An Ocean Untouched and Untried: The Tudor Translations of Livy

The early modern period saw the study of classical history flourish. From debates over the rights of women to the sources of Shakespeare’s plays, the Greco-Roman historians played a central role in the period’s political, cultural, and literary achievements. An Ocean Untouched and Untried: The Tudor Translations of Livy explores the early modern translations of Livy, the single most important Roman historian for the development of politics and culture in Renaissance Europe. It examines the influence exerted by Livy’s history of Rome, the Ab Urbe Condita, in some of the most pressing debates of the day, from Tudor foreign policy to arguments concerning the merits of monarchy at the height of the English Civil War. An Ocean Untouched and Untried examines Livy’s initial reception into print in Europe, outlining the attempts of his earliest editors to impose a critical order onto his enormous work. It then considers the respective translations undertaken by Anthony Cope, William Thomas, William Painter, and Philemon Holland, comparing each translation in detail to the Latin original and highlighting the changes that Livy’s history experienced in each process. It explores the wider impact of Livy on popular forms of literature in the period, especially the plays and poetry of Shakespeare, and demonstrate the Livy played a fundamental though underexplored role in the development of vernacular literature, historiography, and political thought in early modern England.