Humanity Writing Question

LIVY Born: c. 59 BC in Patavium, Rome (Ancient state)

Died: c. 17 AD in Patavium, Rome (Ancient state)

Other Names: Livius, Titus; Titus Livius

Nationality: Roman

Occupation: Historian

Livy (59 BC-17 AD), or Titus Livius, was a Roman historian who lived in the period when Augustus was building the Roman Empire out of the ruins of the republican system. In a life of quiet study, Livy became the leading historian of his day.

Livy was born in Patavium (Padua), in his day one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Italy. St. Jerome gives 59 B.C. as the date of Livy's birth, but it is probable that he was mistaken and that Livy was born in 64 B.C. In Patavium he received an education similar to that given to any wealthy young Roman except that he did not have the usual culminating period of study in a Greek city. He may have started adult life as a teacher of rhetoric in his native town, and there is some evidence that he also wrote works on philosophy, which have not survived, but soon he conceived a project for a large-scale history of Rome.

By 30 B.C. Livy had moved to Rome, and from this time on he lived and worked mainly in the capital. He saw no military service and took no part in politics, and as far as is currently known, he never traveled outside Italy, apart from a possible trip to Athens. Soon after his arrival in Rome, he became acquainted with Augustus and remained on friendly terms with the Emperor and his family thereafter, but there is no sign that he depended on imperial patronage for his livelihood, as Horace and Virgil depended on the patronage of Maecenas. Livy's family was prosperous, and he probably inherited enough property to enable him to devote all his time and energy to his history, on which he continued to work almost to the end of his days. He died in Patavium in A.D. 12 (or 17 according to Jerome.)

Early Roman Historiography

When Livy started his work, Romans had been writing history for 200 years, and the nature of the genre was well established. Earlier historians had either covered the whole story of Rome from its foundation to their own day or had dealt in much greater detail with a short segment of more recent history. Most of them were members of the aristocratic ruling class of Rome and had played some part in the wars and politics of the republic.

These works were written mostly according to the annalists system, that is, with all the events of each year discussed together, even if they had little or no logical connection with each other. This was an awkward system, especially for periods when two or three sets of events might be going on simultaneously for several years in different parts of the Mediterranean world, but by Livy's day, the technique had become traditional. Another traditional element which seems odd to modern readers is the custom of including in the narrative lengthy speeches which purport to be the actual words uttered on various occasions by leading men. This practice, taken over by Roman historians from Greek models, Livy also accepted without question.

Livy's History

Livy's great work, Ab urbe condita (From the Foundation of the City), covered the history of Rome from its mythical foundation in 753 B.C. to his own day, and its composition went on continually throughout his life. The first five books were published between 27 and 25 B.C., and Livy continued the history's publication thereafter in periodic batches of several books. It is probable that the last 22 books, covering the career of Augustus to 9 B.C., were not published until after the Emperor's death in A.D. 14 and, therefore, also after Livy's own death.

At its completion, Ab urbe condita was an enormous work in no less than 142 books. Only about a quarter of the text has survived--we have 35 books complete: I-X, which cover the first 460 years of Rome's history, and XXI-XLV, which cover the events of 219-167 B.C. In addition we have Periochae, or summaries, of all but two of the lost books (and of the extant books as well), but these are very brief and were compiled not from Livy's full text but from an abridged edition that is now lost.

Moreover, the anonymous compiler of the Periochae was capable of misunderstanding the text in front of him, and consequently the summaries give only a very shadowy picture of the lost books. The scale of the work increased steadily as Livy got closer to his own times. Book I covered the whole of the regal period, nearly 250 years, and the next 9 books dealt with more than 200 years but the 10 books XXI-XXX cover only the 18 years of the Second Punic War, and by the time he got down to the 1st century B.C., Livy was devoting a whole book to almost every year.

