Excerpt from Livy's History of Rome, Vol. 1: The First Five Books Though thus commissioned and paid for by the king, it is improbable that the work was ever much in request, and only two copies of it seem to be preserved. F ortun ately one of these is excellent, and its slight defects are so well supplemented by the other, that it is possible to give a text which is practically complete, and of which the correctness can seldom be called in question. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Livy's History of Rome, Vol. 1 Livy is not to be regarded as an historian in the strict sense of the word, as a critical investigator of facts and authorities, and a careful inquirer into the value of the evidence before him 3 in fact, Macaulay goes so far as to say that nohistorian with whom we are acquainted has shown so complete an indifference to truth. Livy's idea of his duty and aim as the historian of the Roman people proceeded from an entirely different standpoint. He wrote as a Roman for Romans: he was absorbed in the contem plation of the greatness of a single city, and that city was Rome: and his main object was to glorify its greatness, following in this the example of the earlier annalists, who began to write at the time of the Punic Wars, and the great struggle with Carthage. This could not fail sometimes to lead him to give an exaggerated estimate of the achieve ments of Rome, and to neglect events of importance occur ring elsewhere, simply because they had no direct bearing on Roman history. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Romulus and Remus, the rape of Lucretia, Horatius at the bridge, the saga of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus called from his farm to save the state -- these and many more are stories which, immortalized by Livy in his history of early Rome, have become part of our cultural heritage. This new annotated translation includes maps and an index and is based on R. M Ogilvie's Oxford Classical text, the best to date. - ;`the fates ordained the founding of this great city and the beginning of the world's mightiest empire, second only to the power of the gods' Romulus and Remus, the rape of Lucretia, Horatius at the bridge, the saga of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus called from his farm to save the state - these and many more are stories which, immortalised by Livy in his history of early Rome, have become part of our cultural heritage. The historian's huge work, written between 20 BC and AD 17, ran to 12 books, beginning with Rome's founding in 753 BC and coming down to Livy's own lifetime (9 BC). Books 1-5 cover the period from Rome's beginnings to her first great foreign conquest, the capture of the Etruscan city of Veii and, a few years later, to her first major defeat, the sack of the city by the Gauls in 390 BC. -

Books VI-X of Livy's monumental work trace Rome's fortunes from its near collapse after defeat by the Gauls in 386 bc to its emergence, in a matter of decades, as the premier power in Italy, having conquered the city-state of Samnium in 293 bc. In this fascinating history, events are described not simply in terms of partisan politics, but through colourful portraits that bring the strengths, weaknesses and motives of leading figures such as the noble statesman Camillus and the corrupt Manlius vividly to life. While Rome's greatest chronicler intended his history to be a memorial to former glory, he also had more didactic aims - hoping that readers of his account could learn from the past ills and virtues of the city.

In addition to Valerie Warrior's crisp, fluent translation of the first five books of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, this edition features a general introduction to Livy and his work, extensive foot-of-the-page notes offering essential contextual information, and a chronology of events. Three appendices--on the genealogies of the most prominent political figures in the early Republic, Livy's relationship with Augustus, and Livy's treatment of religion--offer additional insight into the author and the early history of Rome.