5 The Carthaginians shall do no injury Polyb 3 22 11–13. This treaty is historical. The reliable Polybius reports what he surely saw for himself, that the treaty was preserved in bronze in the treasury of the aediles beside the Temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest. He confesses to having some trouble translating the archaic Latin, but the text as he gives it is plausible and rational.
6 boundaries of Latium at this epoch Latium Vetus, Old Latium.
7 still there in Cicero’s time Cic Balb 53.
8 Let there be peace between the Romans Dio of H 6 95 2.
9 Etruscan ruling class of Capua Livy 4 37 1–2.
10 Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus Livy 3 26–29.
11 “most opulent of all Etruria’s cities” Ibid., 5 22.
12 its forces reached Rome The First Veientine War, 483–74.
13 As you know, gentlemen Livy 2 48 8. A Livian reconstruction.
14 replaced their kings with elected officials Briquel, p. 44.
15 Aulus Cornelius Cossus Livy 4 19. A vivid account.
16 a linen corselet The inscription and corselet had probably been restored in 222, when the third winner of spolia opima made his dedication at the temple. See Ogilvie Livy 1–5, pp. 558–65.
17 expanded from four thousand to six thousand men Keppie, p. 18.
18 priestess straightforwardly suggested According to Livy 5 16 9–11.
19 designed to prevent seepage See Ogilvie 1, pp. 658–59.
20 This work was now begun Livy 5 19 10–11.
21 archaic wooden statue Dio of H 13.3. A xoanon, or carved wooden image. A contemporary sculpture would have been made of terra-cotta.
22 “leave this town where you now dwell” Livy 5 21 3.
23 “too much like a romantic stage play” Ibid., 5 21 8–9.
24 the only civic status available, Roman citizenship For this plausible speculation, see CAH 7 2, pp. 312–13.
25 We are told, too, that words were uttered Ibid., 5 22 6.
26 “How sad, ancient Veii!” The poet was Sextus Propertius. See Carmina 4 10 27 30.
27 “Calamity of unprecedented magnitude” Livy 5 37 1.
28 [They] had no knowledge of the refinements Polyb 2 17 8–12.
29 were usually tall This paragraph draws on Dio Sic 5 28 and 32.
30 A foolish story is told If there is any truth in this, it could be that the Celts were invited to intervene in some internal quarrel in Clusium.
31 about ten thousand Romans faced thirty thousand Celts Scullard, p. 103.
32 a rout with high casualties Livy exaggerates the disaster for dramatic effect. From what followed, it seems clear that much of the army must have managed to escape.
33 Livy describes what happened next Livy 5 39–49. He overdoes the damage caused by the Celts.
34 a strange ritual called devotio For this interpretation see Ogilvie, p. 725. Also Livy 5 41.
35 Many public and private records Livy 6 1.
36 It was the geese that saved them Ibid., 5 47.
37 Juno’s sacred geese Juno had no special interest in geese. The birds were probably those kept in the auguraculum, or space for augury, on the Capitol, where the mood of the gods was divined from the way the birds ate their food. See Ogilvie, p. 734; the story is “the authentic stuff of history.” 131 Insult was added Livy 5 48 9.
38 barbarians may have gone, but not forever See Oakley 1, pp. 360–65 for a discussion of “Gallic attacks on Rome between the Allia and Sentinum.” 132 king of the Visigoths, the fearsome Alaric Alaric captured Rome in A.D. 410.
39 “at that moment an invasion” Polyb 2 18 3.
40 All work was hurried Livy 5 55. The story may be an ancient urban myth, invented to explain the haphazard layout of Rome’s drains.
41 work began in 378 Ibid., 6 32.
42 “giving the beholder the impression” Dio of H 4 13 4.
Livy is the main source, with contributions by Cassius Dio, Cicero, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus.
1 the Caudine Forks The opening section of this chapter discusses the clades Caudiana, the Caudine catastrophe, which is recounted in Livy 9 1.
2 The Consuls, pretty much half-naked Ibid., 9 6 1–2.
3 “You are never without a reason” Ibid., 9 11 6–7.
4 far from being grateful to the Samnites Dio 8 36 21.
5 speaks of a foedus Cic Invent 2 91–94.
6 in 319, a Roman general is recorded CAH 7, pt. 2, p. 371.
7 “It is not inevitable” Dio 8 36 21.
8 Some fifty-three patrician clans Grant, p. 61.
9 “Very well,” shouted Sextius Livy 6 35 8.
10 tribunes aborted the elections Roman historians, including Livy, reported a five-year vacation of magistrates. This is most unlikely, and was probably proposed to correlate the disjunction between traditional dates in the early Republic and the accurate dates from the middle Republic onward.
11 reserved for patricians The praetorship was opened to plebeians in 337.
12 “Camillus, conqueror of the Veian people” Ovid 1 641–44.
13 “the liberty of the Roman People” Livy 8 28 1. Livy claims that nexum was abolished, but he was probably overstating the case.
14 “Every man is the maker” Sall Epist ad Caesarem senem, I.1.2. Napoleon famously made the same point when he was considering a candidate for the post of marechal of France: “A-t-il de la chance?”
15 his famous censorship of 312 See Livy 9 29 and Dio Sic 20 36.
16 In my opinion, the three most magnificent works Dio of H 3 67 5.
17 resolutions of the Plebeian Council Livy 8 12 15–17 writes that Quintus Publilius Philo passed such a law about the concilium plebis, but it seems more likely that Publilius recognized the validity of concilium resolutions, provided they received patrum auctoritas—that is, senatorial approval—and that the full measure was taken in 287. See Oakley 2, pp. 524–27.
18 “Our own commonwealth was based” Cic Rep 2 1 2.
19 “not by abstract reasoning” Polyb 6 10 13.
20 Titus Manlius Livy 8 7 tells the story.
21 Janus, Jupiter, father Mars, Quirinus Livy 8 9 6–8. It is uncertain whether this is an accurate citation of the ritual text, or invented by Livy. However, it would certainly have looked convincing to his readers, familiar as they were with the many ceremonies that framed their lives.
22 Did these episodes take place? See CAH 7 2, p. 362.
23 the borders of Latium “Old” Latium, smaller than today’s Lazio.
24 the extent of territory CAH 7 2, p. 367.
25 According to a modern calculation, CAH 7 2 353. Apparent precision masks
