C. Suetonius Tranquillus, The Lives of the Caesars
Alexander Thomson, Ed.

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TITUS Livius may be ranked among the most celebrated historians the world has ever produced. He composed a history of Rome from the foundation of the city to the conclusion of the German war conducted by Drusus in the time of the Emperor Augustus. This great work consisted originally of one hundred and forty books, of which there now remain only thirty-five, viz., the first ten, and the whole from book twenty-one to book forty-five, both inclusive. Of the other hundred and five books, nothing more has survived the ravages of time and barbarians than their general contents. In a perspicuous arrangement of his subject, in a full and circumstantial account of transactions, in the delineation of characters and other objects of description, in justness and aptitude of sentiment, and in an air of majesty pervading the whole composition, this author may be regarded as one of the best models extant of historical narrative. His style is splendid without meretricious ornament, and copious without being redundant; a fluency to which Quinlilian gives the expressive appellation of " lactea ubertas." Amongst the beauties which we admire in his writings, besides the animated speeches frequently interspersed, are those concise and peculiarly applicable eulogiurhs, with which he characterizes every eminent person mentioned at the close of their life. Of his industry in collating, and his judgment in deciding upon the preference due to dissentient authorities in matters of testimony the work affords numberless proofs. Of the freedom and impartiality with which he treated even of the recent periods of history, there cannot be more convincing evidence than that he was rallied by Augustus as a favourer of Pompey; and that, under the same emperor, he not only bestowed upon Cicero the tribute of warm approbation, but dared to ascribe, in an age when their names were obnoxious, even to Brutus and Cassius the virtues of consistency and patriotism. If in anything the conduct of Livy violates our sentiments of historical dignity, it is the apparent complacency and reverence with which he everywhere mentions the popular belief in omens and prodigies; but this was the general superstition of the times; and totally to renounce the prejudices of superstitious education is the last heroic sacrifice to philosophical scepticism. In general, however, the credulity of Livy appears to be rather affected than real.

Livy was born at Patavium (Padua), B. C. 59, and has been charged by Asinius Polllo, and others, with the provincial dialect of his country. The objections to his Pativinity, as it is called, relate chiefly to the spelling of some words; in which, however, there seems to be nothing so peculiar as either to occasion any obscurity or merit reprehension. Livy and Sallust being the only two existing rivals in Roman history, it may not be improper to draw a short comparison between them, in respect of their principal qualities as writers. With regard to language, there is less apparent affectation in Livy than in Sallust. The narrative of both is distinguished by an elevation of style: the elevation of Sallust seeming to be often supported by the dignity of assumed virtue; that of Livy by a majestic air of historical, and sometimes national, importance In delineating characters, Sallust infuses more expression, and Livy more fulness. into the features. In the speeches ascribed to particular persons, these writers are equally elegant and animated.

So great was the fame of Livy in his own lifetime that people came from the extremity of Spain and Gaul, for the purpose only of beholding so celebrated a historian, who was regarded, for his abilities, as a prodigy. This affords a strong proof, not only of the literary taste which then prevailed over the most extensive of the Roman provinces, but of the extraordinary pains with which so great a work must have been propagated, when the art of printing was unknown. In the fifteenth century, on the revival of learning in Europe, the name of this great writer recovered its ancient veneration; and Alphonso of Arragon, with a superstition characteristic of that age, requested of the people of Padua, where Livy was born, and was believed to be buried, to be favoured by them with the hand which had written so admirable a work.

(The following paragraph is from the pen of Prof. William Ramsay.) The memoirs of most men terminate with their death; but this is by no means the case with our historian, since some circumstances closely connected with what may be fairly termed his personal history, excited no small commotion in his native city many centuries after his decease. About the year 1360 a tablet was dug up at Padua, within the monastery of St. Justina, which occupied the site of an ancient temple of Jupiter, or of Juno, or of Concordia, according to the conflicting hypotheses of local antiquaries. The stone bore the following inscription: V. F. T. LIVIUS. LIVIAE. T. F. QUARTAE. L. HALYS. CONCORDIALIS. PATAVI. SIBI. ET. SUIS. OMNIBUS, which was at first interpreted to mean Vivus fecit Titus Livius Liviae Titi filii quartae (sc. uxori), Lucii Halys Concordialis Patavi sibi et suis ominbus. Some imagined that QUARTE. L. HALYS denoted Quarte legionis Halys, but this opinion was overthrown without difficulty, because even at that time it was well known that L. is seldom if ever used in inscriptions as an abbreviation of LEGIO; and, secondly, because the fourth legion was entitled Scythica and not Halys. It was then decided that QUARTAE must indicate the fourth daughter of Livius, and that L. HALYS must be the name of her husband; and ingenious persons endeavoured to show that in all probability he was identical with the L. Magius mentioned by Seneca. They also persuaded themselves that Livy, upon his return home, had been installed by his countrymen in the dignified office of priest of the goddess Concord, and had erected this monument within the walls of her sanctuary, marking the place of sepulture of himself and family. Accordingly, the Benedictine fathers of the monastery transported the tablet to the vestibule of their chapel, and caused a portrait of Livy to be painted beside it. In 1413, about fifty years after this discovery, in digging the foundations for the erection of new buildings in connection with the monastery, the workmen reached an ancient pavement composed of square bricks cemented with lime. This having been broken through, a leaden coffin became visible, which was found to contain human bones. An old monk declared that this was the very spot above which the tablet had been found, when immediately the cry rose that the remains of Livy had been brought to light, a report which filled the whole city with extravagant joy. The new-found treasure was deposited in the town hall, and to the ancient tablet a modern epitaph was affixed. At a subsequent period a costly monument was added as a further tribute to his memory. In the lapse of time, however, it was perceived, upon comparing the tablet dug up in the monastery of St. Justina, with others of a similar description, that the contractions had been erroneously explained, and consequently the whole tenor of the words misunderstood. It was clearly proved that L. did not stand for Lucius, but for LIBERTUS, and that the principal person named was Titus Livius Halys, freedman of Livia, the fourth daughter of a Titus Livius; that he had, in accordance with the usual custom, adopted the designation of his former master; that he had been a priest of Concord at Padua, an office which it appeared from other records had often been filled by persons in his station, and that he had set up this stone to mark the burying-ground of himself and his kindred. Now since the supposition that the skeleton in the leaden coffin was that of the historian rested solely upon the authority of the inscription, when this support was withdrawn, the whole fabric of conjecture fell to the ground, and it became evident that the relics were those of an obscure freedman.