Rome’s Mediterranean Empire, Books 41-45 and the Periochae: Rome's Mediterranean Empire

"The History of Rome" in Five Volumes #5

by Livy, Jane D. Chaplin (Translator)

'I will do as the Senate decrees.'

These words from one of Rome's opponents encapsulate the authority Rome achieved by its subjugation of the Mediterranean. The Third Macedonian War, recounted in this volume, ended the kingdom created by Philip II and Alexander the Great and was a crucial step in Rome's eventual dominance. For Livy, the story is also a fascinating moral study of the vices and virtues that hampered and promoted Rome's efforts in the conflict. He presents the war not so much as a battle against Perseus, Alexander's last and unworthy successor, than as a struggle within the Roman national character. Only traditional moral strength, embodied in Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the general who ultimately defeats Perseus, ensures the Roman victory.

This edition also includes the Periochae, later summaries of Livy's entire original 142-book history of Rome from its founding to the age of Augustus (of which only 35 books survive).

Genres: History, Classics, Nonfiction, Roman, Ancient

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 1997

About the author

Titus Livius (Patavinus) (64 or 59 BC – AD 17)—known as Livy in English, and Tite-Live in French—was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people – Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Books from the Foundation of the City) – covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional foundation in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time. He was on familiar terms with the Julio-Claudian dynasty, advising Augustus's grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, as a young man not long before 14 AD in a letter to take up the writing of history. Livy and Augustus's wife, Livia, were from the same clan in different locations, although not related by blood.

Reviews

[AB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming off of books 31-40, I did not enjoy this final collection as much. That isnt to say that there was not interesting moments. The cracks in the republic are beginning to show. Praetors and tribunes fight, creating dangerous precedents of vetoing before a motion could be brought before the senate/tribes. Consuls extort money and resources from the Italian allies, foreshadowing the social wars. Generals are beginning to learn about the power of their armies. While interesting, this book suffers from the fate of all beginnings and endings of works from antiquity: the book is highly fragmented with important moments lost in large lacunae.

Overall, I'm happy to have read it and happy that I've worked my way through the extant works of Livy. A great experience but a shame that it doesn't go on... I'd love to have seen his treatment of the late republic.

[Bas · Rating 3 out of 5]

And you, centurion, soldier, heed what the Senate has decreed about your general Paullus, not the stories fabricated by Servius Galba; and heed my words, not his. He has learned nothing except how to talk, and to do so abusively and spitefully.

I have challenged and fought an enemy twenty-three times; in all cases it was I who carried off the spoils from hand-to-hand combat; I have a body marked by honourable scars, all incurred with my face to the enemy.’ It is said that he then removed his garment, and he detailed in which war which wounds were received. As he was showing these, parts of the body that ought to be concealed were accidentally revealed, and his swollen testicles provoked laughter in those closest to him. *

‘This condition too, at which you laugh,’ he said, ‘I have from sitting on a horse day and night, and it causes me no more shame or regret than my scars do since it never prevented me from serving my country well at home or abroad. An old soldier, I have shown my old body, often injured by the sword, to young soldiers; let Galba lay bare his smooth and shining body. ‘Tribunes, if it seems right to you, summon the tribes to vote again; soldiers, to you I <. . .>’

Servilius in defense of Paullus' triumph

[Zachary Rudolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In this way it would be evident to all peoples that the military might of the Roman people did not bring servitude to the free, but rather freedom to the enslaved, and it would be clear to those peoples who were free that their freedom would be preserved for them for ever under the protection of the Roman people.”

[Kristopher Swinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was reluctant to reread the final five essentially complete books of Livy, apparently necessary to acquire a text containing the appended summaries (periochae). This was made worse with the introduction acting as though someone who'd made it to the conclusion of Livy's work would be unfamiliar with the author's use of consular lists and prodigies. However, this alternate translation proved to be not as stilted and even, in a few cases, to have such a turn of phrase as to alter my perception of events based on another version. Furthermore, the other text did a great disservice in not even pretending to offer compromised passages, whereas a great deal is additionally reconstructed here.

Frankly, I enjoy the original version of Popilius' stern circle (also taken as a line in the sand) drawn around Antiochus Epiphanes over the intended-as-moralistic lesson given by Karl Maeser about word of honor, for where the latter uses an absurd restriction of all motion, this former lays down the law with all the backing of warned eventual punishment for violation in behavior, insisting that there be no halting between opinions in declaring intent.

[Yann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sur les 140 livres que contenaient originalement l’œuvre de Tite-Live "Ab Urbe Conditia", seuls 35 ont été sauvés de l'oubli. Difficile de ne pas avoir le cœur serré en lisant ces cinq derniers qui relatent la guerre de Rome contre Persée, fils de Philippe, roi de Macédoine, vers -160. Le texte devient un vrai gruyère au fur et à mesure qu'on s'avance. Paul-Émile va remporter en quinze jours la victoire contre ce royaume avec lequel les hostilités avaient débutées plus de cinquante ans auparavant. Il perd quand même ses deux fils alors même que le triomphe a lieu à Rome, une des nombreuses ironies du destin que ces livres d'histoire antique mettent sous nos yeux. On retrouve encore avec plaisir les fameux pastiches de discours, les miracles de statues qui pleurent du sang (déjà) et de chutes de pierre, les élections, les batailles, la politique du Sénat. Tite-Live va me manquer.

[James Violand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is the same for each of his volumes: Livy is the quintessential historian of ancient Rome. He had his obvious flaws - no one could consider him unbiased in his approach, and he creates dialogue between historical figures that encourage the virtues of the citizens. Still, he is very entertaining. Each of his extant works - most of his books have been lost - presents a far nobler Rome than we have come to expect. Reading Livy is a luxury few are privileged to partake of. Fantastic.

[Carolina Búho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pobre Emilio Paulo ):