This magisterial work, to be published in three volumes, is the first full-scale commentary to be written in modern times on this part of Livy's great history of Rome. This second volume consists of Books VII and VIII, in which Livy describes Rome's annexation of Capua and Naples and her first fighting against the Samnites, the powerful tribe that lived in the mountains of central Italy. (The commentary is not accompanied by the Latin text or a translation).

This book examines the use that Livy made of religious topics, and shows how this fits in with other aspects of his narrative. The author shows how 'Livy's views of religion' depend less on personal belief than on the refinement of his narrative technique. He looks at the history decade by decade, and demonstrates that there are radical differences between different sections: in some Livy uses large-scale religious themes, but in others he deliberately avoids them. By a systematic analysis of Livy's narrative patterns and comparison with other ancient versions, it is proved that this is not simply due to subject-matter, but reflects a development in Livy's handling of his material. This profound difference between decades throws doubt on much of the standard picture of Livy: it also points to a need to revise notions of 'Augustan religious ideology'.

The modern age is not the only one in which Romans and visitors to Rome have been fascinated with the city's striking juxtapositions of past and present. Rome's wealth of history also captured the imagination of the ancients. Livy's Written Rome, by Mary Jaeger, shows how one writer explored the relationship between events in Roman history, the landscape in which they occurred, and the monuments that commemorated them. While Augustus reconstructed the physical city to reflect the ideology of the Empire, the historian Livy created a written Rome and taught his readers to look beyond the city's dramatically altered landscape. In so doing, they gained insight into the lessons of the lost Republic. Drawing upon modern discourse on the connection between private mental spaces and public civic spaces, this first in-depth study of Livy's use of the urban landscape offers discerning views on his interpretation of ancient theories of historiography. Livy's Written Rome discusses the Roman idea of the monument as a place where memory and space intersect and includes fresh readings of several historical episodes, including the battle over the Sabine Women, the sedition of Marcus Manlius, and the trials of the Scipios. Scholars have long criticized Livy as a historian because his work is not in accord with modern historiographical standards. Yet even his critics agree that Livy is a masterful literary artist, and recent work on Livy has argued for the complexity and originality of his thought. Across the humanities, recent scholarship has focused on the role of memory in civic consciousness and identity. This book explores the ways in which Livy's texts question traditional assumptions about the preservation and use of the past. In doing so, it identifies a new and important facet of Livy's representation of urban Rome. Livy's Written Rome will be of interest to classicists and historians, students of ancient historiography and classical rhetoric, as well as general readers interested in memory, monuments, and historical narrative. Mary Jaeger is Professor of Classics, University of Oregon.

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. -

Livy's History of Rome is our main source for the study of the history of the early centuries of the Roman Republic. In Book X Livy narrates several important political and military advances, in particular the battle of Sentium in 295 BC, during the Third Samnite War. This commentary discusses all problems posed by Livy's matchless narrative.