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77-603: Ludi Taurii are recorded in 186 BC as a two-day event. Varro mentions them as occurring in the late Republic . During the reign of Antoninus Pius , they were held every five years from 140 to 160 AD, within a period beginning on the day after the Ides of May and continuing through the Kalends of June. Some scholars extrapolate that like the lustrum (purification ritual), the Ludi Taurii were regularly quinquennial . Others caution that

154-671: A Roman Senator . Senatorial histories are generally particularly informative due to their "insider's" perspective. A general pattern of Senatorial histories is that they seem to invariably contain a reason that the author is writing histories instead of remaining involved in politics. Sullan annalists politicized their past. They were partisans of the Sullan faction who carried on the Marius and Sulla conflict through their histories, often rewriting them to fit their own agenda. Some Sullan annalists may have been sources for Livy. Valerius Antias (fl. 80-60 BC)

231-511: A corrupt transition between the two events in Livy's text, the word decem ("ten") appears, which Georg Wissowa construed as referring to the ten-member priestly college of decemviri sacris faciundis ; he thought these priests were likely charged with organizing the Taurian Games. Earlier scholars have sometimes taken the adjective taurii to mean that bulls were part of the games, either in

308-696: A "voluminous" work De re rustica (also called Res rusticae )—similar to Cato the Elder 's work De agri cultura —on the management of large slave-run estates . The compilation of the Varronian chronology was an attempt to determine an exact year-by-year timeline of Roman history up to his time. It is based on the traditional sequence of the consuls of the Roman Republic —supplemented, where necessary, by inserting "dictatorial" and "anarchic" years. It has been demonstrated to be somewhat erroneous but has become

385-464: A Mediterranean tradition of bull-leaping , or as an early form of bullfighting . Because Livy's chronology places the Ludi Taurii (or in some editions Taurilia ) immediately after the news of a victory in Roman Spain , the games have figured in a few efforts to trace the early history of Spanish-style bullfighting . Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and

462-498: A book on architecture. His only complete work extant, Rerum rusticarum libri tres ("Three Books on Agriculture"), has been described as "the well digested system of an experienced and successful farmer who has seen and practised all that he records." One noteworthy aspect of the work is his anticipation of microbiology and epidemiology . Varro warned his readers to avoid swamps and marshland, since in such areas ...there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by

539-460: A brief reference to the games as occurring in 186 BC per biduum , for a period of two days, religionis causa , "for the sake of religious scruple." On this occasion, the two-day Ludi Taurii preceded ten days of ludi presented by Marcus Fulvius Nobilior as the result of a vow in the Aetolian War . Nobilior's games are notable as the first time a beast hunt ( venatio ) was staged at Rome. At

616-503: A brief synopsis of the key points before he begins a lengthier summary of the reign of Augustus. From there, he launches into his scathing account of history from where Livy would have left off. Edward Gibbon considered Tacitus the very model of the philosophic historian. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus ( Suetonius ) is most famous for his biographies of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian emperors and other notable historical figures. He

693-504: A defining characteristic of Roman historiography, while he is also known for the establishment of the ab urbe condita tradition of historiography which is writing history "from the founding of the city". Cincius also wrote in Greek, but seems to have been less esteemed by later historians: thus for the Battle of Lake Trasimene , Livy states that he "has accepted Fabius as my main source, since he

770-533: A good case for himself. Titus Livius, commonly known as Livy , was a Roman historian, best known for his work entitled Ab Urbe Condita , which is a history of Rome "from the founding of the city". He was born in Patavium , which is modern day Padua, in 59 BC and he died there in 17 AD. Others referred to his writing as having "patavinitas". Little is known about his life, but based on an epitaph found in Padua, he had

847-532: A great reputation in the military. Upon his return to Rome, he was both elected tribunus militium and given the priesthood as a pontifex . During his time in these positions, Caesar befriended Pompey and Crassus , the two men with whom he would later form the First Triumvirate. As the years went on, recognition for Caesar's political, military, and oratory skills grew and he easily was elected praetor and consul. After his consulship, Caesar gained control of

