The Purpose of Writing History and Its Moral Value — Livy, History of Rome Book 1 (1.pr.1–1.pr.13), Latin & English

§1.pr.1

facturusne operae pretium sim,¹ si a primordio urbis res populi Romani perscripserim, nec satis scio nec, si sciam, dicere ausim, quippe qui cum veterem tum vulgatam esse rem videam,² dum novi semper scriptores aut in rebus certius aliquid allaturos se aut scribendi arte rudem vetustatem superaturos credunt. utcumque erit, iuvabit tamen rerum gestarum memoriae principis terrarum populi pro virili parte et ipsum consuluisse;³ et si in tanta scriptorum turba mea fama in obscuro sit, nobilitate ac magnitudine eorum me, qui nomini officient meo, consoler.

Whether I am going to do something worth the trouble if I write down the history of the Roman people from the very beginning of the city, I do not quite know, nor, even if I knew, should I dare to say so; since I see that it is a matter both ancient and commonly known, while new writers always believe either that they will bring forward something more certain in the facts or that they will surpass the unpolished antiquity in the art of writing. However that may be, it will nevertheless be a pleasure to have contributed my own share, to the best of my ability, to the memory of the deeds of the foremost nation on earth; and if in so great a crowd of writers my own fame should remain in obscurity, I would console myself with the nobility and greatness of those who will overshadow my name.

§1.pr.4

res est praeterea et inmensi operis, ut quae supra septingentesimum annum repetatur⁴ et quae ab exiguis profecta initiis eo creverit, ut iam magnitudine laboret sua; et legentium plerisque haud dubito quin primae origines proximaque originibus minus praebitura voluptatis sint festinantibus ad haec nova, quibus iam pridem praevalentis populi vires se ipsae conficiunt;

Moreover, the task is one of immense labor, as being one which is traced back for more than seven hundred years and which, having started from small beginnings, has grown to such an extent that it is now laboring under its own greatness; and I have no doubt that for most readers the first origins and the periods closest to those origins will afford less pleasure, as they hasten to these modern times, in which the strength of a long-dominant people is now consuming itself;

§1.pr.5

ego contra hoc quoque laboris praemium petam, ut me a conspectu malorum, quae nostra tot per annos vidit aetas, tantisper certe, dum prisca illa tota mente repeto, avertam, omnis expers curae, quae scribentis animum etsi non flectere a vero, sollicitum tamen efficere posset.

I, on the contrary, shall seek this reward of my labor also, that I may turn myself away from the sight of the evils which our age has witnessed for so many years, at least for so long as I am retracing those ancient times with my whole mind, free from all care which, even if it could not turn the writer’s mind from the truth, might nevertheless make it anxious.

§1.pr.6

quae ante conditam condendamve urbem poeticis magis decora fabulis quam incorruptis rerum gestarum monumentis traduntur, ea nec adfirmare nec refellere in animo est.

The traditions which before the city was founded or was to be founded are handed down, more suitable for poetic fables than for the uncorrupted monuments of historical deeds, I have no intention either to affirm or to refute.

§1.pr.7

datur haec venia antiquitati, ut miscendo humana divinis primordia urbium augustiora faciat; et si cui populo licere oportet consecrare origines suas et ad deos referre auctores: ea belli gloria est populo Romano, ut,⁵ cum suum conditorisque sui parentem Martem potissimum ferat, tam et hoc gentes humanae patiantur aequo animo, quam imperium patiuntur.

This indulgence is granted to antiquity, that by mixing human things with divine, it may make the beginnings of cities more august; and if any people ought to be allowed to consecrate their origins and refer their founders to the gods, the Roman people have such glory in war that, when they boast Mars above all as their own parent and the parent of their founder, the nations of the earth should bear this also with as calm a mind as they bear their dominion.

§1.pr.8

sed haec et his similia, utcumque animadversa aut existimata erunt, haud in magno equidem ponam discrimine:

But these things and things like them, in whatever way they shall be noticed or judged, I shall indeed set no great store by:

§1.pr.9

ad illa mihi pro se quisque acriter intendat animum, quae vita, qui mores fuerint, per quos viros quibusque artibus domi militiaeque et partum et auctum imperium sit; labente deinde paulatim disciplina velut desidentis primo mores sequatur animo, deinde ut magis magisque lapsi sint, tum ire coeperint praecipites, donec ad haec tempora, quibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus, perventum est.⁶

to those other matters let each man for his part direct his mind sharply, namely, what the life, what the morals were, through what men and by what arts, both at home and in the field, the empire was both won and extended; let him then follow in his mind how discipline gradually slipped, how at first morals fell as if sinking, then how they slid more and more, and then began to go headlong, until we have reached these times in which we can bear neither our vices nor their remedies.

