Livy
|
A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. |
Titus Livius (around
59 BC - AD
17), known as
Livy in
English, wrote a monumental
history of Rome,
Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding (traditionally dated to
753 BC) through the reign of
Augustus. Livy was a native of
Padua (ancient Patavium) in northern
Italy.
The book's title,
Ab Urbe Condita ("From the Founding of the City"), makes Livy's ambition clear. He wrote in a mixture of annual
chronology and
narrative—often having to interrupt a story to announce the elections of new
consuls as this was the way that the Romans kept track of the years. Livy claims that a lack of historical data prior to the sacking of Rome in
386 BC by the
Gauls made his task more difficult.
[Many modern historians do not think there were actually many records to lose at this early point.]Livy wrote the majority of his works during the reign of
Augustus. However, he is often identified with an attachment to the
Roman Republic and a desire for its restoration. Since the later books discussing the end of the
Republic and the rise of Augustus did not survive, this is a moot point. Certainly Livy questioned some of the values of the new regime but it is likely that his position was more complex than a simple 'republic/empire' preference. Augustus does not seem to have held these views against Livy, and entrusted his great-nephew, the future emperor
Claudius, to his tutelage. His effect on Claudius was apparent during the latter's reign, as the emperor's oratory closely adheres to Livy's account of Roman history.
Livy's work was originally composed of 142 books, of which only 35 are
extant; these are 1-10, and 21-45 (with major
lacunae in 40-45). A fragmentary
palimpsest of the 91st book was discovered in the
Vatican Library in
1772, containing about a thousand words, and several papyrus fragments of previously unknown material, much smaller, have been found in Egypt since 1900, most recently about forty words from book 11, unearthed in the 1980's. Some idea of the contents of the remaining books can be gleaned from a thin
epitome, the
Periochae, and an epitome of books 37-40 and 48-55 uncovered at
Oxyrhynchus. A number of Roman authors used Livy, including
Aurelius Victor,
Cassiodorus,
Eutropius,
Festus,
Florus,
Granius Licinianus and
Orosius.
Julius Obsequens used Livy, or a source with access to Livy, to compose his
De Prodigiis, an account of
supernatural events in Rome, from the consulship of
Scipio and
Laelius to that of
Paulus Fabius and
Quintus Aelius.
A
digression in book 9, sections 17-19 suggests that the Romans would have beaten
Alexander the Great if he lived longer and turned west to attack the Romans, making this the oldest known
alternate history.
*
Text of Ab Urbe Condita*
Complete works of Livy at
The Latin Library*
Text of the Periochae at
Livius.org.
*
Free ebook of Livy at
Project Gutenberg**
Ab urbe condita (History of Rome), Books I-III (eBook in English) at Project Gutenberg.
**
Ab urbe condita (History of Rome), Books IX to XXVI (eBook in English) at Project Gutenberg.
**
Ab urbe condita (History of Rome), Books XXVII to XXXVI (eBook in English) at Project Gutenberg.
* Burck, E (1934), Die Erzählungskunst des T. Livius (Berlin).
* Chaplin, J (2000), Livy's Exemplary History (Oxford).
* Feldherr, A (1998), Spectacle and Society in Livy's History (Berkeley and London).
* Jaeger, M (1997), Livy's Written Rome (Ann Arbor).
* Kraus, C S and Woodman, A J (1997), Latin Historians (Oxford).
* Luce, T J (1977), Livy: The Composition of his History (Princeton).
* Oakley, S P (1997), A Commentary on Livy, Books VI-X (Oxford).
* Ogilvie, R M (1965), A Commentary on Livy Books 1 to 5 (Oxford).
