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From early times the Romans had felt the artistic influence of Greece. In 146 BC, when Greece was conquered by Rome, Greek art became inseparably interwoven with that of Rome. "Greece, conquered, led her conqueror captive" is the poet's way of expressing the triumph of Greek over Roman culture.

To a large extent the art of the Romans was a development of that of their predecessors in Italy, the Etruscans, who, to be sure, had learned much from the Greeks. Nor were the Romans themselves entirely without originality. Though their artistic forms were, forthe most part, borrowed, they expressed in them, especially in their architecture, their own practical dominating spirit.