ose
works were used by Livy in compiling his Roman history.

Oratory was always cultivated by the Romans as one of the chief avenues
to political distinction. Cicero, in his work entitled _Brutus_, has
given a long list of distinguished Orators whose speeches he had read,
but he himself surpassed all his predecessors and contemporaries. In his
works the Latin language appears in the highest perfection. Besides his
numerous orations he also wrote several treatises on _Rhetoric_, of
which the most perfect is a systematic treatise on the art of Oratory
(_De Oratore_), in three books. His works on _Philosophy_ were almost
the first specimens of this kind of literature ever presented to the
Romans in their own language. He does not aim at any original
investigation or research. His object was to present, in a familiar and
attractive form, the results at which the Greek philosophers had
arrived, not to expound any new theories. His Epistles, of which more
than eight hundred have come down to us, are among the most valuable
remains of antiquity. Cicero, during the most important period of his
life, maintained a close correspondence with Atticus, and with a wide
circle of political friends and connections. These letters supply the
most ample materials for a history of the Roman Republic during its last
struggles, and afford a clear insight into the personal dispositions and
motives of its chief leaders.

The most learned Roman under the Republic was M. TERENTIUS VARRO, a
contemporary and friend of Cicero. He served as Pompey's lieutenant in
Spain in the Civil Wars, but was pardoned by Caesar after the battle of
Pharsalia, and was employed by him in superintending the collection and
arrangement of the great library designed for public use. Upon the
formation of the second Triumvirate, Varro's name appeared upon the list
of the proscribed; but he succeeded in making his escape, and, after
having remained for some time in concealment, he obtained the protection
of Octavian. His death took place B.C. 28, when he was in his 80th year.
Not only was Varro the most learned of Roman scholars, but he was
likewise the most voluminous of Roman authors. We have his own authority
for the assertion that he had composed no less than 490 books, but of
these only two have come down to us, and one of them in a mutilated
form: 1. _De Re Rustica_, a work on Agriculture, in three books, written
when the author was 80 years old; 2. _De Lingua Latina