he fourth year of Tiberius, A.D.
17. His literary talents secured the patronage and friendship of
Augustus; and his reputation became so widely diffused, that a Spaniard
traveled from Cadiz to Rome solely for the purpose of beholding him;
and, having gratified his curiosity in this one particular, he
immediately returned home. Livy's "History of Rome" extended from the
foundation of the city to the death of Drusus, B.C. 9, and was comprised
in 142 books. Of these 35 have descended to us. The whole work has been
divided into _decades_, containing 10 books each. The First decade (bks.
i.-x.) is entire. It embraces the period from the foundation of the city
to the year B.C. 294, when the subjugation of the Samnites may be said
to have been completed. The Second decade (bks. xi.-xx.) is altogether
lost. It included the period from B.C. 294 to B.C. 219, comprising an
account, among other matters, of the invasion of Pyrrhus and of the
First Punic War. The Third decade (bks. xxi.-xxx.) is entire. It
embraces the period from B.C. 219 to B.C. 201, comprehending the whole
of the Second Punic War. The Fourth decade (bks. xxxi.-xl.) is entire,
and also one half of the Fifth (bks. xli.-xlv.). These 15 books continue
the history from B.C. 201 to B.C. 167, and develop the progress of the
Roman arms in Cisalpine Gaul, in Macedonia, Greece, and Asia, ending
with the triumph of AEmilius Paullus. Of the remaining books nothing is
extant except inconsiderable fragments. The style of Livy may be
pronounced almost faultless. In judging of his merits as a historian, we
are bound to ascertain, if possible, the end which he proposed to
himself. No one who reads his work with attention can suppose that he
ever conceived the project of drawing up a critical history of Rome. His
aim was to offer to his countrymen a clear and pleasing narrative,
which, while it gratified their vanity, should contain no startling
improbabilities or gross amplifications. To effect this purpose, he
studied with care the writings of some of his more celebrated
predecessors in the same field; but in no case did he ever dream of
ascending to the fountain-head, and never attempted to test the accuracy
of his authorities by examining monuments of remote antiquity.

[Illustration: Maecenas.]

[Footnote 74: These were probably composed in the Saturnian metre, the
oldest species of versification among the Romans, in which much greater
license was allowed in the laws of quant