Cicero, the greatest of Roman orators, created a style for Latin prose composition which has been admired and imitated by men of letters even to our own day. Latin, in his hands, became a magnificent instrument for the expression of human thought. Cicero's qualities as an author are shown, not only by his _Orations_, but also by the numerous _Epistles_ which he wrote to friends and correspondents in all parts of the Roman world. Besides their historical interest Cicero's letters are models of what good letters ought to be--the expression of the writer's real thoughts and feelings in simple, unstilted language. Cicero also composed a number of _Dialogues_, chiefly on philosophical themes. If not very profound, they are delightfully written, and long served as textbooks in the schools. CAESAR Another eminent statesman--Julius Caesar--won success in literature. As an orator he was admitted by his contemporaries to stand second to Cicero. None of his speeches have survived. We possess, however, his invaluable _Commentaries_ on the Gallic and Civil wars. These works, though brief and in most parts rather dull, are highly praised for their simple, concise style and their mastery of the art of rapid narration. VERGIL AND HORACE The half century included within the Augustan Age marks a real epoch in the history of Latin literature. The most famous poet of this period was Vergil. The _Aeneid_, which he undertook at the suggestion of Augustus, is his best-known work. In form the poem is a narrative of the adventures of the Trojan hero, Aeneas, [29] but its real theme is the growth of Rome under the fostering care of the gods. The _Aeneid_, though unfinished at the author's death, became at once what it has always remained--the only ancient epic worthy of comparison with the _Iliad_ or with the _Odyssey._ Another member of the Augustan circle was Vergil's friend and fellow- worker, Horace. An imitative poet, Horace reproduced in Latin verse the forms, and sometimes even the substance, of his Greek models. But, like Vergil, what Horace borrowed he made his own by the added beauty which he gave to it. His _Odes_ are perhaps the most admirable examples of literary art to be found in any language. LIVY The most famous prose writer of the Augustan Age was Livy. His _History of Rome_, beginning with Romulus and extending to Augustus, traced the rise and growth of the Roman state during eight centuries of triumphal progress. It did in prose what Vergil's _Aeneid_ had done in verse. TACITUS The period of the "Good Emperors" saw the rise of several important authors, of whom one, the historian Tacitus, was a man of genius. The crowning labor of his life was a history of Rome from Tiberius to Domitian. Of this work, issued under the two titles of _Histories_ and _Annals_, only about one-half is extant. SURVIVAL OF ROMAN LITERATURE