Plot:   Battles with Philip of Macedonia, Antiochus of Syria, Nabis of Sparta, and finally Philip’s son Perseus between 200 and 167 BC, which lead initially to what may have been thought of as the emancipation of Greek states from Macedonia, and eventually the widespread influence of Rome over the entire Eastern Mediterranean, laying the foundation for what would become an Empire.

My copy was the Penguin Black Classic Rome and the Mediterranean, translated by Henry Bettenson (ISBN 0140443185)

My thoughts:  Unlike the Second Punic War against Hannibal which still captures the imagination, this stretch of thirty years seem like mere skirmishes in comparison. Yet this series of battles and confrontations (later known as the Second and Third Macedonian Wars, and the Seleucid war against Antiochus of Syria) eventually led to Roman domination of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, and the diminution of Macedonian power.

Halfway through I bailed on these books, largely for the reason above. There was just nothing memorable or inspiring about this period to keep my attention. Livy is certainly a thorough recorder of history, but I think I had wearied of the year by year reports without the personalities of Hannibal or Scipio to keep me intrigued.

One interesting point. As reported in previous books, Roman commanders would sometimes hurl legion standards into the ranks of the enemy to urge their troops to attack and recover them and hence maintain their honour; or deliberately place their armies between the enemy and a geographic barrier, giving the men no choice but to fight on in hopes of victory, knowing that they could not panic and retreat. You would have to be confident that these tactics would work and your men were strong enough to win, or disaster would follow.

I couldn’t help comparing the role of Rome in these conflicts with modern day expectations of the United States as a political mediator and/or military power.

And what happened to Horace’s Epistles as promised? I did read most of them, honest; but just before my brain shut down, I was overwhelmed with the realisation that life is too short to reread them looking for something worthwhile to say about them to you. The longer ones just seemed to ramble, producing no joy in me. While no doubt it is me at fault, I feel no guilt in moving on. Dymo me heathen. That’s two retreats in a row – the Romans have defeated me too.

Personal rating:   Not a reflection on the quality of writing but the events they depict and my own exhaustion with reading about more years of warfare. 3/10

Other reading:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  Teen sci-fi novel recently made into a very entertaining film by Spielberg. Dystopian near future has everyone escaping reality into wholly immersive online computer worlds, with the multibillion dollar ownership of the system up for grabs to whoever can solve the riddles and beat the games. A love song to 80s videogames, movies and pop culture which people seem to either love or hate, but also a sweet coming of age story, a romance and an adventure story. I fell for all of it. 5/5

Prairie Fires  by Caroline Fraser. Detailed biography of the life and times of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie stories which have been a guilty pleasure of mine for many years, not least for editions with the sweet line drawings by Garth Williams. Sets the trials of the Ingalls against a wider context, and much about the relationship between Laura and her own daughter Rose as they collaborate on writing the Little House books. Interesting especially for Wilder fans. 4/5

Next :  Amores (Erotic poems) by Ovid. Woo hoo!

Ten of the surviving books from Livy’s multivolume history of Rome, these deal with the Second Punic War, pitting Carthage against Rome and initiated by Hannibal’s famous crossing of the Alps into Italy.

“War was coming, and it would have to be fought in Italy, in defence of the walls of Rome, and against the world in arms.”   (page 39)

My copy was again the Penguin Black classic translated by Aubrey De Selincourt and edited by Betty Radice (ISBN 014044145X)

My thoughts: I had already read about the First and Second Punic wars in Polybius’ history, but Livy goes into much more detail, and is less flattering to Hannibal, describing him as not only “reckless in courting danger … superb tactical ability … unequalled as a fighting man, always the first to attack, the last to leave the field” but also displaying “inhuman cruelty, a more than Punic [Carthaginian] perfidy, a total disregard for truth, honour and religion, of the sanctity of an oath and of all that other men hold sacred” (page 26)

Livy as rendered here by De Selincourt and Radice is very readable and also dramatic, and while I did not retain all the detail, it was exciting to read and not as diary-like as the previous Livy books – perhaps because there are more events to describe in a shorter space of time (17 years in 676 pages) and they are by their nature more dramatic.

The greatest mystery is why Hannibal and his men, having survived the Alpine crossing, harsh winters, disease and famine, and causing the almost complete destruction of three separate Roman armies, did not immediately march on Rome but spent years in minor battles around Italy.

“Assuredly, no one man has been blessed with all God’s gifts. You know, Hannibal, how to win a fight; you do not know how to use your victory”     (Maharbal, Carthaginian commander of cavalry, to Hannibal, page 151)

Indeed towards the end Hannibal is quoted as berating himself over this very same failure to press his advantage home upon the very target he set out to capture. Certainly in the early years of his campaign he seems to lose more men to weather and terrain than in battles.

“It was the horses, more than anything else, which created havoc … they were soon out of control … In the confusion many non-combatants, and not a few soldiers were flung over the sheer cliffs which bounded each side of the pass, and fell to their deaths thousands of feet below”   (page 58, Crossing the Alps attacked by mountain tribes)

“Heavy rain and a violent wind right in their faces made progress impossible; they could not hold their weapons, and if they tried to struggle on, the wind spun them around and flung them off their feet … all they could do was turn their backs to it, crouching on the ground … blinded and deafened and benumbed with terror … So intense was the cold that followed that of all that miserable heap of prostrate men and beasts not one … was able for a long time to raise himself from where he lay.”   (page 85)

The Romans were very superstitious, and Livy reports on evil portents each year – raining stones and milk, children born with animal faces, animals born with extra limbs or talking, rivers and lakes filling with blood, etc.) and the need to make appropriate sacrifices to appease the gods, including ‘the strewing of the couches’ (a banquet laid out for images of the gods reclining on couches).

