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

79i LIVIUS..LIVIUS.
destructiornof the capital by the Vitellians. (Sliefon. hitted in another, without sufficient attention being
-Vesp. 8; Tacit. Hist.:iii. 7.1.) paid to the dependence and the connection of the.The inquiry'with regard to the authorities whom events. Hence the numerous contradictions and
he actually did follow would be simple liad these inconsistencies which have been detected by sharpauthorities been preserved, or -had they been regu:- eyed critics like. Perizonius and Glareanus; and
larly referred- to as. the work advanced.. But un- although these seldom affect materially the leading
fortunately not one of the writers employed by incidents, yet by their frequent recurrence they
Livy in his first: decade has descended to us entire shake' our faith in the trustworthiness of the whole.
or nearly entire, and he seldom gives any indica- Other mistakes also are found in abundance, arising
tion of the sources from whence his statements are from his want of anything like practical knowledge
derived, except in those cases where he encoun- of the world, from his never having acquired even
tered inexplicable contradictions or palpable blun- the elements of the military art, of jurisprudence,
ders. The first five books contain very few allusions or of political economy, and above all, from his
to preceding historians, but a considerable number singular ignorance of geography. It is well known
of fragments relating to this period have been pre- that his account of the disaster at the Caudine
served by Dionysius, Plutarch, and the.gramma- Forks, of the march of Hannibal into Etruria, of
rians. On the other hand, scarcely any fragments the engagement on the Thrasymene Lake, and of
have been preserved relating to the period embraced the passage of the Alps by the Carthaginians, do
by the five. last books of this decade; but here we not tally with the natural features of the regions
find: frequent notices of preceding historians. We in question, and yet the whole of these were
are thus enabled to decide with considerable cer- within the limits or on the borders of Italy, and
tainty that. he depended chiefly upon Ennius, the localities' might all have been visited within
Fabius Pictor, Cincius Alimentus, and Calpurnius the space of. a few weeks.
Pis6; and to these must be added, after the com- While we fully acknowledge the justice of the
mnencement of the Gallic war, Claudius Quadrigarius'; censures directed against Livy on the score.of these
while ~he:.occasionally,. but with less confidence, and other deficiencies, we cannot admit that his
made use of Valerius Antias, Licinius Macer, and: general good faith. has ever been impugned. with,
Aelius Tubero.'We can discern no traces of Sul- any show'of justice.' We are assured (Tacit. Ann.
picius Galba, nor of Scribonius Libo, nor of Cassius iv. 34-) that he was fair and liberal upon matters of
Hemina,.nor. of Sempronius Tuditanus, who were contemporary' history,'where,. from his.positi'on
not -altogether destitute of. weight: we need not about court, he had the greatest temptation. to flatter
lament that he passed over Postumius Albinus and those in power by depreciating their former adverCn. Gellius, -to the latter of whom - especially Dio- saries; vwe. know that he did not scruple to pay a
nysius was indebted for a load of trash; but it high tribute to.the talents and patriotism of such
must ever be a source of regret that he should have' men as Cassius and Brutus, that. his character of
neglected. the Annals and Antiquities of Varro, as Cicero is a high eulogium, and that he. spoke. so
well as. the'Origines of Cato,.works. from which he Warmly of the unsuccessful leader in the great civil
might have obtained stores' of knowledge upon war, that he was.sportively styled a Pompeian by
those departments of constitutional history in which Augustus, who to his honour did not look coldly oil:
he is conspicuously defective. From the com-. the historian'in consequence of his boldness and
mnencement of the third decade he reposes upon a candour. It:is true that in recounting the domestic
much more firm support. Polybius now becomes strife which agitated the republic for nearly two cen-:
the guide whom, for the most part, he follows turies,.he representsthe plebeians and their leaders
elosely and almost exclusively. Occasionally indeed in the most unfavourable light; and whilst he at
he quits him for a time, in:order to make room'for times almost allows that they were struggling for.
those representations of particular occurrences by their just rights against the oppression of the pathe Latin annalists which he deemed likely to. be tricians, he contrives to render their proceedings
more palatable to his readers; but he quickly re- odious. This arose, not from any wish to pervert:
turns to the beaten path, and treads steadily in the the truth, but - from ignorance of the exact relation
footsteps of the Greek. of the contending' parties, combined with a lively
It will be seen -from these remarks that when remembrance of the convulsions which he witnessedLivy- professes to give the testimony of all pre- in his youth, or. had heard of from those who were
ceding authors (omnes auctores), these words must still alive when he had grown up:to manhood. It
be intended to denote those only which happened is manifest that throughout he never can separate
to be before him at the moment, and must not by in his own' mindthe spirited plebeians of the infant
any means be understood to imply that he had con- commonwealth, composed of the noblest and best
sulted every author accessible, nor even such as blood of the various neighbouring'states subjugated
were most deserving of credit. And not only does by Rome, from the base and venal rabble which
he fail to consult all the authors to whom he might thronged theforum in thedays of Marius and Cicero;
have resorted with advantage, but he does not while in like manner he confounds those bold and
avail himself in the most judicious manner of the honest tribunes, who.were the champions of liberty,
aid of those in whom he reposed trust. He does with such men as Saturninus or Sulpicius, Clodius or
not seem at any time to have taken a broad and Vatinius. There is also perceptible a strong but
comprehensive'view of his subject, but to have not unnatural disposition to elevate the justice, moperformed his task piecemeal, A small section was deration, and valour of his own. countrymen in all
taken-in hand, different accounts were compared, their dealings with foreign powers, and on the
and the most plausible was adopted; the same same principle to gloss over their deeds of oppression
system was adhered to in the succeeding portions, and treachery, and to explain away their defeatsso that each considered by itself, without reference But although he unquestionably.attempts to put a
to the rest, was executed with care;but the wit- favourable construction upon adverse facts, he does
nesses who -were'rejected. in one pla'e.were ad- not warp or distort the facts-themselves as he found