History of Rome, Volume Xi: Books 38 40

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 fourth decade comprises two recognizable pentads: Books 3135 narrate the Second Macedonian War (200196) and its aftermath (Romes growing hegemony over Greece and tension with Antiochus III, the Seleucid ruler of the Near East), then Books 3640 the years from 191 to 180, when Rome crushed and shrank Antiochus empire to extend and consolidate her mastery over the Hellenistic states. Also included are detailed narratives of Romes domestic politics and society, and of her western wars.

This edition of the fourth decade, which replaces the original Loeb edition by Evan T. Sage, offers a text based on Briscoes edition, a fresh translation, and ample annotation fully current with modern scholarship.