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924-580: A much fuller narrative form. While Caesar's De Bello Gallico focused specifically on his wars in Gaul , Roman works that served as a broad universal history often placed heavy emphasis on the origin myth of the founding of Rome as a starting point. These works formed the basis of the Roman historiographic models utilized by later Imperial authors of the Principate era, such as Tacitus and Suetonius . Before

1001-497: A prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome 's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero ). He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus ('Varro of Rieti') to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus . Varro was born in or near Reate (now Rieti in Lazio) into a family thought to be of equestrian rank. He always remained close to his roots in

1078-449: A short summary of the subject's youth and death, the biographies do not follow a chronological pattern. Rather than chronicling events as they happened in time, Suetonius presents them thematically. This style allowed him to compare the achievements and downfalls of each emperor using various examples of imperial responsibilities, such as building projects and public entertainment. However, it makes dating aspects of each emperor's life and

1155-531: A superb military hero, Caesar was able to clear all doubts in Rome about his abilities as a leader. Although Caesar used this account for his own gain, it is not to say that the De Bello Gallico is at all unreliable. The victories that Caesar has written about did, in fact, occur. Smaller details, however, may have been altered, and the word choice makes the reader more sympathetic to Caesar's cause. De Bello Gallico

1232-451: A variety of topics. Aside from his many lost works (known through fragments), two endeavors stand out for historians: Nine Books of Disciplines and his compilation of the Varronian chronology . His Nine Books of Disciplines became a model for later encyclopedists , especially for Pliny the Elder ( c.  23 to 79 AD). The most noteworthy portion of the Nine Books of Disciplines

1309-563: A wife and two sons. We also know that he was on good terms with Augustus and he also encouraged Claudius to write history. Ab Urbe Condita covered Roman history from its founding, commonly accepted as 753 BC, to 9 BC. It consisted of 142 books, though only books 1–10 and 21–45 survive in whole, although summaries of the other books and a few other fragments exist. The books were referred to as "decades" because Livy organized his material into groups of ten books. The decades were further split in pentads: The purpose of writing Ab Urbe Condita

1386-520: Is an excellent example of the ways in which retellings of actual events can be spun to a person's advantage. For this reason, De Bello Gallico is often looked at as a commentary, rather than a piece of actual historiography. His companion piece, Commentarii de Bello Civili , faced a more difficult challenge in presenting the author's actions in a positive light, but by framing his soldiers as uniformly heroic, and himself as acting in defence of his official status and Roman liberty too, Caesar again makes

1463-537: Is considered a hero and anyone named Claudius is an enemy, and the opposition to the populares never went by a consistent name but were instead called "boni", "optime" or " optimates ", implying that they were the good guys. Roman historiography is also very well known for subversive writing styles. The information in the ancient Roman histories is often communicated by suggestion, innuendo, implication and insinuation because their attitudes would not always be well received, as with Tacitus’ attitude to Tiberius . Tacitus

1540-662: Is ever present and is the function of Roman historiography. Ancient Roman historians traditionally had personal and political baggage and were not disinterested observers. Their accounts were written with the specific moral and political agendas. For example, Q. Fabius Pictor started the tradition of historiography that was concerned with both morality and history and affirmed the prestige of Roman state and its people. Ancient Roman historians wrote pragmatic histories in order to benefit future statesmen. The philosophy of pragmatic history treats historical happenings with special reference to causes, conditions and results. In Roman Historiography

1617-514: Is its use of the liberal arts as organizing principles. Varro decided to focus on identifying nine of these arts: grammar , rhetoric , logic , arithmetic , geometry , astronomy , musical theory, medicine, and architecture . Using Varro's list, mediated through Martianus Capella 's early-5th century allegory, subsequent writers defined the seven classical "liberal arts" of the medieval schools. In c.  37 BC, in his old age, Varro wrote on agriculture for his wife Fundania, producing

