Virgil’s Aeneid is the first truly Roman literary masterpiece.  Although not quite copying Homer’s style, the Aeneid is very similar to the Iliad and Odyssey, in fact the Aeneid is a continuation of those stories.  Virgil gave Rome an origination story/myth of which they could be proud, in much the same manner that the Greeks thought of Homer and the Myceneans.  The Roman’s chose to identify themselves with the long destroyed Troy.  The Aeneid follows the destruction of Troy with the voyages of Aeneas, the father of the Roman race.  Another particular thing I found in this reading is the death of Laocoon.  Laocoon, the Trojan priest, warns the people of Greeks bearing gifts.  Because the gods were on the Achaeans side he was bitten by the snakes, him and his son.  Amazing statue.  Amazing story.