Examines the impact of Greek learning, literature, and religion on central aspects of Roman life in the middle Republic. This book discusses the introduction of and resistance to new cults, the relationship between Roman political figures and literary artists schooled in Greek, and the reaction to Hellenic philosophy and rhetoric by Roman elite.

A discussion of about the ways in which Greek culture was accepted, amalgamated, or rejected by Roman leaders and Roman society. The two major focii of the text are the persecution of the Bacchic cult in the early 2nd century AD, and the arrival and installation of the Great Mother of the Gods' from Asia Minor.