Livy's History of Rome: Book 1
PREFACE
Whether the task I
have undertaken of writing a complete history of the
Roman people from the very commencement of its
existence will reward me for the labour spent on it,
I neither know for certain, nor if I did know would
I venture to say. For I see that this is an
old-established and a common practice, each fresh
writer being invariably persuaded that he will
either attain greater certainty in the materials of
his narrative, or surpass the rudeness of antiquity
in the excellence of his style. However this may be,
it will still be a great satisfaction to me to have
taken my part, too, in investing, to the utmost of
my abilities, the annals of the foremost nation in
the world with a deeper interest; and if in such a
crowd of writers my own reputation is thrown into
the shade, I would console myself with the renown
and greatness of those who eclipse my fame. The
subject, moreover, is one that demands immense
labour. It goes back beyond 700 years and, after
starting from small and humble beginnings, has grown
to such dimensions that it begins to be overburdened
by its greatness. I have very little doubt, too,
that for the majority of my readers the earliest
times and those immediately succeeding, will possess
little attraction; they will hurry on to these
modern days in which the might of a long paramount
nation is wasting by internal decay. I, on the other
hand, shall look for a further reward of my labours
in being able to close my eyes to the evils which
our generation has witnessed for so many years; so
long, at least, as I am devoting all my thoughts to
retracing those pristine records, free from all the
anxiety which can disturb the historian of his own
times even if it cannot warp him from the truth.
The traditions of what happened prior to
the foundation of the City or whilst it was being
built, are more fitted to adorn the creations of the
poet than the authentic records of the historian,
and I have no intention of establishing either their
truth or their falsehood. This much licence is
conceded to the ancients, that by intermingling
human actions with divine they may confer a more
august dignity on the origins of states. Now, if any
nation ought to be allowed to claim a sacred origin
and point back to a divine paternity that nation is
Rome. For such is her renown in war that when she
chooses to represent Mars as her own and her
founder's father, the nations of the world accept
the statement with the same equanimity with which
they accept her dominion. But whatever opinions may
be formed or criticisms passed upon these and
similar traditions, I regard them as of small
importance. The subjects to which I would ask each
of my readers to devote his earnest attention are
these -the life and morals of the community; the
men and the qualities by which through domestic
policy and foreign war dominion was won and
extended. Then as the standard of morality gradually
lowers, let him follow the decay of the national
character, observing how at first it slowly sinks,
then slips downward more and more rapidly, and
finally begins to plunge into headlong ruin, until
he reaches these days, in which we can bear neither
our diseases nor their remedies.
There is this exceptionally beneficial and
fruitful advantage to be derived from the study of
the past, that you see, set in the clear light of
historical truth, examples of every possible type.
From these you may select for yourself and your
country what to imitate, and also what, as being
mischievous in its inception and disastrous in its
issues, you are to avoid. Unless, however, I am
misled by affection for my undertaking, there has
never existed any commonwealth greater in power,
with a purer morality, or more fertile in good
examples; or any state in which avarice and luxury
have been so late in making their inroads, or
poverty and frugality so highly and continuously
honoured, showing so clearly that the less wealth
men possessed the less they coveted. In these latter
years wealth has brought avarice in its train, and
the unlimited command of pleasure has created in men
a passion for ruining themselves and everything else
through self-indulgence and licentiousness. But
criticisms which will be unwelcome, even when
perhaps necessary, must not appear in the
commencement at all events of this extensive work.
We should much prefer to start with favourable
omens, and if we could have adopted the poets'
custom, it would have been much pleasanter to
commence with prayers and supplications to gods and
goddesses that they would grant a favourable and
successful issue to the great task before us.