Livy

Livy was a historian of ancient Rome, born Titus Livius in Patavium (present-day Padua) in northern Italy. Public sources on the dates of his birth and death are limited; tradition holds that he died in 17 AD. He devoted his life to writing the History of Rome, comprising 142 books and covering the story from the founding of Rome to the age of Augustus. The surviving portions span early Rome through the middle and later Republic, and the five works held here are different sections of those extant books. Livy's prose is vivid and fluent, and he excelled at conveying moral lessons through narrative; his character portrayals and speeches have been especially admired by later generations, and his influence on Western historiography and literature has been profound.