A Commentary on Livy Books 41-45

Livy's History of Rome covers the city's foundation to 9 BC in 142 Books of which only 1-10 and 21-45 survive. This is the fourth and final volume of John Briscoe's commentary on the last fifteen surviving Books of Livy. Books 41-45 cover the years 178-167 BC and deal with the Third Macedonian War which lasted from 171-168 BC, and resulted, as had been the senate's intention, in the destruction of the Macedonian monarchy. Livy's text depends on a single manuscript of late antiquity, which is not only considered as highly corrupt but has also suffered substantial physical losses. The volume's introduction contains a discussion of the causes of and events leading to the outbreak of war, as well as sections on Livy's sources, the text, chronology, and Roman legions in service during the period. Briscoe's final commentary also looks in detail at the historical, textual, linguistic, and stylistic matters of Livy's narrative and eschews the narratological approach of much recent work on Livy.

Abbreviations. Introduction. 1. Sources. 2. Text. 3. The Outbreak of the Third Macedonian War. 4. Chronology. 5. Roman Legions. Commentary. Book 41. Book 42. Book 43. Book 44. Book 45. Appendices. 1. Tenses of the subjunctive in oratio obliqua. 2. Proconsuls and propraetors. 3. The peregrine praetor. Addenda. Indexes. 1. General. 2. Language and style. 3. Authors and passages. 4. Latin. 5. Greek.

John Briscoe is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester.