Livre

LIVRE. The livre is an obsolete French monetary unit and weight, the word being derived from the Latin "libra," a pound used as money; it was called the livre (Tournois) and was divided into 20 "sous" of 12 "deniers" each. This corresponds to the present English system of pounds, shillings and pence, each con taining that weight of silver. Originally equal to the English pound, it early depreciated to a far greater extent. Thus the franc, whose name dates from the middle ages, circulated before the Revolution by the side of the livre, and the legal rate of conversion was that of 81 livres to 8o francs.

After the Revolution the franc became the official monetary unit, but the livre continued to circulate until 1834, when it was withdrawn.

As a measure of weight, the livre was of an indefinite character, each town having its own standard.

LIVY

(Thus Livius) (59 B.C.—A,D. 17), Roman historian, was born at Patavium (Padua) in Cisalpine Gaul, some 22 m. S.W. of Venice. His mature years were doubtless spent mostly in Rome, where he enjoyed the friendship of Augustus—a friend ship that was not impaired by the fact that Livy eulogized Pom pey so highly that Augustus called him "a Pompeian" (Tac., Ann. iv. 34). Of his domestic relations we know only that he had a son (Quintil. x. 1.39), who may have been the writer referred to as one of his authorities by Pliny (N.H. i. 5 Livio filio, ibid. 6 T. Livio filio), and a daughter (Seneca, Controv. x. 29.2). He died in A.D. 17 at his native Padua, of which he constituted the chief title to fame (Mart. i. 62.3 Censetur Apona Livio sue tellus).

We have some testimony to Livy's studies in rhetoric (Quintil. x. 1.39 "that brevity which is found in Livy in a letter written to his son: Read Demosthenes and Cicero, then other authors as each is likest to Demosthenes and Cicero," cf. ii. 5.2o, viii. 2,18) and philosophy (Seneca, Ep. 100.9 "You may add the name of Titus Livius: for he wrote both dialogues assignable as well to history as to philosophy, and other books avowedly containing philosophy"). But his life-work was history.

His History of Rome (Ab urbe condita libri) was in 142 hooks, and told the story of Rome from the arrival of Aeneas in Italy down to the death of Drusus, younger brother of the emperor Tiberius, in A.D. 9. There are indications that the work was pub lished in parts: thus, while Bk. I. opens with a formal preface to the whole work, prefaces of a less formal nature introduce Bks. VI., XXI. and XXXI. The division into decades is a late one and is not heard of before the end of the 5th century, though some scholars have seen what they consider to be traces of an original decadic division, e.g., Bk. LXXX. contained the death of Marius, Bk. XC. the death of Sulla.

Of the 142 books only 35 are extant, viz., I.–X., carrying the story down to 293 B.C. XXI.–XLV. (with some lacunae in XLI.–XLIV.), covering the years 218-167 B.C. We have, further, a fragment of Bk. XCI. which was discovered in the Vatican in 1772. The lost books are to some extent replaced by the Periochae (or summaries of contents), dating perhaps from the 4th century, which we possess for all the books with the exception of CXXXVI. and CXXXVII. Further, the Prodigia of Iulius Obsequens (4th century A.D.) which gives a list of prodigies from 19o-12 B.C., is directly taken from (probably an epitome of) Livy. The same applies to the fasti in the Chronica of Cassiodorus (6th century). An Oxyrhynchus papyrus (for which see J. S. Reid, Classical Review, July 1904) contains fragments of an epitome—excerpts from Bks. XXXVII.–XL. and XLVIII.–LV. Lastly, the sub stance of much of Livy's history is no doubt to be found in later writers, who made use of his work.

His Conception of History.

To understand the ideas with which Livy undertook his great work, we turn to the general pre face prefixed to Bk. I.: "Whether I shall perform a work worth the doing if I write the history of the Roman people from the foundation of the city, I do not well know, nor, if I knew, would I dare to say, inasmuch as I perceive that the subject is both old and trite, new writers ever believing either that they will contrib ute some greater certainty in matters of fact, or that in the art of writing they will surpass the rudeness of antiquity. However that may be, it will be at least a pleasant thought that I myself also should have done my duty to the memory of the deeds of the chiefest people in the world ; and if in so great a company of writers my fame should be obscured, I would comfort myself with the nobility and greatness of those who shall darken my name. My theme, moreover, is one of immense labour—an em pire whose story goes back beyond 700 years, and which, starting from small beginnings, has grown to a point where it labours under its own magnitude. To the greater number of my readers, I doubt not, the story of the first beginnings and of the times nearest to the beginning will afford less pleasure, eager as they will be to reach these latter times when the powers of a long puissant people are working their own decay. I, on the contrary, will seek this reward also of my labour—to avert a little while my eyes from the contemplation of the evils which our age has seen during so many years, while with my whole mind I recall those ancient things, free from every care which might dis tract the mind of the writer, even if it did not deflect it from the truth.