head into his brother's camp. So, too, his naïve explanation that
Hannibal's "more than Punic perfidy" consisted mainly of ambushes
and similar military strategies goes to show, as I have said, that
whatever is unjust in our author's estimate was rather the result of
the prejudiced deductions of national egotism than of facts wilfully
or carelessly distorted by partisan spite.

To the reader who bears well in mind the points I have ventured to
make, I predict profit hardly less than pleasure in these pages; for
Livy is perhaps the only historian who may be said to have been honest
enough to furnish much of the material for criticism of himself, and
to be, to a very considerable extent, self-adjusting.

DUFFIELD OSBORNE.



THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE [1]

Whether in tracing the history of the Roman people, from the
foundation of the city, I shall employ myself to a useful purpose, I
am neither very certain, nor, if I were, dare I say; inasmuch as I
observe that it is both an old and hackneyed practice, later authors
always supposing that they will either adduce something more authentic
in the facts, or, that they will excel the less polished ancients in
their style of writing. Be that as it may, it will, at all events,
be a satisfaction to me that I too have contributed my share to
perpetuate the achievements of a people, the lords of the world; and
if, amid so great a number of historians, my reputation should remain
in obscurity, I may console myself with the celebrity and lustre of