As a Historian

Except for the boldness and scope of his undertaking, and the untiring industry with which he worked at it throughout a lifetime, Livy cannot really be classed as one of the world's major historians. For the most part he depended for his material on earlier writers of the second and first centuries B.C., and there is no sign that he made any attempt to consult the available documentary evidence, which was not inconsiderable. It cannot be judged how he dealt with the history of his own times, for which he must have had to do most of the research himself, as the Periochae of the last 20 books are mostly brief and uninformative.

In his choice of sources to follow, Livy was often quite shrewd, as when he picked the Greek historian Polybius as his main guide for the Eastern wars of the early 2nd century B.C., and if elsewhere his sources were less reliable, that was sometimes because they were all he had. But Livy's use of them was quite uncritical, and his choice between alternative accounts of an event was often determined not so much by logic or reason as by a preference for a story that pointed a moral or redounded to the greater glory of Rome.

Livy's ignorance of war and politics made it hard for him to judge properly the reliability of his sources or to allow for any political bias that might have affected them. In addition, he was sometimes careless in matters of chronology, and although his knowledge of geography was slight, he does not seem to have taken much trouble to see for himself even those sites which lay close at hand in Italy. But for all its weaknesses, Livy's history is still one of the best accounts of the Roman republic, and the loss of three-quarters of his great work is one of the most serious gaps in our knowledge of Roman literature.

As a Writer

Livy's merit as a writer is incontestable. His style, which owed much to Cicero and to Latin poetry, was vivid and colorful. He approached his task with a vision of the greatness and splendor of that past which was certainly not very realistic but was still a noble and inspiring concept. He brought to his work an old-fashioned concept of moral excellence which may not have enhanced his performance as a historian, but, together with the attractive literary style with which he told so effectively the story of the Roman Republic, and particularly the half-legendary tales of its earliest days, it has made his history an enduring part of the heritage of Western Europe.

Credits

"Livy." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Biography In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1631004004/BIC?u=pepp12906&sid=BIC&xid=da 544323. Accessed 4 June 2018.

For an overview of the surviving parts of Livy’s great work, Ab Urbe Condita Libri on Wikipedia. page giving

The History of Rome or Ab Urbe Condita

“The Rape of the Sabine Women” [mid 8th c. BCE]

Book I. 9. The1 Roman State had now become so strong that it was a match for any of its neighbours in war, but its greatness threatened to last for only one generation, since through the absence of women there was no hope of offspring, and there was no right of intermarriage with their neighbours. [2] Acting on the advice of the senate, Romulus sent envoys amongst the surrounding nations to ask for alliance and the right of intermarriage on behalf of his new community. [3] It was represented that cities, like everything else, sprung from the humblest beginnings, and those who were helped on by their own courage and the favour of heaven won for themselves great power and great renown. [4] As to the origin of Rome, it was well known that whilst it had received divine assistance, courage and self-reliance were not wanting. There should, therefore, be no reluctance for men to mingle their blood with their fellow-men.

[5] Nowhere did the envoys meet with a favourable reception. Whilst their proposals were treated with contumely, there was at the same time a general feeling of alarm at the power so rapidly growing in their midst. Usually they were dismissed with the question, ‘whether they had opened an asylum for women, for nothing short of that would secure for them inter-marriage on equal terms.’ [6] The Roman youth could ill brook such insults, and matters began to look like an appeal to force.

To secure a favourable place and time for such an attempt, Romulus, disguising his resentment, made elaborate preparations for the celebration of games in honour of ‘Equestrian Neptune,’ which he called ‘the Consualia.’ [7] He ordered public notice of the spectacle to be given amongst the adjoining cities, and his people supported him in making the celebration as magnificent as their knowledge and resources allowed, so that expectations were raised to the highest pitch. [8] There was a great gathering; people were eager to see the new City, all their nearest neighbours-the people of Caenina, Antemnae, and Crustumerium-were there, and the whole Sabine population came, with their wives and families. [9] They were invited to accept hospitality at the different houses, and after examining the situation of the City, its walls and the large number of dwelling-houses it included, they were astonished at the rapidity with which the Roman State had grown.

