LOEB IS ALL YOU NEED -- LIVIO -- STORIA DI ROMA --

Speranza

Tito Livio, the great Roman historian, was born at Padova in 59 B.C. and from early manhood
onwards lived mostly at Rome until  shortly before his death in A.D. 17.

Although never in sympathy with the establishment of the imperial age by Augustus became a friend of that emperor.

Livio's only extant work is part of his history  of Rome (which he called Annales) from the foundation of the city to 9 B.C. in 142 books -- meant to be in 150 books.

Of them we have in number 35 only, and short summaries of all the rest except two.

The whole work was, long after his death, divided into Decades or series of 10.

Books i-io we have entire.

Books 11-20 are lost.

Books 21 -45 are entire, except parts of 41 and 43.

Of  the rest only fragments and the summaries remain.

In splendid style Livy, a man of wide sympathies and proud of Rome's past, presented an uncritical but clear and living narrative of the rise of Rome to greatness.

The Latin text of this volume has been set up from that of the ninth edition (1908) of Book I.,
and the eighth edition (1894) of Book II., by Weisseiiborn and M tiller, except that the Periockae have been reprinted from the text of Rossbach (1910).

But the spelling is that adopted by Professors Conway and Walters in their critical edition of
Books I.-V. (Oxford, 1914), which is the source also of a number of readings which differ from those given in the Wcissenborn-Mtiller text, and has furnished, besides, the materials from which the textual notes have been drawn up.

We have aimed to indicate every instance where the reading printed does not rest on the authority of one or more of the good MSS., and to give the author of the emendation.

The MSS. are often cited by the symbols given in the Oxford edition, but for brevity's sake we have
usually employed two of our own, viz. fi and r.

The former means " such of the good MSS. as are not cited for other readings," the latter "one or
more of the inferior MSS. and early printed editions."

Anyone who wishes more specific information regarding the source of a variant will consult the elaborate apparatus of the Oxford text, whose editors have placed all students of the first decade
under lasting obligations by their thorough and minute report of the MSS.

With the publication of their second volume there will be available for the first time an adequate diplomatic basis for the criticism of Books I.-X.

We have utilized throughout the translations by Philemon Holland, George Baker, and Canon
Roberts, and have occasionally borrowed a happy expression from the commentaries of Edwards,
Conway, and others, mentioned in the introduction.

The unpretentious notes in the college edition of my former teacher, the late Professor Greenough,
have been particularly useful in pointing out the significance of the word-order.

Acknowledgments are also due to my colleagues, Professors Fairclough, Hempl, Cooper, and Briggs,
and to Professor Noyes of the University of California, each of whom has given me some good
suggestions.

From entries in Jerome's re-working of the Chronicle of Eusebius we learn that Titus Livius the
Patavian was born in 59 B.C., the year of Caesar's first consulship, and cjied in his native town (the
modern Padova) in 17 A.D.

Of his parents nothing is known.

They were presumably well-to-do, for their son received the training in Greek and Latin literature and in rhetoric which constituted the standard curriculum of that time, and was afterwards able to devote along life to the unremunerative work of writing.

That he was by birth an aristocrat is no more than an inference from his outstanding sympathy with the senatorial party.

Livy's childhood witnessed the conquest of Gaul and Caesar's rapid rise to lordship over the Roman world.

These early years he doubtless passed in his northern home.

Patavium laid claim to great antiquity.

Livy tells us himself in his opening chapter the legend of its founding by the Trojan Antenor, and elsewhere describes with unmistakable satisfaction the vain attempt of the Spartan Cleonymus (in 302 B.C.) to subdue the Patavians.

They defended themselves with equal vigour and success against the aggressions of the Etruscans and the inroads of the Gauls, and in the war with Hannibal cast in their lot with Rome.

In 49 B.C., when Livio was ten years old, the town became a Roman municipality and its citizens
were enrolled in the Fabian tribe.

The place was a great centre of trade, especially in wool, and under Augustus was perhaps the wealthiest city in Italy, next to Rome, to which in some respects it presented a striking contrast, since the Patavians maintained the simple manners and strict morality which had long gone out of fashion in the cosmopolitan capital.

We cannot say how old Livy was when he left Patavium, but it is probable that his tastes and character had been permanently influenced by the old-world traditions of his native town.

Did he go to Rome with the intention of pursuing there the career of a rhetorician and subsequently become interested in historical studies?

It may have been

(There were many living in his own day, Livy says, who had seen the beaks of the ships captured from Clcoriymus, which were preserved as trophies in the temple  of Juno.

(Martial speaks of the thickness of Patavian tunics)

8 Strabo, in. clxix. and v. ccxiii.; cf. Nissen, Italische
Landeskunde, 2, p. 220.

(Plin. Epist. I. says of a young protege: "His maternal grandmother is Sarrana Procula, from the municipality of Patavium. You know the manners of the place ; yet Serrana is a pattern of strictness even to the Patavians").

so.

Perhaps he had already resolved to write history and wished to make use of the libraries and other sources of information which were lacking in a provincial town.

Certain passages in his earlier books indicate that he was already familiar with the City when he began his great work, about 27 B.c., 2 and a reference to a .conversation with Augustus in
Book IV. seems to arg.u'e that it was not long till he was on a friendly footing with the Emperor.

He
doubtless continued to reside in Rome, with occasional visits to Pat'aVium and other places in Italy,
till near the end of his long life.

Livy seems never. .to have held any public office, but to have given himself up entirely to literature.

Seneca says that he wrote dialogues which one might classify under history as well as under philosophy, besides books which were professedly philosophical.

And Quintilian quotes a letter from Livy to his son which was very likely an essay on the
training of the orator, for in the passage cited he advises the young man to read Demosthenes and
Cicero, and then such as most nearly resembled

1 e.g. I. iv. 5 ; I. viii. 5 ; I. xxvi. 13.

2 It could not well have been earlier than 27, for in i. xix.
3 and iv. xx. 7 Octavian is mentioned with the title of
Augustus, which the senate only conferred on him in January
of that year. Nor may we put the date much later, for in
mentioning the occasions on which the temple of Janus had
been closed (l. xix. 3) Livy has nothing to say of the second
of the two closings which took place in his own life-time,
namely that of 25 B.C.

3 Liv. iv. xx. 7. 4 Sen. Epiat. 100. 9.

ad




them. 1

So, in another place, Quintilian tells us
that he finds in Livy that there was a certain
teacher who bade his pupils obscure what they said. 2
It may have been in this same essay that he made
the criticism on Sallust which seemed to the elder
Seneca to be unjust, that he had not only appro-
priated a sentence from Thucydides but had spoilt
it in the process.

And there is another passage in
Seneca where Livy is credited witli having quoted
approvingly a mot of the rhetorician Miltiades against
orators who affected archaic and sordid words, which
may also be an echo of the letter.

If Livy was
about thirty-two years old when he began to write
history it is probable that this essay was composed
some years later, for it is unlikely to have been
written before the son was about sixteen. 5 We may
therefore think of the historian as putting aside his
magnum opus for a season, to be of use in the
education of the boy, who, whether or no he
profited by his father's instructions in rhetoric, at all
events became a writer, and is twice named by the
elder Pliny as one of his authorities, in Books V. and
VI. of the Natural History, which deal with geography.
In a sepulchral inscription found in Padua, which
may be that of our Livy, two sons are named Titus
Livius Priscus and Titus Livius Longus, and their

1 Quint, x. i. 39 (cf. n. v. 20).

2 Quint, vin. ii. 18. 3 Sen. Controv. ix. i. 14.
4 Ibid. ix. ii. 26.

6 Schunz, Geschichtc der romischen Litteratur, ii 3 . 1, p. 419.



xu




mother's name is given as Cassia.

The only other
item of information we possess about the family is
supplied by the elder Seneca, who mentions a son-in-
law, named Lucius Magi us, as a declaimer who had
some following for a time, though men rather
endured him for the sake of his father-in-law than
praised him for his own. 2

Of Livy's social life in Rome we know nothing more than that he enjoyed the friendship of Augustus, and probably, as we have seen, from an early date in his
stay in Rome.

The intimacy was apparently main-
tained till the end of the Emperor's life, for it cannot
have been much before A.D. 14 that Livy, as related
by Suetonius, 4 advised his patron's grand-nephew
Claudius (born 9 B.C.) to take up the writing of history.
The good relations subsisting between the Emperor
and the historian do honour to the sense and candour of
both. Livy gloried in the history of the republic,
yet he could but acquiesce in the new order of things.
And the moral and religious reforms of Augustus,
his wish to revive the traditions of an elder day, his
respect for the forms inherited from a time when
Rome was really governed by a senate, must have
commanded Livy's hearty approval. On the other

1 C.I.L. v. 2975 ( = Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Sdtctae,
2919) : T Livius C. f. sibi et /suis/T. Livio T. f. Frisco f., /
T. Livio T. f. Longo f. ,/Cassiae Sex. f. Primae / uxori.

2 Sen. Controv. x. praef. 2.

3 It is just possible that the conversation with Augustus
mentioned in iv. xx. 7 took place at some time after the
original publication of that book, and that the reference was
inserted later. 4 Suet. Claud, xli.

xiii




side, when Livy's great history was appealing to men's
patriotism and displaying the ideal Rome as no other
literary work (with the possible exception of the
contemporaneous Aeneid) had ever done, it was easy
for the Emperor to smile at the scholar's exaggerated
admiration of Pompey, and even to overlook the
frankness of his query whether more of good or of
harm had come to the state from the birth of Julius
Caesar. 2 Livy died three years after Augustus, in
17 A.D., at the ripe age of 76. If he continued work-
ing at his history up to the last he had devoted more
than 40 years to the gigantic enterprise. Jerome says
that he died in Patavium. We can only conjecture
whether he was overtaken by death while making a
visit to his old home, or had retired thither, with the
coming in of the new regime, to spend his declining
years. The latter is perhaps the more likely assump-
tion. The character of Tiberius can have possessed
little claim to the sympathy of Livy, and life in Rome
may well have lost its charm for him, now that his
old patron was no more.

1 Tacitus, Ann. iv. xxxiv., describing the trial of Cremu-
tius Cordus for lese-majeste on the ground that he had
published annals in which he praised Brutus and styled
Cassius the " last of the Romans," makes Cremutius say in
his defence : " Titus Livius, pre-eminent for eloquence and
candour, so lauded Pompey that Augustus called him a
Pompeian ; yet it made no difference in their friendship."

* Sen. Nat. Quaest. v. xviii. 4.




Livy seems to have called his history simply Ab Urbe Condita, " From the Founding of the City/' l
just as Tacitus was later to call his Annals Ah Excessu Divi Augusti, "From the death of the Divine
o * Augustus."

He began with the legend of Aeneas, and brought his narrative down to the death of Drusus
(and the defeat of Quintilius Varus ? 2 ) in 9 B.C.

There is no reason to think that Livy intended, as some have supposed, to go on to the death of
Augustus.

In the preface to one of the lost books he remarked that he had already earned enough of
reputation and might have ceased to write, \vere
it not that his restless spirit w r as sustained by
work.

He probably toiled on till his strength
failed him, with no fixed goal in view, giving his
history to the public in parts, as these were severally
completed.

The following table, taken from Schanz, is an attempt to reconstruct these instalments :

*********************************************************

Books I.-V
From the founding of the City to its
conquest by the Gauls (387-386 B.C.).

1 Livy once refers to his work as "my annals" (in meos
annales, XLIII. xiii. 2), and Pliny, N.H praef. 16, speaks
of a certain volume of Livy's "histories," but these are
merely generic names.

2 The Periocha of Book CXLII. ends with these events, but
the mention of Varus, which is found in only one MS., is
generally regarded as a late addition. Its genuineness is,
however, upheld by Rossbach, in his edition, ad loc.

3 Plin. i.e.

4 Gf.schichte der romischcn Littcratur, ii 3 . 1, p. 421.

xv




VI.-XV. To the subjugation of Italy (265 B.C.).

XVI.-XX. The Punic wars to the beginning of
the war with Hannibal (219 B.C.).

XXI.-XXX. The war with Hannibal (to 201 B.C.).

XXXI.-XL. To the death of King Philip of
Macedon (179 B.C.).

XLI.-LXX. To the outbreak of the Social War

(91 B.C.).

LXXI.-LXXX. The Social War to the death of
Marius (86 B.C.).

LXXXI.-XC. To the death of Sulla (78 B.C.).

XCI.-CVIII. From the war with Sertorius to the
Gallic War (58 B.C.).

CIX.-CXVI. From the beginning of the Civil
Wars to the death of Caesar (44 B.C.).

CXVII.-CXXXIII. To the death of Antony and
Cleopatra (30 B.C.).

CXXXIV-CXLII. The principate of Augustus
to the death of Drusus (9 B.C.).

It will be noticed that certain portions fall natur-
ally into decades (notably XXI.-XXX.), or pentads
(e.g. I.-V.). Elsewhere, and particularly in that part
of the work which deals with the writer's own times,
no such symmetry is discernible. Later however it
became the uniform practice of the copyists to
divide the history into decades. This is clearly seen
in the wholly distinct and independent MS. tradition
of the several surviving sections.

Only about a quarter of the whole work has been preserved.

We have the Preface and Books I. X.,
covering the period from Aeneas to the year 293 D.C.;
Books XXI. -XXX. describing the Second Punic
War; and Books XXXI. -XLV., which continue the
story of Rome's conquests down to the year 167 B.C.
and the victories of Lucius Aemilius Paulus. 1

For the loss of the other books the existence from
the first century of our era of a handy abridgment
is no doubt largely responsible. It is to this Martial
alludes in the following distich (xiv. cxc.):

Pellibus exiguis artatur Livius ingens,
Quern mea non totum bibliotheca capit. 2

If we had this Epitome 3 it would be some slight
compensation for the disappearance of the original
books, but we have only a compend of it, the
so-called Periochae, and certain excerpts thought to
have been made from another summary of it, no
longer extant, which scholars refer to as the
Chronicon, to wit, the fragments of the Oxyrhynchus
Papyrus, the Prodigiorum Liber of Obsequens, and
the consular lists of Cassiodorius.

The Periochae, or summaries of the several Books
(only CXXXVI. and CXXXVII. are wanting), are the

Books XLI.-XLV. contain many lacunae.
1 Thus translated by Professor Duff:

In vellum small huge Livy now is dressed ;
My bookshelves could not hold him uncompressed.
3 See Schanz, op. cit. ii 3 . 1, pp. 425-428. H. A. Sanders,
"The Lost Epitome of Livy" (in Roman Historical Sources
and Institutions, p. 257), makes the interesting suggestion that
it may have been written by Livy's son.



most valuable of these sources for supplying the gaps
in our text of Livy. Their author narrates briefly
what seem to him the leading events in each book,
adding a reference to other matters treated in the
original. 1 The Periochae are thus a kind of com-
promise between a book of excerpts for the use of
readers who for any reason could not or would not go
to the unabridged Livy, and a table of contents
for the convenience of those who did. 2 They are
usually printed with editions of Livy, and are
included in this one. It may be noted here that
Per. I. exists in a double recension, of which B
appears from its style to be of a piece with those
of all the other books, while A is thought to have
come from the Chronicon.

