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`the fates ordained the founding of this great city and the beginning of the world's mightiest empire, second only to the power of the gods' Romulus and Remus, the rape of Lucretia, Horatius at the bridge, the saga of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus called from his farm to save the state - these and many more are stories which, immortalised by Livy in his history of early Rome, have become part of our cultural heritage. The historian's huge work, written between 20 BC and AD 17, ran to 12 books, beginning with Rome's founding in 753 BC and coming down to Livy's own lifetime (9 BC). Books 1-5 cover the period from Rome's beginnings to her first great foreign conquest, the capture of the Etruscan city of Veii and, a few years later, to her first major defeat, the sack of the city by the Gauls in 390 BC.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Professor Luce, an eminent Livian scholar, has rendered the first five books of Livy's "Ab Urbe Condita" in concise English that not only retains the essence of the Latin but also conveys the vividness of the narrative. In other words, he tells the tales of the founding of Rome in an entertaining manner that is accessible to today's students, who have little patience for long-winded or stilted prose.
The book includes an informative introduction, two maps, a brief chronology, and copious notes. My only quibble is with the index, which has been geared for scholars of Roman history. For example, a student looking up the dictator Cincinnatus must be aware that he is listed by the gens name of Quinctius (There is no cross-reference.); and then the student has to decide between Titus, Lucius, and Quintus. While this is good practice for the serious scholar of Roman history, it might be infuriating for the casual reader (One hopes that Oxford will correct this flaw in a future edition). Nevertheless, the book is so enjoyable that I recommend it highly and have adopted it for my Roman Civilization class.
Four-and-one-half-stars!
The book includes an informative introduction, two maps, a brief chronology, and copious notes. My only quibble is with the index, which has been geared for scholars of Roman history. For example, a student looking up the dictator Cincinnatus must be aware that he is listed by the gens name of Quinctius (There is no cross-reference.); and then the student has to decide between Titus, Lucius, and Quintus. While this is good practice for the serious scholar of Roman history, it might be infuriating for the casual reader (One hopes that Oxford will correct this flaw in a future edition). Nevertheless, the book is so enjoyable that I recommend it highly and have adopted it for my Roman Civilization class.
Four-and-one-half-stars!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
For those of you who don't know, Livy was a historian who lived in the time of Augustus. He wrote a history of Rome from its birth up to his own time: the 'Ab urbe condita libri' which was comprised of 142 books. Only 35 still exist in a reasonably complete form. The following are available in the same series:
Hannibal's War: Books 21-30
The Dawn of the Roman Empire: Books 31-40
Rome's Mediterranean Empire: Books 41-45 and the Periochae
This volume consists of Books 1-5 and and details major historical events such as the birth of Rome, the story of Romulus and Remus; the ongoing battles with neighbours such as the Sabines and Veii; the dictatorship of Cincinattus and the sack of Rome by the Gauls which closes this first volume.
The translation is good and there are many valuable footnotes to establish context. They also help to clear up the frequent inconsistencies in Livy's account (Livy didn't seem to be one for fact-checking!).
Of course the style of these will not be to everyone's taste but those interested in classical history will enjoy this book.
Hannibal's War: Books 21-30
The Dawn of the Roman Empire: Books 31-40
Rome's Mediterranean Empire: Books 41-45 and the Periochae
This volume consists of Books 1-5 and and details major historical events such as the birth of Rome, the story of Romulus and Remus; the ongoing battles with neighbours such as the Sabines and Veii; the dictatorship of Cincinattus and the sack of Rome by the Gauls which closes this first volume.
The translation is good and there are many valuable footnotes to establish context. They also help to clear up the frequent inconsistencies in Livy's account (Livy didn't seem to be one for fact-checking!).
Of course the style of these will not be to everyone's taste but those interested in classical history will enjoy this book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Just Reviewing the Translation
5 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback
3.5 stars.
Livy's history is fast-paced and colourful. T. J. Luce's translation is very readable but often sacrifices fidelity to accessibility; sometimes it is so modern as to be jarring. For example, "iure gentium," "the law of nations," is anachronistically translated as "international law" in the first half of the book, although it then becomes "the law of nations" in the second half. Another jarring anachronism is "sadist" for "carnifex," a word that means "executioner" (II.35) -- not the sexual cruelty named after the Marquis de Sade.
Comparing it to the original, I think a more faithful translation would be more colorful and accurate. Especially when there are so many Latin-English cognates it is frustrating that the translator has taken such liberties. Here are two other examples:
"sceleris tragici exemplum" is translated as "a tragic spectacle to rival those of Greece" (54). Where does "to rival those of Greece" come from?
