Titus Livius was a scholar & historian during the late Republican era who lived well into the Augustan period of Rome's history. Originally from the Roman city of Patavium (Padua), Livy's family was relatively wealthy which under normal circumstances should have given him relative freedom in pursuing his higher education yet with the republic divided by the war of the Second Triumvirate the man in charge of Livy's province, Asinius Pollio, attempted blackmailing wealthy residents of Patavium into supporting Marc Antony by restricting their freedoms in various ways. We can reasonably assume that Titus Livius was unable to even receive a formal education due to the Roman republic's turbulent wartime environment during that period.We believe that Livy began writing 'Ab Urbe Condita' or 'From the Founding of the City' probably in the middle of his career when he was at least thirty years old. It originally contained a staggering 142 books which almost defies my imagination to contemplate how much material must have been there. Of those 142, a mere 35 have withstood time's erosion. It's interesting because if you look at the Roman scholars & historians of antiquity you notice that the majority of them, weren't full-time historians. Suetonius was 'ab epistulis', kind of a personal scribe or secretary for the emperor's official letters of correspondence. He wrote 'De Vita Caesarum', or 'The Twelve Caesars' in his spare time. Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman senator for his full-time occupation, history came either in his leisure time or when he was the Roman equivalent of being officially retired. Tacitus composed 'The Annals', 'The Histories & 'On Britain & Germany & Agricola'. Gaius Sallustius Crispus was another senator who actually was dismissed from service initially until Caesar asked him to resume his position. Sallust wrote 'Catiline's War' & 'The Jugurthine War'. Cassius Dio was a lifelong politician as well; in the early third century A.D. he wrote 'The Roman History' Dio was an imperial governor before he became a historian at the end of his professional career. Later on, the often sharp-tongued Roman soldier, Ammianus Marcellinus, would write his 31-book Roman history, the 'Rerum Gestarum Libri XXXI', which covered the period spanning from the reign of Nerva all the way up to the death of Valens, at Adrianople. None of these men were career historians like Livy was.The obsolete A.U.C. year format is predicated on the concept of Rome's official conception in the year 753 B.C. under Romulus as, initially a sovereign city over whom a monarch, in this instance a king, reigned. 753 B.C. is the year of the founding of the city of Rome, so 753 B.C. = 1, or I, A.U.C. In the event you desired to go further back than even that, 1200 B.C. is when the Trojan, Aeneas, landed at Laurentum & formed an alliance with the king Latinus & the Latin people over whom he ruled.Livy wasn't born into a family possessing tremendous power or influence; he was just a historian with an unquenchable passion for the work he did. The emperor Augustus considered him a friend & from the little information we have it's a fair assumption to say the two men were amicable with one another. When he wrote the 'History of Rome' he was nervous about publishing it while Augustus was alive, due to the books composed on the Augustan period possibly offending him in some way. Many of Livy's contemporaries did not possess high opinions of his work; the emperor Gaius Caligula disparagingly referred to him as 'verbosum in historia neglectenemque', meaning 'a wordy & inaccurate historian'. Asinius Pollio thought of him as a provincial, with the inflections & vocabulary of a backwater peasant, labeling it 'Patavinitas', or 'Paduanness'.This edition consists of the first five books in Livy's Roman epic. Book I commences with Rome's founding with Aeneas' landing in 1200 B.C. before proceeding into the 244 years of Roman monarchial rule which ends in 509 B.C. with the founding of the Roman Republic. Books II - V chronicle the period of intense warfare that plagued Rome's early life with its neighboring city-states before the account ends with Rome's capture by the Gauls in 390 B.C. The translation work was done by Aubrey De Sèlincourt with the lengthy & well-written introduction composed by Robert Ogilvie. The appendix is a substantial delineation of Livy's political views, significance as a writer & historian, followed by various arguments & the evidence in support of them. The appendix smartly analyzes the text in an effort to ascertain Livius' viability as a credible historian & if you take the time to read through it, it's extremely interesting.One of the activities I find myself enjoying while I read historical works from antiquity is analyzing the details of the prose itself to deduce information on the personalities of the men who composed it. What their favored forms of inflection were, topics they enjoyed writing about, issues they felt strongly towards, many of these things can be gleaned by the reader when they know what to look for. The work of a text's translator obviously plays a considerable role in the overall quality of the final product, & while I consider myself merely an armchair historian, I would strongly believe that an ideal translation seeks above all a faithful rendition of the original. When compared with other historians Livy's fashion of writing is a completely different animal, you can immediately ascertain that he was very concerned with his writing being worded the correct way. The famous Quintilian, a dear friend of Marcus Tullius Cicero, described Titus Livy's prose as possessing a certain 'lactea ubertas', or 'rich creaminess' to it. When speaking of the eighth & final king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, he tells us : 'In questions of war & peace he was his own sole master; he made & unmade treaties & alliances without any reference whatever either to the commons or to the Senate.' The characters in these stories speak in a way I'd consider to be the old style, the dialogue is very abrupt & direct; people say what they mean to say. The female characters at times are equally as ruthless as the males. Tullia, the wife of Tarquin, shows just how ambitious she can be when attempting to motivate him in furthering their positions : 'Did I want a man,' she urged, 'simply that I might call him husband, simply to endure slavery with him in silence? No! I wanted a man who knew his father was a king, who would sooner reign now than languish in hope. If you are indeed the man I think I married, I salute you as my husband & my king; if not, it had been better for me to stay as I was than