Livy's Political and Moral Values and the Principate

Abstract

Livy's political and moral philosophy is part of an organicistic representation of the city, which was of Hippocratic origin but has since become commonplace in historiographical writing. Two general principles ensue: firstly, a dualistic conception of political and social relations, bearing the stamp of clientelism and yet transformed by Platonic and Stoic thought. The importance that Livy attributes to this theme is explained by the hope of a return to political and moral order following the civil wars. The second general principle lies in the affirmation of a necessary national unity around a centre of power, normally the Senate but possibly, in times of crisis, a reforming princeps. Livian political and moral values therefore appear to be in the continuity of aristocratic and philosophical traditions but also in accordance with the values advocated by Augustus at the time of the establishment of the principate.

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