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Virtual Macedonia Bookstore - The History of Rome from Its Foundation, Books XXI-XXX: The War with Hannibal (Penguin Classics) (Bks. 21-30)
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List Price: $17.00
Our Price: $9.68
Your Save: $ 7.32 ( 43% )
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Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
EAN: 9780140441451
ISBN: 014044145X
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 712
Publication Date: 1965-07-30
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Raw History or How to Be an Imperialist and Not Feel Shame About It.
Comment: Pages filled with lots of details and accounts of almost daily life in the Roman Empire around 200 BC. It's about 700 pages long, not at all pithy mind you. Every important battle or event seems to be introduced with parragraphs on the different augurs, premonitions and superstitions the Romans had before a big event took place. Livy wastes a little too much ink on those details. What is also a little tedious is the constant mentioning of names of personages who occupied different offices during the times of the events in question. He could have done without that too. But take this out, and skip that other thing, the book is an invaluable testimony of the times, a great canvas of the Roman Empire at its greatest moment: the duel with Carthage; Scipio vs Hannibal.
It's like reading a daily of more than 2000 years ago, only better. You get to see what was going on in the Italian peninsula, Hispania, north of Africa. The movement of troops here and there, the decision making in the Roman Senate and accross the Empire, the little barbarian rulers trying to maintain their particular fiefdoms while deciding which neighbor they should pay tribute to: Rome eventually being the better choice. I was delighted to see the Iberian leaders portrayed with a human face, balancing the pros and cons of which empire to follow, Rome or Carthage. It was like geopolitcs for dummies, only 200 BC.
Facts, action, facts, action. May be too much, with no time to pause and meditate. To be read in small takes, digesting it well, otherwise... If you don't get discouraged with so much information, irrelevant to us much of it, it will get to be a fully satisfying experience at the end. You'll think you've been in all those places, you sweat, and even hurt yourself while running away from one of those African elephants. Oh, my!
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Summary: Rome's Greatest Prose Work
Comment: The Romans looked upon Vergil's Aeneid as their greatest work of literature, and it became a focal point of their entire culture, replacing Ennius' earlier epic of Rome's origins so thoroughly that Rome's older central epic has not survived the years. Livy's ten book set devoted to the war with Hannibal has a similar status in prose to the Aeneid's in verse. In fact, one of the three major tales being told simultaneously in the Aeneid is that of the war with Carthage. The point being that the Second Punic War was the defining moment in Roman history. It was the only time the Romans had really met their match. Their superior political, military and economic systems enabled them to outperform the older civilizations of the Mediterranean and gradually gobble them up, but Carthage was the one, and only one, true rival to Rome in the Mediterranean world during entire ancient period. And it has been stated many times that Rome eventually fell from within due to dissatisfaction with mismanaged despotism, rather than being overrun by outside forces. The Western Empire "fell" to Romano-Germanic military units working within and for the Empire. The period of the Second Punic War was always looked back at by Romans as their nation's most trying and revealing moment. All the republican institutions were put to the test under the absolutely most difficult circumstances. No doubt one major reason for the lingering attachment to the Punic War era in imperial times and beyond was how the history of the time preserved a solid working memory of the old republican ways. Livy's history was an instant success, with the first set of ten books too remaining very popular through the years. These two sets of his history were well known and honoured in the Middle Ages, and they played a huge role in the formation of modern republicanism and democracy. I find it kind of odd that I came to Livy's "Hannibalia" a long time after becoming interested in ancient history. This book really is the centre piece of Roman prose literature. Granted, Cicero's works held higher status for their practicality as writing and speaking models, but Livy has more than mere rhetoric in his work. There is rhetoric to be sure, and that makes it all the more fun to read, but he balances it with plenty of quite decent history, drama and political science to boot. A very respectable piece of work to tell your greatest national story. Lots to learn about politics, speaking, statecraft and war here.
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Summary: Recounts the Unbounded Resiliancy of Two Great Peoples
Comment: This work should be championed for the fantastic narrative that it is. Livy surveys the full spectrum of human emotions and events brought on by the yolk of war (on both sides) and though biases abound these should not be feared in the same way we fear the word 'bias' in this uber-PC, Brave New world of ours. This was written long before philosophers decided history could be treated as a science and as such Livy had a great deal more discretion as to what he could include and how to construct his narrative than do contemporary historians. A social/economic history this most certainly is not.
It's a wonderful narrative of determination, faith and despair. Of how a man was reared from birth to bring about the destruction of Rome, of how he devoted his adult life (17 years fighting in Italy alone) to fulfilling this dream of his father, and of how he came within a nights march of realizing that dream and sacking what was latter to become possibly the greatest city man has ever known.
