The stimulus of Greek literary culture led to native production, and in
the second century, B. C., we have the beginning of that Latin
literature which we still read. Though the great period of Roman letters
did not come till a century after this time (age of Augustus), yet there
arose a number of writers of no ordinary power. Among these should be
mentioned Ennius, the father of Roman poetry; Plautus, his contemporary,
a man of rich poetic genius; the elder Cato, the first prose writer of
note; and Terence, the most famous of the comic poets.
While the Romans were in some respects benefited by contact with the
superior though decaying culture of Greece, they also learned a great
deal that was debasing. They became effeminate, luxurious, and corrupt
in morals; marriage was not respected; the old Roman faith waned, and it
was said that two augurs could not meet in the street without laughing
in each other’s face.