the Carthaginians. Born after the end of the Second Punic War (B.c. 218-201), he was brought to Ionic as a slave boy, and came into the possession of the wealthy and cultivated senator P. ( ?) Terentius Lueanus, who, recognizing his ability. gave him education and freedom. There was at this time a little coterie of littrateurs headed by Seipio Africanus and Gains Ladius, men of the highest rank and the most aristocratic bias, in literature as in polities. The brilliant young Carthaginian was admitted to their society and friendship: his plays were read before them and there subjected to criticism and suggestions before being given to the world. A new element was thus intro duced into the nascent Latin literature. In Plautus and Ennius the Greek models are worked over and adapted to the Roman reading public. with a freedom from restriction and a breadth of genius which promises for the Latin literature a great future development almost independent its Greek origins. or. at least. with wholly na tional tendencies drawn from the inner life of the Romans themselves. To the Seipios. however, and to Terence. guided by their tendencies, litera ture was the prerogative of the cultivated no bility. and was dependent upon study and learn ing. The Greek masterpieces were no longer re garded merely as a scuree of inspiration. but as an end in themselves: a standard by which Latin productions were to be judged alike artistically and metrieally. This did not, indeed. hinder the growth of Roman genius. hut gave it a new direction. Mint it gained in grandenr and pre cision it lost in spontaneity. The same is true of the Latin language itself, which at the hands of a succession of writers culminating in Cicero became that magnificent but restricted and arti ficial vehicle of thought which we call classical Latin. The six play, of Terence, all derived from Greek plays of Menander and hi: eontemporaries, are faultless in their diction and full of dramatic merit. (inc decidedly misses, none the le-s, the sprightly, virile, thoroughly Italian genius of a Plautus. All Terence's play: were prepared for representation at the Megalensian festival in honor of Magna Mater under the stage-manage ment of Ambivius Turpio. Their titles are: (1) Andria. 'The Maid of Andros,' first performed in B.c. 166; (2) Ennuehus: (3) Ileauton Tinto rumenos,•The Self-Tormentor,' containing the oft quoted line: Homo sum ; humani nit a me atienum unto; (4) Phorntio; (5j Hceyra, 'The Mother-in-law,' the least important of all; (6) Addplux, 'The Brothers.' These are the sum of Terence's pub lished work, and all are preserved. Their author died young, perhaps of a fever contracted in the course of an extended tour in Greece (B.c. 159).