Livy: Book XXXVIII

Livy is a popular author in schools and universities in all areas of the English speaking world. The more popular books studied are those which recount the early history of Rome and the more noteworthy events of the Second Punic War; but there is a good case for examining the Romans’ attitudes in the early years of their involvement in Greece and Asia, for these are crucial for an understanding of the development of Roman imperialism. The period covered by these five books, from the war against Antiochus the Great to the death of Philip V of Macedon, is of increasing interest to students of Hellenistic Greece and Roman imperialism, and should therefore increasingly interest university departments and Examination Boards seeking to break away from the conventional choices of the first and third decades. This is the only modern edition in English of these books.XXXVIII (189187 BC) is of particular historical importance. The contents divide into two parts; first, the final settlements with Greece and Asia, following the war against Antiochus the Great and the Aetolians; and second, the beginnings of Roman internal discord, with the dispute over the triumph of Manlius Volso, and as climax, the trials of the Scipios.