After the Carthaginians led by Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal defeat two more Roman armies in Spain (led by brothers Publius Scipio and Gnaeus Scipio); Publius’ son Publius Cornelius Scipio (later nicknamed Scipio Africanus) convinces the Romans to allow him to command the new army to be sent to Spain. After capturing New Carthage where the Carthaginians were holding all their Spanish hostages, equipment, supplies, weapons and money, Scipio goes on to defeat the three Carthaginian armies, then pushes on to land on the African coast and eventually force Hannibal to retreat from Italy in order to protect Carthage. The last chance of a peace is shattered and Scipio defeats Hannibal’s forces at the battle of Zama.

There is so much more detail – I haven’t mentioned the Numidian kings Masinissa and Syphax, and their competition for both the throne and the Carthaginian noblewoman Sophonisba;  or the vicious and brutal treatment of the citizens of Locri by the Roman garrison and their commander Pleminius.

Favourite lines/passages:

Has to be the Campanian civilian’s reckless taunt of the Roman commander who has captured his city :

“Order my execution too, so that you may boast of killing a much braver man than yourself”  (page 375)

Personal rating:   Very readable. 7/10

Kimmy’s rating: Still not keen on those elephants.

Other reading: Two books coincidentally having the same title initials

The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse. Several short stories linked together. Jeeves’ stories all sound similar but are still excellent entertainment.  4/5

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford. Two dogs and a cat travel hundreds of miles to be reunited with their owners. A great job of telling an animal story without OTT anthropomorphism, and providing beautiful descriptions of the Canadian wilderness.  5/5

Next :  The Epistles of Horace, including the Ars Poetica

Plot:   The second set of five books of Livy’s History of Rome, stretching from its recovery from the Gauls’ attack in 390 BC to pretty much the end of the Third Samnite War and Rome’s domination of central Italy by 292 BC.

“Who would begrudge the length of time spent on writing or reading of wars which did not wear down the men who fought them?”   (p. 333)

My copy is the Penguin Black classic translated by Betty Radice (ISBN 0140443886)

My thoughts:  Livy set out to make the writing of Rome’s history his life’s work, intending to write 120 books in sets of 5, with every 15 marking a stage. The first fifteen covered the rise of Rome to become masters of Italy, the next fifteen the Wars with Carthage, and so on, from the mythical establishment of Rome in 757 BC to his own time (c.24 BC). He started to add a further 30 books which were not finished by his death in 17 AD. Of the 142 he did write, only four sets survive.  I have already read books I-V covering Rome’s beginnings and move from kingship to Senatorial government, and now face books VI-X which consists almost solely of continuous warfare with neighbouring tribes until they are on the verge of being the dominant peoples in central Italy.

Livy writes about each year in succession, starting with the names of the newly elected consuls, and which wars they were assigned for the year (yes, it was that regular). Little mention is made of any other aspect of Roman life but politics and warfare. He has more sources to rely on compared with the earlier years, and cites them and any doubts he has about their timelines or accuracy. He also interrupts his own narrative in book IX to give his opinions on Alexander the Great’s likelihood of defeating a Roman army had such an opportunity arisen, and like a good Roman, he comes down on the side of his own nation.

Despite annual wars with their neighbours, and the making and breaking of treaties and peace accords, I can see the beginnings of empire in Roman offers of citizenship (with or without voting rights) to defeated tribes, and the sending of colonists to take up land conquered. Each year the numbers of killed enemies was in the thousands and tens of thousands, so empty farmland couldn’t have been in short supply. And yet the same tribes somehow have thousands more young men to send to their deaths the next year.

Politically the plebeian party gains more power over the hundred years covered by these books, significantly reducing the interest rates on debts, removing the enslavement of debt defaulters, and markedly gaining the prestige of being included to stand in elections for consulship.

Favourite lines/passages:

Many of the years and battles have a predictable sameness of events, so the ones that stand out have interesting stories

• A young Roman soldier Marcus Valerius takes up the one-on-one challenge from the champion of the Gauls. As they began to fight, a raven suddenly landed on Valerius’ helmet and stays, pecking and clawing at the Gaul’s face until he was half-blind, and Valerius can kill him with a sword thrust. (p. 131)
• The Roman army is trapped in a valley with no way out except to surrender. They are stripped naked and forced to walk one by one “under the yoke” and promise peace (p. 223) This humiliation is redressed by later battles as the enemy in their excitement did not use the correct form of words in extracting the promise, binding only the general himself, who after reporting his failure to the Roman people, insisted on being stripped and bound and handed back to the enemy.
• The devotio (intentional suicide by a general by throwing himself into the enemy single handed to lift the Gods’ displeasure with his army) by Publius Decius Mus, repeating the same act his father committed in battle years before.
• And the Romans being a superstitious lot, always consulted the auguries before entering battle. The ever present Keepers of the Sacred Chickens would check how the birds were eating their corn to decide if an attack would be propitious. The general Lucius Papirius fighting the Samnites in 293 BC was told the chickens were eating well (the corn was ‘dancing’, which was untrue) and planned his attack. Some cavalry officers heard the chicken-keepers arguing about their false report, and told Papirius, who continued with his plans, but moved the chicken-keepers into the front line to face the brunt of the enemy’s assault. (p. 346)

Personal rating:   5/10