In 1903 a papyrus was discovered at Oxyrhynchus
which contained fragments of a compend of Roman
history which was based on Livy, though it seems
not to have been taken from Livy directly but from
the Chronicon, which was also, as we have said,
the source of Obsequens and Cassiodorius. The
MS. is assigned to the third century, and the book
must therefore have been composed in that or a still
earlier period. It contains eight columns of uncial
writing. Of these 1-3 preserve a selection of the
events recorded in Livy, Books XXXVII.-XL.,
(which we have), while 4-8 deal with the subject-

1 See e.g. the last sentence of Per. II., p. 438.

2 Sehanz, p. 425.







matter of Books XLVIII.-LV. But there is a
column gone between column 6 and column 7, which
treated of the years 143 and 142 B.C.

Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorius Senator lived about
480 to 575, and was Consul in 514, under Theocloric.
Among his writings was a chronicle, from Adam to
A.D. 519. For the earlier periods he used Eusebius
and Jerome, but from the expulsion of Tarquinius
to A.D. 31 he names as his authorities Titus Livius
and Aufidius Bassus. His list of consuls for this
period shows kinship with the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus
and Obsequens.

In his Prodigiorum Liber Julius Obsequens
enumerates in chronological order the portents
which occurred from the year 190 to the year
12 B.C. In its original form the catalogue probably
began, as the title in the MS. indicates, 1 with the
year 249. The little book is of unknown date :
Schariz thinks it is a product of the fourth century
of our era, when paganism made its last struggle
against Christianity. 2 Rossbach inclines to a some-
what earlier date. 3 In any case Rossbach has shown
that the author was a believer in prodigies, and
therefore a pagan.

1 lulii Obsequentis Ab Anno Urbis Conditae DV Pro-
digiorum Liber.

3 Schanz, Rom. Lit. is- 2 . 1, p. 85.
8 See his edition, p. xxxiii.


In his preface to the whole work Livy gives a satis-
factory account of his conception of history and the
ends he himself had in view. He begins with an
apology for adding to the already large number of
Roman histories. Those who attempt this theme
hope, he says, to surpass their predecessors either in
accuracy or style, and it is doing Livy no injustice to
infer that in his own case it was the belief that he
could make the story of Rome more vivid and read-
able than anyone had yet done which gave him the
courage to undertake the task. But whether he suc-
ceeds or not, he will be glad, he tells us, to have done
what he could for the memory of the foremost people
of the world. He recognizes the immense labour
which confronts him, in consequence of the more
than seven hundred years which he must deal with,
and admits that it will be labour thrown away on
most of his readers, who will have little patience with
the earlier history in their eagerness to be reading of
the civil wars and the events of their own generation.
" I myself, on the contrary," he continues and the
sentiment reveals at once the man's romantic spirit
" shall seek in this an additional reward for my toil,
that I may turn my back upon the evils which our
age has witnessed for so many years, so long at least as
I am absorbed in the recollection of the brave days of old." 1 He refers to the marvellous tales which
were associated with the founding of the City as to
matters of no great consequence. He declines to
vouch for their authenticity, though he means to set
them down as he finds them ; and lie apparently re-
gards them as possessing a certain symbolic truth, at
least. But the really important thing in Rome's
history is the way her power was founded on morality
and discipline, waxed mighty with the maintenance of
these, and was now fallen upon evil days through
their decay. For the use of historical study lies in
its application to life. The story of a great people
is fraught with examples and warnings, both for the
individual and for the state. And no nation is better
worth studying than Rome, for in none did righteous-
ness and primitive simplicity so long resist the en-
croachments of wealth and luxury.

It was the ethical aspect of history then that chiefly
appealed to Livy, and he chose Rome for his subject
because the rise of the Roman empire seemed to him
the best example of the fruition of those qualities
which he wished to inculcate.

To do this he must first of all win the interest of his readers, and if morality is his goal style is certainly the road by which he hopes to lead men towards it.

We must
therefore fix our attention on these two things if we
would approach Livy's work in the spirit of his

1 In another passage (XLIII. xiii. 2) Livy tells us that when
he is writing of old-world things his spirit somehow becomes
old-fashioned.


ancient readers, and understand their almost unqualified approval of it.

For Livy's success was both immediate and lasting.

We have already referred to the frank way in which he himself recognized his fame, in the preface to one of
the books of his History, and the younger Pliny tells
a delightful story of an enthusiastic Spanish admirer
who travelled from Cadiz to Rome solely to behold
the great writer, and having gratified his curiosity
returned forthwith to his home.

Livy's magnanimity
was warmly praised by the elder Seneca, who said
that he was by nature a most candid judge of all
great talents, and it is a striking testimony to the
justice of this observation that the modern reader's
admiration for Hannibal is largely a reflection of
Livy's, which all his prejudice against Rome's most
formidable enemy could not altogether stifle.

Tacitus
too admired Livy, whom he considered the most elo-
quent of the older historians, as Fabius Rusticus was
of the more recent.

Quintilian compared him with
Herodotus, and spoke of the wonderful fascination
of his narrative, his great fairness, and the inexpressible eloquence of the speeches, in which everything was suited not only to the circumstances but to the speaker.

Quintilian also praised his represent-

1 Plin. Ep. n. iii. 8. 2 Sen. Suas. vi. 22.

3 Agric. x. and the passage already quoted from the
Annals (iv. xxxiv.).

4 Quint. Inst. Or, x. i. 101. There are some 400 of these
inserted speeches in the extant text, some consisting of only


ation of the emotions, particularly the gentler ones,
in which field he said he had no superior.

Livy shared with Virgil the honour of being the most widely read of Latin writers, and in consequence incurred the resentment of the mad Caligula, who lacked but little of casting out their works and their portraits from all the libraries, alleging of Livy that he was verbose and careless.

Even Quintilian could tax him with prolixity, though he seems to have owned that it was but the defect of a quality, for he elsewhere speaks of his "milky richness."

The only
other jarring note in the general chorus of admiration
is sounded by the critic Asinius Pollio, who reproached
Livy's style with " Pataviriity," by which he perhaps
meant that it was tainted with an occasional word or
idiom peculiar to the historian's native dialect.

Owing
chiefly to its intrinsic excellence, but partly no doubt
to the accidental circumstance that it covered the
whole field of Roman History, Livy's work became
the standard source-book from which later writers
were to draw their materials. We have already seen
how it was epitomized and excerpted. Other writers
who took their historical data from Livy were Lucan

a few lines, while others run to a length of several pages.
Under Domitian a certain Mettius Pompusius made a col-
lection of speeches by kings and generals which he took from
Liv} 7 ( Suet. Dom. x. 3).

1 Suet. Calig. xxxiv. (cf. Schanz, p. 439.)

2 Quint. Inst. Or. vm. iii. 53. 3 Ibid. x. i. 32.

4 Ibid. vui. i. 3. Pollio was also severe upon Caesar,
Cicero, Catullus and Sallust !


and Silius Italicus, Asconius, Valerius Maximus,
Frontinus, Floras, and the Greeks Cassius Dio and
Plutarch. Avienus, in the fourth century, turned
Livy into iambic senarii, a tour deforce which has not
come down to us. 1

In the fifth he is cited by Pope Gelasius, and the grammarian Priscian used him in
the sixth.

Comparatively little read in the Middle Ages, Livy found a warm admirer in Dante, who used
him in the second book of his De Monarchia, and in the Divina Commedia refers to him naively as

" Livio . . . che non erra."

The Italians of the Renaissance seized upon Livy's History with avidity.

The poet Beccadelli sold a country-place to enable him to purchase a copy by the hand of Poggio.

Petrarch was among those who hoped for the recovery of the lost decades, and Pope Nicholas V. exerted himself without avail to discover them.

With the emendations in Books XXI.-XXVI. by Laurentius Valla the critical study of the text was inaugurated.

************** EDITIO PRINCEPS **************

The year 1469 saw the first printed edition of the History, which was produced in Rome.

Early in the sixteenth
century Machiavelli wrote his famous Discorsi sul
Primo Libra delle Deche di Tito Livio.

It is not too
much to say that from the Revival of Learning to the
present time Livy has been generally recognized as
one of the world's great writers.

The English
scholar Munro pronounced him owner of what is

1 Servius on Virg. Aen. x. 388, Schanz, iv 2 . i. p. 20.

2 Hertz, Frag. 12 (in his edition of Livy).

3 Inferno, xxviii. 12. 4 Born in Rome, 1407.

xxiv



"perhaps the greatest prose style that has ever been
written in any age or language," and his history
seemed to Niebuhr a "a. colossal masterpiece."

The qualities which gave Livy his lofty place in
literature are easily discovered.

He was a high-minded patriot, inspired with a genuine desire to promote the welfare of his country.

An idealist of the most pronounced type, he was endowed as not all idealists are with a breadth of sympathy which enabled him to judge men with charity, and to discern in the most diverse characters whatever admirable
traits they might possess. In him a passionate love
of noble deeds and a rare insight into the workings
of the mind and heart were united with a strength of
imagination which enabled him to clothe the shadowy
names of Rome's old worthies with the flesh and blood
of living men. Finally, his mastery of all the resources
of language is only equalled by his never-failing tact
and sense of fitness in the use of them. 3 It is difficult
to describe in a few words so complex an instrument

1 Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus, London, 1905 8 ,
p. 232.

8 See the Introduction to his Roman History. I have
taken most of the material for this paragraph from Schanz,
pp. 438-441.

3 Wachsmuth, Einhitung in das Studium der alien
Geschichte, p. 591. Wachsmuth says : " No one even now can
escape the magic of his enthralling narrative, and to his
countrymen, whether contemporary or of a later generation,
his style must have been absolutely fascinating. We are not
surprised that Latin-speaking mankind in the time of the
Empire saw the ancient history of Rome almost exclusively
through the eyes of Livy."



as Livy's style.

Perhaps it might fairly be said that
it is distinguished by the attributes of warmth and
amplitude.

The Livian period, less formal and
regular than that of Cicero, whom Livy so greatly ad-
mired, 1 is fully as intricate, and reveals an amazing
sensitiveness to the rhetorical possibilities inherent
in word-order. 2 To the first decade, and especially
Book I., Livy has, consciously no doubt, given a
slightly archaic and poetical colour, in keeping with
the subject-matter 3 ; and his extraordinary faculty
for visualizing and dramatizing the men and events
of Roman story reminds us even more insistently
of Quintilian's dictum that history is a kind of
prose poetry. 4

Yet despite his many remarkable gifts it is only too
clear that Livy was deficient in some of the most
essential qualifications for producing such a history of
Rome as would satisfy the standards of our own day.
Neither well informed nor specially interested in
politics or the art of war, and lacking even such
practical knowledge of constitutional matters as scores
of his contemporaries must have gained from partici-
pating in the actual business of the state, he under-
took to trace the development of the greatest military

1 Quint. In*t. Or. x. i. 39 ; Sen. Suns. vi. 17 and 22.

2 H. D. Naylor, Latin and English Idiom, p. 6, says :
"If I were asked 'What is the great feature of Livy'e
style ? ' I would boldly answer : ' His brilliant use of
oi'der." s Norden, Antike Knnstprosa i., p. 235.

4 Quint. In*t. Or. x. i. 31. Historia est . . . proxima

poetis et quodam modo carmen solutum.

power (save one) that the world has ever seen, and
the growth of an empire which has taught the
principles of organization and government to all
succeeding ages. Nor was this lack of technical know-
ledge the only or indeed the heaviest handicap that
Livy was compelled to carry. His mind was funda-
mentally uncritical, and he was unable to subject his
authorities to such a judicial examination as might
have made it possible for him to choose the safer guides
and reject the less trustworthy. Towards original
documents he manifests an almost incredible indiffer-
ence. 1 As regards the earlier period, he himself
remarks that the Gauls in burning Rome had swept
away the " pontifical commentaries " and pretty much
all the other public and private records, 2 but there is
nothing to indicate that he made much use of even
such shreds of evidence as survived the fire, or that
he referred, in writing of a later period, to so
important a source as the Annales Maximi, though
they had been published in 123 B.C., in eighty books,
by P. Mucius Scaevola. He excuses himself from
transcribing the expiatory hymn composed by Livius
Andronicus, and publicly sung, in the year 207 B.C.,
by a chorus of girls, as a thing too uncouth for
modern taste. 3 He seems never to have bothered

1 Taine says : " On ne trouve pas [chez Titc Live] 1'amour
infatigable de la science complete et de la verite absolue. 11
n'en a que le gout ; il n'en a pas la passion " (Essai sur Tite
Live, p. 64).

2 Liv. vi. i. 2.

8 Liv. xxvu. xxxvii. 13.


to examine the terrain of so important a battle as
Cannae, and his account of the operations there
shows that he had no very clear notion of the topo-
graphy of the field. It would be easy to multiply
instances. There is an example at n. xli. 10, where
he refers to an inscription, but without having him-
self consulted it, as his contemporary, Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, did. 1

Livy's history supplanted the works of the annalists,
which have consequently perished, so that it is im-
possible to ascertain with exactness his relation to
his sources. His own references to them are rather
casual. He makes no attempt to indicate his author-
ities systematically, but cites them in certain cases
where they conflict with one another, or where he is
sceptical of their statements and does not choose to
assume the responsibility for them. 2 Often he does
not give names, but contents himself with a phrase
like, "men say," or "I find in certain writers." For
the first decade he derived his materials from a num-
ber of annalists. The oldest were Q. Fabius Pictor and
L. Cincius Alimentus. Both men wrote in Greek and
lived in the time of the war with Hannibal, in which
both men fought. Another was L. Calpurnius Piso
Frugi, who opposed the Gracchi and was consul in

1 Dion. Hal. Antiq. Rom. iv. xxvi. and vni. xxvii. Diony-
sius and Livy worked independently of each other, though
they used common sources.

2 A. Klotz, "Zu den Quellen der 4 tei und 5 ten Dekade des
Livius" in Hermes, 1. (1915), pp. 482 and 536.



133. L Cato's valuable history, the Origines^he seems
not to have used until he came to treat of the events
in which Cato himself played a part.

It was to writers
who lived nearer his own day, whose style caused
Livy to rank them above their less sophisticated but
no doubt far more trustworthy predecessors that he
mainly resorted. Such were Valerius Antias, whose
seventy-five books were certainly the most abundant
source available, and are thought to have covered the
history of Rome to the death of Sulla ; C. Licinius
Macer, tribune of the plebs in 73, who wrote from
the democratic standpoint ; and Q. Aelius Tubero,
who took part in the Civil War on the side of
Pompey, and brought down his annals to his own
times.

For the third decade Livy used Polybius, 3 though
whether directly or through a Roman intermediary,
and whether for the whole or only a part of the ten
books, are questions still sub iudice. For this decade
he also drew upon L. Coelius Anti pater, a writer
whose treatise on the Second Punic War in seven

1 He composed a comprehensive chronicle of Roman events
in seven books, written in Latin.

2 This work, also in seven books, beginning with the
Aeneas-legend and coming down to the year of the author's
death, 149 B.C., should have been of the greatest use to Livy.

