Le génie romain dans la religion, la pensée et l'art

Collection "The Evolution of Humanity".

"The aim of Albert Grenier - professor at the Collège de France, then director of the French School of Rome - is, in this work, to determine the psychic germ of the Roman genius. This, no doubt, is the result of ethnic mixes and certain living conditions, but it manifests itself at a certain point in history, and one can follow the genius of this people through the various influences they have had to deal with. The dominant features of the Roman are practicality, will and action. This essential pragmatism has left its mark on religion, literature and art. In the absence of poetic, or plastic, or metaphysical imagination, the Roman applies to religious practices the legal spirit, which is highly developed in him. He only pays attention to what is likely to be of practical application: in letters, for example, he is primarily interested in legislation, eloquence, history.
This book is an important study of historical psychology, conducted with sympathy, and achieved through a thorough knowledge of the subject. You can know Rome in many ways, but you have to have read the work of Albert Grenier to know the Romans".