A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

790 IJYVIUS. LIVIUS.
made with the Sarmnites at Caudium. (Liv. ix. Claudius. The first'of these assertions is entitled
8.) to respect, since it has been adopted. by Niebuhr,
LI'VIUS, the Roman historian, was born at but seems -to rest entirely upon a few notices in
Patavium, in the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus, Quintilian, from which we gather that the Epistola
B. C. 59. The greater part of his life appears to ad Filium, alluded to above, contained some precepts
have been spent in the metropolis, but he returned upon style (QuintiL. ii. 5. ~ 20, viii. 2. ~ 118, x. 1.
to his native town before his death, which happened ~ 39). The second assertion, in so far as it affirms
at the age of 76, in the fourth year of Tiberius, the existence of two sons, involves the very broad
A. D. 17. We know that he was married, and that assumption that the following inscription, which is
he had at least two children, fora certain L. Magius, said to have been preserved at Venice, but with
a rhetorician, is named as the husband of his daugh- regard to whose history nothing has been recorded,
ter, by Seneca (Prooem. Controv. lib. v.), and a neither the time when, nor the place where, nor the
sentence from a letter addressed to a son, whom he circumstances under which it was found, must refer
urges to study Demosthenes and Cicero, is quoted to the great historian and to no one else: T. LIVIUS.
by Quintilian (x.. 1. ~ 39). His literary talents c. F. SIBI. ET. SUIS. T. LIVIO. T. F.. PRISCO. F. T.
secured the patronage and friendship of Augustus LIVIO. T. F. LONGO. ET. CASSIAE. SEX. F. PRIMAE.
(Tacit. Ann. iv. 34); he became a person of con- UXORI; while the number of daughters depends
sideration at court, and by-his advice Claudius, after- upon another inscription of a still more doubtful
wards emperor, was induced in early life to attempt character, to which we shall advert hereafter. The
historical composition (Suet. Claud. 41), but there third assertion is advanced because it has been
is no ground for the assertion that Livy acted as deemed certain that since Virgil, Horace, and various
preceptor to the young prince. Eventually his re. other personages of wit and fashion were wont in
putation rose so high and became so widely diffused that age to resort to the Campanian court, Livy
that, as we are assured by Pliny (Epist. ii. 3), a must have done the like. With respect to the
Spaniard travelled from Cadiz to Rome, solely for fourth assertion, we are informed by Seneca (Suasor.
the purpose of beholding him, and having gratified 100) that Livy wrote dialogues which might be
his'curiosity in this one particular, immediately regarded as belonging to history as much as to
returned home. philosophy (Scripsit enim et dialogos quos noin
Although expressly termed Patavinuls by ancient magis Philosophiae annumerare possis quam His-.writers, some' doubts have been entertained with toriae), and books which professed to treat of phi-.regard to the precise spot of his birth, in consequence losophic subjects (enx professo Philosopliam contiof a line in Martial (Ep. i. 62):- nentes libros); but the story of the presentation to
Octavianus is an. absolute fabrication. The fifth
Verona docti syllabus amat vatis,
Verona docti- syro fll~abuas amt. vassertion we have already contradicted, and not
CenstMar one felix Msantua est, without reason, as will be seen from Suetonius
Censetur Apona Livio suo tellus, (Claud 4
Stellaque nec Flacco minus- (lad. 41).
The memoirs of most men terminate with their
from which it has been inferred that the famous death; but this is by no means the case with our
hot-springs, the Patavinae Aquae, of which the historian, since some circumstances closely conchief was Aponusfons, situated about six miles to nected with what may be fairly termed his perthe' south of Patavium, and now known as the Bagni sonal history, excited no small commotion in his
d'Abano, ought to be regarded as the place of his native city many centuries after his decease. About
nativity. According to this supposition he was the year 1360 a tablet was dug up at Padua, within
styled Patavinns, just as Virgil was called Man- the monastery of St. Justina, which occupied the
tuanus, although in reality belonging to Andes; site of an ancient temple of Jupiter, or of Juno, or
but Cluverius and the best geographers believe that of Concordia, according to the conflicting hypotheses
Apona tellus is here, equivalent to Patavina tellus, of local antiquaries. The stone bore the following
and that no village Aponus or Aponus vicus existed inscription, V. F. T. LIVIUS. LIVIAE. T. F. QUARTAE.
in the days of the epigrammatist. In like manner L. HALYS. CONCORDIALIS. PATAVI. SIBI. ET. SUIS.
Statius (Silv, iv. 7) designates him as " Timavi OMNIBUS, which was at first interpreted: to mean
alumnum," words which merely indicate his trans- Vi usfecit Titus Livius Liviae Titi fliae quartae,
padane extraction. (sc. uxori) Lucii Halys Goncordialis Patavi sibi et
The above particulars, few and meagre as they suis omnibus. Some imagined that QUARTAB. L.
are, embrace every circumstance for which we can HALYS denoted Quartae legionis Halys, but this
appeal to the testimony of ancient writers. The opinion was overthrown without difficulty, because
bulky and minute biography by Tomasinus, and even at that time it was well known that L. is seldom
similar: productions, which communicate in turgid if ever used in inscriptions as an abbreviation of
language a series of details which could have been LEGIO, and secondly because the fourth legion was
ascertained by no one but a contemporary, are entitled Scythica and not Halys. It was then depurely works of imagination. The greater number cided that QUARTAE must indicate the fourth
of the statements derived froin such sources have daughter of Livius, and that L. HALYS must be
gradually disappeared from all works of authority, the name of her husband; and ingenious persons
but one or two of the more plausible still linger endeavoured to show that in all probability he was
even in the most recent histories of literature. Thus identical with the IL. Magius mentioned by Seneca.
we are assured that Livy commenced his career as They also persuaded themselves that Livy, upon
a rhetorician and wrote upon rhetoric; that he was his return home, had been installed by his countrytwice married, and had two sons and several men in the dignified office of priest of the goddess
daughters; that he was in the habit of spending Concord, and had erected this monument within
much of his time at Naples; that he first recom- the walls of her sanctuary, marking the place of
mended himself to Octavianus by presenting;some sepulture of himself and his family. At all events,
dialogues on philosophy, and that he was tutor to whatever difficulties might seem to embarrass the