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1694-441: Is much scholarly debate concerning the order of publication of Tacitus' works; traditional dates are given here. Tacitus' style is very much like that of Sallust. Short, sharp phrases cut right to the point, and Tacitus makes no bones about conveying his point. His claim that he writes history "sine ira et studio" ("without anger and partiality") ( Annales I.1) is not exactly true. Many of his passages ooze with hatred towards

1771-413: Is often criticized that he was more interested in the interesting stories about the emperors and not about the actual occurrences of their reigns. The style, with which he writes, primarily stems from his overarching purpose, to catalogue the lives of his subjects. He was not writing an annalistic history, nor was he even trying to create a narrative. His goal was the evaluation of the emperors, portraying

1848-463: Is that the Gallic Wars were both just and pious, and that he and his army attacked Gaul in self-defense. The Helvetians were forming a massive migration straight through the provinces. When a group of neighboring allies came to Caesar himself asking for help against these invading Helvetians, that was all the justification Caesar needed to gather his army. By creating an account that portrays himself as

1925-562: The Circus Flaminius . If the games are Etruscan in origin, as Festus and Servius claim, taurii probably comes from the Etruscan word tauru , "tomb." The design of the turning posts (metae) on a Roman race course was derived from Etruscan funerary monuments. Festus, however, offers an etiology based on Latin taurus , meaning "bull." in English. In the tradition recorded by Festus,

2002-463: The Ilerda campaign of 49 BC. He escaped the penalties of having backed the losing side in the civil war through two pardons granted by Julius Caesar , before and after the 48 BC Battle of Pharsalus . Caesar appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome in 47 BC, but following Caesar's death Mark Antony proscribed him, resulting in his losing much of his property, including his library. As

2079-607: The Republic gave way to the Empire c.  27 BC , Varro gained the favour of Augustus , under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing. Varro had studied under the Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo (died 74 BC), and later at Athens under the Academic philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon (died 68 BC). Varro proved a highly productive writer and turned out more than 74 Latin works on

2156-587: The Sabines with instituting the games in response to the pestilentia , and characterizes the transferral of the lues publica (the plague upon the people) onto sacrificial victims (hostiae) as if it were a scapegoat ritual . Festus also provided an additional explanation of the name as taurus ("bull") from Varro, preserved only in fragmentary form by the Codex Farnesianus . A reconstruction dating back to J.J. Scaliger has been taken to mean that youths, under

2233-417: The second Punic war , there was no historiography in Rome, but the clash of civilisations it involved proved a potent stimulus to historiography, which was taken up by the two senators (and participants in the war), Quintus Fabius Pictor and Lucius Cincius Alimentus , who may be considered the "Founders" of Roman Historiography. Pictor wrote a history of Rome in Greek, not Latin. This choice of writing about

2310-460: The 1st century BC, born c. 86 BC in the Sabine community of Amiternum . There is some evidence that Sallust's family belonged to a local aristocracy, but we do know that he did not belong to Rome's ruling class. Thus he embarked on a political career as a " novus homo ", serving as a military tribune in the 60s BC, quaestor from 55 to 54 BC, and tribune of the plebs in 52 BC. Sallust was expelled from

2387-514: The 2nd century BCE with the Origines by Cato the Elder . Contemporary Greek historians such as Polybius wrote about the rise of Rome during its conquest of Greece and ascension as the primary power of the Mediterranean in the 2nd century BCE. Moving away from the annalist tradition, Roman historians of the 1st century BCE such as Sallust , Livy , and even Julius Caesar wrote their works in

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2464-583: The Annals and the Monograph, and the rewriting of history to suit the author's needs. Annals are a year-by-year arrangement of historical writing. In Roman historiography, annals generally begin at the founding of Rome. Proper annals include whatever events were of importance for each year, as well as other information such as the names of that year's consuls, which was the basis by which Romans generally identified years. The annals seem originally to have been used by

2541-502: The Elder . Evidence of the former's influence includes emphasis on politics, use of archaisms, character analysis, and selective omission of details. The use of such devices as asyndeton , anaphora , and chiasmus reflect preference for the old-fashioned Latin style of Cato to the Ciceronian periodic structure of his own era. Whether Sallust is considered a reliable source or not, he is largely responsible for our current image of Rome in

