The civilization of ancient Greece has been immensely influential on language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, science, and the arts. It became the Leitkultur of the Roman Empire to the point of marginalizing native Italic traditions. As Horace put it,
Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis / intulit agresti Latio (Epistulae 2.1.156f.)
"Captive Greece took captive her uncivilised conqueror and instilled her arts in rustic Latium".