3 Polybius was born about 210 B.C., in Megalopolis, where
he died at the age of 82. His great philosophical history of
the Romans, from the outbreak of the Second Punic War to
the fall of Corinth, in 14Q B.C., contained forty books. Only
i.-v. are extant in their entirety, but we have extracts from
vi.-xvm., and some fragments of xix.-xl.


books 1 had introduced into Roman literature the
genre of the historical monograph.

In the fourth and fifth decades Livy's main reliance
seems to have been Polybius, in describing eastern
affairs, and the annalists Q. Claudius Quadrigarius 2
and Valerius Antias, in treating of Italy and Spain.
A recent critic 3 has found reason for thinking that
Livy used Valerius as his chief authority for western
matters (controlling his statements however by those
of Claudius) until, coming to the prosecution of Scipio
(see Book XXXVIII), he found so much in Valerius
that was incredible that his mistrust, which had
hitherto been confined to that annalist's reports of
numbers (see e.g. xxxin. x. 8.) caused him to take
Claudius thenceforth for his principal guide.

This unscientific attitude towards the sources was
the product partly of Livy's own characteristics, partly
of the conception of history as a means of edification
and entertainment prevalent in ancient times. 4 An-
other shortcoming, which would have to be insisted
on if we were criticising him as though he were a
contemporary, is his inability to clear his mind of
ideas belonging to his own day in considering the
men and institutions of the past, though this again
is a limitation which he shares with his age.

1 Written after the death of C. Gracchus, in 121 B.C.

2 Claudius wrote of the period from the Gallic invasion to
his own times, the Sullan age. His work had not fewer than
23 books. 3 A. Klotz, op. cit., p. 533.

4 Quint. Inst. Or. x. i. 31 ; Plin. Ep. v. viii. 9 ; Cic. De
Oral. ii. 59.



It is evident that the student of history must use Livy with caution, especially in those portions of his
work where his statements cannot be tested by com-
parison with those of Polybius.

Yet, quite apart
from his claims upon our attention as a supreme
literary artist, it would be hard to overrate his impor-
tance as an historian, which is chiefly of two sorts.
In the first place, uncritical though he is, we have
no one to put in his place, and his pages are
our best authority for long stretches of Roman
history. In the second place he possesses a very
positive excellence to add to this accidental one, in
the fidelity and spirit with which he depicts for
us the Roman's own idea of Rome. Any one of half
a dozen annalists would have served as well as Livy
to tell us what the Romans did, but it required genius
to make us realize as Livy does what the Romans
were. No mere critical use of documents could ever
make the Roman character live again as it lives for
us in his "pictured page." The People and the State
are idealized no doubt by the patriotic imagination
of this extraordinary writer, but a people's ideals
are surely not the least significant part of their
history. 1

1 See Mr. Duffs excellent remarks in the finely apprecia-
tive chapter on Livy in his Literary History of Rome.



We have seen that each of the extant decades was
handed down in a separate tradition. The manu-
scripts of the later portions will be briefly described
in introductory notes to the volumes in which they
are contained. Books I.-X. are preserved in a two-
fold MS. tradition. One family is represented by a
single MS., the Verona palimpsest (J 7 ). The portion
of this codex which contains the Livy consists of
sixty leaves, on which are preserved fragments of
Books III. -VI., written in uncial characters of the
fourth century. These fragments were deciphered
and published by Mommsen in 1868. The
other family is the so-called Nichomachean.
This edition, as it may be called, of the first decade
was produced under the auspices of Q. Aurelius
Symmachus, who was consul in 391 A.D. He appears
to have commissioned Tascius Victorianus to prepare
an amended copy of Books I.-X., and the latter's
subscription (Victorianus emendabam dominis Symmachis)
is found after every book as far as the ninth. In
Books VI. -VI 1 1. the subscription of Victorianus is
preceded by one of Nichomachus Flavianus, son-in-
law of Symmachus (Nichomachus Flavianus v. c. III.
pr defect, urbis emendavi apud Hennain), and in Books
III.-V. by one of Nichomachus Dexter, a son of
Flavianus (Till Livi Nichomachus Dexter v.c. emendavi ab
xxxii




urbe condita), who adds the information, in subscribing
Book V., that he had used the copy of his kinsman
Clementianus. To this origin all the MSS. now extant
are referred, with the exception of the Veronensis.
The most famous member of the family is the Mediceus,
a minuscule codex of the tenth or eleventh century
containing the ten books and written with great
fidelity even in absurdities to its exemplar. It
has been shown to be the work of at least three
scribes. The MS. abounds with dittographies and
other errors, but is possibly the most valuable of its
class, because of its honesty. For a full description
of this and the other Nichomachean MSS. the reader
should consult the Oxford edition of Livy, Books I.-V.,
by Conway and Walters. A list of all the MSS. used
in that edition is given at the end of this introduction.
The editio princeps, edited by Andreas, afterwards
Bishop of Aleria, was issued in Rome in 1469. In
1518 came the Aldine edition. The first complete
edition of all the books now extant was also brought
out at Rome, in 1616, by Lusignanus. Of modern
editions may be mentioned those of Gronovius,
Leyden, 1645 and 1679 ; Drakenborch (with notes
of Duker and others, and the supplements of
Freinsheimius), Leyden, 1738-1746 ; Alschefski, Ber-
lin, 1841-1846 (critical edition of Books I.-X. and
XXI.-XXIIL), and Berlin, 1843-44 (text of Books
I.-X. and XX I. -XXX.) ; Madvig and Ussing, Copen-
hagen 4 , 1886 ff, (Madvig's Emendationes Livianae a



classic of criticism had appeared at Copenhagen
in 1860); Hertz, Leipsic, 1857-1863 ; Weissenborn
(Teubner text, revised by M. Miiller and W. Heraeus)
Leipsic, 1881 ff.; Luclis, Books XXI.-XXV. and
XXVI.-XXX., Berlin, 1888-1889 (best critical ap-
paratus for third decade) ; Zingerle, Leipsic, 1888-
1908; Weissenborn and H. J. Miiller, Berlin, 1880-
1909 (best explanatory edition of the whole of Livy,
with German notes ; the several volumes are more
or less frequently republished in revised editions) ;
M. Muller, F. Luterbacher, E. Wolfflin, H. J. Miiller,
and F. Friedersdorff (Books I.-X. and XXI.-XXX.,
separate volumes, with German notes) Leipsic, various
dates ; Books I. and II. are in their second edition
(II. by W. Heraeus).

Of the numerous editions of parts of the first decade
which are provided with English notes may be cited :
Book I. by Sir J. Seeley, Oxford, 1874; by H. J.
Edwards, Cambridge, 1912 ; Books I. and II. by J. B.
Greenough, Boston, 1891 ; Book II. by R. S. Con way,
Cambridge, 1901 ; Books II. and III. by H. M.
Stephenson, London, 1882 ; Book III. by P. Thoresby
Jones, Oxford, 1914 ; Book IV. by H. M. Stephenson,
Cambridge, 1890 ; Books V.-VII. by A. R. Cluer and
P. E. Matheson, Oxford, 1904 2 ; Book IX. by W. B.
Anderson, Cambridge, 1909.

For the first decade the critical edition by Con way
and Walters, of which the first half was published by
the Oxford University Press in 1914, is the standard.


There are translations of the whole of Livy by
Philemon Holland, London, 1600 ; by George Baker,
London, 1797 ; and by Rev. Canon Roberts, now in
course of publication in Everyman's Library, London,
1912 ff. Books XXI. -XXV. have been done by A. J.
Church and W. J. Brodribb, London, 1890.

Of books concerned wholly or in part with Livy
the following may be mentioned : H. Taine, Essai
sur Tile Live, Paris, 1856 ; J. Wight Duff, A Literary
History of Rome, London and New York, 1909; O.
Riemann, Etudes sur la Langue et la Grammaire de
Tile-Live, Paris, 1885; C. Wachsmuth, Einleitung in
das Studium der alien Geschichte, Leipsic, 1895 ; H.
Darnley Naylor, Latin and English Idiom, an Object
Lesson from Livy's Preface, and More Latin and
English Idiom, Cambridge, 1909 and 1915.

For further information about the bibliography of
Livy, including the great mass of pamphlets and
periodical articles, the student may consult Schanz,
Geschichle der romischen Lilteralur ii. I 3 , Munich, 1911
(in Iwan von Miiller's Handbuch der Klassischen
Alterlumsmissenschaft) and the various Jahresberichle,
by H. J. Miiller and others, which Schanz lists
on p. 418.

See also: Commentary on Books I.-V. by R. M.
Ogilvie, Oxford, 1965; Complete Text of Livy by
Conway, Walters, Johnson, MacDonald, Oxford, still
in progress.




THE MANUSCRIPTS

F= Veronensis, 4th century.

F Floriacensis, 9th century.

P= Parisiensis, 10th century.

E= Einsiedlensis, 10th century.

//= Harleianus prior, 10th century.

B= Bambergensis, 10th or llth century.

Af=Mediceus, 10th or llth century.
Form. = Vormatiensis (as reported by Rhenanus).

R= Romanus, llth century.

U= Upsaliensis, llth century.

D = Dominicanus, llth or 12th century.

L = Leidensis, 12th century.

A = Aginnensis, 13th century.

M 1 M 2 etc. denote corrections made by the original
scribe or a later corrector. When it is
impossible to identify the corrector M x
is employed.
D = all or some of the above MSS.

a = later part of A, 14th century.

S = one or more of the inferior MSS and early
editions.

ABBREVIATIONS

Aid. (or ed. Aid. ) = the Aldine edition, Venice, 1518.
Cassiod. = Cassiodorius.

Class. Qtiarf. = The Classical Quarterly, London, 1907 ff.
C.I.L. = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol. i. 2 Berlin,

1893-5.

Diod. = Diodorus Siculus.
Dion. Hal. = Dionysius of Halicarnassus.

xxxvi



LIVY

FROM THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY

BOOK I



T. LIVI

AB URBE CONDITA

LIBER I

PRAEFATIO

FACTURUSNE operae pretium sim, 1 si a primordio urbis res populi Roman! perscripserim, nee satis scio,

2 nee, si sciam, dicere ausim, quippe qui cum veterem turn volgatam esse rem videam, dum novi semper
scriptores aut in rebus certius aliquid allaturos se
aut scribendi arte rudem vetustatem superaturos

3 credunt. Utcumque erit, iuvabit tamen rerum
gestarum memoriae principis terrarum populi pro
virili parte et ipsum consuluisse ; et si in tanta
scriptorum turba mea fnma in obscuro sit, nobilitate
ac magiiitudirie eorum me qui nomini officient meo

4 consoler. Res est praeterea et immensi operis, ut
quae supra septingentesimum annum repetatur, et

1 operae pretium sim Sabellicus (from Quint, ix. iv. 74) :
sim operae pretium A.

2



LIVY

FROM THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY

BOOK I

PREFACE

Whether I am likely to accomplish anything worthy of the labour, if I record the achievements
of the Roman people from the foundation of the city, I do not really know, nor if I knew would I dare to avouch it ; perceiving as I do that the theme is not only old but hackneyed, through the constant succession of new historians, who believe either that in their facts they can produce more authentic information, or that in their style they will prove better than the rude attempts of the ancients.

Yet, however this shall be, it will be a satisfaction to have done myself as much as lies in me to commemorate the deeds of the foremost people of the world ; and if in so vast a company of writers my own reputation should be obscure, my consolation would be the fame and greatness of those whose renown will throw mine into the shade.

Moreover, my subject involves infinite labour, seeing that it must be traced back

1 Some scholars take rem to mean "the practice," c. of
expressing confidence in one's ability.





quae ab exiguis profecta initiis eo creverit ut iam
magnitudine laboret sua ; et legentium plerisque
baud dubito quin primae origines proximaque origi-
nibus minus praebitura voluptatis sint, festinantibus
ad haec nova, quibus iam pridem praevalentis populi

5 vires se ipsae conficiunt : ego contra hoc quoque
laboris praemium petain, ut me a conspectu malo-
rum quae nostra tot per annos vidit aetas, tantisper
certe dum prisca ilia tota mente repeto, avertam,
omnis expers curae quae scribentis animum, etsi
non flectere a vero, sollicitum tamen efficere posset.

6 Quae ante conditam condendamve urbem poeticis
magis decora fabulis quam incorruptis rerum ges-
tarum monumentis traduntur, ea nee adfirmare nee

7 refellere in animo est. Datur haec venia antiquitati,
ut miscendo humana divinis primordia urbium augus-
tiora faciat ; et si cui populo licere oportet conse-
crare origines suas et ad deos referre auctores, ea
belli gloria est populo Romano ut cum suum con-
ditorisque sui parentem Martem potissimum ferat
tarn et hoc gentes humanae patiantur aequo animo

8 quam imperium patiuntur. Sed haec et his similia,
utcumque animadversa aut existimata erunt, baud

9 in magno equidem ponam discrimine : ad ilia mihi
pro se quisque acriter intendat animum, quae vita,

1 Livy refers to the animosities inevitably aroused by
writers who dealt with such thorny subjects as the civil
wars, during the lifetime of many who had taken part in
them.



BOOK I

above seven hundred years, and that proceeding from slender beginnings it has so increased as now to be burdened by its own magnitude ; and at the same time I doubt not that to most readers the earliest
origins and the period immediately succeeding them will give little pleasure, for they will be in haste to reach these modern times, in which the might of a people which has long been very powerful is working its own undoing.

I myself, on the contrary, shall seek in this an additional reward for my toil, that I may avert my gaze from the troubles which our age has been witnessing for so many years, so long at least as I am absorbed in the recollection of the brave days of old, free from every care which, even if it could not divert the historian's mind from the truth, might nevertheless cause it anxiety.

Such traditions as belong to the time before Rome was founded, or rather was presently to be
founded, and are rather adorned with poetic legends than based upon trustworthy historical proofs, I
purpose neither to affirm nor to refute.

It is the privilege of antiquity to mingle divine things with human, and so to add dignity to the beginnings of cities ; and if any people ought to be allowed to
consecrate their origins and refer them to a divine
source, so great is the military glory of the Roman
People that when they profess that their Father and
the Father of their Founder was none other than
Mars, the nations of the earth may well submit to
this also with as good a grace as they submit to
Rome's dominion. But to such legends as these,
however they shall be regarded and judged, I shall,
for my own part, attach no great importance. Here
are the questions to which I would have every reader





qui mores fuerint, per quos viros quibusque artibus
domi militiaeque et partum et auctum imperium sit ;
labente delude paulatim disciplina velut desidentis 1
primo mores sequatur animo,, deinde ut magis magis-
que lapsi sint, turn ire coeperint praecipites, donee
ad haec tempora quibus nee vitia nostra nee remedia
pati possumus perventum est.

10 Hoc illud est praecipue in cognitione rerum
salubre ac frugiferum, omnis te exempli documenta
in inlustri posita monumento intueri ; inde tibi
tuaeque rei publicae quod imitere capias, inde

11 foedum inceptu, foedum exitu, quod vites. Ceterum
aut me amor negotii suscepti fallit, aut nulla um-
quam res publica nee maior nee sanctior nee bonis
exemplis ditior fuit, nee in quam civitatem tam
serae avaritia luxuriaque inmigraverint, nee ubi tan-
tus ac tam diu paupertati ac parsimoniae honos
fuerit. Adeo quanto rerum minus, tanto minus

12 cupiditatis erat ; nuper divitiae avaritiam et abun-
dantes voluptates desiderium per luxum atque libi-
dinem pereundi perdendique omnia invexere.