[10] When the hour for the games had come, and their eyes and minds were alike riveted on the spectacle before them, the preconcerted signal was given and the Roman youth dashed in all directions to carry off the maidens who were present. [11] The larger part were carried off indiscriminately, but some particularly beautiful girls who had been marked out for the leading patricians were carried to their houses by plebeians told off for the task. [12] One, conspicuous

amongst them all for grace and beauty, is reported to have been carried off by a group led by a certain Talassius, and to the many inquiries as to whom she was intended for, the invariable answer was given, ‘For Talassius.’ [13] Hence the use of this word in the marriage rites.2 Alarm and consternation broke up the games, and the parents of the maidens fled, distracted with grief, uttering bitter reproaches on the violators of the laws of hospitality and appealing to the god to whose solemn games they had come, only to be the victims of impious [14] perfidy.

The abducted maidens were quite as despondent and indignant. Romulus, however, went round in person, and pointed out to them that it was all owing to the pride of their parents in denying right of intermarriage to their neighbours. They would live in honourable wedlock, and share all their property and civil rights, and —dearest of all to human nature-would be the mothers of [15] freemen. He begged them to lay aside their feelings of resentment and give their affections to those whom fortune had made masters of their persons. An injury had often led to reconciliation and love; they would find their husbands all the more affectionate because each would do his utmost, so far as in him lay to make up for the loss of parents and [16] country. These arguments were reinforced by the endearments of their husbands who excused their conduct by pleading the irresistible force of their passion —a plea effective beyond all others in appealing to a woman's nature.

1 The Rape of the Sabines.

2 Talassio. —The procession in which the bride was led from her parents' house to her new home was attended by minstrels who invoked Tallassius in the nuptial song.

[The Sabines and the Romans go to war with one another.]

13. Then1 it was that the Sabine women, whose wrongs had led to the war, throwing off all womanish fears in their distress, went boldly into the midst of the flying missiles with dishevelled hair and rent garments. [2] Running across the space between the two armies they tried to stop any further fighting and calm the excited passions by appealing to their fathers in the one army and their husbands in the other not to bring upon themselves a curse by staining their hands with the blood of a father-in-law or a son-in-law, nor upon their posterity the taint of parricide. [3] ‘If,’ they cried, ‘you are weary of these ties of kindred, these marriage-bonds, then turn your anger upon us; it is we who are the cause of the war, it is we who have wounded and slain our husbands and fathers. Better for us to perish rather than live without one or the other of you, as widows or as orphans.’

[4] The armies and their leaders were alike moved by this appeal. There was a sudden hush and silence. Then the generals advanced to arrange the terms of a treaty. It was not only peace that was made, the two nations were united into one State, the royal power was shared between them, and the seat of government for both nations was Rome. [5] After thus doubling the City, a concession was made to the Sabines in the new appellation of Quirites, from their old capital of Cures. As a memorial of the battle, the place where Curtius got his horse out of the deep marsh on to safer ground was called the Curtian lake.

[6] The2 joyful peace, which put an abrupt close to such a deplorable war, made the Sabine women still dearer to their husbands and fathers, and most of all to Romulus himself. [7] Consequently when he effected the distribution of the people into the thirty curiae, he affixed their names to the curiae. No doubt there were many more than thirty women, and tradition is silent as to whether those whose names were given to the curiae were selected on the ground of age, or on that of personal distinction — either their own or their husbands' —or merely by lot. [8] The enrolment of the three centuries of knights took place at the same time; the Ramnenses were called after Romulus, the Titienses from T. Tatius. The origin of the Luceres and why they were so called is uncertain.

Thenceforward the two kings exercised their joint sovereignty with perfect harmony.