2618-529: The Jugurthine War as a backdrop for his examination of the development of party struggles in Rome in the 1st century BC. The Historiae describe in general the history of the years 78–67 BC. Although Sallust's purposes in writing have been debated over the years, a major theme of his is that of moral decline, similar to the attitude of a censor . The historical details outlined in his monographs serve as paradigms for Sallust. In Bellum Catilinae , Sallust uses

2695-446: The Roman form included various attitudes and concerns that were considered strictly Roman. As the recording of Roman history began to evolve and take shape, many characteristics came to define what we know today as Roman historiography, most notably the strong defense of and allegiance to the Roman state and its wide variety of moral ideals, the factional nature of some histories, the splitting of historiography into two distinct categories,

2772-739: The archaic Tarentine Games (ludi tarentini) , which were replaced by the Saecular Games . Horse racing along with the propitiation of underworld gods was characteristic of "old and obscure" Roman festivals such as the Consualia , the October Horse , and sites in the Campus Martius such as the Tarentum (where the ludi tarentini originated) and the Trigarium . The Ludi Taurii were the only games held in

2849-550: The area, owning a large farm in the Reatine plain (reported as near Lago di Ripasottile, ) until his old age. He supported Pompey , reaching the office of praetor , after having served as tribune of the people , quaestor and curule aedile . It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the First Triumvirate formed c. 60 BC, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to

2926-485: The authenticity of much of the material (as eventually published) cannot be guaranteed. A monograph is a comprehensive work on a single subject. The monograph could be written about a single event, a technique, rhetoric, or one of any number of other subjects. For example, Pliny the Elder once published a monograph on the use of the throwing-spear by cavalry. Monographs were among the most common historical works found in Roman writings. Ab urbe condita , literally "From

3003-421: The beginning, and they are not even necessarily annalistic. An important sub category that emerged from the monographic tradition was the biography. Some monographic authors: Often, especially in times of political unrest or social turmoil, historians re-wrote history to suit their particular views of the age. So, there were many different historians each rewriting history a little bit to bolster their case. This

3080-468: The consulship. He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the Three-Headed Monster ( Τρικάρανος in the Greek of Appian , The Civil Wars , II.ii.9). He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme of Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BC). During Caesar's civil war of 49 to 45 he commanded one of Pompey's armies in

3157-421: The direction of a coach, engaged in ritual gymnastics on a raw bull's hide, perhaps to be compared to exercises on a trampoline . This view has not attracted wide acceptance, but would suggest that the ritual action countervails infant mortality by affirming the fitness of the youth. Ritually, landing on the bull's skin may mimic the "catching" of a safely delivered newborn. The Augustan historian Livy has

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3234-453: The emperors. Despite this seemingly obvious partisan style of writing, much of what is said can go under the radar, which is as Tacitus wanted things to be. His skill as an orator, which was praised by his good friend Pliny, no doubt contributes to his supreme mastery of the Latin language. Not one to mince words, Tacitus does not waste time with a history of Rome ab urbe condita . Rather, he gives

3311-486: The events and actions of the person while they were in office. He focuses on the fulfillment of duties, criticizing those that did not live up to expectations, and praising bad emperors for times when they did fulfill their duties. There are a variety of other lost or incomplete works by Suetonius, many of which describe areas of culture and society, like the Roman Year or the names of seas. However, what we know about these

3388-578: The events of the early Roman Empire difficult. It also completely removes the ability to extrapolate a causal sequence from the works. Suetonius's purpose was not a historical recount of events, though, but rather an evaluation of the emperors themselves. Suetonius's style is simple; he often quotes directly from sources that were used, and artistic organization and language does not seem to exist, though subtler skills have been detected by some. He addresses points directly, without flowery or misleading language, and quotes from his sources often. However, he

