A Comprehensive Guide to Livy’s History of Rome

Posted on May 10, 2024 in History

Livy and Roman Historiography

Historiography stands as the most significant prose genre in Latin literature. Its origins can be traced back to documents drafted by judges and pontiffs, known as annals, which chronicled the most important events of each year.

Early Latin historians emerged in the 3rd century BC, but they chose to write about Roman history in Greek, believing it to be the most suitable language for such works.

The first historian to write in Latin was Cato (2nd century BC). His book, “Origins,” now lost, recounted the history of Rome and Italy from their earliest times.

Until the 1st century BC, there is limited information about other historians. However, Gaius Julius Caesar, renowned as a political and military figure, penned historical works to justify his actions. “The Gallic Wars” details Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, while “The Civil War” chronicles the conflict between Caesar and Pompey. Both works can be considered propagandistic in nature.

Caius Sallustius Crispus, for his part, wrote two monographs: “The Conspiracy of Catiline” and “The Jugurthine War.” Fragments of his work “Histories” also survive.

The Life and Works of Livy

Livy was born in Padua, a city in northern Italy, between 64 BC and 59 BC. He studied rhetoric and philosophy, and eventually moved to Rome, where he embarked on his monumental history of Rome, “Ab Urbe Condita” (From the Founding of the City).

In Rome, Livy connected with other writers in the circle of patrons, including Horace and Virgil. He also befriended the family of Augustus, even becoming a tutor to the future emperor Claudius. Livy died in his hometown in either 12 or 17 AD.

“Ab Urbe Condita” narrates the history of Rome from its mythical beginnings to the Augustan period, specifically up to the death of Drusus in 9 BC, encompassing a span of 754 years. The books were initially published individually but were later compiled into groups of ten, known as “Decades.”

The sheer volume of this work led to the creation of summaries (Periochae) or abstracts (epitomae) for easier use. Consequently, a portion of Livy’s original text has been lost. Of the 142 books, only some parts are preserved:

  • The first decade (books I-X), covering the origins of Rome to the Third Samnite War.
  • The third decade (books XXI-XXX), recounting the Second Punic War.
  • The fourth decade (books XXXI-XL), narrating the expansion into the eastern Mediterranean.
  • And half of the fifth decade (books XLI-XLV), detailing the conquest of Macedonia.

Livy’s primary sources for his books were the annals and the ancient Greek writer Polybius. He omitted many other works to support his claims and was not overly concerned with factual inaccuracies. He would follow one text and then attempt to complete or correct it with other works. When faced with contradictions or multiple versions of events, Livy did not hesitate to choose one option without further investigation. This resulted in numerous anachronisms, geographical errors, and inconsistencies in his historical accounts.

It is evident that Livy did not aim to write a book adhering to the strict rules of modern historiography. Instead, he sought to glorify the deeds of a great nation. For Livy, Roman history served a didactic purpose, replete with positive examples to emulate and negative ones to avoid. He wanted to demonstrate that Rome’s greatness stemmed from the moral virtue of its inhabitants.

With these intentions, Livy aligned himself with the ideas of writers associated with Augustus (Horace, Virgil, etc.) and contributed to the glorification of Rome by extolling the Pax Augusta.

Evolution of Words

Initial Simple Consonants

Generally, these consonants have been preserved in the transition from Latin to Catalan (e.g., capillus (Latin) – hair, formica (Latin) – ant). However, some exceptions exist:

  • The /l/ was doubled and palatalized (e.g., locus (Latin) – place, lacrima (Latin) – tear).
  • The /s/ followed by an initial consonant developed a prosthetic /e/. Pronouncing /s/ posed no problem if the preceding word ended in a vowel, as it formed a phonetic syllable (e.g., illo speculo – il/los/pe/cu/lo). But when the preceding word or phrase ended in a consonant, pronunciation became difficult. This difficulty was overcome by adding a prosthetic vowel (e.g., sperai – expected).
  • The /j/ and /g/ sounds were palatalized (e.g., iam, iuvene (Latin) – young).

Simple Consonants in Internal Position

  • The Latin voiceless stop consonants (p, t, c) evolved to their corresponding voiced sounds (b, d, g) whether they were between vowels or followed by a consonant.
  • The Latin occlusive consonant sound could either be preserved or simply disappear (e.g., libru (Latin) – book, probaré – try, sudo (Latin) – sweat).
  • The voiceless fricative /f/, the liquid /l/, the nasal /m/, and /n/ tended to be retained.
  • The /n/ changed to /m/ before certain consonants (e.g., Maio (Latin) – May, Noua (Latin) – new).
  • The hissing alveolar fricative /s/ became voiced in intervocalic position but remained voiceless in contact with another consonant (e.g., rosa (Latin) – pink, grass (Latin) – grass).

Final Simple Consonants

Many of these consonants tended to weaken and eventually disappear.

  • Stops -t and -d ceased to exist in final position (e.g., sunt – are). Archaic inscriptions reveal that the ablative case of the five declensions originally ended in -d (e.g., Died – die – day).
  • The final -m was already lost in Vulgar Latin (e.g., rule (Latin) – empire). The final -n remained in monosyllabic words (e.g., quem (Latin) – which).
  • The nasal /n/ disappeared in many cases (e.g., Leon (Latin) – lion).
  • The consonants -l, -s, and -r, however, were almost always preserved, especially in monosyllabic words (e.g., for – for, animal – animal).

Two Consonants in Initial Position

Indo-European words often began with two consonants, but this was simplified over time.

  • The groups that were preserved were mostly formed by stop + liquid: PL, CL (e.g., ploras – cry, claue – key).
  • Groups formed by the appearance of a prosthetic /w/ were retained, while in other words, this /w/ disappeared (e.g., Spiritu (Latin) – spirit).

Groups of Three Consonants and Consonant Clusters

These are usually found within words and evolved in the following ways:

  • All three consonants are preserved (e.g., November (Latin) – November).
  • One consonant is lost (e.g., sanctus (Latin) – saint).
  • Some consonant clusters, known as Romanesque clusters, were formed by the loss of one member from the original Latin word. The evolution of syncopated words resulted in diverse outcomes (e.g., fab(u)la (Latin) – fable, where a consonant is vocalized; Iud(i)ce (Latin) – judge, where syncope can lead to different groups; cap(i)tale (Latin) – capital, where voiceless consonants become voiced).