LIVY.
Livy was born at Patavium (Padua) between the years 59 and 57 B.C. Little is known of his life, but his aristocratic sympathies, as seen in his writings, seem to suggest that he was of good family. Padua was a populous and busy place, where opportunities for public speaking were abundant and the public life vigorous; thus Livy was early trained in eloquence, and lived amid scenes of human activity. About 30 B.C. he settled at Rome, where his literary talents secured the patronage and friendship of Augustus. But though a courtier he was no flatterer. ‘Titus Livius,’ says Tacitus (Ann. iv. 34), ‘pre-eminently famous for eloquence and truthfulness, extolled Cn. Pompeius in such a panegyric that Augustus called him Pompeianus, and yet this was no obstacle to their friendship.’ He returned to his native town before his death, 17 A.D., at the age of about 75.
2. Works.
History of Rome (Ab urbe condita Libri), a comprehensive account in 142 Books of the whole History of Rome from the foundation of the City to the death of Drusus, 9 A.D. It is probable that he intended to continue his work in 150 Books, down to the death of Augustus in 14 A.D., the point from which Tacitus starts. The number of Books now extant is 35, about one fourth of the whole number, but we possess summaries (Periochae or Argumenta) of nearly the whole work. The division of the History into decades (sets of ten Books), though merely conventional, is convenient. According to this arrangement the Books now extant are:
Books I-X, 754-293 B.C., to nearly the close of the Third Samnite War.
Books XXI-XXX, 219-201 B.C., the narrative of the Second Punic War.
Books XXXI-XLV, 201-167 B.C., describe the Wars in Greece and Macedonia, and end with the triumph of Aemilius Paulus after Pydna, 168 B.C.
3. Style.
His style is characterised by variety, liveliness, and picturesqueness. ‘As a master of style Livy is in the first rank of historians. He marks the highest point which the enlarged and enriched prose of the Augustan age reached just before it began to fall into decadence. . . . The periodic structure of Latin prose, which had been developed by Cicero, is carried by him to an even greater complexity and used with a greater daring and freedom. . . . His imagination never fails to kindle at great actions; it is he, more than any other author, who has impressed the great soldiers and statesmen of the Republic on the imagination of the world.’—Mackail.