3465-426: The eyes, but which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and cause serious diseases. A modern scholar, Bertha Tilly, assesses Varro's work as follows: For the immense mass of work completed, for his patriotic fervour, his high moral sentiments, for versatility in forms of writing and in subjects, for the vast range of material, Varro towers above all his contemporaries and his successors: he

3542-415: The facts and an impression of what the facts mean are presented. Interpretation is always a part of historiography; Romans never made any pretense about it. Conflict between the facts and the interpretation of those facts indicate a good historian. Polybius , who wrote in Greek, was the first pragmatic historian. His histories have an aristocratic ethos and reveal his opinions on honor, wealth and war. Tacitus

3619-421: The figure of Catiline as a symbol of the corrupt Roman nobility, though he also presents a wider picture of the Roman political scene beyond Catiline himself. The content of Bellum Jugurthinum also suggests that Sallust was more interested in character studies (e.g. Marius) than the details of the war itself. With respect to writing style, the main influence on Sallust's work was Thucydides , perhaps also Cato

3696-587: The first historian to write in Latin. His work, the Origines , was written to teach Romans what it means to be Roman. Like Pictor, Cato the Elder wrote ab urbe condita , and the early history is filled with legends illustrating Roman virtues. The Origines also spoke of how not only Rome, but the other Italian towns were venerable, and that the Romans were indeed superior to the Greeks. The Romans enjoyed serious endeavors and so

3773-547: The five-year schedule under Antoninus Pius, attested by the Fasti Ostienses , is never mentioned in other sources. The limited evidence suggests the Ludi Taurii were important mainly in the context of religious revivalism during the Augustan and Antonine eras. The Taurian Games were horse races, or less likely chariot races , on a course around turning posts ( metae ) . In the 19th century, they were sometimes confused with

3850-515: The founding of the city", describes the Roman tradition of beginning histories at the founding of the city of Rome. In Livy's Ab Urbe Condita , much time is spent on the early history of Rome, and on the founding of the city itself. In Sallust's histories, the founding and early history of Rome is almost reduced to a single sentence. Thus, the ab urbe condita form is extremely variable while continuing to mould Roman histories. "Senatorial History" describes history written by or with information from

3927-453: The games were instituted in the Regal period when Tarquinius Superbus was king . Servius also places their origin during his reign. Festus explains that the games were performed in honor of the gods below (di inferi) . They were established in response to an epidemic (magna … pestilentia) afflicting pregnant women, caused by the distribution of the flesh of sacrificial bulls (tauri) among

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4004-484: The historical works that have been convincingly ascribed to Sallust, the monographs, Bellum Catilinae and Bellum Jugurthinum . We have only fragments of the third work, his Histories. There is less agreement about the authorship of some other works that have, at times, been attributed to him. In Bellum Catilinae , Sallust outlines the conspiracy of Catiline , a brash and ambitious patrician who tried to seize power in Rome in 63 BC. In his other monograph, Sallust used

4081-499: The late period of Trajan's rule and under Hadrian , he held various positions, until he was discharged. He had a close proximity to the government as well as access to the imperial archives, which can be seen in his historical biographies. Suetonius wrote a large number of biographies on important literary figures of the past ( De Viris Illustribus ). Included in the collection were notable poets, grammarians, orators, historians, and philosophers. This collection, like his other works,

4158-480: The late republic. He doubtlessly incorporates elements of exaggeration in his works and has at times been described as more of an artist or politician than historian. But our understanding of the moral and ethical realities of Rome in the 1st century BC would be much weaker if Sallust's works did not survive. Tacitus was born c. 56 AD in, most likely, either Cisalpine or Narbonese Gaul. Upon arriving in Rome, which would have happened by 75, he quickly began to lay down

4235-461: The monographic tradition. The authors who used the Annalistic tradition wrote histories year-by-year, from the beginning, which was most frequently from the founding of the city, usually up until the time that they were living in. Some annalistic authors: Monographs are more similar to present-day history books. They are usually on a single topic, but most importantly, they do not tell history from

