The last of the major historians of the western Roman Empire, Ammianus Marcellinus (~330-395) was a pagan Greek writing in Latin. A participant in Julian's unsuccessful invasion of Mesopotamia, he chronicled the course of Roman history from the accession of Nerva to the death of Valens in 378.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC, was an outspoken defender of republican principles amidst the civil wars that destroyed the existing order and gave rise to the Roman Empire. A noted orator and writer, he gave innovated the widely used styles of Ciceronian rhetoric and Ciceronian Latin. Though of equestrian rather than patrician origins, Cicero became a famous scholar and writer in his day, and numerous letters, orations, and other writings survive, as well as musings on philosophical topics. His outspoken positions made him unpopular in political circles, however, and he was executed near Caieta December 7, 43 BC.

Plutarch's classic biographies of ancient Greek and Roman heroes, and his essays, were the inspiration of the Renaissance. This category collects the links to Plutarch and his work.