Editing Livy (section)

===Imperial era===
Livy's ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|History of Rome]]'' was in high demand from the time it was published and remained so during the early years of the empire. [[Pliny the Younger]] reported that Livy's celebrity was so widespread, a man from [[Cádiz]] travelled to Rome and back for the sole purpose of meeting him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Pliny|title=Epistlae|at=II.3.|author-link=Pliny the Younger|title-link=Epistulae (Pliny)}}</ref> Livy's work was a source for the later works of [[Aurelius Victor]], [[Cassiodorus]], [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]], [[Festus (historian)|Festus]], [[Florus]], [[Granius Licinianus]] and [[Paulus Orosius|Orosius]]. [[Julius Obsequens]] used Livy, or a source with access to Livy, to compose his ''De Prodigiis'', an account of [[supernatural]] events in Rome from the consulship of [[Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus|Scipio]] and [[Gaius Laelius|Laelius]] to that of Paulus Fabius and Quintus Aelius.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

Livy wrote during the reign of Augustus, who came to power after a civil war with generals and consuls claiming to be defending the [[Roman Republic]], such as [[Pompey]]. Patavium had been pro-Pompey. To clarify his status, the victor of the civil war, [[Octavian Caesar]], had wanted to take the title ''[[Romulus]]'' (the first king of Rome) but in the end accepted the senate proposal of ''Augustus''. Rather than abolishing the republic, he adapted it and its institutions to imperial rule.

The historian [[Tacitus]], writing about a century after Livy's time, described the Emperor Augustus as his friend. Describing the trial of [[Aulus Cremutius Cordus|Cremutius Cordus]], Tacitus represents him as defending himself face-to-face with the frowning Tiberius as follows:

{{Blockquote|I am said to have praised [[Brutus]] and [[Gaius Cassius Longinus|Cassius]], whose careers many have described and no one mentioned without eulogy. Titus Livius, pre-eminently famous for eloquence and truthfulness, extolled [[Pompey|Cn. Pompeius]] in such a panegyric that Augustus called him Pompeianus, and yet this was no obstacle to their friendship.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tacitus|title=Annales|at=IV.34|quote=Brutum et Cassium laudavisse dicor, quorum res gestas cum plurimi composuerint nemo sine honore memoravit. Ti. Livius, eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in primis, Cn. Pompeium tantis laudibus tulit, ut Pompeianum eum Augustus appellaret: neque id amicitiae eorum offecit.|author-link=Tacitus|title-link=Annales (Tacitus)}}</ref>}}

Livy's reasons for returning to [[Padua]] after the death of Augustus (if he did) are unclear, but the circumstances of [[Tiberius]]'s reign certainly allow for speculation.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}