stined later to conquer
the world. In B. C. 364 the medleys or "Saturae" were enacted upon the
Roman stage, the words supplemented by the pantomime and dancing of
Etruscan performers who spoke no Latin. Another early form of dramatic
art was the "fabula Atellana," which was adapted from the neighbouring
tribe of Oscans, and which possessed a simple plot and stock characters.
While this early literature embodied Oscan and Etruscan as well as Latin
elements, it was truly Roman; for the Roman was himself formed of just
such a mixture. All Italy contributed to the Latin stream, but at no
time did any non-Roman dialect rise to the distinction of a real
literature. We have here no parallel for the AEolic, Ionic, and Doric
phases of Greek literature.

Classical Latin literature dates from the beginning of Rome's free
intercourse with Greece, a thing brought about by the conquest of the
Hellenic colonies in Southern Italy. When Tarentum fell to the Romans in
B. C. 272, there was brought to Rome as a captive and slave a young man
of great attainments, by name Andronicus. His master, M. Livius
Salinator, was quick to perceive his genius, and soon gave him his
liberty, investing him according to custom with his own nomen of Livius,
so that the freedman was afterward known as Livius Andronicus. The
erstwhile slave, having established a school, commenced his literary
career by translating the Odyssey into Latin Saturnian verse for the use
of his pupils. This feat was followed by the translation of a Greek
drama, which was enacted in B. C. 240, and formed the first genuinely
classic piece beheld by the Roman public. The success of Livius
Andronicus was very considerable, and he wrote many more plays, in which
he himself acted, besides attempting lyric and religious poetry. His
work, of which but 41 lines remain in existence, was pronounced inferior
by Cicero; yet must ever be accorded respect as the very commencement of
a great literature.

Latin verse continued to depend largely on Greek models, but in prose
the Romans were more original, and the first celebrated prose writer was
that stern old Greek hater, M. Porcius Cato (234-149 B. C.), who
prepared orations and wrote on history, agriculture, and other subjects.
His style was clear, though by no means perfect, and it is a source of
regret that his historical work, the "Origines," is lost. Other prose
writers, all orators, extending from Cato's time down to the polished
period,