It is necessary, then, to have in mind the traits that individualize nations and races. For this reason the national characteristics are here set forth briefly, with lists of the principal authors of each country. =Greek Literature.= An unequaled perception of beauty, with a love of symmetry and proportion: the reason and the feelings, the intellect and the emotions are perfectly blended. The powers of imagination and creation are highly trained, as well as the logical faculty, resulting in the perfection of skill and insight in epic poetry (Homer), tragedy (Æschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles), and philosophy (Plato). POETRY Cleanthes Homer Pindar Sappho Theocritus FICTION Æsop HISTORY Herodotus Thucydides BIOGRAPHY Plato Plutarch DRAMA Æschylus Euripides Sophocles PHILOSOPHY Epictetus Plato =Latin Literature.= The power of organization, with an ardor for law and order, combined with a genius for adapting and utilizing the best products of the nations which came under the Roman rule. This talent for adaptation and imitation stands in contrast to the Greek creative talent. Inasmuch as Rome's greatest literary works belong to a period four centuries after the best Greek production, it follows that the Roman authors profited not only by Greek achievement but also by the increased knowledge of the world due to the vast extension of the Roman Empire. Apart from this broader point of view, Latin authors borrowed method and style from the Greek; Vergil follows Homer and Theocritus, who was also imitated by Horace. Cicero and Seneca took both thought and style from Greek philosophers. In fact, Athens was the university at which all well-educated Romans had studied. POETRY Catullus Horace Ovid Vergil FICTION Apuleius HISTORY Cæsar Josephus[2] Livy Suetonius Tacitus BIOGRAPHY Pliny PHILOSOPHY Aurelius Cicero Lucretius Seneca