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.'

A book on rhetoric was known to Quintilian and Seneca the elder, apparently in the form of a letter addressed to the author's son (Quint. x. 1, 39, above).

Quint. ii. 5, 20, 'quemadmodum Livius praecipit' (on models of style); Sen. Contr. ix. 2, 26, ‘Livius de oratoribus ... aiebat' (on obscurity of expression); Sen. Contr. ix. 1, 14, 'T. Livius tam iniquus Sallustio fuit ut hanc ipsam sententiam ... obiceret Sallustio.'

These minor works have perished, and of his great history only a portion survives.

Its title, according to the oldest MSS., the summaries of the lost Books, and the grammarians, was Ab urbe condita libri; and this is corroborated by Livy's own language: i. praef. 1, 'si a primordio urbis res populi Romani perscripserim'; and by Pliny, N. H. praef. 16, 'T. Livium ..... in historiarum suarum, quas repetit ab origine urbis, quodam volumine.' Livy refers to it loosely as meos annales (xliii. 13, 2). Separate parts may have had special titles: thus Books cix-cxvi. were known as Civilis belli libri viii. (Codex Nazarenus of the Periochae).

The number of Books now extant is thirty-five, viz., i.-x., which carry the history down to B.C. 293, and xxi.-xlv., covering the period B.C. 218-167. Of these xli. and xliii. are incomplete. But we possess summaries (Periochae or Argumenta) of Books i.-cxlii., except cxxxvi. and cxxxvii., which show that the narrative was continued to the death of Drusus in B.C. 9. There is no evidence that it actually went further; but as the death of Drusus is hardly an event of sufficient importance to form the conclusion of so great a work, it has been thought that Livy may have intended to finish with the death of Augustus-the point from which Tacitus starts. The total number of Books would then have been probably one hundred and fifty.

The division into Books (libri or volumina) is due to the author: vi. 1, 1, 'quae ab condita urbe Romani gessere quinque libris exposui.' The division into decades (i.e. sets of ten Books) is first mentioned towards the end of the fifth century; it is merely a conventional arrangement, the subject-matter falling naturally into sets of fifteen

Books, which again sometimes embrace three sub-divisions each a half-decade, or two, a half-decade and a decade. An epitome was known to Martial, xiv. 190,

'Pellibus exiguis artatur Livius ingens,

quem mea non totum bibliotheca capit.

The evidence of the date of composition is as follows: (a) i. 19, 3, 'Bis deinde post Numae regnum [Ianus] clausus fuit, semel T. Manlio consule post Punicum primum perfectum bellum, iterum, quod nostrae aetati dei dederunt ut videremus, post bellum Actiacum ab imperatore Caesare Augusto pace terra marique parta.' Now, as the first closing of the temple of Janus by Augustus was in B.C. 29, and as Livy is silent as to the second closing after the Cantabrian war in 25, it follows that this passage was written B.C. 29-25. The use of the title Augustus, conferred on Octavian in 27, puts the earliest possible date two years later. The history therefore was not begun before B.C. 27.

(b) ix. 36, 1, 'Silva erat Ciminia magis tum invia atque horrenda quam nuper fuere Germanici saltus.' In this Niebuhr found an allusion to the campaigns of Drusus, B.C. 12-9, and accordingly assumed that the first decade was not published till B.C. 9. But the passage may equally well refer to earlier campaigns, e.g. of Julius Caesar. Nor can it be shown that the history of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, published B.C. 7, was used by Livy for Books viii.-x. Book ix. must have been written before B.C. 20, or Livy would have mentioned the recovery of the standards from the Parthians in ix. 18, 9.

(c) xxviii. 12, 12, 'Hispania prima Romanis inita provinciarum, quae quidem continentis sint, postrema omnium nostra demum aetate ductu auspicioque Augusti Caesaris

perdomita.' This was written not earlier than B.C. 19, if it refers to Agrippa's victory over the Cantabrians.

(d) Book lix. mentioned the lex de maritandis ordinibus, and consequently cannot have been earlier than B.C. 18. (e) The books in which Pompeius figured were composed in the lifetime of Augustus (Tac. Ann. iv. 34, above).

(f) Book cxxi., according to the oldest Ms. of the Periochae, was published after the death of Augustus; so doubtless were the remaining Books (A.D. 14-17).

A work of such compass, and occupying so many years of the author's life, would naturally be published in sections. This a priori view is corroborated by several considerations: (a) There are separate prefaces to various sections (vi. 1; xxi. 1; xxxi. 1); (b) Livy's style was censured1 by Asinius Pollio, who died A.D. 5; (c) Augustus was acquainted with Livy's sympathetic treatment of Pompeius (see above); (d) Livy had great fame in his lifetime: Pliny, Ep. ii. 3, 8, 'Numquamne legisti Gaditanum quemdam T. Livi nomine gloriaque commotum ad visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbe venisse statimque ut viderat abisse?'

The historians from whom Livy derived his materials, and whom he himself mentions are: Fabius Pictor (i. 44, 2, etc.). Livy refers to him six times, but it may be questioned whether he used him at first-hand. More probably he took his opinions on the authority of later annalists like Macer, Antias, and Tubero. Cincius Alimentus (xxi. 38, 3): the Cincius quoted in vii. 3, 7, may be the same, or an antiquarian of the Ciceronian or Augustan age; Cato (xxxiv.

1 Pollio accused him of Patavinitas, i.e. the use of provincialisms (verba peregrina, as opposed to Latina, Quint. i. 5, 55, curiose loqui rather than Latine, Quint. viii. 1, 2).