4312-544: The others, mostly in Gellius' Attic Nights . He was called "the most learned of the Romans" by Quintilian , and also recognized by Plutarch as "a man deeply read in Roman history". Varro was recognized as an important source by many other ancient authors, among them Cicero , Pliny the Elder , Virgil in the Georgics , Columella , Aulus Gellius , Macrobius , Augustine , and Vitruvius , who credits him (VII.Intr.14) with

4389-488: The people. Servius implies that the pestilentia was infant mortality : "each delivery of the women came out badly." The remedy of the games was obtained ex libris fatalibus , "from the books of the fates" (either the Sibylline books or Etruscan texts ). According to Servius, the ludi took their name from the word taurea , meaning a sterile sacrificial victim ( hostia ) . Servius gives an alternative version that credits

4466-509: The priesthood to keep track of omens and portents. The Annales Maximi were a running set of annals kept by the Pontifex Maximus. The Annales Maximi contained such information as names of the magistrates of each year, public events, and omens such as eclipses and monstrous births. The Annales Maximi covers the period from the early Roman Republic to around the time of the Gracchi, though

4543-538: The provinces of Illyricum , Cisalpine , and Transalpine Gaul . In 58 BC, trouble arose in the Gallic provinces, sparking one of the most important wars of Caesar's career. The De Bello Gallico is Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars. As the Wars were raging on, Caesar fell victim to a great deal of criticisms from Rome. De Bello Gallico is a response to these criticisms, and a way for Caesar to justify these wars. His argument

4620-407: The senate in 50 BC on moral grounds, but quickly revived his career by attaching himself to Julius Caesar. He served as quaestor again in 48 BC, as praetor in 46 BC, and governed the new province in the former Numidian territory until 44 BC., making his fortune in the process. Sallust's political career ended upon his return to Rome and Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. We possess in full two of

4697-471: The tracks for his political career. By 88, he was made praetor under Domitian , and he was also a member of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis . From 89 to 93, Tacitus was away from Rome with his newly married wife, the daughter of the general Agricola . 97 saw Tacitus being named the consul suffectus under Nerva . It is likely that Tacitus held a proconsulship in Asia. His death is datable to c. 118. There

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4774-500: The war in Greek arose from a need to address the Greeks and counter another author, Timaeus , who also wrote a history of Rome until the Second Punic War. Timaeus wrote with a negative view of Rome. Therefore, in defense of the Roman state, Pictor wrote in Greek, using Olympiad dating and a Hellenistic style. Pictor's style of writing history defending the Roman state and its actions, and using propaganda heavily, eventually became

4851-420: The widely accepted standard chronology, in large part because it was inscribed on the arch of Augustus in Rome; though that arch no longer stands, a large portion of the chronology has survived under the name of Fasti Capitolini . Varro's literary output was prolific; Ritschl estimated it at 74 works in some 620 books, of which only one work survives complete, although we possess many fragments of

4928-407: The writing of historiography became very popular for upper class citizens who wanted to spend their time on worthwhile, virtuous, "Roman" activities. As idleness was looked down upon by the Romans, writing history became an acceptable way to spend their otium or retirement. Almost as soon as historiography started being used by the Romans, it split into two traditions: the annalistic tradition and

5005-475: Was a Sullan annalist but he was not viewed as a credible historian. He seems to have been trying to counter the Marian historian, C. Licinius Macer, whose veracity is also questionable. Antias' history, written in seventy-six books, is melodramatic and often filled with exaggerations and lies: Livy wrote of “Valerius, who is guilty of gross exaggerations of numbers of all kinds”. In his history, anyone named Cornelius

5082-423: Was also a pragmatic. His histories have literary merit and interpretations of facts and events. He was not purely objective, rather his judgments served a moral function. Julius Caesar was born 12 July 100 BC into a patrician family. As a young man, he was given a priesthood as Flamen Dialis by his father-in-law, Cornelius Cinna. When that position was taken away by Sulla, Caesar spent a decade in Asia, earning