to marry not a criminal only but a coward. Come! Do your work!' It suits the tone Livy sets early on, one which is bleak & laced with sorrow. Rome's rise to power reflects the grim side of human nature & many of the bitter conflicts & betrayals, do not have happy endings. They also have embedded in them painful moral lessons which instruct by providing examples to the reader in what NOT to do in their own lives.Early on in book I, the third Roman king Tullus Hostilius goes to war with neighboring Etruscan city-states Fidenae & Veii, & his ally Alban commander Mettius Fufetius gives orders to abandon Hostilius & betray him to the enemy. Hostilius hurriedly assures the confused Albans that Mettius is acting under his orders which creates sufficient distraction to halt the betrayal & win the battle. Afterwards Hostilius admits to his entire army that he was required to deceive them in an effort to save lives that would have been lost with their ally's successful defection. This would have been a wonderful addition to 'The Prince' had it been included in the chapter dedicated to Machiavelli's disparaging lambasting of 'auxiliary troops'.Livy's work is often criticized as being historically unreliable, as many modern scholars believe that he was more interested in composing an epic tale that people would want to read as opposed to a historically accurate chronicle of Rome's history. Speaking for myself, I just wanted to have some fun reading the work of a man who lived over 2,000 years ago that actually could hold my interest. And Titus Livius most assuredly manages to accomplish that for me. For me, Livy's narrative excels when the grand betrayals & epic military confrontations are spelled out for the reader in the florid, elaborate language only he seems to be skilled enough to pull off in the spectacular fashion as is done here. When Sextus Tarquinius, son of the Roman king, is sent to the town of Gabii to sow discord & ingratiate himself with the treacherous nobles, he deceives them into believing he desires revolt against his father's rule. Subsequently, the younger Sextus dispatches a messenger to Rome for further instruction from his sire after entrenching himself in a powerful position with Gabii's governing council. As the two walk through the king's private garden the envoy repeatedly petitions the elder Tarquin for a course of action, yet the monarch utters not a single word. The king's only reply is in the soft sound of his stick, as it quietly lops the heads off of the poppy plants growing in his garden. When at last the envoy gets word of this to Sextus, the younger Tarquin understands his father completely : every conspiring nobleman in Gabii is rounded up, murdered, or chased out of the city. The way Livy relays this incident is nothing short of masterful, in every sense of the word. He tells it with an understated, deliberate tone that make these men suddenly more than merely words on a page in a dusty old history book.In book IV, Livy speaks of the treachery of Rome's rival, Etruria. The king of Veii, Lars Toluminus allies himself with fellow Etruscan city-state Fidenei, after Fidenei grows truculent & takes up arms against the prospect of Roman rule. The devious Veiian king then proceeds to order the murder of four Roman ambassadors, later derisively blaming his Fidenate guards for misreading his words, after Toluminus utters a boastful remark during a game of dice. The calculated deception not only fouls Fidenei's reputation with Rome, it affords Toluminus a degree of leverage over his Etruscan ally, minimizing the chance of their betraying him further into the war, which is now unavoidable. It also removes both Veii as well as her king from all culpability for inciting an armed conflict. Livy relays this drama in brilliant fashion, it's like the plotline in a season of the HBO series 'Rome'.Other portions of his narrative are no less impressive such as the massive triple-pronged war that Rome fights late in book IV against the Volscians & Etruscans which leads into the ten-year siege of the most powerful of Rome's rivals, the Etruscan city of Veii. The Veillian siege was amazing to read about, Livy's sense of scope keeps the reader hanging on his every word. Rome's rise to power was anything but a peaceful one. I can't say enough about not only Titus Livius' prose & the amazing work done by the team responsible for translating it to the English language. I suppose this is the price you pay if you want to read a history that's immersive & engaging. I'm quite sure Livy had to 'invent' sections to make give his narrative that smooth level of appeal it definitely has, but to be honest I could care less if it's 100% accurate, I just want something that holds my interest & is fun to read. And 'The Early History of Rome' definitely accomplishes both of those things albeit the grim & at-times oppressive atmosphere in which the author presents it to us.Yet despite the extremely grim atmosphere Livy establishes early on, I couldn't help but be touched by the positive notes he also includes for us in his 'Ab Urbe Condita'. Like when the imperial treasury runs low in the middle of a major military offensive, endangering the Roman war effort. The Roman patrician women show their fierce love & devotion to their husbands & to their country by voluntarily donating their fine jewelry & items of luxury to be sold off for war supplies, so that Rome's men can continue expanding the empire. After they perform this generous action the Senate sees to it that the Roman ladies are given a celebration, to show the republic's appreciation for their selfless virtue. Even thousands of years ago Rome tried to do homage to women in its own rough way.Overall, I'd recommend Titus Livy to a reader who has a decent amount of history under his or her belt already prior to attempting an undertaking of this magnitude, it's not the easiest read for a novice mainly due to the prose style. Trying to remember all of the consuls, decemviri, tribunals & quaestors is practically impossible as the names are repeated through the years as the narrative progresses. Were I to provide a few titles for the reader to get his or her feet wet, I'd suggest Suetonius' 'The Twelve Caesars', Cassius Dio's 'The Roman History : The Reign of Augustus', 'Lives of the Later Caesars', & maybe Machiavelli's 'The Prince' due to it having subject matter relevant with what's discussed in Livy. It's difficult to get through at times, but for the experienced history fan, Livy's 'The Early History of Rome' is most assuredly worth your time !Thanks for reading the review, I hope you learned a bit about Titus Livius & perhaps you learned about Roman history as well !