1 Peace and Union with the Sabines.

2 The Curies and Centuries.

“The Rape of Lucretia” [509 BCE]

Book I. 57. This1 people who were at that time in possession of Ardea, were, considering the nature of their country and the age in which they lived, exceptionally wealthy. This circumstance really originated the war, for the Roman king was anxious to repair his own fortune, which had been exhausted by the magnificent scale of his public works and also to conciliate his subjects by a distribution of the spoils of war. [2] His tyranny had already produced disaffection but what moved their special resentment was the way they had been so long kept by the king at manual and even servile labour.

[3] An attempt was made to take Ardea by assault; when that failed recourse was had to a regular investment to starve the enemy out. [4] When troops are stationary, as is the case in a protracted more than in an active campaign, furloughs are easily granted, more so to the men of rank however, than to the common soldiers. [5] The royal princes sometimes spent their leisure hours in feasting and entertainments, and at a wine party given by [6??] Sextus Tarquinius at which Collatinus, the son of Egerius, was present, the conversation happened to turn upon their wives, and each began to speak of his own in terms of extraordinarily high praise. [7] As the dispute became warm Collatinus said that there was no need of words, it could in a few hours be ascertained how far his Lucretiawas superior to all the rest. ‘Why do we not,’ he exclaimed, ‘if we have any youthful vigour about us mount our horses and pay your wives a visit and find out their characters on the spot? [8] What we see of the behaviour, of each on the unexpected arrival of her husband, let that be the surest test.’ They were heated with wine, and all shouted: ‘Good! Come on!’ [9] Setting spur to their horses they galloped off to Rome, where they arrived as darkness was beginning to close in; Thence they proceeded to Collatia, where they found Lucretia very differently employed from the king's daughters-in-law, whom they had seen passing their time in feasting and luxury with their acquaintances. She was sitting at her wool work in the hall, late at night, with her, maids busy round her. [10] The palm in this competition of wifely virtue was awarded to Lucretia. She welcomed the arrival of her husband and the Tarquins, whilst her victorious spouse courteously invited the royal princes to remain as his guests. Sextus Tarquin, inflamed by the beauty and exemplary purity of Lucretia, formed the vile project of effecting her dishonour. [11] After their youthful frolic they returned for the time to camp.

1 The Story of Lucretia.

58. A few days afterwards Sextus Tarquin went, unknown to Collatinus, with one companion to Collatia. [2] He was hospitably received by the household, who suspected nothing, and after supper was conducted to the bedroom set apart for guests. When all around seemed safe and everybody fast asleep, he went in the frenzy of his passion with a naked sword to the sleeping Lucretia, and placing his left hand on her breast, said, ‘Silence, Lucretia! I am Sextus Tarquin, and I have a sword in my

hand; if you utter a word, you shall die.’ [3] When the woman, terrified out of her sleep, saw that no help was near, and instant death threatening her, Tarquin began to confess his passion, pleaded, used threats as well as entreaties, and employed every argument likely to influence a female heart. [4] When he saw that she was inflexible and not moved even by the fear of death, he threatened to disgrace her, declaring that he would lay the naked corpse of the slave by her dead body, so that it might be said that she had been slain in foul adultery. [5] By this awful threat, his lust triumphed over her inflexible chastity, and Tarquin went off exulting in having successfully attacked her honour. Lucretia, overwhelmed with grief at such a frightful outrage, sent a messenger to her father at Romeand to her husband at Ardea, asking them to come to her, each accompanied by one faithful friend; it was necessary to act, and to act promptly; a horrible thing had happened. [6] Spurius Lucretius came with Publius Valerius, the son of Volesus; Collatinus with Lucius Junius Brutus, with whom he happened to be returning to Rome when he was met by his wife's messenger. They found Lucretia sitting in her room prostrate with grief. [7] As they entered, she burst into tears, and to her husband's inquiry whether all was well, replied, ‘No! what can be well with a woman when her honour is lost? The marks of a stranger Collatinus are in your bed. But it is only the body that has been violated the soul is pure; death shall bear witness to that. But pledge me your solemn word that the adulterer shall not go unpunished. [8] It is Sextus Tarquin, who, coming as an enemy instead of a guest forced from me last night by brutal violence a pleasure fatal to me, and, if you are men, fatal to him.’ [9] They all successively pledged their word, and tried to console the distracted woman , by turning the guilt from the victim of the outrage to the perpetrator, and urging that it is the mind that sins not the body, and where there has been no consent there is no guilt ‘It is for you,’ she said, ‘to see that he gets his deserts: [10] although I acquit myself of the sin, I do not free myself from the penalty; no unchaste woman shall henceforth live and plead Lucretia's example.’

