In reading the assignment, remember, above all, that this is a small excerpt of the first book of a work that ultimately filled 142 books, and the historical narrative of which extended from the beginnings of Rome (the title) to the Augustan period. We will (obviously) not deal with the work as a whole, and not even with the 35 surviving books (1-10, 21-45). But you need to be aware that we are looking at the beginnings, written probably around 30 BCE, of a work which changed and grew and took many years to complete. If you have time, read more of Livy: not only Book 1, but above all Book 5. The first five books are available in a Penguin translation, The Early History of Rome.

Meanwhile, while you read the assignment, try to look at a few particular questions:

1. The Preface. What does Livy claim for his work? What kind of history is it? What does he mean by calling it a monumentum? And how does his view of the course of Roman history compare with that of Sallust, who clearly influenced him a great deal in terms of moral tone, if not in style.

2. Narrative. How does Livy construct a narrative? How are episodes organized, in terms of character, point of view, dramatic scene?

3. Past and present. How aetiological is Livy's account of the beginnings of Rome and the beginning and end of the monarchy? What is constant in history? How does he deal with places, religious cults, human character and motivation?

4. Causation. Look closely at Livy's use of such words as forte, diuinitus, and the like. How do divine and human causes relate to one another?

5. Multiple truth. Who is Ascanius, and does it matter? Did Romulus kill Remus, and why?

6. Women. What is the role of the Sabine women and of Lucretia? (You can also look at the story of Verginia and the wicked Appius Claudius in Book 3.) What is the relationship between private emotions or actions and public effects?

Bibliography:

There has been a huge advance in the study of Livy in the past 25 years, beginning with

T.J. Luce, Livy: The Composition of his History (Princeton, 1977).

More recent books worth looking at include:

C.S. Kraus, ed., Livy, Ab urbe condita VI (Cambridge, 1994) (introduction in particular)

G. Miles, Livy: Reconstructing Early Rome (Ithaca, 1995)

M. Jaeger, Livy's Written Rome (Ann Arbor, 1997)

A. Feldherr, Spectacle and Society in Livy's History (Berkeley, 1998)

J. Chaplin, Livy's Exemplary History (Oxford, 2000)

Of these, Miles is most directly concerned with the sections assigned.