The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08

About this book

Livy's history of Rome 'from the founding of the city' begins with legend: Aeneas reaching Italy after the fall of Troy, the twins Romulus and Remus nursed by a she-wolf, and the founding of Rome. These first eight books tell of the seven kings and the expulsion of the last, the proud Tarquin, after the rape of Lucretia; the heroes of the young republic, Horatius holding the bridge, Mucius Scaevola thrusting his hand into the fire and Cincinnatus called from his plough to save the state; the struggles between patricians and plebeians; the capture of Rome by the Gauls; and the wars with the Samnites.

Context and significance

Livy (59 BC–AD 17) wrote 142 books in the age of Augustus, of which only 35 survive, and his stories became the models of Roman virtue for Europe. This translation is by D. Spillan. Macaulay turned some of these legends into ballads in Lays of Ancient Rome, and Plutarch retold the lives of early Romans in Plutarch's Lives.

About the author