[11] She had a knife concealed in her dress which she plunged into her, heart, and fell dying on the floor. [12] Her father and husband raised the death-cry.1

1 As soon as life was extinct, those round the death-bed raised a loud cry of woe and called out the name of the deceased. For a similar custom among the Hebrews, comp. 2 Sam. xviii. 33.

59. Whilst1 they were absorbed in grief, Brutus drew the knife from Lucretia's wound and holding it, dripping with blood, in front of him, said, ‘By this blood - most pure before the outrage wrought by the king's son —I swear, and you, 0 gods, I call to witness that I will drive hence Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, together with his cursed wife and his whole brood, with fire and sword and every means in my power, and I will not suffer them or any one else to reign in Rome.’ [2] Then he handed the knife to Collatinus and then to Lucretius and Valerius, who were all astounded at the marvel of the thing, wondering whence Brutus had acquired this new character. They swore as they were directed; all their grief changed to wrath, and they followed the lead of Brutus, who summoned them to abolish the monarchy forthwith. [3] They carried the body of Lucretia from her home down to the Forum, where, owing to the unheard-of atrocity of the crime, they at once collected a crowd. [4] Each had his own complaint to make of the wickedness and violence of the royal house. Whilst all

were moved by the father's deep distress, Brutus bade them stop their tears and idle laments, and urged them to act as men and Romans and take up arms against their insolent foes. [5] All the high- spirited amongst the younger men came forward as armed volunteers, the rest followed their, example. A portion of this body was left to hold Collatia, and guards were stationed at the gates to prevent any news of the movement from reaching the king; the rest marched in arms to Rome with Brutus in command. [6] On their, arrival, the sight of so many men in arms spread panic and confusion wherever they marched, but when again the people saw that the foremost men of the State were leading the way, they realised that what-ever the movement was it was a serious one. [7] The terrible occurrence created no less excitement in Rome than it had done in Collatia; there was a rush from all quarters of the City to the Forum. When they had gathered there, the herald summoned them to attend the ‘Tribune of the Celeres’; this was the office which Brutus happened at the time to be holding. [8] He made a speech quite out of keeping with the character and temper he had up to that day assumed. He dwelt upon the brutality and licentiousness of Sextus Tarquin, the infamous outrage on Lucretia and her pitiful death, the bereavement sustained by her, father, Tricipitinus, to whom the cause of his daughter's death was more shameful and distressing than the actual death itself. [9] Then he dwelt on the tyranny of the king, the toils and sufferings of the plebeians kept underground clearing out ditches and sewers —Roman men, conquerors of all the surrounding nations, turned from warriors into artisans and stonemasons! [10] He reminded them of the shameful murder of Servius Tullius and his daughter driving in her accursed chariot over her father's body, and solemnly invoked the gods as the avengers of murdered parents. [11] By enumerating these and, I believe, other still more atrocious incidents which his keen sense of the present injustice suggested, but which it is not easy to give in detail, he goaded on the incensed multitude to strip the king of his sovereignty and pronounce a sentence of banishment against Tarquin with his wife and children. [12] With a picked body of the ‘Juniors,’ who volunteered to follow him, he went off to the camp at Ardea to incite the army against the king, leaving the command in the City to Lucretius, who had previously been made Prefect of the City by the king. [13] During the commotion Tullia fled from the palace amidst the execrations of all whom she met, men and women alike invoking against her father's avenging spirit.

