LIVY.
There is no ancient biography of Livy, and very little light is thrown on his life by his own writings or by allusions in other authors.
Titus Livius was born at Patavium (the modern Padua) B.C. 59: Jerome yr. Abr. 1958, ‘T. Livius Patavinus scriptor historicus nascitur.’ (The Armenian version gives Ol. 180, 4 = B.C. 57.) Near Patavium there was a famous sulphur spring known as Aponus or Aponi fons, whence Martial calls the district Apona tellus (i. 61, 3, ‘Censetur Apona Livio suo tellus’). There is no reason to suppose from this that Livy’s birthplace was not Patavium itself, but a village Aponus, which is nowhere mentioned. Statius (Silv. iv. 7, 55) calls him ‘Timavi alumnus.’ For Livy’s acquaintance with Patavium cf. x. 2, 14 and 15.
From his tone we may infer that he came of a good family, and he must have possessed a fair income. The charge against his style of Patavinitas implies that he spent a considerable part of his life in his native town, but he probably settled at Rome about B.C. 30. That he took no part in public life is clear from his own words: i. praef. 5, ‘Hoc laboris praemium petam, ut me a conspectu malorum, quae nostra tot per annos vidit aetas, tantisper certe, dum prisca illa tota mente repeto, avertam, omnis expers curae, quae scribentis animum etsi non flectere a vero, sollicitum tamen efficere posset.’
He enjoyed the intimacy of Augustus, whom he himself mentions, iv. 20, 7, ‘hoc ego cum Augustum Caesarem ... se ipsum ... legisse audissem.’ Tac. Ann. iv. 34, ‘T. Livius, eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in primis, Cn. Pompeium tantis laudibus tulit, ut Pompeianum eum Augustus appellaret; neque id amicitiae eorum offecit.’ It was at Livy’s suggestion that the future emperor, Claudius, started to compose a history: Sueton. Claud. 41, ‘historiam in adulescentia, hortante T. Livio, Sulpicio vero Flavo etiam adiuvante, scribere adgressus est.’ On the other hand, Caligula would have liked to remove Livy’s writings and his bust from all the libraries, calling him ‘verbosum in historia neglegentemque’ (Sueton. Calig. 34).
Nothing more is known of his life, except that he visited Campania, xxxviii. 56, 3, ‘Nam et Literni monumentum monumentoque statua superimposita fuit, quam tempestate disiectam nuper vidimus ipsi.’
He died at his native town, A.D. 17: Jerome yr. Abr. 2033, ‘Livius historicus Patavii moritur.’
He had at least one son (Quint. x. 1, 39, ‘apud Livium in epistula ad filium scripta’), and one daughter (Sen. Contr. x. praef. 2, ‘L. Magius gener T. Livi’).
Livy wrote philosophical works, probably popular treatises like Cicero’s, some of them in the form of dialogues.
Sen. Ep. 100, 9, ‘Nomina adhuc T. Livium. Scripsit enim et dialogos, quos non magis philosophiae adnumerare possis quam historiae, et ex professo philosophiam continentis libros.’