La nascita e lo sviluppo della letteratura latina furono profondamente condizionati da un lato dall'influenza della cultura greca con la quale i Romani entrarono in contatto a partire dal II sec. a. C. soprattutto per la loro politica espansionistica nel Mediterraneo e poi in Oriente; dall'altro dalle pressioni esercitate dal potere politico che richiedeva al cittadino di prestare la propria attività innanzitutto a favore della res publica. Se i generi letterari latini furono perciò disciplinati nei contenuti e negli schemi formali dalle leggi che avevano regolato la produzione greca, il non sempre facile rapporto tra attività letteraria (otium) e impegno politico e militare (negotium) ne determinò una sorta di gerarchia in rapporto alla loro maggiore o minore contiguità col potere politico definendo nel contempo ruolo e funzione dell'intellettuale a Roma.
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The origin and the development of Latin literature was profoundly conditioned on the one hand by the Greek culture that Romans came into contact with from the II century BC onwards, especially through their expansionist politics in the Mediterranean and then in the East; and on the other hand by the pressure from political powers at home, who wanted citizens to work for the good of the res publica. Although the various genres in Latin literature were influenced in terms of content and form by the rules that governed Greek writings, the sometimes difficult relationship between literary activity (otium) and political and military commitments (negotium) led to a kind of literary hierarchy depending on the writer’s relationship with the political elite, thus creating the role and function of the intellectual in Rome.
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The origin and the development of Latin literature was profoundly conditioned on the one hand by the Greek culture that Romans came into contact with from the II century BC onwards, especially through their expansionist politics in the Mediterranean and then in the East; and on the other hand by the pressure from political powers at home, who wanted citizens to work for the good of the res publica. Although the various genres in Latin literature were influenced in terms of content and form by the rules that governed Greek writings, the sometimes difficult relationship between literary activity (otium) and political and military commitments (negotium) led to a kind of literary hierarchy depending on the writer’s relationship with the political elite, thus creating the role and function of the intellectual in Rome.
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