Sed querellae, ne turn quidem gratae futurae
cum forsitan necessariae erunt, ab initio certe

13 tantae ordiendae rei absint ; cum bonis potius omi-
nibus votisque et precationibus deorum dearumque,

1 desidentes 5- : discidentis M : dissidentis (or dissiden-
tes) n.

1 The metaphor is from a decaying building.

2 The monument Livy means is the body of a nation's
achievements (cf, res in 1), the " history " of a nation, in

6



BOOK I

give his close attention what life and morals were
like ; through what men and by what policies, in
peace and in war, empire was established and en-
larged ; then let him note how, with the gradual
relaxation of discipline, morals first gave way, as it
were, then sank lower and lower, and finally began
the downward plunge l which has brought us to the
present time, when we can endure neither our vices
nor their cure.

What chiefly makes the study of history wholesome
and profitable is this, that you behold the lessons of
every kind of experience set forth as on a conspicu-
ous monument; 2 from these you may choose for
yourself and for your own state what to imitate, from
these mark for avoidance what is shameful in the
conception and shameful in the result. For the rest,
either love of the task I have set myself deceives me,
or no state was ever greater, none more righteous or
richer in good examples, none ever was where avarice
and luxury came into the social order so late, or where
humble means and thrift were so highly esteemed
and so long held in honour. For true it is that the
less men's wealth was, the less was their greed. Of
late, riches have brought in avarice, and excessive
pleasures the longing to carry wantonness and licence
to the point of ruin for oneself and of universal
destruction.

But complaints are sure to be disagreeable, even
when they shall perhaps be necessary ; let the begin-
ning, at all events, of so great an enterprise have
none. With good omens rather would we begin, and,
if historians had the same custom which poets have,

that objective sense of the word. This he likens to a
monument of stone on which men's deeds are recorded.



LIVY

si, ut poetis, nobis quoque mos esset, libentius
inciperemus, ut orsis tantum operis successus pros-
peros darent.

I. lam primum omnium satis constat Troia capta
in ceteros saevitum esse Troianos : duobus, Aeneae
Antenorique, et vetusti iure hospitii et quia pacis
reddendaeque Helenae semper auctores fuerunt,

2 omne ius belli Achivos abstinuisse ; casibus deinde
variis Antenorem cum multitudine Enetum, qui
seditione ex Paphlagonia pulsi et sedes et ducem
rege Pylaemene ad Troiam amisso quaerebant,

3 venisse in intimum maris Hadriatici sinum, Euga-
neisque, qui inter mare Alpesque incolebant, pulsis,
Enetos Troianosque eas tenuisse terras. Et in quern
primum egressi sunt locum Troia vocatur, pagoque
inde Troiano nomen est : gens universa Veneti

4 appellati. Aeneam ab simili clade domo profugum,
sed ad maiora rerum initia ducentibus fatis, primo
in Macedonian! venisse, inde in Sicilian! quaerentem
sedes delatum, ab Sicilia classe ad Laurentem agrum

5 tenuisse. Troia et huic loco nomen est. Ibi egressi
Troiani, ut quibus ab inmenso prope errore nihil
praeter arma et naves superesset, cum praedam ex
agris agerent, Latinus rex Aboriginesque, qui turn
ea tenebant loca, ad arcendam vim advenarum

6 armati ex urbe atque agris concurrunt. Duplex inde

1 See the Iliad, v. 576.
8



BOOK I. i. 1-6




I. First of all, then, it is generally agreed that
when Troy was taken vengeance was wreaked upon
the other Trojans, but that two, Aeneas and Antenor,
were spared all the penalties of war by the Achivi,
owing to long-standing claims of hospitality, and be-
cause they had always advocated peace and the giving
back of Helen. They then experienced various vicis-
situdes. Antenor, with a company of Eneti who had
been expelled from Paphlagonia in a revolution and
were looking for a home and a leader for they had
lost their king, Pylaemenes, at Troy l came to the
inmost bay of the Adriatic. There, driving out the
Euganei, who dwelt between the sea and the Alps,
the Eneti and Trojans took possession of those lands.
And in fact the place where they first landed is called
Troy, and the district is therefore known as Trojan,
while the people as a whole are called the Veneti.
Aeneas, driven from home by a similar misfortune,
but guided by fate to undertakings of greater conse-
quence, came first to Macedonia ; thence was carried,
in his quest of a place of settlement, to Sicily ; and
from Sicily laid his course towards the land of Lauren-
turn. This place too is called Troy. Landing there,
the Trojans, as men who, after their all but immeasur-
able wanderings, had nothing left but their swords
and ships, were driving booty from the fields, when
King Latinus and the Aborigines, who then occupied
that country, rushed down from their city and their
fields to repel with arms the violence of the in-
vaders. From this point the tradition follows two



L1VY

fama est. Alii proelio victum Latinum pacem cum

7 Aenea, deinde affinitatem iunxisse tradunt : alii, cum
instructae acies constitissent, priusquam signa cane-
rent processisse Latinum inter primores ducemque
advenarum evocasse ad conloquium ; percunctatum
deinde qui mortales essent, unde aut quo casu pro-
fecti doino quidve quaerentes in agrum Laurenti-

8 num l exissent, postquam audierit multitudinem
Troianos esse, ducem Aeneam, filium Arichisae et
Veneris, cremata patria domo profugos sedem con-
dendaeque urbi locum quaerere, et nobilitatem
admiratum gentis virique et animum vel bello vel
paci paratum, dextra data fid em futurae amicitiae

9 sanxisse. Inde foedus ictum inter duces, inter exer-
citus salutationem factam ; Aeneam apud Latinum
fuisse in hospitio ; ibi Latinum apud penates decs
domesticum publico adiunxisse foedus filia Aeneae

10 in matrimonium data. Eci res utique Troianis spem
adfirmat tandem stabili certaque sede finiendi erroris.

11 Oppidum condunt ; Aeneas ab nomine uxoris Lavi-
nium appellat. Brevi stirpis quoque virilis ex novo
matrimonio fuit, cui Ascanium parentes dixere
nomen.

II. Bello deinde Aborigines Troianique simul
petiti. Turnus, rex Rutulorum, cui pacta Lavinia
ante adventum Aeneae fuerat, praelatum sibi adve-

1 Laurentinum n : Laurentera MO Z DL$-.

1 This, in a nutshell, is the form of Jthe legend on which
Virgil based Books vii.-xii. of the Aemid.

10



BOOK I. i. 6-n. i

lines. Some say that Latinus, having been defeated
in the battle, made a peace with Aeneas, and later
an alliance of marriage. 1 Others maintain that when
the opposing lines had been drawn up, Latinus did
not wait for the charge to sound, but advanced
amidst his chieftains and summoned the captain of
the strangers to a parley. He then inquired what
men they were, whence they had come, what mishap
had caused them to leave their home, and what they
souffht in landing on the coast of Laurentum. He

O O

was told that the people were Trojans and their
leader Aeneas, son of Anchises and Venus ; that
their city had been burnt, and that, driven from
home, they were looking for a dwelling-place and a
site where they might build a city. Filled with
wonder at the renown of the race and the hero, and
at his spirit, prepared alike for war or peace, he gave
him his right hand in solemn pledge of lasting friend-
ship. The commanders then made a treaty, and the
armies saluted each other. Aeneas became a guest
in the house of Latinus ; there the latter, in the
presence of his household gods, added a domestic
treaty to the public one, by giving his daughter in
marriage to Aeneas. This event removed any doubt
in the minds of the Trojans that they had brought
their wanderings to an end at last in a permanent
and settled habitation. They founded a town, which
Aeneas named Lavinium, after his wife. In a short
time, moreover, there was a male scion of the new
marriage, to whom his parents gave the name of
Ascanius.

II. War was then made upon Trojans and Abori-
gines alike. Turnus was king of the Rutulians, and
to him Lavinia had been betrothed before the coming

ii



LIVY

nam aegre patieiis simul Aeneae Latinoque bellum

2 intulerat. Neutra acies laeta ex eo certamine abiit :
victi Rutuli : victores Aborigines Troianique ducem

3 Latinum amisere. Inde Turnus Rutulique diffisi
rebus ad florentes opes Etruscorum Mezentiumque
regem eorum confugiunt, qui Caere opulento turn
oppido imperitans, iam inde ab initio minime laetus
novae origine urbis, et turn nimio plus quam satis
tutum esset accolis rem Troianam crescere ratus,

4 baud gravatim socia arma Rutulis iunxit. Aeneas,
adversus tanti belli terrorem ut animos Aboriginum
sibi conciliaret, nee sub eodem hire solum sed etiam
nomine omnes essent, Latinos utramque gentem

5 appellavit. Nee deinde Aborigines Troianis studio
ac fide erga regem Aeneam cessere. Fretusque his
animis coalescentium in dies magis duorum popu-
lorum Aeneas, quamquam tanta opibus Etruria erat
ut iam non terras solum sed mare etiam per totam
Italiae longitudinem ab Alpibus ad fretum Siculum
fama nominis sui inplesset, tamen, cum rnoenibus
bellum propulsare posset, in aciem copias eduxit.

6 Secundum inde proelium Latinis, Aeneae etiam
ultimum operum mortalium fuit. Situs est, quem-

1 Virgil makes Jupiter grant, as a favour to Juno, that

12



BOOK I. ii. 1-6

of Aeneas. Indignant that a stranger should be pre-
ferred before him, he attacked, at the same time, both
Aeneas and Latinus. Neither army came off rejoicing
from that battle. The Rutulians were beaten : the
victorious Aborigines and Trojans lost their leader
Latinus. Then Turnus and the Rutulians, discouraged
at their situation, fled for succour to the opulent and
powerful Etruscans and their king Mezentius, who
held sway in Caere, at that time an important town.
Mezentius had been, from the very beginning, far
from pleased at the birth of the new city ; he now
felt that the Trojan state was growing much more
rapidly than was altogether safe for its neighbours,
and readily united his forces with those of the
Rutulians. Aeneas, that he might win the good-
will of the Aborigines to confront so formidable
an array, and that all might possess not only the
same rights but also the same name, called both
nations Latins; 1 and from that time on the Abo-
rigines were no less ready and faithful than the
Trojans in the service of King Aeneas. Accord-
ingly, trusting to this friendly spirit of the two
peoples, which were growing each day more united,
and, despite the power of Etruria, which had filled
with the glory of her name not only the lands
but the sea as well, along the whole extent of
Italy from the Alps to the Sicilian Strait, Aeneas
declined to defend himself behind his walls, as he
might have done, but led out his troops to battle.
The fight which ensued was a victory for the Latins :
for Aeneas it was, besides, the last of his mortal
labours. He lies buried, whether it is fitting and right

the Trojan name shall be sunk in the Latin (At.n. xii.
835).

13



LIVY

cumque eum dici ius fasque est, super Numicum
flumen : lovem indigetem appellant.

III. Nondum maturus imperio Ascanius Aeneae
filius erat ; tamen id imperium ei ad puberem aeta-
tem incolume mansit ; tantisper tutela muliebri
tanta indoles in Lavinia erat res Latina et regnum

2 avitum paternumque puero stetit. Haud ambigam
quis enim rem tarn veterem pro certo adfirmet ?
hicine fuerit Ascanius an maior quam hie, Creusa
matre Ilio incolumi natus comesque inde paternae
fugae, quern lulum eundem lulia gens auctorem

3 nominis sui nuncupat. Is Ascanius, ubicumque et
quacumque matre genitus certe natum Aenea con-
stat abundante Lavini multitudine florentem iam,
ut turn res erant, atque opulentam urbem matri seu
novercae reliquit : novam ipse aliam sub Albano
monte condidit, quae ab situ porrectae in dorso urbis

4 Longa Alba appellata. Inter Lavinium conditum l
et Albam Longam coloniam deductam triginta ferme
interfuere anni. Tantum tamen opes creverant,
maxime fusis Etruscis,, ut ne morte quidem Aeneae
nee deinde inter muliebrem tutelam rudimentumque
primum puerilis regni movere arma aut Mezentius

5 Etruscique aut ulli alii accolae ausi sint. Pax ita
convenerat ut Etruscis Latinisque fluvius Albula,

1 Lavinium conditum Harant : Lavinium fl.



1 Indiges means "of or belonging to a certain place"
(Fowler, Feat. p. 192). Dion. Hal. i. 64, says that the
Latins made a shrine to Aeneas with an inscription in which



BOOK I. ii. 6-in. 5

to term him god or man, on the banks of the river
Numicus ; men, however, call him Jupiter Indiges. 1

III. Ascanius, Aeneas' son, was not yet ripe for
authority ; yet the authority was kept for him, un-
impaired, until he arrived at manhood. Meanwhile,
under a woman's regency, the Latin State and the
kingdom of his father and his grandfather stood
unshaken so strong was Lavinia's character until
the boy could claim it. I shall not discuss the question

-for who could affirm for certain so ancient a matter?

-whether this boy was Ascanius, or an elder brother,
born by Creusa while Ilium yet stood, who accom-
panied his father when he fled from the city, being
the same whom the Julian family call lulus and claim
as the author of their name. This Ascanius, no
matter where born, or of what mother it is agreed
in any case that he was Aeneas' son left Lavinium,
when its population came to be too large, for it was
already a flourishing and wealthy city for those days,
to his mother, or stepmother, and founded a new city
himself below the Alban Mount. This was known
from its position, as it lay stretched out along the
ridge, by the name of Alba Longa. From the settle-
ment of Lavinium to the planting of the colony at
Alba Longa was an interval of some thirty years.
Yet the nation had grown so powerful, in consequence
especially of the defeat of the Etruscans, that even
when Aeneas died, and even when a woman became
its regent and a boy began his apprenticeship as king,
neither Mezentius and his Etruscans nor any other
neighbours dared to attack them. Peace had been
agreed to on these terms, that the River Albula, which
men now call the Tiber, should be the boundary

he was called irar^p xQ^vios (Pater Indiges). He was also
called Deus Indiges and Aeneas Indiges.