§1.pr.10

hoc illud est praecipue in cognitione rerum salubre ac frugiferum, omnis te exempli documenta in inlustri posita monumento intueri:⁷ inde tibi tuaeque rei publicae quod imitere capias, inde foedum inceptu, foedum exitu, quod vites.

This is what is especially salutary and fruitful in the study of history: that you behold the lessons of every kind of example set upon a conspicuous monument; from there you may take for yourself and for your state what to imitate, from there what to avoid, as being shameful in its beginning and shameful in its end.

§1.pr.11

ceterum aut me amor negotii suscepti fallit, aut nulla umquam res publica nec maior nec sanctior nec bonis exemplis ditior fuit, nec in quam civitatem tam serae avaritia luxuriaque inmigraverint, nec ubi tantus ac tam diu paupertati ac parsimoniae honos fuerit: adeo quanto rerum minus, tanto minus cupiditatis erat;

For the rest, either love for the task I have undertaken deceives me, or there was never any state either greater or more sacred or richer in good examples, nor one into which avarice and luxury migrated so late, nor where poverty and frugality were held in such high honor for so long: so true it was that the less wealth there was, the less greed there was;

§1.pr.12

nuper divitiae avaritiam et abundantes voluptates desiderium per luxum atque libidinem pereundi perdendique omnia invexere. sed querellae, ne tum quidem gratae futurae, cum forsitan necessariae erunt, ab initio certe tantae ordiendae rei absint;

recently, riches have introduced avarice, and abundant pleasures have brought, through luxury and lust, a desire to ruin and destroy everything. But let complaints, which will not be pleasing even then when perhaps they are necessary, be absent at least from the beginning of undertaking so great a work;

§1.pr.13

cum bonis potius ominibus votisque et precationibus deorum dearumque, si, ut poetis, nobis quoque mos esset, libentius inciperemus, ut orsis tantum operis successus prosperos darent.

we should rather begin, if we had the same custom as the poets, with good omens and vows and prayers to the gods and goddesses, so that they might grant prosperous success to the beginning of so great a work.

Syntax notes7 items

1.pr.1facturusne operae pretium sim
facturus ... sim is an indirect question featuring the future active participle combined with the subjunctive present, acting as the object of the main clause nec satis scio (I do not quite know). operae pretium (literally "the price of labor") is an idiomatic expression meaning "worthwhile" or "worth the trouble."
1.pr.2quippe qui cum veterem tum vulgatam esse rem videam
quippe qui introduces a causal relative clause with the subjunctive (videam), explaining the reason ("since I see..."). cum ... tum ... is a correlative construction meaning "both ... and ..." or "not only ... but also ...".
1.pr.3iuvabit tamen rerum gestarum memoriae principis terrarum populi pro virili parte et ipsum consuluisse
The perfect infinitive consuluisse serves as the subject of the impersonal verb iuvabit. consulo takes the dative (memoriae), meaning "to consult for," "to look after," or "to contribute to." et ipsum refers to the author himself, meaning "myself also."
1.pr.4ut quae supra septingentesimum annum repetatur
ut quae introduces a causal relative clause with the subjunctives repetatur and creverit ("seeing that it is..."). repetatur is in the passive, meaning "is traced back" or "is repeated back (to the origin)."
1.pr.7ea belli gloria est populo Romano, ut
ea is a demonstrative modifying the noun gloria ("such"), anticipating the following result clause introduced by ut ("that..."). populo Romano is a dative of possession ("the Roman people have...").
1.pr.9donec ad haec tempora, quibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus, perventum est
donec is used here with the perfect indicative perventum est (an impersonal passive, literally "it has been arrived"), presenting the endpoint of the historical process as a historical fact. The relative pronoun in the ablative quibus refers to tempora, indicating the circumstances of those times.
1.pr.10omnis te exempli documenta in inlustri posita monumento intueri
This is an accusative with infinitive clause (te ... intueri) explaining the concrete content of the demonstrative pronoun hoc ("this is that which..."). te functions as a general subject ("you", meaning any reader).

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — source 1

urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.pr.1-1.pr.13