This was the last sack of the city by barbarians. But twenty-one years elapsed before the Roman Empire came to an end (476).
CHAPTER XLIII. ROMAN LITERATURE.
PLAUTUS (254-184).
PLAUTUS, the comic poet, was one of the earliest of Roman writers. Born at Sarsina in Umbria, of free parentage, he at first worked on the stage at Rome, but lost his savings in speculation. Then for some time he worked in a treadmill, but finally gained a living by translating Greek comedies into Latin. Twenty of his plays have come down to us. They are lively, graphic, and full of fun, depicting a mixture of Greek and Roman life.
TERENCE (195-159).
TERENCE was a native of Carthage. He was brought to Rome at an early age as a slave of the Senator Terentius, by whom he was educated and liberated. Six of his comedies are preserved. Like the plays of Plautus, they are free translations from the Greek, and of the same general character.
ENNIUS (139-69).
QUINTUS ENNIUS, a native of Rudiae, was taken to Rome by Cato the Younger. Here he supported himself by teaching Greek. His epic poem, the Annàles, relates the traditional Roman history, from the arrival of Aenéas to the poet's own day.
CICERO (106-43).