15



LIVY

6 quern nunc Tiberim vocant, finis esset. Silvius
delude regnat, Ascanii filius, casu quodam in silvis

7 natus. Is Aeneam Silvium creat ; is deinde Latinum
Silvium. Ab eo coloniae aliquot deductae, Prisci

8 Latini appellati. Mansit Silviis postea omnibus cog-
nomen qui Albae regnarunt. 1 Latino Alba ortus,
Alba Atys, Atye Capys, Capye Capetus, Capeto
Tiberinus, qui in traiectu 2 Albulae amnis submersus

9 celebre ad posteros nomen flumini dedit. Agrippa
inde Tiberini films, post Agrippam Romulus Silvius
a patre accepto imperio regnat. Aventino fulmine
ipse ictus regnum per manus tradidit. Is sepultus
in eo colle, qui nunc pars Romanae est urbis, cogno-

10 men colli fecit. Proca deinde regnat. Is Numi-
torem atque Amulium procreat ; Numitori, qui stirpis
maximus erat, regnum vetustum Silviae gentis legat.
Plus tamen vis potuit quam voluntas patris aut vere-

11 cuiidia aetatis : pulso fratre Amulius regnat. Addit
sceleri scelus: stirpem fratris virilem interemit 3 :
fratris filiae Reae Silviae per speciem honoris, cum
Vestalem earn legisset, perpetua virginitate spem
partus adimit. 4

IV. Sed debebatur, ut opinor, fatis tantae origo

urbis maximique secundum deorum opes imperil

2 principium. Vi compressa Vestalis, cum geminum

partum edidisset, seu ita rata, seu quia deus auctor

culpae honestior erat, Martem incertae stirpis patrem

1 regnarunt ft : regnaverunt M.

2 traiectu R Z D* (or D l ) : traiecto n.

3 interemit fl : interimit M01HR.

4 adimit H : ademit UOE\

16



BOOK I. HI. 5-iv. 2

between the Etruscans and the Latins. Next Silvius
reigned, son of Ascanius, born, as it chanced, in the
forest. He begat Aeneas Silvius, and he Latinus
Silvius. By him several colonies were planted, and
called the Ancient Latins. Thereafter the cognomen
Silvius was retained by all who ruled at Alba. From
Latinus came Alba, from Alba Atys, from Atys Capys,
from Capys Capetus, from Capetus Tiberinus. This
last king was drowned in crossing the River Albula,
and gave the stream the name which has been current
with later generations. Then Agrippa, son of Tibe-
rinus, reigned, and after Agrippa Romulus Silvius
was king, having received the power from his father.
Upon the death of Romulus by lightning, the king-
ship passed from him to Aventinus. This king was
buried on that hill, which is now a part of the City
of Rome, and gave his name to the hill. Proca ruled
next. He begat Numitor and Amulius ; to Numitor,
the elder, he bequeathed the ancient realm of the
Silvian family. Yet violence proved more potent
than a father's wishes or respect for seniority. Amu-
lius drove out his brother and ruled in his stead.
Adding crime to crime, he destroyed Numitor's male
issue ; and Rhea Silvia, his brother's daughter, he
appointed a Vestal under pretence of honouring
her, and by consigning her to perpetual virginity,
deprived her of the hope of children.

IV. But the Fates were resolved, as I suppose,
upon the founding of this great City, and the
beginning of the mightiest of empires, next after
that of Heaven. The Vestal was ravished, and
having given birth to twin sons, named Mars as the
father of her doubtful offspring, whether actually so
believing, or because it seemed less wrong if a god



LIVY

3 nuncupat. Sed nee dii nee homines aut ipsam aut
stirpem a crudelitate regia vindicant : sacerdos vincta
in custodiam datur : pueros in profluentem aquam

4 mitti iubet. Forte quadam divinitus super ripas
Tiberis etfusus lenibus stagnis nee adiri usquam ad
iusti cursum poterat amnis et posse quamvis languida

5 mergi aqua infantes spem ferentibus dabat. Ita,
velut defuncti regis imperio, in proxima alluvie ubi
nunc ficus Rtiminalis est Romularem vocatam ferunt

pueros exponunt. Vastae turn in his locis soli-
tudines erant. Tenet fama, cum fluitantem alveum
quo expositi erant pueri tenuis in sicco aqua desti-
tuisset, lupam sitientem ex montibus qui circa sunt
ad puerilem vagitum cursum flexisse ; earn summissas
infantibus adeo mitem praebuisse mammas ut lingua
lambentem pueros magister regii pecoris invenerit

7 Faustulo fuisse nomen ferunt. Ab eo ad stabula
Larentiae l uxori educandos datos. Sunt qui Laren-
tiam 1 vulgato corpora lupam inter pastores vocatam

8 putent : hide locum fabulae ac miraculo datum. Ita
geniti itaque educati, cum primum adolevit aetas, nee
in stabulis nee ad pecora segnes, venando peragrare

9 saltus. Hinc robore corporibus animisque sumpto

1 Larentiae (-am) MDL : Laurentiae (-am) n.

1 The word hq)a was sometimes used in the sense of
" courtesan."

18



BOOK I. iv. 2-9

were the author of her fault. But neither gods nor
men protected the mother herself or her babes from
the king's cruelty ; the priestess he ordered to be
manacled and cast into prison, the children to be
committed to the river. It happened by singular
good fortune that the Tiber having spread beyond
its banks into stagnant pools afforded nowhere any
access to the regular channel of the river, and the
men who brought the twins were led to hope that
being infants they might be drowned, no matter
how sluggish the stream. So they made shift to
discharge the king's command, by exposing the
babes at the nearest point of the overflow, where the
fig-tree Ruminalis formerly, they say, called Romu-
laris now stands. In those days this was a wild
and uninhabited region. The story persists that
when the floating basket in which the children had
been exposed was left high and dry by the receding
water, a she-wolf, coming down out of the surround-
ing hills to slake her thirst, turned her steps towards
the cry of the infants, and with her teats gave
them suck so gently, that the keeper of the royal
flock found her licking them with her tongue.
Tradition assigns to this man the name of Faustulus,
and adds that he carried the twins to his hut and gave
them to his wife Larentia to rear. Some think that
Larentia, having been free with her favours, had got
the name of " she-wolf" among the shepherds, and
that this gave rise to this marvellous story. 1 The
boys, thus born and reared, had no sooner attained to
youth than they began yet without neglecting the
farmstead or the flocks to range the glades of the
mountains for game. Having in this way gained
both strength and resolution, they would now not

19



LIVY

iam non feras tantum subsistere, sed in latrones
praeda onustos impetus facere pastoribusque rapta
dividere et cum his crescente in dies grege iuvenum
seria ac iocos celebrare.

V. Iam turn in Palatio monte Lupercal hoc fuisse
ludicrum ferunt et a Pallanteo, urbe Arcadica, Pal-

2 lantium, dein Palatium montem appellatum. Ibi
Euandrum, qui ex eo genere Arcadum multis ante
tempestatibus tenuerit loca, sollemne adlatum ex
Arcadia instituisse ut nudi iuvenes Lycaeum Pana
venerantes per lusum atque lasciviam currerent,

3 quern Romani deinde vocarunt Inuum. Huic deditis
ludicro, cum sollemne notum esset, insidiatos ob iram
praedae amissae latrones, cum Romulus vi se defen-
disset, Remum cepisse, captum regi Amulio tradi-

4 disse ultro accusantes. Crimini maxime dabant in
Numitoris agros ab iis impetus l fieri ; inde eos
collecta iuvenum manu hostilem in modum praedas
agere. Sic Numitori ad supplicium Remus deditur.

6 Iam inde ab initio Faustulo spes fuerat regiam stir-
pern apud se educari ; nam et expositos iussu regis
infantes sciebat, et tempus quo ipse eos sustulisset
ad id ipsum congruere ; sed rem inmaturam nisi aut

1 impetus Gronovius : impetum A.

1 The derivation here given is fanciful. The word is pro-
bably akin to palus, " pale," and meant a " fenced place."

20



BOOK I. iv. 9-v. 5

only face wild beasts, but would attack robbers
laden with their spoils, and divide up what they took
from them among the shepherds, with whom they
shared their toils and pranks, while their band of
young men grew larger every day.

V. They say that the Palatine was even then the
scene of the merry festival of the Lupercalia which
we have to-day, and that the hill was named
Pallantium, from Pallanteum, an Arcadian city,
and then Palatium. 1 There Evander, an Arcadian
of that stock, who had held the place many ages
before the time of which I am writing, is said to
have established the yearly rite, derived from
Arcadia, that youths should run naked about in
playful sport, doing honour to Lycaean Pan, whom
the Romans afterwards called Inuus. When the
young men were occupied in this celebration, the
rite being generally known, some robbers who had
been angered by the loss of their plunder laid an
ambush for them, and although Romulus successfully
defended himself, captured Remus and delivered up
their prisoner to King Amulius, even lodging a com-
plaint against him. The main charge was that the
brothers made raids on the lands of Numitor, and
pillaged them, with a band of young fellows which
they had got together, like an invading enemy. So
Remus was given up to Numitor to be punished.
From the very beginning Faustulus had entertained
the suspicion that they were children of the royal
blood that he was bringing up in his house ; for he
was aware both that infants had been exposed by
order of the king, and that the time when he had
himself taken up the children exactly coincided with
that event. But he had been unwilling that the

21



LIVY

per occasionem aut per necessitatem aperire 1 nolu-

6 erat. Necessitas prior venit ; ita metu subactus
Romulo rein aperit. Forte et Numitori, cuin in
custodia Remum haberet audissetque geminos esse
fratres, comparando et aetatem eorum et ipsam
minime servilem indolern tetigerat animum memoria
nepotum ; sciscitandoque eodem pervenit, ut baud
procul esset quin Remum agnosceret. Ita undique

7 regi dolus nectitur. Romulus non cum globo iuve-
num nee enim erat ad vim apertam par sed aliis
alio itinere iussis certo tempore ad regiam venire
pastoribus ad regem impetum facit, et a domo
Numitoris alia comparata manu adiuvat Remus. Ita
regem obtruncat. 2 VI. Numitor inter primum tu-
multum hostis invasisse urbem atque adortos regiam
dictitans, cum pubem Albanam in arcem praesidio
armisque obtinendam avocasset, postquam iuvenes
perpetrata caede pergere ad se gfatulaiites vidit,
extemplo advocate concilio scelera in se fratris,
origiiiem nepotum, ut geniti, ut educati, ut cogniti
essent, caedem deinceps tyranni seque eius auctorem

2 ostendit. Iuvenes per mediam coiitionem agmine
ingressi cum avum regem salutassent, secuta ex omni
multitudine consentiens vox ratum nomen imperi-
umque regi efficit.

1 aperire PFUBOE : aperiri (app- H) MRDLH.
3 cLlruncat fl : obtruncant j-.
22



BOOK I. v. 5-vi. 2

matter should be disclosed prematurely, until op-
portunity offered or necessity compelled. Necessity
came first ; accordingly, driven by fear, he revealed
the facts to Romulus. It chanced that Numitor too,
having Remus in custody, and hearing that the
brothers were twins, had been reminded, upon con-
sidering their age and their far from servile nature,
of his grandsons. The inquiries he made led him
to the same conclusion, so that he was almost ready
to acknowledge Remus. Thus on every hand the
toils were woven about the king. Romulus did not
assemble his company of youths for he was not
equal to open violence but commanded his shep-
herds to come to the palace at an appointed time,
some by one way, some by another, and so made his
attack upon the king ; while from the house of
Numitor came Remus, with another party which he
had got together, to help his brother. So Romulus
slew the king. VI. At the beginning of the fray
Numitor exclaimed that an enemy had invaded the
city and attacked the palace, and drew off the active
men of the place to serve as an armed garrison for
the defence of the citadel ; and when he saw the
young men approaching, after they had dispatched
the king, to congratulate him, he at once summoned
a council, and laid before it his brother's crimes
against himself, the parentage of his grandsons, and
how they had been born, reared, and recognised.
He then announced the tyrant's death, and declared
himself to be responsible for it. The brothers ad-
vanced with their band through the midst of the
crowd, and hailed their grandfather king, whereupon
such a shout of assent arose from the entire throng
as confirmed the new monarch's title and authority.

23



LIVY

3 Ita Numitori Albana re permissa Romulum Re-
mumque cupido cepit in iis 1 locis ubi expositi ubique
educati erant urbis condendae. Et supererat multi-
tudo Albanorum Latinorumque ; ad id pastores quo-
que accesserant, qui omnes facile spem facerent
parvam Albam, parvum Lavinium prae ea urbe quae

4 conderetur fore. Intervenit deinde his cogitationi-
bus avitum malum, regni cupido, atque inde foedum
certamen, coortum a satis miti principio. Quoniam
gemini essent nee aetatis verecundia discrimen facere
posset, ut dii, quorum tutelae ea loca esseiit, auguriis
legerent, qui nomen novae urbi daret, qui conditam
imperio regeret, Palatium Romulus, Remus Aventi-

A.U.C. 1 mini ad inaugurandum templa capiunt. VII. Priori
Remo augurium venisse fertur, sex vultures, iamque
nuntiato augurio cum duplex numerus Romulo se
ostendisset, utrumque regem sua multitude consalu-

2 taverat : tempore illi praecepto, at hi numero avium
regnum trahebant. Inde cum altercatione congressi
certamine irarum ad caedem vertuntur ; ibi in turba
ictus Remus cecidit. Vulgatior fama est ludibrio
fratris Remum novos transiluisse muros ; inde ab
irato Romulo, cum verbis quoque increpitans adie-
cisset " sic deinde, quicumque alius transiliet moenia

3 mea," interfectum. Ita solus potitus imperio Romu-
lus ; condita urbs conditoris nomine appellata.

1 iis 5- : his Q.

1 A form of the legend preserved by Dion. Hal. i. 87, and
Ovid, Fasti, iv. 843, names Celer, whom Romulus had put
in charge of the rising wall, as the slayer of Remus.

24



BOOK I. vi. 3-vn. 3

The Alban state being thus made over to Numitor,
Romulus and Remus were seized with the desire to
found a city in the region where they had been ex-
posed and brought up. And in fact the population
of Albans and Latins was too large ; besides, there
were the shepherds. All together, their numbers
might easily lead men to hope that Alba would be
small, and Lavinium small, compared with the city
which they should build. These considerations were
interrupted by the curse of their grandsires, the
greed of kingly power, and by a shameful quarrel
which grew out of it, upon an occasion innocent
enough. Since the brothers were twins, and re-
spect for their age could not determine between
them, it was agreed that the gods who had those
places in their protection should choose by augury
who should give the new city its name, who should
govern it when built. Romulus took the Palatine for
his augural quarter, Remus the Aventine. VII. Remus B.C. 753
is said to have been the first to receive an augury,
from the flight of six vultures. The omen had
been already reported when twice that number
appeared to Romulus. Thereupon each was saluted
king by his own followers, the one party laying claim
to the honour from priority, the other from the
number of the birds. They then engaged in a
battle of words and, angry taunts leading to blood-
shed, Remus was struck down in the affray. The
commoner story is that Remus leaped over the new
walls in mockery of his brother, whereupon Romulus
in great anger slew him, and in menacing wise
added these words withal, " So perish whoever else
shall leap over my walls ! " l Thus Romulus acquired
sole power, and the city, thus founded, was called
by its founder's name.

