Cicero (BC 106-43) is the most outstanding speaker and educator in Rome, the most outstanding representative of classical thought, and a talented writer in the golden age of Roman literature. His elegant Latin style promoted the development of Latin literature and influenced the education in Rome and later Europe.
Cicero was born in a wealthy knight family and received a good education since childhood. He was educated in a school run by famous rhetoricians, jurists and Stoic philosophers. After finishing his studies, he began to work as a lawyer, and soon entered the political arena and was promoted step by step. In 64 BC, he was elected consul and took the leading position of the country. In Rome * * * and at the end, he was killed by officials of Rome's "post-Triumphal League" because he insisted on the * * * peace system.
DeOratore is Cicero's major work on education, which was published in 55 BC. In this book, he talked about the knowledge and character that an orator needs.
A Course of Foreign Education History edited by Wu Shiying.
Virgil
Virgil, the greatest poet in Rome, was not born in Rome. In his early years, he lived on a farm in a small village in the Andes near mantua. His father was a rich farmer, which gave Virgil a good education. Virgil, a teenager, was sent to schools in cremona and Milan. He went to Rome at the age of 17 to learn rhetoric and philosophy from the best teachers at that time.
After the civil war between Caesar and Pompeii, his farmland was confiscated. However, he has made some great friends, which is really a blessing in disguise. These friends introduced him to Octavian's friends. Soon Octavian became the Roman emperor Augustus. Augustus' outstanding minister of the interior, Mekonas, established a lasting friendship with him and became his main protector. Thanks to the generous help of Machenas, he got rid of his financial embarrassment and devoted himself to literary creation.
Virgil studied Greek poets and imitated Te Aucry Toth's Pastoral Poetry. These idylls reproduce the beautiful scenery of Italy. He accepted Mecenas's suggestion and wrote a serious poem "Farming Poetry", which described farming skills and the charm of rural life. This poem established him as the first poet of that era.
In the second year after the publication of Farming Poetry, he began to write the magnificent epic Aeneas, in which the hero was Aeneas, the founder of the legendary country in Troy, Italy. He spent 10 years writing this epic, but unfortunately, he contracted a fatal fever during his visit to Greece. On his deathbed, he said that it would take three years for Aeneas to become a perfect work, so he begged for the destruction of the manuscript, but Augustus kept this epic manuscript, which is one of the best in the world, for mankind.
This epic was published after Virgil's death, which had a great influence on the poetry and prose of Latin literature. Even Christians think Virgil is a saint inspired by God. Therefore, his influence has continued since the Middle Ages. Dante respected him as a master and regarded him as his guide in The Divine Comedy. Chaucer, Spencer, Milton and Tennyson were all deeply influenced by him, and superstitious medieval people visited Virgil's cemetery in Naples with religious piety.