ABSTRACT

The importance of the first Roman literary attempts lies in the fact that they are not merely an intellectual exercise, but truly express a new conception of the world and of social life. This was the reason for their success. The poets did no more than express in Latin and spread among the mass of the people the ideas with which the more intelligent and daring among the newer generations were already completely imbued. They gave these ideas a wider and more lasting influence. Literature was at once the expression and one of the chief causes of the transformation of ideas.