Mostly of course this is an tribute the Roman spirit and the great sacrafices made by the millions who were prepared to do literally anything to prevent themselves from coming under Hannibal's lash of slavery. It is a testament to how the sacred principles of civic responsibility, duty and virtue enabled a people to come together and fend off one the most ruthless and skilled army's the Ancient World had ever known and bring the great city of Carthage to her knees.
I think this same spirit and refusal to accept defeat is shown in the Carthaginians as well as they continued fighting to the death even when the Romans were in Africa and everything must have seemed completely hopeless. Obviously much credit is given to Hannibal, Hasdrubal and the Carthaginians as being masters of arms, diplomacy and civilization. This after all serves in amplifying what a momentous accomplishment the defeat of such a powerful empire was for the Romans themselves.
You'll laugh at times (I laughed out loud at the story of a wolf running off with some guys sword), you probably won't cry but you'll share the sense of despair gripping each side. Livy is a master of conveying meaning and emotions more than he is at painting a visual image so while some of the battle scenes are a bit difficult to clearly envision you'll still hear the joints of the soldiers begin to creek after marching in the cold rain. You'll still have compassion for the darkness and humiliation that these people were gripped with after great loss in battle. You'll share their sense of ecstacy in realizing their greatest dreams. It's a history you feel really more than you envision which is not something commonly found in military histories.
Essential.
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Summary: Classic account of Rome's epic struggle against Carthage
Comment: This book was orginally written by Livy (around the time of Christ) and translated into modern English by Aubrey de Selincourt. This is the classic account of the war as described by one of Rome's great patriotic (but occasionally factually-questionable) historians.
Livy describes the background to war as the continuance of an old feud carried on by Hannibal. Starting with the sack of Saguntum, Hannibal then crosses the Alps to descend into northern Italy, taking the war to Roman territory. His bold and energetic tactics unhinge the Roman commanders and the armies that come to stop him.
Hannibal is literally unstoppable as he wins an impressive string of victories at the Ticinus, the Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and finally Cannae. He doesn't just defeat whole consular Roman armies - he annihilates them and their leaders. No Roman force dares meet Hannibal's army in open battle, so Rome once again resorts Consul Fabius' old strategy of shadowing Hannibal to limit his troops' freedom to forage and plunder. As the Roman-allied cities of southern Italy switch their allegiance to Hannibal, the future never looks darker for the Rome.
However, Rome's robust republican spirit and organization rise to the challenge as the Roman people and their loyal allies refuse to concede defeat. Instead, they rebuild their shattered armies, time and time again, and discover many great new leaders, such as Fabius, Marcellus, Livius, Nero, Metullus, Gracchus, Cornelius Scipio, Gnaeius Scipio, Laelius, and Scipio Africanus. Scipio Africanus finally defeats the great Hannibal himself at the Battle of Zama almost 20 years after the war began. Rome victoriously emerges from the conflict strengthened in every way - militarily, economically, morally, diplomatically - and with a host of successful young leaders. At this point in its history, Rome's historical greatness becomes almost inevitable.
This is a good campaign history of the war. The book focuses on policy, leadership, and the movement of the Roman and Carthaginian armies. The descriptions of actual battle are relatively short. It is organized chronologically by year (from 219 BC to 201 BC) and then by theatre (Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, Africa, Greece). Livy gives a brief annual account of each theatre's significant actions. He also describes the annual election of Roman officials and names each of them, as well as tiring lists of superstitious portents. Although the campaign history uses a rather plain style, Livy writes up dramatic and fiery speeches for his key protagonists, imagining what rhetoric they might have used to motivate their troops before battle.
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Summary: Makes for good reading
Comment: Livy really does make for good reading. He has a great subject matter, so that's a great place to start. But what's enjoyable about this is that Livy really has an ear for a good story. This is much more readible than Polybius. It may not be as reliable, but from beginning to end it has a novelist's flow. Livy didn't necessarily walk the battlefields and he certainly didn't interview participants - like Polybius did, but he knew how to write an engaging tale. You have to remember that Livy was a Roman writing for Romans, probably even glorifying the ancestors of certain powerful people in the process. This is doesn't make for a particularly fair view of Hannibal. And yet the Carthaginian still comes across as an amazing character, as does Publius Scipio. I think that David Anthony Durham based much of his great novel, Pride of Carthage, on this book. I suggest reading both of them. Also, try John Prevas' Hannibal crosses the Alps. Together, they're three fine books that'll give you a lot of history and enjoyment and action.
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Editorial Reviews:
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In The War with Hannibal, Livy (59 BC AD 17) chronicles the events of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, until the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. He vividly recreates the immense armies of Hannibal, complete with elephants, crossing the Alps; the panic as they approached the gates of Rome; and the decimation of the Roman army at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. Yet it is also the clash of personalities that fascinates Livy, from great debates in the Senate to the historic meeting between Scipio and Hannibal before the decisive battle. Livy never hesitates to introduce both intense drama and moral lessons into his work, and here he brings a turbulent episode in history powerfully to life.
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