2 5



LIVY

Palatium primum, in quo ipse erat educatus, mu-
niit. Sacra diis aliis Albano ritu, Graeco Herculi, ut

4 ab Euandro instituta erant, facit. Herculem in ea
loca Geryone interempto boves mira specie abegisse
memorant ac prope Tiberim fluvium, qua prae se
armentum agens nando traiecerat, loco herbido, ut
quiete et pabulo laeto reficeret boves, et ipsum

5 fessum via procubuisse. Ibi cum eum cibo vinoque
gravatum sopor oppressisset, pastor accola eius loci,
nomine Cacus, ferox viribus, captus pulchritudine
bourn cum avertere earn praedam vellet, quia si
agendo armentum in speluncam compulisset ipsa
vestigia quaerentem dominum eo deductura erant,
aversos boves, eximium quemque pulchritudine,

6 caudis in speluncam traxit. Hercules ad primam
auroram somno excitus cum gregem perlustrasset
oculis et partem abesse numero sensisset, pergit ad
proximam speluncam, si forte eo vestigia ferrent.
Quae ubi omnia foras versa vidit nee in partem
aliam ferre, confusus atque incertus animi ex loco
infesto agere porro armentum occepit. Inde cum

7 actae boves quaedam ad desiderium, ut fit, relictarum
mugissent, reddita iiiclusarum ex spelunca bourn vox
Herculem convertit. Quern cum vadentem ad spel-

26



BOOK I. vn. 3-7

His first act was to fortify the Palatine, on which B.C. 753
he had himself been reared. To other gods he sacri-
ficed after the Alban custom, but employed the Greek
for Hercules, according to the institution of Evander.
The story is as follows : Hercules, after slaying
Geryones, was driving off his wondrously beautiful
cattle, when, close to the river Tiber, where he had
swum across it with the herd before him, he found a
green spot, where he could let the cattle rest and
refresh themselves with the abundant grass ; and
being tired from his journey he lay down himself.
When he had there fallen into a deep sleep, for he
was heavy with food and wine, a shepherd by the
name of Cacus, who dwelt hard by and was insolent
by reason of his strength, was struck with the beauty
of the animals, and wished to drive them off as plun-
der. But if he had driven the herd into his cave,
their tracks would have been enough to guide their
owner to the place in his search ; he therefore chose
out those of the cattle that were most remarkable
for their beauty, and turning them the other way,
dragged them into the cave by their tails. At day-
break Hercules awoke. Glancing over the herd, and
perceiving that a part of their number w r as lacking,
he proceeded to the nearest cave, in case there might
be foot-prints leading into it. When he saw that they
were all turned outward and yet did not lead to any
other place, he was confused and bewildered, and
made ready to drive his herd away from that un-
canny spot. As the cattle were being driven off,
some of them lowed, as usually happens, missing those
which had been left behind. They were answered
with a low by the cattle shut up in the cave, and this
made Hercules turn back. Wlien he came towards the

27



LIVY

A.U.C. 1 uncam Cacus vi prohibere conatus esset, ictus clava
fidem pastorum nequiquam invocans morte occubuit.

8 Euander turn ea profugus ex Peloponneso auctoritate
magis quam imperio regebat loca, venerabilis vir
miraculo litterarum, rei novae inter rudes artium
homines, venerabilior divinitate credita Carmentae
matris, quam fatiloquam ante Sibyllae in Italiam

9 adventum miratae eae gentes fuerant. Is turn
Euander concursu pastorum trepidantium circa ad-
venam manifestae reurn caedis excitus postquam
facinus facinorisque causam audivit, habitum for-
mamque viri aliquantum ampliorem augustioremque

10 Immana intuens, rogitat qui vir esset. Ubi nomen
patremque ac patriam accepit, " love nate, Hercules,
salve/' inquit; "te mihi mater, veridica interpres
deum, aucturum caelestium numerum cecinit tibique
aram hie dicatum iri quam opulentissima olim in

11 terris gens maximam vocet tuoque ritu colat." Dex-
tra Hercules data accipere se omen inpleturumque

12 fata ara condita ac dicata ait. Ibi turn primum bove
eximia capta de grege sacrum Herculi 1 adhibitis ad
ministerium dapemque 1 Potitiis ac Pinariis, quae
turn familiae maxime inclitae ea loca incolebant,

1 Herculi . . . dapemque MP* : omitted by fl.

1 Evander ia said to have invented the Roman alphabet.
28



BOOK I. vn. 7-12

cave, Cacus would have prevented his approach with B
force, but received a blow from the hero's club, and
calling in vain upon the shepherds to protect him,
gave up the ghost. Evander, an exile from the Pelo-
ponnese, controlled that region in those days, more
through personal influence than sovereign power.
He was a man revered for his wonderful invention of
letters, 1 a new thing to men unacquainted with the
arts, and even more revered because of the divinity
which men attributed to his mother Carmenta, whom
those tribes had admired as a prophetess before the
Sibyl's coming into Italy. Now this Evander was
then attracted by the concourse of shepherds, who,
crowding excitedly about the stranger, were accusing
him as a murderer caught red-handed. When he had
been told about the deed and the reason for it, and
had marked the bearing of the man and his figure,
which was somewhat ampler and more august than
a mortal's, he inquired who he was. Upon learning
his name, his father, and his birth-place, he ex-
claimed, " Hail, Hercules, son of Jupiter ! You
are he, of whom my mother, truthful interpreter
of Heaven, foretold to me that you should be
added to the number of the gods, and that an altar
should be dedicated to you here which the nation
one day to be the most powerful on earth should
call the Greatest Altar, and should serve according
to your rite." Hercules gave him his hand, and
declared that he accepted the omen, and would fulfil
the prophecy by establishing and dedicating an altar.
Then and there men took a choice victim from the
herd, and for the first time made sacrifice to Her-
cules. For the ministry and the banquet they em-
ployed the Potitii and the Pinarii, being the families

29
VOL. I. c



LIVY

A.U.C. i 13 facturn. Forte ita evenit, ut Potitii ad tempus praesto
essent iisque exta apponerentur, Pinarii extis adesis
ad ceteram venirent dapem. Inde iiistitutum man-
sit, donee Pinarium genus fuit, ne extis eorum

14 sollemnium l vescerentur. Potitii ab Euandro edocti
antistites sacri ems per multas aetates fueruiit, donee
tradito servis publicis sollemni familiae ministerio

15 genus orane Potitiorum interiit. Haec turn sacra
Romulus una ex omnibus peregrina suscepit, iam
turn inmortalitatis virtute partae, 2 ad quam eum sua
fata ducebant, fautor.

VIII. Rebus divinis rite perpetratis vocataque ad
concilium multitudine, quae coalescere in populi
unius corpus nulla re praeterquam legibus poterat,
iura dedit ; quae ita sancta generi hominum agresti
fore ratus si se ipse venerabilem insignibus imperil
fecisset cum cetero habitu se augustiorem, turn
3 maxime lictoribus duodecim sumptis fecit. Alii ab
numero avium quae augurio regnum portenderant
eum secutum numerum putant : me baud paenitet
eorum sententiae esse quibus et apparitores hoc-
genus 3 ab Etruscis finitimis, unde sella curulis, unde
toga praetexta sumpta est, et numerum 4 quoque
ipsum ductum placet, et ita habuisse Etruscos, quod

1 eorum sollemnium Walters : eo sollemnium (or the. like.)
ft: sollemnium M: sollemnibus (or sol- orsolempn-)FPUOtt.

2 partae E : parta H.

8 hoc genus G'ronov.: et hoc genus H.
4 et numerum Htnmann : numerum H.

1 For the story of Cacus and the origin of the Ara Maxima
see also Virgil, Aen. viii. 182-279 ; Prop. iv. 9; Ovid, Fasti,
i. 543-586.

3



BOOK I. vn. 12-vni. 3

of most distinction then living in that region. It so B.C. 753
fell out that the Potitii were there at the appointed
time, and to them were served the inwards ; the
Pinarii came after the inwards had been eaten, in
season for the remainder of the feast. Thence came
the custom, which persisted as long as the Pinarian
family endured, that they should not partake of the
inwards at that sacrifice. The Potitii, instructed by
Evander, were priests of this cult for many genera-
tions, until, having delegated to public slaves the
solemn function of their family, the entire stock of the
Potitii died out. This was the only sacred observance,
of all those of foreign origin, which Romulus then
adopted, honouring even then the immortality won
by worth to which his own destiny was leading him. 1
VIII. When Romulus had duly attended to the
worship of the gods, he called the people together
and gave them the rules of law, since nothing else
but law could unite them into a single body politic.
But these, he was persuaded, would only appear
binding in the eyes of a rustic people in case he
should invest his own person with majesty, by adopt-
ing emblems of authority. He therefore put on a
more august state in every way, and especially by
the assumption of twelve lictors. 2 Some think the
twelve birds which had given him an augury of king-
ship led him to choose this number. For my part,
I am content to share the opinion of those who
derive from the neighbouring Etruscans (whence
were borrowed the curule chair and purple-bordered
toga) not only the type of attendants but their
number as well a number which the Etruscans
themselves are thought to have chosen because each

1 The lictors carried axes in bundles of rods, in readiness
to execute the king's sentence of scourging and decapitation.

31



LIVY

A.U.O. i ex duodecim populis communiter create rege sin-

gulos singuli populi lictores dederint.

4 Crescebat interim urbs munitionibus alia atque

alia adpetendo loca, cum in spem magis futurae

multitudinis quam ad id quod turn hominum erat

6 munirent. Deinde, ne vana urbis magnitude esset,

adiciendae multitudinis causa vetere coiisilio conden-

tium urbes, qui obscuram atque humilem conciendo

ad se multitudinem natam e terra sibi prolem emen-

tiebantur, locum qui mine saeptus escendentibus 1

6 inter duos lucos est, asylum aperit. Eo ex finitimis
populis turba omnis, sine discrimine liber an servus
esset, avida novarum rerum perfugit, idque primum

7 ad coeptam magnitudinem roboris fuit. Cum iam
virium haud paeniteret, consilium deinde viribus
parat. Centum creat senatores, sive quia is numerus
satis erat, sive quia soli centum erant qui creari
patres possent. Patres certe ab honore, patriciique
progenies eorum appellati.



A.U.C. ix. Iam res Romana adeo erat valida ut cuilibet

1~~ O t

finitimarum civitatum bello par esset ; sed penuria

mulierum hominis aetatem duratura magnitude erat,

quippe quibus nee domi spes prolis nee cum finitimis

2 eonubia essent. Turn ex consilio patrum Romulus

legates circa vicinas gentes misit, qui societatem

1 escendentibus Edwards : descendentibus n.

1 i.e. the Capitoline.

2 As being heads of clans, patres familiarum.

32



BOOK I. vin. 3-ix. 2

of the twelve cities which united to elect the king B .c. 753
contributed one lictor.

Meanwhile the City was expanding and reaching
out its walls to include one place after another, for
they built their defences with an eye rather to the
population which they hoped one day to have than
to the numbers they had then. Next, lest his big
City should be empty, Romulus resorted to a plan
for increasing the inhabitants which had long been
employed by the founders of cities, who gather about
them an obscure and lowly multitude and pretend
that the earth has raised up sons to them. In the
place which is now enclosed, between the two groves
as you go up the hill/ he opened a sanctuary. Thither
fled, from the surrounding peoples, a miscellaneous
rabble, without distinction of bond or free, eager
for new conditions ; and these constituted the first
advance in power towards that greatness at which
Romulus aimed. He had now no reason to be
dissatisfied with his strength, and proceeded to add
policy to strength. He appointed a hundred senators,
whether because this number seemed to him suf-
ficient, or because there were no more than a hundred
who could be designated Fathers. 2 At all events, they
received the designation of Fathers from their rank,
and their descendants were called patricians.

IX. Rome was now strong enough to hold her own B - c -
in war with any of the adjacent states ; but owing to
the want of women a single generation was likely
to see the end of her greatness, since she had neither
prospect of posterity at home nor the right of inter-
marriage with her neighbours. So, on the advice of
the senate, Romulus sent envoys round among all
the neighbouring nations to solicit for the new people

33



LIVY

A.T.C. 3 conubiumque novo populo peterent : urbes quo-

1-37

que. ut cetera, ex infimo nasci ; dein, quas 1 sua
virtus ac di iuvent, magnas opes sibi magnumque

4 nomen facere ; satis scire origini Romanae et
decs adfuisse et non defuturam virtutem ; proinde
ne gravarentur homines cum hominibus sanguinem

5 ac genus miscere. Nusquam benigne legatio audita
est : adeo simul spernebant, simul tantam in medio
crescentem molem sibi ac posteris suis metuebant.
A - plerisque rogitantibus dimissi, ecquod feminis
quoque asylum aperuissent ; id enim demum con-

6 par conubium fore. Aegre id Romana pubes passa,
et baud dubie ad vim spectare res coepit. Cui
tempus locumque aptum ut daret Romulus, aegri-
tudinem animi dissimulans ludos ex industria
parat Neptuno equestri sollemnis ; Consualia vocat.

7 Indici deinde finitimis spectaculum iubet, quan-
toque apparatu turn sciebant aut poterant, con-
celebrant, ut rem claram exspectatamque facerent.

8 Multi mortales convenere, studio etiam videndae
novae urbis, maxime proximi quique, Caeninenses,

9 Crustumini, Antemnates ; etiam 8 Sabinorum omnis

1 quas Aldus : qua n a A 5- : ac Ci.

3 etiam Scheibe : iam n.

1 The Consualia was a harvest festival, held on August 21.
Consus, the true name of the god, is from condert,, " to store
up." From the association of the festival with horses came

34



BOOK I. ix. 2-9

an alliance and the privilege of intermarrying. B.C.
Cities, they argued, as well as all other things, take 753 ~ 717
their rise from the lowliest beginnings. As time
goes on, those which are aided by their own worth
and by the favour of Heaven achieve great power
and renown. They said they were well assured
that Rome's origin had been blessed with the favour
of Heaven, and that worth would not be lacking ;
their neighbours should not be reluctant to mingle
their stock and their blood with the Romans, who
were as truly men as they were. Nowhere did the
embassy obtain a friendly hearing. In fact men
spurned, at the same time that they feared, both for
themselves and their descendants, that great power
which was then growing up in their midst ; and the
envoys were frequently asked, on being dismissed, if
they had opened a sanctuary for women as well as
for men, for in that way only would they obtain
suitable wives. This was a bitter insult to the young
Romans, and the matter seemed certain to end in
violence. Expressly to afford a fitting time and place
for this, Romulus, concealing his resentment, made
ready solemn games in honour of the equestrian
Neptune, which he called Consualia. 1 He then bade
proclaim the spectacle to the surrounding peoples,
and his subjects prepared to celebrate it with all the
resources within their knowledge and power, that
they might cause the occasion to be noised abroad and
eagerly expected. Many people for they were also
eager to see the new city gathered for the festival,
especially those who lived nearest, the inhabitants of
Caenina, Crustumium, and Antemnae. The Sabines,

the later identification of the god with Neptunus Equester.
See Fowler, Fest. pp. 206-9.

