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I. The Augustan Historian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

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Extract

During the past forty years the dominant preoccupation of scholars writing on Livy has been the relationship between the historian and the emperor Augustus, and its effects on the Ab Urbe Condita. Tacitus’ testimony that the two were on friendly terms, and Suetonius’ revelation that Livy found time to encourage the historical studies of the future emperor Claudius, appeared to have ominous overtones to scholars writing against the political backcloth of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Though the subject had not been wholly ignored previously, the success of the German cultural propaganda-machine stimulated a spate of approving or critical treatments. While some were hailing Livy as the historian whose work signalled and glorified the new order, others following a similar interpretation were markedly scathing.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Surveys in the Classics , Volume 8: Livy , 1974 , pp. 5 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1974

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References

page no 5 note 1 Tac. Ann. iv. 34; Suet. Claud, xli. 1.

page no 5 note 2 See, for example, Dessau, H., ‘Livius und Augustus’, Hermes xli (1906), 142 ffGoogle Scholar.

page no 5 note 3 Many of my generation will recall the notorious name of A. Rosenberg in this connection; his doctrines of alleged Aryan superiority I recall being read to us at school by a classics master demonstrating the power of tendentious history.

page no 5 note 4 Cf. Aly, W., Livius und Ennius (Leipzig, 1936)Google Scholar; Stübler, G., Die Religiosität des Livius (Stuttgart, 1941)Google Scholar; more circumspectly, Klingner, F., Römische Geisteswelt (München, 1961), 444 ffGoogle Scholar.

page no 5 note 5 Cochrane, C. N., Christianity and Classical Culture (Oxford, 1940), 98 f., 103Google Scholar.

page no 5 note 6 Ronald, Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1939), 317, 468Google Scholar.

page no 6 note 1 Ronald, Syme, ‘Livy and Augustus’, HSCP 1xiv (1959), 71, 53, 47, 75Google Scholar.

page no 6 note 2 Hans, Petersen, ‘Livy and Augustus’, TAPA xcii (1961), 440 ff.;Google Scholar Mette, H. J., ‘Livius und Augustus’, Gymn. 1xviii (1961), 278 ff.Google Scholar = Wege zu Livius, 156 ff., on which see Ogilvie, R. M., Gnomon xl (1968), 509 ffGoogle Scholar.

page no 6 note 3 If these dates could be established, they would be important in assessing the effect of Augustus’ influence on the Ab Urbe Condita. Most scholars believe that the first pentad was finished by 27 B.C., and that Augustus’ discovery of the linen corslet of Cossus necessitated a revision of the comments at iv. 20 about that time. See J. Bayet, Budé Livy I. xvii f., arguing for initial publication in 31-29 and revision in 27-5; R. Syme (p. 6 n. 1) and Luce, T. J., TAPA 1xxi (1965), 209 ff.Google Scholar, suggest the revision was made about 27. Mensching, E., M.H. xxiv (1967), 12 ff.Google Scholar, suggests a first edition in the early 20S and a revision about 24. These assessments virtually exclude the possibility that Augustus could personally have influenced Livy’s account of early history. At the other end, the Periocha of Book CXXI suggests that the publication of the book was withheld till after Augustus’ death, and the assumption is justifiable that some of the content of CXXI-CXLII was unflattering to Augustus. See Ogilvie, A Commentary on Livy Books I-V (Oxford, 1965), 3, and Luce’s good article cited above.

page no 6 note 4 Tac. Ann. iv. 34.

page no 6 note 5 Praef. 5 and 9.

page no 6 note 6 e.g. ii. 1. 1, 9. 7 f., 15. 2 ff., iii. 39. 8, vi. 20. 5 f. See Walsh, , ‘Livy and Augustus’, PACA iv (1961), 8 ffGoogle Scholar.

page no 6 note 7 See Mensching (p. 6 n. 3), 12 ff., 25.

page no 7 note 1 See Mazza, M., Storia e ideologia in Livio (Catania, 1966)Google Scholar, ch. 7, where the views of S. Mazzarino and A. la Penna are closely reflected.

page no 7 note 2 See Hoch, H., Die Darstellung der politischen Sendung Roms bei Livius (Frankfurt, 1051)Google Scholar; Fraccaro, P., ‘Livio e Roma’, Opusculo i (Pavia, 1956), 81 ffGoogle Scholar.

page no 7 note 3 Burck, Cf. E., ‘Livius als augusteischer Historiker’, Die Welt als Geschichte i (1935), 448 ffGoogle Scholar. = Wege zu Livius, 96 ff.; Levi, M. A., ‘Tito Livio e gli ideali augustei’, PP iv (1949), 15 ff.Google Scholar