The History of Rome, Books 1-5 by Livy

Author:Livy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Published: 2012-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

1. See 2.50.

2. Normally in areas close to Rome an army would move around, pitching camp in different locations.

3. extraordinary command: Fabius was given this command without the customary drawing of lots by the consuls.

4. Mount Algidus: the easternmost section of the edge of the Alban Mount, which was pierced by a narrow pass, dominating the route (the later Via Latina) to Hernican territory. The pass was seized by the Aequi in the 480s BCE and was the scene of much fighting in the ensuing decades, until the Romans finally prevailed in 431 BCE.

5. During a suspension of public business (iustitium), all state business ceased and the courts were closed.

6. lustrum: on the closing of the lustrum, see 1.44.

7. Ecetra: see 2.25 with n. 43.

8. province: originally a province (provincia) was a special function, often a military command, assigned by lot to an elected magistrate. Later it also came to mean the area to which a magistrate was sent as governor.

9. see to it … no harm: this formula was first used in a senatorial decree against Gaius Gracchus in 121 BCE and is here anachronistically attributed to the period of the early republic.

10. Titus Quinctius: Titus Quinctius Capitolinus had been consul in the previous year (465 BCE) and also in 471 and 468 BCE.

11. decuman gate: a gate lying farthest from the enemy; it was so called because the tenth cohort of each legion was usually stationed there.

12. Here I follow the OCT and Ogilvie 1965: 401–2.

13. This is Livy’s first mention of Valerius Antias, an annalist of the first century BCE, who wrote a history of Rome in at least seventy-five books, which is known only from quotations in other authors’ works. When Livy cites him by name in context of battle numbers, exaggeration is generally implied. Livy accuses him of lying (26.49), exaggeration (32.6), and inadequate research (39.43). The numbers cited in 3.8 may also derive from Antias. See also 4.23.

14. portents: unnatural phenomena or occurrences that were thought to have been sent by the gods as indications of future events; see also 1.20, n. 72. Strictly speaking, a portent could only become a prodigy if so decreed by the state authorities, but both ancient and modern writers often refer to more unfavorable or sinister portents as prodigies (prodigia). In this case, these portents were apparently interpreted as a prodigy and expiated by the three-day religious holiday; see Appendix 3, pp. 429–30.

15. favor of the gods: Latin pax deum or deorum. This is one of the few specific mentions by Livy of this concept. Portents and prodigies were thought to indicate that the gods had withdrawn their favor from Rome or were about to do so. Hence the need for the three-day period of public prayers. Apparently the attempt to restore the gods’ favor was not successful, since in the following year Rome was stricken by plague. There are two further mentions of the pax deum at 3.7 and 3.8.

16. beginning of the year: during the early republic, the date of the beginning of the civil year varied considerably.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.