Livy – Nemo's Library

Livy’s History of Rome: Human Self-Sacrifices

Posted on March 16, 2019; Last updated on April 16, 2020

The Sacrificial Death of Marcus Curtius That same year, whether owing to an earthquake or to some other violent force, it is said that the ground gave way, at about the middle of the Forum, and, sinking to an immeasurable depth, left a prodigious chasm. This gulf could not be filled with the earth which everyone brought and cast into it, until admonished by the gods, they began to inquire […]

The History of Rome: The Leadership of L. Aemilius Paulus

Posted on January 21, 2015

Inauguration Speech “I think, Quirites, that my having received, through the ballot, Macedonia as my province has been greeted more warmly than when I was congratulated on my election as consul, or on the day when I entered on office. And the sole reason for this, I believe, is that you thought I could be the means of bringing this long-protracted war to such a close as shall be worthy […]

“The History of Rome” by Livy

Posted on January 14, 2015; Last updated on February 23, 2018

In Book 34, Livy recounts a debate in the Roman senate concerning the Oppian Law, which forbids ‘female extravagance’. It presents a microcosm of ancient Rome. All the issues being raised here, such as moral virtues and vices, human rights, the relations between the sexes and between the social classes, the desires of the people vs. the sanctity of the laws, are universal, and highly relevant today, though the particulars […]