The Early History of Rome: Books I-V of the Ab Urbe Condita (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) » (New Edition)

Titus Livius was born in Patavium (modern Padua) in northern Italy around 59 BC. Given that he was able to devote so much of his life to writing history, it is reasonable to suppose that Livy's family must have been fairly wealthy. This work, which he called the Ab Urbe Condita-"From the Founding of the City"- took Livy forty years to write.

Livy's Early History of Rome tells of a small monarchical state's struggle to survive. It tells the story of the overthrow of the kings and the development of the Roman Republic. It depicts the qualities that allowed the early Romans to overcome internal disputes and foreign enemies and to recover after the nearly total destruction of their city in 390 BC. Livy writes with fairness, humanity, and an irresistible enthusiasm for the courage, honesty, and self-sacrifice that exemplified what it was to be Roman.