In early Rome, noble family members felt themselves committed to working to enhance the prestige of their families and did not dislike to write historical accounts when they retired. The problem with this kind of texts is that the author's opinion is greatly influenced by the events in which he was involved.
An example of writers involved in the politics of their times is Tacitus, who lived under Vespasian. He entered political life, as quaestor. He advanced steadily through the cursus honorum, becoming praetor in 88. He served in the provinces from ca. 89 to ca. 93 either in command of a legion or in a civilian post.Nothing of this happened to Livy, who did not cover any public magistracy and was not involved in any public career.Therefore, what makes original Livy's personality is his lack of influence from a public role he never really had. If we assume that Livy wrote his histories because he met with Augustus, we make a big mistake. His main aim was at finding examples of moral characters that could be recalled again to fight against the moral decay of his time.Yet, this idea presumes that the period in which he was living had two faces like Janus: the Augustan age contained the germs of the decay but it was considered at the same time the peak of the Roman civilization per se. And in the preface of his Histories he writes that the study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind, because in history the characters exemplify - using a greek word- topoi, that is to say examples of human behavior, good and bad. Livy was not writing history as modern historians do, that is writing a philological and detailed account of the events. He is aware that he may use the etiological accounts of the origins of Rome to illustrate the features of the Roman characters.
An example of writers involved in the politics of their times is Tacitus, who lived under Vespasian. He entered political life, as quaestor. He advanced steadily through the cursus honorum, becoming praetor in 88. He served in the provinces from ca. 89 to ca. 93 either in command of a legion or in a civilian post.Nothing of this happened to Livy, who did not cover any public magistracy and was not involved in any public career.Therefore, what makes original Livy's personality is his lack of influence from a public role he never really had. If we assume that Livy wrote his histories because he met with Augustus, we make a big mistake. His main aim was at finding examples of moral characters that could be recalled again to fight against the moral decay of his time.Yet, this idea presumes that the period in which he was living had two faces like Janus: the Augustan age contained the germs of the decay but it was considered at the same time the peak of the Roman civilization per se. And in the preface of his Histories he writes that the study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind, because in history the characters exemplify - using a greek word- topoi, that is to say examples of human behavior, good and bad. Livy was not writing history as modern historians do, that is writing a philological and detailed account of the events. He is aware that he may use the etiological accounts of the origins of Rome to illustrate the features of the Roman characters.
