The Influences of Roman Politics, Philosophy and Rhetoric upon the Roman Literature

日本对罗马文学的研究往往集中在两种体裁上：以神话故事为基础的史诗和以个人情感为基础的挽歌。这是一个缺陷。罗马文学受到政治、哲学(包括自然科学)和修辞学的影响。必须在每一部作品上详细地考察文学与这些之间的关系。其中有两个重要的知识：说教诗不能从狭义的史诗中分离出来，传记学对于理解从共和时代到奥古斯坦的诗歌是不可或缺的。

Studies of Roman literature in Japan tend to be concentrated on two genres : epics based on mythical story and elegies from personal sentiments. This is a defect. Roman literature is under the influences of politics, philosophy (including natural sciences), and rhetoric. The relation between literature and these must be examined on each work in detail. Two important knowledges are gained among others : didactic poems cannot be isolated from epics in narrower sense, and prosopography is indispensable for the understanding the poems from the Republican age to the Augustan.