History of Rome, Volume V: Books 2122

Rome, from the beginning.

Livy (Titus Livius), the great Roman historian, was born at Patavium (Padua) in 64 or 59 BC, where after years in Rome he died in AD 12 or 17. Livys history, composed as the imperial autocracy of Augustus was replacing the republican system that had stood for over five hundred years, presents in splendid style a vivid narrative of Romes rise from the traditional foundation of the city in 753 or 751 BC to 9 BC and illustrates the collective and individual virtues necessary to achieve and maintain such greatness.

Of its 142 books, conventionally divided into pentads and decades, we have 110 and 2145 complete, and short summaries (periochae) of all the rest except 41 and 4345; 1120 are lost, and of the rest only fragments and the summaries remain.

The third decade constitutes our fullest surviving account of the momentous Second Punic (or Hannibalic) War, featuring a famous gallery of leaders Roman, Carthaginian, and Greek, all memorably drawn. It comprises two recognizable pentads: Books 2125 narrate the run-up to conflict and Romes struggles in its first phase, with Hannibal dominant; Books 2630 relate Romes revival and final victory, as the focus shifts to Scipio Africanus.

This edition of the third decade, which replaces the original Loeb editions by B. O. Foster (Books 2122) and Frank Gardner Moore (Books 2330), offers a text based on the critical editions by John Briscoe (Books 2125) and P. G. Walsh (Books 2630), a fresh translation, and ample annotation fully current with modern scholarship.