In the present paper the extent of allusions to topics in the history of Ancient Rome is assessed within the officially accepted Soviet literature. Different instances of interest towards the Roman antiquity among the poets of the second half of the ХХ century are classified and accounted for. The social and literary context of Rome-inspired Jaаn Kaplinski’s ( Vercingetorix, 1967) and David Samoilov’s ( Remus and Romulus, 1969) lyric poetry is assessed, as well as their relationship with the Classical subject matter and the 19th century civil poetry.