35



LIVY

A.U.C. multitude cum liberis ac coniugibus venit. Invitati

1-37

hospitaliter per domos cum situm moeniaque et fre-
quentem tectis urbem vidissent, mirantur tarn brevi

10 rem Romanam crevisse. Ubi spectaculi tempus venit
deditaeque eo mentes cum oculis erant, turn ex com-
posite orta vis, signoque dato iuventus Romana ad

11 rapiendas virgines discurrit. Magna pars forte, in
quern quaeque inciderat, raptae : quasdam forma ex-
cellentes primoribus patrum destinatas ex plebe
homines, quibus datum negotium erat, domos defere-

12 bant: unam longe ante alias specie ac pulchritudine
insignem a globo Thalassii cuiusdam raptam ferunt,
multisque sciscitantibus cuinam earn ferrent, identi-
dem, ne quis violaret, Thalassio ferri clamitatum ;

13 inde nuptial em hanc vocem factam. Turbato per
metum ludicro maesti parentes virginum profugiunt,
incusantes violati hospitii scelus 1 deumque invo-
cantes, cuius ad sollemne ludosque per fas ac fidem

U decepti venissent. Nee raptis aut spes de se melior
aut indignatio est minor. Sed ipse Romulus circumi-
bat docebatque patrum id superbia factum, qui conu-
bium finitimis negassent ; illas tamen in matrimonio,
in societate fortunarum omnium civitatisque, et quo

15 nihil carius humano generi sit, liberum fore; molli-

1 scelus Grunaver : foedus fi.



1 Plutarch, Rom. 15, also gives the story, and observes
that the Romans used " Talasius " as the Greeks did
" Hymenaeus." See also Catullus, Ixi. 134.

36



BOOK I. ix. 9-15

too, came with all their people, including their B.C.
children and wives. They were hospitably enter- 753 ~ 71 '
tained in every house, and when they had looked
at the site of the City, its walls, and its numerous
buildings, they marvelled that Rome had so rapidly
grown great. When the time came for the show,
and people's thoughts and eyes were busy with it,
the preconcerted attack began. At a given signal
the young Romans darted this way and that, to seize
and carry off the maidens. In most cases these were
taken by the men in whose path they chanced to be.
Some, of exceptional beauty, had been marked out
for the chief senators, and were carried off to their
houses by plebeians to whom the office had been
entrusted. One, who far excelled the rest in mien
and loveliness, was seized, the story relates, by the
gang of a certain Thalassius. Being repeatedly asked
for whom they were bearing her off, they kept shout-
ing that no one should touch her, for they were
taking her to Thalassius, and this was the origin of
the wedding-cry. 1 The sports broke up in a panic,
and the parents of the maidens fled sorrowing. They
charged the Romans with the crime of violating
hospitality, and invoked the gods to whose solemn
games they had come, deceived in violation of re-
ligion and honour. The stolen maidens were no
more hopeful of their plight, nor less indignant. But
Romulus himself went amongst them and explained
that the pride of their parents had caused this deed,
when they had refused their neighbours the right
to intermarry ; nevertheless the daughters should be
wedded and become co-partners in all the posses-
sions of the Romans, in their citizenship and, dearest
privilege of all to the human race, in their children ;

37



LIVY

A.U.C. rent modo iras et, quibus fors corpora dedisset, 1

137

darent animos. Saepe ex iniuria postmodum gratiam
ortam, eoque melioribus usuras viris, quod adnisurus
pro se quisque sit ut, cum suam vicem functus officio
sit, parentium etiam patriaeque expleat desiderium.
16 Accedebant blanditiae virorum factum purgantium
cupiditate atque amore, quae maxime ad muliebre
ingenium efficaces preces sunt.

X. lam admodum mitigati animi raptis erant ; at
raptarum parentes turn maxime sordida veste lacri-
misque et querellis civitates concitabant. Nee domi
tantum indignationes continebant, sed congregaban-
tur undique ad T. Tatium regem Sabinorum, et lega-
tiones eo, quod maximum Tatii nomen in iis regioni-

2 bus erat, conveniebant. Caeninenses Crustuminique
et Antemnates erant ad quos eius iniuriae pars perti-
nebat. Lente agere his Tatius Sabinique visi sunt :
ipsi inter se tres populi communiter bellum parant.

3 Ne Crustumini quidem atque Antemnates pro ardore
iraque Caeninensium satis se impigre moveiit ; ita
per se ipsum nomen Caeninum in agrum Romanum

4 impetum facit. Sed effuse vastantibus fit obvius cum
exercitu Romulus levique certamine docet vanam
sine viribus iram esse. Exercitum fundit fugatque,
fusum persequitur : regem in proelio obtruncat et

1 dedisset UOD a : dedissent ft.
38



BOOK I. ix. i5-x. 4

only let them moderate their anger, and give their ^ B.C.
hearts to those to whom fortune had given their
persons. A sense of injury had often given place to
affection, and they would find their husbands the
kinder for this reason, that every man would earnestly
endeavour not only to be a good husband, but also
to console his wife for the home and parents she had
lost. His arguments were seconded by the wooing
of the men, who excused their act on the score of
passion and love, the most moving of all pleas to
a woman's heart.

X. The resentment of the brides was already
much diminished at the very moment when their
parents, in mourning garb and with tears and la-
mentations, were attempting to arouse their states
to action. Nor did they confine their complaints
to their home towns, but thronged from every side
to the house of Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines ;
and thither, too, came official embassies, for the name
of Tatius was the greatest in all that country. The
men of Caenina, Crustumium, and Antemnae, were
those who had had a share in the wrong. It seemed
to them that Tatius and the Sabines were procras-
tinating, and without waiting for them these three
tribes arranged for a joint campaign. But even the
Crustuminians and Antemnates moved too slowly
to satisfy the burning anger of the Caeninenses, and
accordingly that nation invaded alone the Roman
territory. But while they were dispersed and engaged
in pillage, Romulus appeared with his troops and
taught them, by an easy victory, how ineffectual is
anger without strength. Their army he broke and
routed, and pursued it as it fled ; their king he killed



39



LIVY

A.U.C. spoliat ; duce hostium occiso urbeni primo impetu

1-37

5 capit. Inde exercitu victore reducto, ipse, cum factis
vir magnificus turn factor um cstentator haud minor,
spolia duels hostium caesi suspensa fabricate ad id
apte ferculo gerens in Capitolium escendit ibique ea
cum ad quercum pastoribus sacram deposuisset, simul
cum dono designavit templo lovis finis cognomenque

6 addidit deo. " luppiter Feretri " inquit, " haec tibi
victor Romulus rex regia arma fero, tempi unique his
regionibus quas modo animo metatus sum dedico
sedem opimis spoliis, quae regibus ducibusque hos-
tium caesis me auctorem sequentes postcrt ferent."

7 Haec templi est origo quod primum omnium Romae
sacratum est. Ita deinde diis visum, nee inritam
conditoris templi vocem esse qua laturos eo spolia
posteros nuncupavit, nee multitudine conpotum eius
doni volgari laudem. Bina postea inter tot annos,
tot bella, opima parta sunt spolia ; adeo rara eius
fortuna decoris fuit.

XI. Dum ea ibi Romani gerunt, Antemnatium
exereitus per occasionem ac solitudinem hostiliter
in fines Romanos incursionem faeit. Raptim et ad

1 Jupiter Feretrius (etymology unknown) was the pure
Italian Jupiter, whose worship was later overshadowed by
the Etruscan god of the great temple on the Capitol. See
Fowler, Fest. p. 229.

2 The other instances were the victories of Cossus over
Tolumnius, king of Veii (iv. 20), and of Marcellus over

40



BOOK I. x. 4-xi. i

in battle and despoiled ; their city, once their leader B.C.
was slain, he captured at the first assault. He then
led his victorious army back, and being not more
splendid in his deeds than willing to display them,
he arranged the spoils of the enemy's dead com-
mander upon a frame, suitably fashioned for the pur-
pose, and, carrying it himself, mounted the Capitol.
Having there deposited his burden, by an oak which
the shepherds held sacred, at the same time as he
made his offering he marked out the limits of a
temple to Jupiter, and bestowed a title upon him.
"Jupiter Feretrius," he said, "to thee I, victorious
Romulus, myself a king, bring the panoply of a king,
and dedicate a sacred precinct within the bounds
which I have even now marked off in my mind, to be
a seat for the spoils of honour which men shall bear
hither in time to come, following my example, when
they have slain kings and commanders of the enemy."
This was the origin of the first temple that was con-
secrated in Rome. 1 It pleased Heaven, in the sequel,
that while the founder's words should not be in vain,
when he declared that men should bring spoils thither
in the after time, yet the glory of that gift should
not be staled by a multitude of partakers. Twice
only since then, in all these years with their many
wars, have the spoils of honour been won ; so rarely
have men had the good fortune to attain to that
distinction. 2

XI. While the Romans were thus occupied in the
City, the army of the Antemnates seized the oppor-
tunity afforded by their absence, and made an inroad
upon their territory ; but so swiftly was the Roman

Virdomarus, king of the Insubrian Gauls. Propertius tells
the three stories in iv. 10.

41



A.D.C.



LIVY

, .o ducta palatos in agris oppressit.
hos Romana legr

rt r, . . .. . ) impetu et clamore hostes ; oppi-

2 busi igitur prime

i j plicique victoria ovantem Romulum

dum captum ; duf

tr -i- precibus raptarum fatigata orat ut

Hersiha comunx t

.., det veniam et in civitatem acci-

parentibus earum

.. alescere concordia posse. Facile

piat ; ita rem co

T de contra Crustuminos profectus

3 impetratum. ln>

, . f. $. Ibi minus etiam. quod alienis

bellum mrerente!

, ,., .j nt animi. certaminis fuit. Utroque

4 cladibus ceciderai

, . . plures inventi qui propter uber-

colomae missae ; l

Crustuminum nomina darent. Et
tatem terrae in

. 3 /. juenter migratum est, a parentibus
Romam inde irec 1

. .quis raptarum.
maxime ac propin *

XT . . p Sabinis bellum ortum. multoque

5 Novissimum aT

f .. ; nihil enim per iram aut cupidi-
id maximum fuit

nee ostenderunt bellum prius quam
tatem actum est,

-, silio etiam additus dolus. Sp. Tar-

6 mtulerunt. Con

raeerat arci. Huius filiam virffinem
peius Romanae p (

.. rr'atius ut armatos in arcem accipiat ;
auro corrumpit 1

c turn sacris extra moenia petitum

aquam forte ea

A .. Dbrutam armis necavere. seu ut vi

7 lerat. Accepti <

c videretur. seu prodendi exempli
capta potius ar? l

.j ;quam ndum proditori esset. Addi-

8 causa, ne quid uf ^

,. , , , j. vulgo Sabini aureas armillas
tur tabula/ quoa

Glareanus : fabulae (or -le) fl.
1 fabula



,ie had to draw water from the spring of
1 As a vestal, si

the Camenae.
42



BOOK I. xi. 1-8

levy led against them that they, too, were taken off B.C.
their guard while scattered about in the fields. They 763 - 717
were therefore routed at the first charge and shout,
and their town was taken. As Romulus was exulting
in his double victory, his wife Hersilia, beset with
entreaties by the captive women, begged him to for-
give their parents and receive them into the state ;
which would, in that case, gain in strength by har-
mony. He readily granted her request. He then
set out to meet the Crustuminians, who were marching
to attack him. They offered even less resistance than
their allies had done, for their ardour had been
quenched by the defeats of the others. Colonies
were sent out to both places, though most of the
colonists preferred to enrol for Crustumium on ac-
count of the fertility of its soil. On the other
hand, many persons left Crustumium and came to
live in Rome, chiefly parents and kinsmen of the
captured women.

The last to attack Rome were the Sabines, and
this war was by far the gravest of all, for passion
and greed were not their motives, nor did they
parade war before they made it. To their prudence
they even added deception. Spurius Tarpeius com-
manded the Roman citadel. This man's maiden
daughter was bribed with gold by Tatius to admit
armed men into the fortress : she happened at that
time to have gone outside the walls to fetch water
for a sacrifice. 1 Once within, they threw their
shields upon her and killed her so, whether to make
it appear that the citadel had been taken by assault,
or to set an example, that no one might anywhere
keep faith with a traitor. There is also a legend
that because most of the Sabines wore heavy golden

43



LIVY

A.U.C. ponderis bracchio laevo gemmatosque magna specie
anulos habuerintj pepigisse earn quod in sinistris
manibus haberent ; eo scuta illi pro aureis donis con-
9 gesta. Sunt qui earn ex pacto tradendi quod in
sinistris manibus esset derecto arma petisse dicant.
et fraude visam agere, sua ipsam peremptam mer-
cede.

XII. Tenuere tamen arcem Sabini, atque inde
postero die, cum Romanus exercitus instructus quod
inter Palatinum Capitolinumque collem campi est
complesset, non prius descenderunt in aequum quam
ira et cupiditate reciperandae arcis stimulante ani-

2 mos in adversum Roman! subiere. Principes utrim-
que pugnam ciebant ab Sabinis Mettius Curtius, ab
Romanis Hostius Hostilius. Hie rem Romanam
iniquo loco ad prima signa animo atque audacia

3 sustinebat. Ut Hostius cecidit, confestim Romana
inclinatur acies fusaque est ad veterem portain
Palatii. Romulus et ipse turba fugientium actus

4 arma ad caelum tollens, " Itippiter, tuis " inquit,
" iussus avibus hie in Palatio prima urbi fundamenta
ieci. Arcem iam scelere emptam Sabini habent ;

5 inde hue armati superata media valle tendunt ; at
tu, pater deum hominumque, hinc saltern arce hostess
deme terrorem Romanis fugamque foedam siste !

G Hie ego tibi templum Statori lovi, quod monumen-



1 According to Dion. Hal. ii. 38, this was the version given
by L. Calpurnius Piso. Propertius wrote the best of his
aetiological poems (iv. 5) about Tarpeia.

44



BOOK I. xi. 8-xn. 6

bracelets on their left arms and magnificent jewelled B.C.
rings, she had stipulated for what they had on their 753 ~ 717
left arms, and that they had therefore heaped their
shields upon her, instead of gifts of gold. Some say
that, in virtue of the compact that they should give
her what they wore on their arms, she flatly de-
manded their shields and, her treachery being per-
ceived, forfeited her life to the bargain she herself
had struck. 1

XII. Be that as it may, the Sabines held the
citadel. Next day the Roman army was drawn up,
and covered the ground between the Palatine Hill
and the Capitoline, but the Sabines would not come
down till rage and eagerness to regain the citadel
had goaded their enemy into marching up the slope
against them. Two champions led the fighting, the
Sabine Mettius Curtius on the one side, and the
Roman Hostius Hostilius on the other. Hostius
held the Romans firm, despite their disadvantage of
position, by the reckless courage he displayed in the
thick of the fray. But when he fell, the Roman
line gave way at once and fled towards the old gate
of the Palatine. Romulus himself was swept along
in the crowd of the fugitives, till lifting his sword
and shield to heaven, he cried, "O Jupiter, it was
thy omen that directed me when I laid here on
the Palatine the first foundations of my City. The
fortress is already bought by a crime and in the pos-
session of the Sabines, whence they are come, sword
in hand, across the valley to seek us here. But do
thou, father of gods and men, keep them back from
this spot at least; deliver the Romans from their
terror, and stay their shameful flight ! I here vow
to thee, Jupiter the Stayer, a temple, to be a

45



LIVY

t.u.c. turn sit posteris tua praesenti ope servatam urbem

7 esse, voveo." Haec precatus, veluti 1 sensisset au-
ditas preces, " Hiric " inquit, " Romani, luppiter
optimus maximus resistere atque iterare pugnam
iubet." Restitere Roman! tamquam caelesti voce

8 iussi : ipse ad primores Romulus provolat. Mettius
Curtius ab Sabinis princeps ab arce decucurrerat et
effusos egerat Romanes, toto quantum foro spatium
est. Nee procul iam a porta Palati erat clamitans,
" Vicimus perfidos hospites, imbelles hostes ; iam sciunt
longe aliud esse virgines rapere, aliud pugnare cum

9 viris." In eum haec gloriantem cum globo ferocissi-
morum iuvenum Romulus impetum facit. Ex equo
turn forte Mettius pugnabat ; eo pelli facilius fuit.
Pulsum Roman! persequuntur ; et alia Romana acies

10 audacia regis accensa fundit Sabinos. Mettius in
paludem sese strepitu sequentium trepidante equo
coniecit ; averteratque ea res etiam Sabinos tanti
periculo viri. Et ille quidem adnuentibus ac vocan-
tibus suis favore multorum addito animo evadit:
Romani Sabinique in media convalle duorum mon-
tium redintegrant proelium. Sed res Romana erat
superior.

