Livy Essay Example

Essay The ancient Roman poet named Livy once wrote the story Romulus and Remus were he writes historical fact of the death of Remus and ‘vulgatior fama’ or the common story. One of the major things Livy was concerned about was the lack of mortality within Rome and how it seemed to be almost extinct. In the introduction entitled Livy’s History of Rome: “Legends of Early Rome” and “Hannibal and the 2nd Punic War,” he writes mores, gravitas, fides, and virtus are rapidly losing popularity in Rome and how he believes that people of Rome should continue these Roman traditions. Livy makes the distinction between the historical fact and the vulgatior fama style of the story because in his own agenda for the entire story is to show that Romans prospered during the times of mortality and he uses his text to show prime examples of how mortality altered the lives of many Roman people. Livy begins to introduce the vulgatior fama style of the story early on in the text. In Romulus and Remus 1. 5 he writes, “Addit sceleri scelus.” In this portion of the story Livy is writing that Amulius is forcing his brother out of the kingdom, adding one crime to another. He uses the word crime as if the act he is doing is considered a bad deed. Livy says the word crime on purpose to say that it’s against Roman morels to take charge of a situation and not letting the gods choose the fate, as they always have done. Having respect to the gods is a main theme created throughout the story as part of Livy’s agenda. Earlier in Romulus and Remus 1. 4-5, Livy mentioned, “Verecundia aetatis. Pulso fratre.” Livy begins to explain that the power is beyond that of their fathers, but its respect for age. He makes it obvious to the reader to show that respect for age is clearly misused by Numitor. If they followed the ways of ancient Rome and their morels, that due to respect for age, Numitor should receive power to be king. Livy makes this very clear in his agenda and shows that it is his personal