A Commentary on Livy, Books VI-X: Volume I: Introduction and Book VI (Commentary on Livy)

Books VI-X of Livy's history of Rome describe the beginnings of Rome's conquest of Italy in the fourth century BC and contain some of Livy's finest writing. The first of three volumes, this book offers an extensive introduction and commentary to Book VI. The introduction provides a full analysis of the Roman annalistic tradition, of Livy's style and narrative technique, and of the manuscript tradition; the commentary devotes equal attention to historical, literary, linguistic, and textual matters. Books VI-X of Livy's history of Rome describe the beginnings of Rome's conquest of Italy in the fourth century BC. Stephen Oakley has produced the first full-scale, scholarly commentary to be written in modern times on this part of the history. The third of what is now a set of four volumes, a sequel to those on Books VI-VIII published in 1997 and 1998, this book contains the Commentary on Book IX, one of Livy's finest and most interesting. The years which it covers (321-304 BC) deal with a very important phase in the Roman conquest of Italy, a period in which our evidence for Roman history becomes increasingly reliable. The book begins with Livy's celebrated account of the Roman disaster in the Caudine Forks and its aftermath, and also contains the famous digression on Alexander the Great and our longest account of the censorship of Appius Claudius Caecus. Stephen Oakley deals comprehensively with all aspects of Livy's work, including the literary structure of his narrative, the purpose of the digression on Alexander, the historical and topographical problems of the Samnite Wars, Roman politics in the age of Appius Claudius Caecus, the poetical and archaic language sometimes affected by Livy, and the many textual problems posed by the extant manuscripts. The extensive secondary literature on all these problems is synthesized and discussed, and numerous new parallels are cited for many aspects of Livy's thought and language. Textual problems are analysed with the benefit of a fresh collation of the primary manuscripts, some of which are cited for the first time. An indispensable work of reference for anyone interested in Latin literature and the history of the Roman Republic, as well as for scholars of Livy himself, these four volumes represent a major new contribution to Latin scholarship. BECAUSE of the successful wars of conquest which L. describes in books vii-x, the size of the Roman state had grown from c.2,005 km2 in the mid-340s to c.5,525 km2 in the mid-330s and to c.6,285 km2 by 300, and, with further successful warfare, was to grow to c.15,295 km2 by the mid-280s. V. 1. Introduction And Book Vi -- V. 2. Books Vii-viii -- V. 3. Book Ix -- V. 4. Book X. S.p. Oakley. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Long Passages Primarily In Latin But Some In Ancient Greek Are Quoted Without Translation. v. 1. Introduction and Book VI v. 2. Books VII and VIII