The Roman "philosophy of life" as mirrored in the literature of ten outstanding representative authorsThough Rome conquered much of the world and established an empire that lasted more than a millennium, its citizens sometimes expressed a sense of inferiority to the intellectual accomplishments of ancient Greece. The notion that Roman philosophers, thinkers, and writers were just pale imitations of Greek originals has persisted to this day. Even the great Roman poet Horace wrote, "Captive Greece took its Roman captor captive,/ Invading uncouth Latium with its arts."Michael K. Kellogg puts this notion to rest in this lively, very readable overview of Roman literature. The author uncovers many examples of Roman wisdom, showing that the Roman contribution to intellectual history is considerable and need not take second place to ancient Greek literature.Kellogg offers fresh and engaging portraits of poets (Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid); dramatists (Plautus, Terence, Seneca); biographers (Plutarch, Suetonius); historians (Livy, Tacitus); and philosophers (Cicero, Marcus Aurelius), against the background of Roman history. The contemporary reader will come away from this excellent survey with the realization that even today our culture still bears the lasting imprint of ancient Rome. ""Michael Kellogg's abundantly informative new book fills in a great gap in most educated people's historical and cultural knowledge—ancient Rome. For the past 150 years, the intellectual passion for classical Greek civilization led to a marginalization of the vast contributions of Rome, which not only served as the filter for Greek wisdom to later generations but also transformed and expanded it to create what we now call Western civilization. Kellogg introduces us to the immortals of Roman culture—Virgil, Cicero, Lucretius, Seneca, Horace, Plutarch, and others. The Roman Search for Wisdom is a superb introduction to ‘the grandeur that was Rome.'” —DANA GIOIA, poet and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts“The Roman Search for Wisdom offers the general reader an ambitious survey of the richness of Roman thought. Ranging from the slapstick comedies of Plautus to the acerbic irony of Tacitus's political history to the intensely introspective reflections of Marcus Aurelius, Kellogg mines the greatest works of Roman literature, philosophy, and history to draw lessons about the deep and enduring challenges of human existence. This book will engage readers at a very personal level about the ends of their own lives.”—RICHARD SALLER, professor of Roman history, Stanford University“Kellogg's book offers a marvelously clear and accessible account of the intellectual life of ancient Rome. He guides the reader to a deep appreciation of the many ways our own ideas are indebted to what was thought and written two thousand years ago.”—JOHN LACHS, Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University Michael K. Kellogg is the author of The Greek Search for Wisdom and Three Questions We Never Stop Asking. Educated at Stanford and Oxford in philosophy and at Harvard Law School, he is a founding and managing partner at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, PLLC. THE ROMAN SEARCH FOR WISDOM By MICHAEL K. KELLOGG Prometheus Books Copyright © 2014 Michael K. Kellogg All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-61614-925-3 Contents PREFACE, 9, INTRODUCTION: The Grandeur That Was Rome, 11, CHAPTER 1: Plautus and Roman Comedy, 31, CHAPTER 2: Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Good Citizen, 57, CHAPTER 3: Lucretius and the Poetry of Nature, 83, CHAPTER 4: Virgil—Poet of Shadows, 107, CHAPTER 5: Horace—Odes to a Poet, 137, CHAPTER 6: Ovid—Poet of Love and Change, 165, CHAPTER 7: Seneca as Tragedian, 195, CHAPTER 8: Plutarch and the Invention of Biography, 219, CHAPTER 9: Tacitus and the Roman Historians, 245, CHAPTER 10: The Emperor and the Slave, 271, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, 293, CHRONOLOGY, 295, SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING, 299, NOTES, 309, INDEX, 343, CHAPTER 1 PLAUTUS AND ROMAN COMEDY The first known literary work in Latin was a translation of the Odyssey by the Greek-born tragedian Livius Andronicus (ca. 284–ca. 204). At the time, translation was itself a new art form. Before Andronicus, Latin readers either learned Greek or went without; after Andronicus, Roman schoolboys could read Homer in their native language. Thus began a tradition of the translation, adaptation, and gradual transformation of Greek originals into the foundations of a distinctly Roman literature. Rome absorbed Greek culture as aggressively and systematically as it conquered the Mediterranean world. For us, Roman literature begins with Titus Maccius Plautus (ca. 254–184). The tragedies of Andronicus and Quintus Ennius (239–169), based on Greek models, were more highly regarded and praised in antiquity than Plautus's comedies. So, too, was Ennius's epic poem of Rome's founding, the Annales . Yet Plautus is the first Rom