"inhumanumque" is translated as "barbaric" (57) instead of "inhuman." Since the concept of the human and "inhuman" is a new one at that time it is essential to keep it in the text. If Livy had meant "barbaric" he could have used "barbari." To make matters worse, "saevi exempli" (savage example) is later translated as "inhuman example." It's as if the translator is willfully trying to "improve" upon Livy by using a different word from the one Livy used...?
He often translates "res publica" as "state" or "nation," rather than "republic," whereas the latter would maintain the crucial idea of the state as a public thing.
I would expect a more faithful translation from Oxford, but I guess Luce also sought accessibility. The Loeb is generally more faithful but not always. For example, the Loeb awkwardly translates "iniuste impieque" (I.32) as "unduly and against religion" whereas Luce more fittingly has "justly and piously."
Livy's history is fast-paced and colourful. T. J. Luce's translation is very readable but often sacrifices fidelity to accessibility; sometimes it is so modern as to be jarring. For example, "iure gentium," "the law of nations," is anachronistically translated as "international law" in the first half of the book, although it then becomes "the law of nations" in the second half. Another jarring anachronism is "sadist" for "carnifex," a word that means "executioner" (II.35) -- not the sexual cruelty named after the Marquis de Sade.
Comparing it to the original, I think a more faithful translation would be more colorful and accurate. Especially when there are so many Latin-English cognates it is frustrating that the translator has taken such liberties. Here are two other examples:
"sceleris tragici exemplum" is translated as "a tragic spectacle to rival those of Greece" (54). Where does "to rival those of Greece" come from?
"inhumanumque" is translated as "barbaric" (57) instead of "inhuman." Since the concept of the human and "inhuman" is a new one at that time it is essential to keep it in the text. If Livy had meant "barbaric" he could have used "barbari." To make matters worse, "saevi exempli" (savage example) is later translated as "inhuman example." It's as if the translator is willfully trying to "improve" upon Livy by using a different word from the one Livy used...?
He often translates "res publica" as "state" or "nation," rather than "republic," whereas the latter would maintain the crucial idea of the state as a public thing.
I would expect a more faithful translation from Oxford, but I guess Luce also sought accessibility. The Loeb is generally more faithful but not always. For example, the Loeb awkwardly translates "iniuste impieque" (I.32) as "unduly and against religion" whereas Luce more fittingly has "justly and piously."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Livy for Contemporary Readers
13 Jun 2009
Format:Paperback
Professor Luce, an eminent Livian scholar, has rendered the first five books of Livy's "Ab Urbe Condita" in concise English that not only retains the essence of the Latin but also conveys the vividness of the narrative. In other words, he tells the tales of the founding of Rome in an entertaining manner that is accessible to today's students, who have little patience for long-winded or stilted prose.
The book includes an informative introduction, two maps, a brief chronology, and copious notes. My only quibble is with the index, which has been geared for scholars of Roman history. For example, a student looking up the dictator Cincinnatus must be aware that he is listed by the gens name of Quinctius (There is no cross-reference.); and then the student has to decide between Titus, Lucius, and Quintus. While this is good practice for the serious scholar of Roman history, it might be infuriating for the casual reader (One hopes that Oxford will correct this flaw in a future edition). Nevertheless, the book is so enjoyable that I recommend it highly and have adopted it for my Roman Civilization class.
Four-and-one-half-stars!
The book includes an informative introduction, two maps, a brief chronology, and copious notes. My only quibble is with the index, which has been geared for scholars of Roman history. For example, a student looking up the dictator Cincinnatus must be aware that he is listed by the gens name of Quinctius (There is no cross-reference.); and then the student has to decide between Titus, Lucius, and Quintus. While this is good practice for the serious scholar of Roman history, it might be infuriating for the casual reader (One hopes that Oxford will correct this flaw in a future edition). Nevertheless, the book is so enjoyable that I recommend it highly and have adopted it for my Roman Civilization class.
Four-and-one-half-stars!
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
This review for the kindle edition
22 Sep 2010
Format:Kindle Edition
The reason for four stars instead of five is not anything relating to the translation, but the rendering of text not only in this book, but many of the Oxford translations released in this series. The main problem is that the text is not rendered in a clean manner, so that, for example if you highlight 'Livy' in the introduction of this text it is rendered Liz7"' when you look under 'highlights and annotations'. This means that if you search for 'Livy', your search will not find this word. This has been a constant problem in a number of this publisher's books. I have contacted them about the issue but have received no response. I would recommend the penguin text which provides a clean rendering of the text as well as hyperlinks to the footnotes which this publisher does not provide.
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