5159-606: Was born around 69 to an equestrian family. Living during the times of the Emperor Trajan and having a connection to Pliny the Younger , Suetonius was able to begin a rise in rank in the imperial administration. In c. 102, he was appointed to a military tribune position in Britain, which he did not actually accept. He was, though, among the staff for Pliny's command in Bithynia . During

5236-412: Was contemporary with this war", whereas earlier, on the question of Hannibal's numbers, he says that "the most authoritative account should be that of Lucius Cincius Alimentus...but Cincius makes a mess of the numbers". After Pictor wrote, many other authors followed his lead, inspired by the new literary form: Gaius Acilius , Aulus Postumius Albinus , and Cato the Elder . Cato the Elder is credited as

5313-412: Was critical of the emperors and believed that they were one of the reasons for the decline of Rome, and even wrote disparagingly of Augustus the most revered of the emperors. In Roman historiography commentarii is simply a raw account of events often not intended for publication. It was not considered traditional "history" because it lacked the necessary speeches and literary flourishes. Commentarii

5390-802: Was distinguished for learning as no other man had ever been or was to be. Most of the extant fragments of these works (mostly the grammatical works) can be found in the Goetz–Schoell edition of De Lingua Latina , pp. 199–242; in the collection of Wilmanns, pp. 170–223; and in that of Funaioli, pp. 179–371. Roman historiography During the Second Punic War with Carthage , Rome's earliest known annalists Quintus Fabius Pictor and Lucius Cincius Alimentus recorded history in Greek , and relied on Greek historians such as Timaeus . Roman histories were not written in Classical Latin until

5467-399: Was especially evident in the 70s BC when the social wars were going on between the populists led by Marius , and the senatorials led by Sulla . Several authors wrote histories during this time, each taking a side. Gaius Licinius Macer was anti-Sullan and wrote his history, based on Gnaeus Gellius in 16 books, from the founding of the city until the 3rd century BC, whereas Valerius Antias who

5544-547: Was not a "spokesman for the regime". He believed that Augustus was necessary, but only as a short term measure. According to Quintillian , Livy wrote lactea ubertas , or "with milky richness". He used language to embellish his material, including the use of both poetical and archaic words. He included many anachronisms in his work, such as tribunes having power that they did not have until much later. Livy also used rhetorical elaborations, such as attributing speeches to characters whose speeches could not possibly be known. Though he

5621-537: Was not organized chronologically. Not all of it has survived to the present day, but there are a number of references in other sources to attribute fragments to this collection. His most famous work, though, is the De Vita Caesarum . This collection of twelve biographies tells the lives of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian Emperors, spanning from Julius Caesar to Domitian. Other than an introductory genealogy and

5698-411: Was not thought of as a first-rate research historian, being overly dependent on his sources, his work was so extensive that other histories were abandoned for Livy. It is unfortunate that these other histories were abandoned, especially since much of Livy's work is now gone, leaving holes in our knowledge of Roman history. C. Sallustius Crispus, more commonly known as Sallust , was a Roman historian of

5775-412: Was pro-Sulla, wrote a history in 75 books, from the founding of the city until 91 BC: both were used subsequently by Livy to create a more evenly balanced account. The historiography we most readily identify with the Romans, coming from sources such as Caesar , Sallust , Livy , Tacitus , and other minor authors, owes much to its early roots and Greek predecessors. However, contrary to the Greek form,

5852-472: Was twofold. The first was to memorialize history and the second was to challenge his generation to rise to that same level. He was preoccupied with morality, using history as a moral essay. He connects a nation's success with its high level of morality, and conversely a nation's failure with its moral decline. Livy believed that there had been a moral decline in Rome, and he lacked the confidence that Augustus could reverse it. Though he shared Augustus' ideals, he

5929-525: Was usually turned into "history" later on. Many think Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars , Commentarii Rerum Gestarum (Commentaries on Things Done), was called commentarii for propagandistic purposes. They believe that it is actually "history" since it is so well written, pro-Roman and fits the traditional patterns of historiography. Ancient Roman historians did not write for the sake of writing, they wrote in an effort to convince their audiences. Propaganda

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