later ages added new improvements to the language. In fable Rome
was an imitator of Greece; but nevertheless Phaedrus (16 A.D.)
struck out a new line for himself, and became both a moral
instructor and a political satirist. Celsus, who lived in the
reign of Tiberius, was the author of a work on medicine which is
used as a textbook even in the present advanced state of medical
science.

The Greek belief in destiny becomes in the Romans stoicism. This
doctrine, found in the writings of Seneca, and in the tragedies
attributed to him, led to the probability that he was their
author. Seneca has had many admirers and imitators in modern
times. The French school of tragic poets took him for their
model.

Corneille and Racine seem to consider his works real tragedy.

Cicero's philosophical writings are invaluable in order to
understand the minds of those who came after him. Not only all
Roman philosophy of the time; but a great part of that of the
Middle Ages was Greek philosophy filtered through Latin, and
mostly founded on that of Cicero. But of all the Roman creations,
the most original was jurisprudence. The framework they took from
Athens; but the complete fabric was the work of their own hands.
It was first developed between the consulate of Cicero and the
death of Trajan (180 years), and finally carried to completion
under Hadrian. This system was of such a high order that the
Romans have handed it down to the whole of modern Europe, and
traces of Roman law can be found in the legal formulas of the
entire civilized world.