Editing Latin literature (section)

=== The Golden Age ===
{{Main|Classical Latin}}

Traditionally, the height of Latin literature has been assigned to the period from 81 BC to AD 17, although recent scholarship has questioned the assumptions that privileged the works of this period over both earlier and later works.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hinds|first1=Stephen|title=Allusion and Intertext|date=1998|publisher=Cambridge|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=0521571863|pages=52–98}}</ref> This period is usually said to have begun with the first known speech of [[Cicero]] and ended with the death of [[Ovid]].

==== The age of Cicero ====
[[File:M-T-Cicero.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Cicero]]]]

[[Cicero]] has traditionally been considered the master of Latin prose.<ref>{{cite book|author= Charles W. Eliot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uLGVxD1fX8UC&pg=PA3|title=Letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero and Letters of Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus: Part 9 Harvard Classics|publisher= Kessinger Publishing|year= 2004|page= 3| isbn=9780766182042 |access-date= 15 October 2011}}</ref><ref>Nettleship, Henry; Haverfield, F. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pPcgIEC3CPIC&pg=PA105 ''Lectures and Essays: Second Series.''] Cambridge University Press, 2010. p. 105. Web. 18 October 2011.</ref> The writing he produced from about 80 BC until his death in 43 BC exceeds that of any Latin author whose work survives in terms of quantity and variety of genre and subject matter, as well as possessing unsurpassed stylistic excellence. Cicero's many works can be divided into four groups: (1) letters, (2) rhetorical treatises, (3) philosophical works, and (4) orations. His letters provide detailed information about an important period in Roman history and offer a vivid picture of the public and private life among the Roman governing class. Cicero's works on oratory are our most valuable Latin sources for ancient theories on education and rhetoric. His philosophical works were the basis of moral philosophy during the Middle Ages. His speeches inspired many European political leaders and the founders of the United States.

[[File:Young Folks' History of Rome illus148.png|thumb|Roman orator]]
[[Julius Caesar]] and [[Sallust]] were significant historical writers of Cicero's time. Caesar wrote commentaries on the Gallic and civil wars in a straightforward style to justify his actions as a general. He wrote descriptions of people and their motives.

The birth of lyric poetry in Latin occurred during the same period. The lyrics of [[Catullus]], whom the writer [[Aulus Gellius]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0071%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D20 | title=Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, A. Gellii Noctium Atticarum Liber Sextus, XX }}</ref> called "the most elegant of poets", are noted for their emotional intensity. Contemporary with Catullus, [[Lucretius]] expounded the Epicurean philosophy in a long poem, ''De rerum natura''.

One of the most prolific writers of the period was [[Marcus Terentius Varro]]. Referred to as "the most learned of the Romans" by [[Quintillian]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=LacusCurtius • Quintilian — Institutio Oratoria — BookX, Chapter1|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Quintilian/Institutio_Oratoria/10A*.html#1.95|access-date=2022-02-02|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> he wrote about a remarkable variety of subjects, from religion to poetry, but only his writings on agriculture and the Latin language are extant in their complete form.

==== The Augustan Age ====
{{Main|Augustan literature (ancient Rome)}}
[[File:Virgilio.png|thumb|left|upright|[[Virgil]]]]

The emperor [[Augustus]] took a personal interest in the literary works produced during his years of power from 27 BC to AD 14. This period is sometimes called the Augustan Age of Latin Literature. [[Virgil]] published his pastoral ''Eclogues'', the ''Georgics'', and the ''Aeneid'', an epic poem describing the events that led to the creation of Rome. Virgil told how the Trojan hero Aeneas became the ancestor of the Roman people. Virgil provided divine justification for Roman rule over the world. Although Virgil died before he could put the finishing touches on his poem, it was soon regarded as the greatest work of Latin literature.<ref>[[Susanna Braund|Morton Braund, Susanna]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IOwR7uVMGUYC&pg=PA1 ''Latin literature.''] Routledge, 2002. p. 1. Web. 15 October 2011.</ref><ref>[[Marcia Colish|Colish, Marcía L.]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=WY-2MeZqoK0C&pg=PA226 ''The Stoic Tradition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages: Stoicism in classical Latin literature.''] BRILL, 1990. p. 226. Web. 18 October 2011.</ref>

Virgil's friend [[Horace]] wrote ''Epodes'', ''Odes'', ''Satires'', and ''Epistles''. The perfection of the ''Odes'' in content, form, and style has charmed readers for hundreds of years. The ''Satires'' and ''Epistles'' discuss ethical and literary problems in an urbane, witty manner. Horace's ''Art of Poetry'', probably published as a separate work, greatly influenced later poetic theories. It stated the basic rules of classical writing as the Romans understood and used them. After Virgil died, Horace was Rome's leading poet.<ref>Britannica Educational Publishing. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LHA_SydyKOYC&pg=PA39 ''Poetry and Drama: Literary Terms and Concepts.''] The Rosen Publishing Group, 2011. p. 39. Web. 18 October 2011.</ref>

The Latin elegy reached its highest development in the works of [[Tibullus]], [[Propertius]], and [[Ovid]]. Most of this poetry is concerned with love. Ovid wrote the ''Fasti'', which describes Roman festivals and their legendary origins. Ovid's greatest work, the ''Metamorphoses'', weaves various myths into a fast-paced, fascinating story. Ovid was a witty writer who excelled in creating lively and passionate characters. The ''Metamorphoses'' was the best-known source of Greek and Roman mythology throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It inspired many poets, painters, and composers.

One of the few female poets of ancient Rome whose work has survived is [[Sulpicia]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Hallett | first=Judith P.| author-link=Judith P. Hallett | year=2002 | chapter=The Eleven Elegies of the Augustan Poet Sulpicia | editor1-first=Laurie J. | editor1-last=Churchill | editor2-first=Phyllis R. | editor2-last=Brown | editor3-first=Jane E. | editor3-last=Jeffrey | title=Women Writing Latin: from Roman Antiquity to Early Modern Europe | location=New York | volume=I | pages=45–84 }}</ref>

In prose, [[Livy]] produced a history of the Roman people in 142 books. Only 35 survived, but they are a major source of information on Rome.<ref>Cary, Max; Haarhoff, Theodore Johannes. [https://books.google.com/books?id=bx8OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA268 ''Life and thought in the Greek and Roman world.''] Taylor & Francis, 1985. p. 268. Web. 15 October 2011.</ref>