Introduction

Abstract

The Introduction offers an outline of Livy’s life, classical reputation, and particular style of historiography. The study is then situated amid the major recent works on Classical Reception and Translation Studies, identifying its main contributions to the field. The introduction also sets out the main critical impulses at the heart of this monograph. Much like recent works on classical reception in English literature, this study of Livy’s early-modern reception is concerned with exploring how the classical work enriched the native tradition, uncovering the ways in which the AUC pushed literature in the English vernacular in new and politically challenging directions. And while giving deserved attention to the political and cultural contexts from which each of these translations emerged, this study, as the introduction explains, also attempts also to offer a detailed comparison of the Latin original with the English version, tracing the shifts in meaning and emphasis across the linguistic divide.