THE POETS.--One of the most original of the Latin poets is _Lucretius_ (95-51 B.C.), whose poem "On the Nature of Things" is an effort to dispel superstitious fear by inculcating the Epicurean doctrine that the world is self-made through the movement and concussion of atoms, and that the gods leave it to care for itself. A contemporary of Lucretius, and a poet of equal merit, but in an altogether different vein, is _Catullus_. He is chiefly noted for his lyrics. _Virgil_ (70-19 B.C.), in the _Aeneid_, has produced a genuine Roman epic, although his dependence on Homer is obvious throughout, and in the _Bucolics_, and in particular in the _Georgics_, where he shows most originality, has made himself immortal as a pastoral poet. _Horace_ (65-8 B.C.), like most of the Roman authors, in many of his poems is inspired by his Greek models, but, in his _Satires_ and _Poetic Epistles_, expresses the character of his own genius. His "Odes," for their beauty and melody and the variety of their topics, rank among the best of all productions of their kind. _Ovid_ (43 B.C.-A.D. 18), in his chief work, the _Metamorphoses_, handled the mythical tales of the Greeks, and, in his poems on _Love_, likewise introduced many Grecian tales. He was much influenced by the Alexandrian poets. THE HISTORIANS.--In historical composition, most of the Roman authors had Greek patterns before their eyes. Nevertheless, _Livy_ (59 B.C.-A.D. 17), thirty-five of the one hundred and forty-two books of whose "Annals" have been preserved, and _Sallust_, to whom we are indebted for narratives of the conspiracy of Cataline and of the Jugurthine war, are far from being servile copyists. The simple and lucid but graceful style of the _Commentaries_ of _Caesar_ makes this work an example of the purest Latin prose. LAW WRITERS.--In one department, that of jurisprudence, the Romans were eminently original. The writings of the great jurists were simple and severe, and free from the rhetorical traits which Roman authors in other departments borrowed from the Greeks. OTHER AUTHORS.--Among other eminent authors of this period are the great Roman antiquary _Varro_ (116-27 B.C.); the elegiac poets, _Tibullus_ and _Propertius_; _Phaedrus_, the Roman Aesop; the historian, _Cornelius Nepos_; and the Greek historical writers of that day, _Diodore_ of Sicily and _Dionysius_ of Halicarnassus; also _Strabo_, the Greek geographer (64 B.C.-A.D. 24). THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY.