Roman Historiography: Authors, Works, and Features
The Purpose of Roman Historiography
The purpose of the genus is historiographical: to explain historical events. It appears in 272 BC, influenced by the Greeks. The Romans look to the past, focusing on the idea of Rome; the Greeks focus on the present. Roman historians exhibit two opposing attitudes: complacency and pessimism when describing historical facts, and displeasure when analyzing the evolution (and their refusal of interests) of the events they narrate.
Key Roman Historians
The first annalists, Cato, later annalists, Julius Caesar, Cornelius Nepos, Sallust, Livy, Tacitus, and Suetonius.
Channels of Historical Transmission
The annales narrate historical events. They emerged in the late 4th century BC, influencing later authors and serving as their source and model.
- 1st group: Focused on the Punic Wars, employing Greek. They treat historical events of the monarchy and the early centuries of Rome with a rough and primitive style, yet clear and concise.
- 2nd group: Focused on Gracchus and Sulla, employing Latin. They cover contemporary or near-contemporary historical events, aiming for a moral and rhetorical style.
The first work using historical sources is Cato’s Origins, which shows several innovations, including being written in Latin and not merely being a chronicle of events.
Major Works and Authors
- Cato: Origins
- Caesar: Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Commentarii de Bello Civili
- Nepos: De Viris Illustribus
- Sallust: Bellum Iugurthinum, Bellum Catilinae
- Suetonius: Vitae XII Caesarum
- Tacitus: Annales, Historiae, Germania
- Livy: Ab Urbe Condita
Patrons and Key Figures
Patrons were protectors of arts and artists.
- Cato: A severe and austere man.
- Seneca: A man of great wisdom about life.
- Judas: A wicked man and traitor.
- Caesar: Became emperor or king.
- Nero: A very cruel man.
- Magdalena: Ploranera (likely refers to Mary Magdalene, known for weeping).
- Virgil: From Mantua.
- Livy: From Padua.
Associations and Works
- War of the Gauls: Caesar
- From Sources in Urbe: Livy, Virgil (Aeneid)
- Famous Men: Cornelius Nepos
- Epigrams: Martial
- War of Jugurtha: Sallust
- Epodes: Horace
- The Civil War: Julius Caesar
- From the Orator: Cicero
- The Conspiracy of Catiline: Sallust
- Parallel Lives: Plutarch
- The Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Suetonius
- Pupil of Socrates and Plato: Claudius (likely an error, should be Plato)
- Student of Livy: Claudius
Livy (Titus Livius)
Livy lived from 64/59 BC to 17 AD. He spent 30 years in Rome, enjoyed a friendship with Augustus, and had a vocation as a historian. His major work, *Ab Urbe Condita*, originally comprised 142 books, of which only books 1-10 and 21-45 are preserved. Summaries or *periochae* (brief outlines) of the lost books also exist. His historiographical genre narrates the arrival of Aeneas in Latium up to the death of Drusus in 9 BC in Italy.
Key Features of Livy’s Work:
- Nationalistic conception.
- Moral and religious focus.
- Formal features proposed by Cicero.
- Identification with Augustus’s moral restoration program.
- Lack of objectivity.
Caesar: De Bello Gallico
Caesar’s *De Bello Gallico* includes:
- Geographical description of Gaul.
- Campaign against the Belgians in the north.
- Campaigns against the Veneti in the west and the Aquitani.
- Campaign against the Teutons.
- Campaign against the British and the Belgians.
- Description of the customs of the Gauls and Teutons.
- Uprising of Gaul under Vercingetorix.
- An added book by Hirtius recounting the last resistance of the Gauls.
Caesar: De Bello Civili
Caesar’s *De Bello Civili* covers:
- Causes of the civil war.
- Siege and surrender of Marseilles.
- Caesar’s appointment as dictator.
- Caesar’s move to the coast of Greece and then Illyria.