1 The Expulsion of the Tarquins.

60. When the news of these proceedings reached the camp, the king, alarmed at the turn affairs were taking, hurried to Rome to quell the outbreak. Brutus, who was on the same road, had become aware of his approach, and to avoid meeting him took another route, so that he reached Ardea and Tarquin Rome almost at the same time, though by different ways. [2] Tarquin found the gates shut, and a decree of banishment passed against him; the Liberator of the City received a joyous welcome in the camp, and the king's sons were expelled from it. Two of them followed their father, into exile amongst the Etruscans in Caere. Sextus Tarquin proceeded to Gabii, which he looked upon as his kingdom, but was killed in revenge for the old feuds he had kindled by his rapine and murders.

[3] Lucius Tarquinius Superbus reigned twenty-five years. The whole duration of the regal government from the foundation of the City to its liberation was two hundred and forty-four years. Two consuls were then elected in the assembly of centuries by the prefect of the City, in accordance with the regulations of Servius Tullius. They were Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus.

“Cincinnatus, the Dictator” [458 BCE]

Book III. 26. An immense body of Sabines came in their ravages almost up to the walls of the City. The fields were ruined, the City thoroughly alarmed. Now the plebeians cheerfully took up arms, the tribunes remonstrated in vain, and two large armies were levied. [2] Nautius led one of them against the Sabines, formed an entrenched camp, sent out, generally at night, small bodies who created such destruction in the Sabine territory that the Roman borders appeared in comparison almost untouched by war. [3] Minucius was not so fortunate, nor did he conduct the campaign with the same energy; after taking up an entrenched position not far from the enemy, he remained timidly within his camp, though he had not suffered any important defeat. As usual, the enemy were emboldened by the lack of courage on the other side. [4] They made a night attack on his camp, but as they gained little by a direct assault they proceeded the following day to invest it. Before all the exits were closed by the circumvallation, five mounted men got through the enemies' outposts and brought to Rome the news that the consul and his army were blockaded. Nothing could have happened so unlooked for, so undreamed of; the panic and confusion were as great as if it had been the City and not the camp that was invested. [5] The consul Nautius was summoned home, but as he did nothing equal to the emergency, they decided to appoint a Dictator to retrieve the threatening position of affairs. [6] By universal consent L. Quinctius Cincinnatus was called to the office.

It is worth while for those who despise all human interests in comparison with riches, and think that there is no scope for high honours or for virtue except where lavish wealth abounds to listen to this story.

[7] 1The one hope of Rome, L. Quinctius, used to cultivate a four-acre field on the other side of the Tiber, just opposite the place where the dockyard and arsenal are now situated; it bears the name of the ‘Quinctian Meadows.’ [8] There he was found by the deputation from the senate either digging out a ditch or ploughing, at all events, as is generally agreed, intent on his husbandry. [9] After mutual salutations he was requested to put on his toga that he might hear the mandate of the senate, and they expressed the hope that it might turn out well for him and for the State. He asked them, in surprise, if all was well, and bade his wife, Racilia, bring him his toga quickly from the cottage. [10] Wiping off the dust and perspiration, he put it on and came forward, on which the deputation saluted him as Dictator and congratulated him, invited him to the City and explained the state of apprehension in which the army were. [11] A vessel had been provided for him by the government, and after he had crossed over, he was welcomed by his three sons, who had come out to meet him. They were followed by other relatives and friends, and by the majority of the senate. Escorted by this numerous gathering and preceded by the lictors, he was conducted to his house. [12] There was also an enormous gathering of the plebs, but they were by no means so pleased to see Quinctius; they regarded the power with which he was invested as excessive, and the man

himself more dangerous than his power. Nothing was done that night beyond adequately guarding the City.

1 The Story of Cincinnatus.

Credits Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi0011.perseus-eng3:1

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.