Want to Understand the World? Start with Livy!

books:


	• Livy: The Early History of Rome, Books I-V (Penguin Classics) Titus Livy Penguin Classics, 2002 - 528 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Reviews of masterworks of literature?

We must not presume to review masterworks of literature!
Reviews are meant to let other readers know what you thought of recent releases. Volumes printed and coveted for thousands of years need not be reviewed by laypersons (I am a layperson.)

I'm satisfied that the previous review didn't insult the memory and achievement of Livy or his reputation established around 24B.C. but the reviewer was out of line to even press the "Write your own review" button.

Certainly readers will need to decide if they will be interested in reading such important works but you do yourselves a disservice if you let your literary decisions be influenced by the Jaywalk Allstars.

There are many websites devoted the the "Greatest Books Ever Written" and it's a simple task to do type "Livy History of Rome" into a search engine.

Amazon reviews are meant for new releases. A work that is still being collected after over 2,000 years is not a new release.

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Want to Understand the World? Start with Livy!

Livy is not one of the better stylists out there. Plutarch, Suetonius, and even Ceasar stand out beside Livy, but none comes close to the breadth of description of the rise of perhaps the greatest civilisation known to mankind. One that serves as a source of awe, wonder and inspiration to much of mankind.

What Livy is describing is really how democracy and republics form. We have been raised on the romance of the Greek Polis and its percieved benefits, but the Romans in my estimation started elemental politics in a way that we know it today. They were the first to evolve largely from a Kingship to a republic in gradual largely non-violent internal changes. They stand in marked comparison to what are often call "less civilised" races and groups of peeople, precisely because they did not evolve institutions such as the Romans.

This process is described in intimate detail by Livy. The cut and thrust of political debate, the jockeying for position in the Senate, the addition, revision and abolishing of political institutions as a society evolves -- all are described in fairly sharp detail, but lacking the wit of Seutonius or the opinions of Plutarch.

All of the above takes place against the warring between the early Roman states and their neighbours (learn that the "Rape of the Sabine Women" was not really a "rape" in the traditional sense of the term -- it was far worse: the Romans lured the Sabines for a night of partying then surrounded them in the city walls, expelled all the men and took all their womenfold for themselves!!! This was a novel idea to end a paucity of brides inside early Rome).

Against all of the events of Livy one keeps thinking of the political machinations of the US or British Parliamentary goverments, one immediately recognises reoccuring themes. The necessity of putting down nearby barbarian tribes was a yearly exercise. The working (plebian) classes realised that they could withhold their consent to be drafted in exchange for political concessions. This lead to tough fights inside the senate with the plebians usually unbending to allow themselves to be sent to fight... until the absolute last minute. The patricians were also, when the danger passed usually likely to go back on their word to undertake some land reform.

Read and learn. The world changes, but it does not change. That is why we have classics. And this one is perhaps more of a classic with relevance for right here and now... especially if one is an American.

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Good, but not his most accurate

first of all, amazon reviews are meant for anything, not just new releases.
the first five of livy's books are, it is generally accepted, his most innacurate. the other 130 or so books that he wrote were far more accurate. think about it: he covers about 700 years of history in 5 books, then another 100 or so in the other 130. the inaccuracy is, however, not entirely his fault. for much of it, there was simply no history kept, and he had to go with what was available.
while most historians wrote history to glorify their families, livy was not of noble birth, and therefore had no family to glorify, which did enable him to write a more acurate history of rome than some other historians. livy wrote to escape the world in which he was living.
im not saying that this book is bad, merely that it is not as accurate as his others. it is actually quite an interesting read. but dont expect every detail of the stories to all work out - you have to take it with a grain of salt.

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Overcharged!

Okay, nothing bad to say about Livy, it would be like calling the sky or sun bad, but my gripe is with penguin's mercenary tactics (modern library too for that matter 1300pgs of gibbon but feel the need to split up Plutarch?), come on give us a break and start bundling these endless volumes of 250-300pgs into more affordable sets, why not have Livy in 3 vols instead of 4 or rather for 30bux instead of 40? there is no excuse for splitting up 1-10 into "early history 1-5" and "Rome and Italy 6-10" especially with Cammilus spanning both volumes (why not split up the Hannibal book too more $$$$), not to mention the excessive use of footnotes in the second of these books (6-10). Unfortunately there is no cheaper recourse, undoubtedly their excuse is that two different translators were involved, , alas this rant is more at the state of modern reading habits than penguin, thank god for them, if more people desired to read these books instead of "having" to read them for school hence the gouging, there would be more diverse editions, otherwise i love it!:P

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Livy shipment

The book came in great condition and qucikly which is always a plus for school books.

reviews: page 1, 2

With stylistic brilliance and historical imagination, the first five books of Livy's monumental history of Rome record events from the foundation of Rome through the history of the seven kings, the establishment of the Republic and its internal struggles, up to Rome's recovery after the fierce Gallic invasion of the fourth century bc. Livy vividly depicts the great characters, legends, and tales, including the story of Romulus and Remus. Reprinting Robert Ogilvie's lucid 1971 introduction, this highly regarded edition now boasts a new preface, examining the text in light of recent Livy scholarship, informative maps, bibliography, and an index.

Translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt with an introduction by Robert Ogilvie.

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