Livy Vs Plutarch Analysis

Livy vs Plutarch; a Glimpse at Their Methods The Romans were some of the first detailed historians who were able to really paint a picture of the times when they lived and they took pride in trying to verify their facts as well against other documents. Two such historians, Livy and Plutarch, are amongst the most well know historians of the Roman era. Livy constructed a complete history of Rome from its creation until the death of Augustus, whom Livy served under. Plutarch wrote many historical biographies on the various politicians and important figures of Rome, many of which were exaggerated for his own purposes and many others were lost over the years. These historians both based their works on facts and people, but were also influenced …show more content…
His background as a prominent philosopher are more than likely the root of his broad themes and reasons for looking at history as a series of cause and effect rather than just chronologically listing the events themselves. The introduction of “The Makers of Rome” wasn 't written by Plutarch, but it does layout the main themes of Rome as an invincible military force, and the power struggle between Plebeians and Patricians. (Pg. 5-6) This method of taking a step back and trying to relate events is, in a way, more effective at describing the material to the audience, but also doesn 't go as in depth with details. The other benefit is that Plutarch is able to draw his own philosophical ideas and opinions into the mix and present Rome in whatever light he wishes. Being a prod Roman, he chooses to portray Rome as having great leaders by selectively writing about certain great politicians, one such politician is Tiberius Gracchus. Plutarch describes him as having a great character and tells a story/legend on page 133 about Tiberius catching a pair of snakes, one male, the other female. The augurs then state that one must die if the other is to live and that the male represented himself, and the female his wife. However, Tiberius had such great character that he chose to kill the male and release the female because his wife hadn 't lived as many years as him. This story portrays Tiberius as a noble and logical man with a love of his wife, capable of choosing his own destiny. The information left out in this tale, is that Tiberius was actually murdered by Roman Senate members. This was left out by Plutarch because it would force the reader to ask questions about why Tiberius was killed by his fellow government officials. Instead, what the reader receives is a clear depiction of a noble politician that had high morals. This then ties into