XIII. Turn Sabinae mulieres, quartim ex iniuria
bellum ortum erat, crinibus passis scissaque veste

1 ueluti BR : uelutis M 1 Pi : uelut si J/V : ueluti si n.
46



BOOK I. xn. 6-xni. i
memorial to our descendants how the City was saved B.C.

TE O >-1 ?

by thy present help." Having uttered this prayer
he exclaimed, as if he had perceived that it was
heard, " Here, Romans, Jupiter Optimus Maximus
commands us to stand and renew the fight!" The
Romans did stand, as though directed by a voice
from Heaven, Romulus himself rushing into the
forefront of the battle. Mettius Curtius, on the
Sabine side, had led the charge down from the
citadel, and driven the Romans in disorder over
all that ground which the Forum occupies. He was
not now far from the gate of the Palatine, shouting,
" We have beaten our faithless hosts, our cowardly
enemies ! They know now how great is the differ-
ence between carrying off maidens and fighting with
men ! ' While he pronounced this boast a band of
gallant youths, led on by Romulus, assailed him. It
chanced that Mettius was fighting on horseback at
the time, and was therefore the more easily put to
flight. As he fled, the Romans followed ; and the
rest of their army, too, fired by the reckless daring of
their king, drove the Sabines before them. Mettius
plunged into a swamp, his horse becoming unman-
ageable in the din of the pursuit, and even the
Sabines were drawn off from the general engage-
ment by the danger to so great a man. As for
Mettius, heartened by the gestures and shouts of
his followers and the encouragement of the throng,
he made his escape ; and the Romans and the Sabines
renewed their battle in the valley that lies between
the two hills. But the advantage rested with the
Romans.

XIII. Then the Sabine women, whose wrong had
given rise to the war, with loosened hair and torn

47



LIVY

A.U.C. victo malis muliebri pavore, ausae se inter tela vo-
lantia inferre, ex transverse impetu facto dirimere

2 infestas acies, dirimere iras, hinc patres hinc viros
orantes ne se sanguine nefando soceri generique
respergerent, ne parricidio macularent partus suos,

3 nepotum illi, hi liberum progeniem. " Si adfinitatis
inter vos, si conubii piget, in nos vertite iras ; nos
causa belli, nos volnerum ac caedium viris ac paren-
tibus sumus ; melius peribimus quam sine alteris ves-

4 trum viduae aut orbae vivemus." Movet 1 res cum
multitudinem turn duces ; silentium et repentina fit
quies ; inde ad foedus faciendum duces prodeunt ;
nee pacem modo, sed civitatem unam ex duabus

5 faciunt. Regnum consociant : imperium omiie con-
ferunt Romam. Ita geminata urbe, ut Sabinis tamen
aliquid daretur, Quirites a Curibus appellati. Monu-
mentum eius pugnae, ubi primum ex profunda emer-
sus palude equus Curtium in vado statuit, Curtium
lacum appellarunt.

6 Ex bello tarn tristi laeta repente pax cariores
Sabinas viris ac parentibus et ante omnes Romulo

1 mouet J/V : mouit F : in cues L : mouent il.

1 Quirites probably comes not from Cures, nor (as Varro
thought) from the Sabine word guiris (curis), "spear," but
from curia (cf. next section) ; it would then mean " wards-



men."



2 For another explanation of the name see vii. 6. Varro,
L. L. v. 14 ff., assigns this version of the story to Piso,
the other to Prociliua, adding a third, on the authority
of Cornelius and Lutatius, to the effect that the Lacua

48



BOOK I. xin. 1-6

garments, their woman's timidity lost in a sense of B.C.
their misfortune, dared to go amongst the flying 753 ~ 717
missiles, and rushing in from the side, to part the
hostile forces and disarm them of their anger, be-
seeching their fathers on this side, on that their
husbands, that fathers-in-law and sons-in-law should
not stain themselves with impious bloodshed, nor pol-
lute with parricide the suppliants' children, grandsons
to one party and sons to the other. " If you regret,"
they continued, "the relationship that unites you,
if you regret the marriage-tie, turn your anger
against us ; we are the cause of war, the cause of
wounds, and even death to both our husbands and our
parents. It will be better for us to perish than to
live, lacking either of you, as widows or as orphans."
It was a touching plea, not only to the rank and file,
but to their leaders as well. A stillness fell on
them, and a sudden hush. Then the leaders came
forward to make a truce, and not only did they agree
on peace, but they made one people out of the two.
They shared the sovereignty, but all authority was
transferred to Rome. In this way the population
was doubled, and that some concession might after
all be granted the Sabines, the citizens were named
Quirites, from the town of Cures. 1 As a reminder
of this battle they gave the name of Curtian Lake
to the pool where the horse of Curtius first emerged
from the deep swamp and brought his rider to
safety. 2

The sudden exchange of so unhappy a war for a
joyful peace endeared the Sabine women even more
to their husbands and parents, and above all to

Curtius was a place which had been struck by lightning in
the consulship of a Curtius.

49



LIVY

A.U.C. ipsi fecit. Itaque cum populum in curias triginta

7 divideret, nomina earum curiis inposuit. Id non
traditur, cum baud dubie aliquanto numerus maior
hoc mulierum fuerit, aetate an dignitatibus suis
virorumve an sorte lectae sint quae nomina curiis

8 darent. Eodem tempore et centuriae tres equitum
conscriptae sunt. Ramnenses ab Roniulo, ab T.
Tatio Titienses appellati, Lucerum nominis et origi-
nis causa incerta est. Inde non modo commune, sed
concors etiam regnum duobus regibus fuit.

XIV. Post aliquot annos propinqui regis Tatii
legatos Laurentium pulsant, cumque Laurentes iure
gentium agerent, apud Tatium gratia suorum et

2 preces plus poterant. Igitur illorum poenam in se
vertit ; nam Lavinii, cum ad sollemne sacrificium eo

3 venisset, concursu facto interficitur. Earn rem minus
aegre quam dignum erat tulisse Romulum ferunt,
seu ob infidam societatem regni, seu quia baud
iniuria caesum credebat. Itaque bello quidem absti-
nuit ; ut tamen expiarentur legatorum iniuriae regis-
que caedes, foedus inter Romam Laviniumque urbes
renovatum est.

4 Et cum his quidem insperata pax erat : aliud multo
propius atque in ipsis prope portis bellum ortum.
Fidenates nimis vicinas prope se convalescere opes

1 The curia was a political unit the members of which had
certain religious rites in common.

2 All three names are obscure, but it is not improbable
that they represent a Roman, a Sabine, and an Etruscan
element in the population.

5



BOOK I. xin. 6-xiv. 4
Romulus himself. And so. when he divided the B - c -

753-717

people into thirty curiae, he named these wards after
the women. 1 Undoubtedly the number of the women
was somewhat greater than this, but tradition does
not tell whether it was their age, their own or their
husbands' rank, or the casting of lots, that deter-
mined which of them should give their names to
the wards. At the same time there were formed
three centuries of knights : the Ramnenses were
named after Romulus ; the Titienses after Titus
Tatius ; the name and origin of the Luceres are
alike obscure. 2 From this time forth the two kings
ruled not only jointly but in harmony. _

XIV. Some years later the kinsmen of King Tatius
maltreated the envoys of the Laurentians, and when
their fellow-citizens sought redress under the law of
nations, Titus yielded to his partiality for his rela-
tions and to their entreaties. In consequence of
this he drew down their punishment upon himself,
for at Lavinium, whither he had gone to the annual
sacrifice, a mob came together and killed him. This
act is said to have awakened less resentment than
was proper in Romulus, whether owing to the dis-
loyalty that attends a divided rule, or because he
thought Tatius had been not unjustly slain. He
therefore declined to go to war ; but yet, in order
that he might atone for the insults to the envoys
and the murder of the king, he caused the covenant
between Rome and Lavinium to be renewed.

Thus with the Laurentians peace was preserved
against all expectation ; but another war broke out,
much nearer, and indeed almost at the city gates.
The men of Fidenae, perceiving the growth of a
power which they thought too near themselves for

5*



LIVY

A.U.C. rati, priusquam tantuni roboris esset quantum futu-
rum apparebat, occupant bellum facere. luventute
armata immissa vastatur agri quod inter urbem ac

5 Fidenas est. Inde ad laevam versi, quia dextra
Tiberis arcebat, cum magna trepidatione agrestium
populantur ; tumultusque repens ex agris in urbem

6 inlatus pro nuntio fuit. Excitus Romulus neque
enim dilationem pati tarn vicinum bellum poterat
exercitum educit, castra a Fidenis mille passuum

7 locat. Ibi modico praesidio relicto egressus omnibus
copiis partem militum locis circa densa virgulta *
obscuris subsidere in insidiis iussit ; cum parte maiore
atque omni equitatu profectus, id quod quaerebat,
tumultuoso et minaci genere pugnae, adequitando
ipsis prope portis hostem excivit. Fugae quoque,
quae simulanda erat, eadem equestris pugna causam

8 minus mirabilem dedit. Et cum, velut inter pugnae
fugaeque consilium trepidante equitatu, pedes quoque
referret gradum, plenis repente portis effusi hostes
impulsa Romana acie studio instandi sequendique

9 trahuntur ad locum insidiarum. Inde subito exorti
Romani transversam invadunt hostium aciem ; addunt
pavorem mota e castris signa eorum qui in praesidio
relicti fuerant ; ita multiplici terrore perculsi Fide-
nates prius paene quam Romulus quique avehi cum
eo visi erant 2 circumagerent frenis equos, terga ver-

1 densa uirgulta H. J. Mueller : obsita uirgulta Conway :
densa obsita uirgulta fl.

2 quique auehi cum eo uisi erant Walters : quique cum eo
uisi erant (quisierant P : equis ierant P*FB) UOEHPFB :
quique cum eo quique cum equis abierant usi (uisi DL]
MDL : quique cum eo equites erant

52



BOOK I. xiv. 4-9

safety, did not wait till its promised strength should 76 B ,f; 17
be realized, but began war themselves. Arming the
young men, they sent them to ravage the land be-
tween the City and Fidenae. Thence they turned
to the left for the Tiber stopped them on the right
and by their devastations struck terror into the
farmers, whose sudden stampede from the fields into
the City brought the first tidings of war. Romulus
led forth his army on the instant, for delay was im-
possible with the enemy so near, and pitched his
camp a mile from Fidenae. Leaving there a small
guard, he marched out with all his forces. A part
of his men he ordered to lie in ambush, on this side
and on that, where thick underbrush afforded cover ;
advancing with the greater part of the infantry and
all the cavalry, and delivering a disorderly and pro-
voking attack, in which the horsemen galloped al-
most up to the gates, he accomplished his purpose
of drawing out the enemy. For the flight, too, which
had next to be feigned, the cavalry engagement
afforded a favourable pretext. And when not only
the cavalry began to waver, as if undecided whether
to fight or run, but the infantry also fell back, the
city gates were quickly thronged by the enemy, who
poured out and hurled themselves against the Roman
line, and in the ardour of attack and pursuit were
drawn on to the place of ambuscade. There the
Romans suddenly sprang out and assailed the enemy's
flanks, while, to add to their terror, the standards of
the detachment which had been left on guard were
seen advancing from the camp ; thus threatened by
so many dangers the men of Fidenae scarcely af-
forded time for Romulus and those whom they had
seen riding off with him to wheel about, before they

53



LIVY

A.P.C 10 tunt; multoque effusius, qtiippe vera fuga, qui simu-

137

lantes paulo ante secuti erant, oppidum repetebant.
11 Non tamen eripuere se hosti : haerens in tergo Ro-
manus, priusquam fores portarum obicerentur, velut
agmine uno inrumpit.

XV. Belli Fidenatis contagione inritati Veientium
animi et consanguinitate nam Fidenates quoque
Etrusci fuertmt et quod ipsa propinquitas loci, si
Romana arma omnibus infesta finitimis essent, stimu-
labat. In fines Romanos excucurrerunt populabundi

2 magis quam iusti more belli. Itaque non castris
positis, non exspectato hostium exercitu raptam ex
agris praedam portantes Veios rediere. Romanus
contra, postquam hostem in agris non invenit, dimi-
cationi ultimae instructus intentusque Tiberim tran-

3 sit. Quern postquam castra ponere et ad urbem
accessurum Veientes audivere, obviam egressi, ut
potius acie decernerent quam inclusi de tectis moeni-

4 busque dimicarent. Ibi viribus nulla arte l adiutis
tantum veterani robore exercitus rex Romanus vicit,
persecutusque fusos ad moenia hostes urbe valida
muris ac situ ipso munita abstinuit: agros rediens

1 arte F*f Petrus Nannius : parte fl.
54



BOOK I. xiv. 9-xv. 4

broke and ran, and in far greater disorder than that B.C.
of the pretended fugitives whom they had just been " r53 ~ 717
chasing for the flight was a real one this time
sought to regain the town. But the Fidenates did
not escape their foes ; the Romans followed close
upon their heels, and before the gates could be shut
burst into the city, as though they both formed but
a single army.

XV. From Fidenae the war-spirit, by a kind of
contagion, spread to the Veientes, whose hostility
was aroused by their kinship with the Fidenates,
Etruscans like themselves, and was intensified by the
danger which lay in their very proximity to Rome,
if her arms should be directed against all her neigh-
bours. They made an incursion into Roman territory
which more resembled a marauding expedition than
a regular campaign ; and so, without having en-
trenched a camp or waited for the enemy's army,
they carried off their booty from the fields and
brought it back to Veii. The Romans, on the con-
trary, not finding their enemy in the fields, crossed
the Tiber, ready and eager for a decisive struggle.
When the Veientes heard that they were making a
camp, and would be advancing against their city,
they went out to meet them, preferring to settle
the quarrel in the field of battle rather than to be
shut up and compelled to fight for their homes and
their town. Without employing strategy to aid his
forces, the Roman king won the battle by the sheer
strength of his seasoned army, and routing his ene-
mies, pursued them to their walls. But the city was
strongly fortified, besides the protection afforded by
its site, and he refrained from attacking it. Their
fields, indeed, he laid waste as he returned, more in

55