History of Rome, Volume VIII by Livy

History of Rome, Volume VIII by Livy

Livy (Titus Livius), the great Roman historian, was born at or near Patavium (Padua) in 64 or 59 BCE; he may have lived mostly in Rome but died at Patavium, in 12 or 17 CE. Livy's only extant work is part of his history of Rome from the foundation of the city to 9 BCE. Of its 142 books, we have just 35, and short summaries of all the rest except two. The whole work was, long after his death, divided into Decades or series of ten. Books 1-10 we have entire; books 11-20 are lost; books 21-45 are entire, except parts of 41 and 43-45. 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 Loeb Classical Library edition of Livy is in fourteen volumes. The last volume includes a comprehensive index.

Titus Livius was born in Patavium (modern Padua) in northern Italy around 59 BC. Given that he was able to devote so much of his life to writing history, it is reasonable to suppose that Livy's family must have been fairly wealthy. This work, which he called the Ab Urbe Condita-From the Founding of the City- took Livy forty years to write.