Horace: Four volumes of ode, a model of lyric poetry. The art of poetry has a great influence on literary theory.
Ovid: metamorphosis
(I won't introduce the later ones in front.)
Speaking of Roman culture, it basically originated from Greece, but the Romans also made great contributions in ideology. The most important contribution of the Romans to European culture is the Roman law they created.
45 1 before the twelve tables method, Roman law came into being: the first written law.
Civil Law: (Civil Law) The law concerning Roman citizens. Formed in the middle of the 3rd century.
The Law of Peoples: It was formed from the 3rd century to the middle of 1 century. Everyone under Roman rule.
Roman law in the "classical era": legal research, such as The Ladder of Law by five outstanding jurists.
Encyclopedia of Civil Law (also known as Justinian Code)
The influence of Roman law: "Rome conquered the world three times, the first time by force, the second time by religion, and the third time by law. This third conquest may be the most peaceful and lasting." In terms of political culture, the following important figures appeared in Rome:
1. Caesar He was a statesman and strategist in ancient Rome. He has also made great achievements in literature. Representative works handed down from generation to generation include Battle of Gaul and Civil War. For him, we should remember a famous saying: "I came, I saw, I conquered."
Cicero was a statesman, philosopher and the most important orator in ancient Rome. The main achievements are speeches and letters.
3. Lucretius was one of the main poets in the late Roman Republic, advocating materialism, atheism and atomism. His works include the philosophical poem On Nature.
Virgil is the most important writer in Roman literature. The masterpiece is Anid. 1054, the Christian Church was divided into Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Church. Roman Catholicism regards Latin as the official language. In the Middle Ages, almost all Europeans believed in Roman Catholicism. Therefore, the Middle Ages were also called "the age of faith". The Catholic Church has a strict hierarchy. Pope enjoys absolute authority, hereinafter referred to as archbishop, bishop, priest and existing members of the Catholic Church, and has strict organization and discipline. Monastery system came into being during this period, and trained a large number of monks, such as St. Jerome, who translated the full text of the Bible into English, and St. Benedict, who founded Benedict in 529 AD. One of the most important leaders of Christian thought was Augustine in the 5th century. He had a profound influence on Christian theology. Confessions and City of God are his two immortal works.
Christianity played a very important role in the political life of European feudal society. Christianity, which once served slave owners in the Roman Empire, naturally became an important tool for feudal owners in the Middle Ages and became the spiritual pillar of the feudal system. The Christian world rejects dissidents and is bellicose. Among them, the Crusade is the most famous. In particular, several invasion of Palestinian holy places. Although it ended in failure, it promoted the cultural exchange between the East and the West and prepared the conditions for the formation of the imperial system. In literary creation, a long epic appeared. Beowulf is a German Anglo-Saxon epic, and it is the most complete early heroic epic. Song of Roland is the most famous epic in France.
The Middle Ages also produced two great poets ―― Dante and Chaucer. The Divine Comedy by the famous Italian poet Dante is an epoch-making work in the history of world literature, which expresses the humanistic thought in the coming Renaissance. Chaucer, an English poet, is the first short story writer and the first modern poet in the history of English literature. His most famous work is Canterbury Tales. Renaissance is a bourgeois ideological and cultural movement, which first appeared in Italy from14th century to17th century, and then developed in many other European countries. It is the struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudal system and religious forces with the help of ancient culture. During this period, ancient Greek and Roman cultures were re-valued. At that time, the thinkers of the emerging bourgeoisie claimed to "revive" the submerged classical culture under the banner of "returning to Greece", hence the name "Renaissance". In fact, the purpose of the bourgeoisie is not to rebuild the old culture of slavery, but to get rid of the shackles of feudal thought and establish a new ideological system that adapts to capitalist relations of production. Humanism is the ideological weapon of the bourgeois anti-feudal struggle in the Renaissance and the central idea of bourgeois progressive literature in this period. Contrary to the religious worldview of the Catholic church, humanism puts forward that man is the center of the universe, and the affirmation of "man" has become the core of bourgeois thought.
Religious reform is an anti-feudal struggle waged by the bourgeoisie under the guise of religion. The Catholic Church was the spiritual pillar of the feudal system in medieval Western Europe and the general representative of all reactionary forces. Religious reform is a tit-for-tat struggle from within the church camp. It began with Martin Luther's religious reform plan announced at the University of Wittenberg in 15 17, and quickly spread throughout the European continent. Religious reformers opposed the absolute authority of Roman Catholicism headed by the Pope, advocated the reform of religious doctrines, rituals and hierarchy, and proposed that the Bible be translated into various languages so that ordinary people could communicate directly with God without going through the church. John Calvin, another leader of the Reformation, preached fatalism, believing that people were born with original sin, and only a few people could become God's voters. Therefore, people must keep working hard to be saved. The Reformation shook the rule of Roman Catholicism since the Middle Ages and liberated people's minds. Later, Christianity split into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. At the same time, the religious reform is also a social reform movement, which opposes the interference of Roman Catholicism in politics and economy of various countries. This proposition adapts to the requirements of the emerging bourgeoisie.