How would someone re word this? 20 ! this indebtedness to greece was even recognized by the writers themselves. horace, one of the poets of the golden age of roman literature wrote that greece introduced the arts "into a backward latium." historian nigel rodgers in his roman empire wrote that greek authors originated many philosophical and political concepts that influenced such romans as cicero, seneca, boethius, catullus, and virgil - "a greek and roman synthesis" (258). he added that rome could not and did not deny that greece was more refined and superior in both intellectual and cultural pursuits from technology and philosophy to poetry and sculpture. in reality, rome could hardly deny a closeness to greece since greek cities had existed on both the lower peninsula and sicily for decades.