The idea behind this statement, which is commonly made
about the relationship between these two cultures, is that the Greeks were the ones who
came up with all the ideas. It is said that the Romans simply copied them. That is the
meaning of the part about innovators and imitators. The part about practicality asserts
that the Romans were not interested in philosophy or other abstract
thought.
This idea has come down to us in part because many
aspects of Roman culture seem to be derived from the Greek. For example, most Roman
gods have counterparts in Greek mythology and so people tend to say that the Romans got
their gods from the Greeks. Another example of this sort of idea can be seen in the
following quote from the occc-encyclopedia link:
The influence of Greek culture
became pervasive, and wealthy Romans began to affect the leisured style of the great
centres of the Hellenistic world; see
and the visual arts flourished, as the Romans imitated all the trappings of Greek
civilization. One of the results was the development of Roman literature on the Greek
model, including drama, epic poetry, and, not least,
historiography.
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