Reception — how the record has been read; the house quotes the fighters and picks no side

Niebuhr against the legend of early Rome

correction · 1811–32; Hare & Thirlwall translation, new edition 1851–60 · dated secure · ascription secure receipt — the reception record

The founder of the modern method reads Rome's first centuries as inherited poetry — not to mock the legends but to sever them from history, and to say plainly where Livy 'leaves us without information, or misleads us.' Where the corrected passage is served, it stands beside the correction.

The reader / the read — who reads, and who stands accused or defended

the reader

Barthold Georg Niebuhr — 1776–1831.

the read

Livy, The History of Rome (the early books). his witness card. The target is served: The History of Rome.

The reader's stance — his own method, in his own words

The method in one sentence: sever the poetical ingredients from what is historically sure.

We should only want to correct the misrepresentations during the earlier ages, and to sever the poetical ingredients from what is historically sure and wellgrounded Niebuhr, The History of Rome, vol. I (Hare & Thirlwall tr., 1851), p. xvii cited, never reprinted — the apparatus shelf

Livy named as the ground under correction: where he 'leaves us without information, or misleads us.'

draw a simple sketch of the constitution, and of the changes it underwent at particular times, where Livy leaves us without information, or misleads us. Niebuhr, The History of Rome, vol. I (Hare & Thirlwall tr., 1851), p. xvii cited, never reprinted — the apparatus shelf

The charges and the findings — blow by blow; where the struck passage is served, it stands beside the blow

The Lay of the Tarquins: from Tarquinius Priscus to Regillus, the narrative is read as an epic poem, not a record. charge

with L. Tarquinius Priscus @ great poem begins, which ends with the battle of Regillus: and this Lay of the Tarquins, even in its prose shape, is still inexpressibly poetical: nor is it less unlike real history. Niebuhr, The History of Rome, vol. I (Hare & Thirlwall tr., 1851), p. 259 cited, never reprinted — the apparatus shelf

the passage under attack — served as the record carries it: he went in the frenzy of his passion with a naked sword to the sleeping Lucretia Liv. 1.58 The History of Rome · Livy

The Lucretia scene — one panel of the lay, served as the record carries it (the Roberts text; the scan's OCR frays elsewhere in the chapter and is served uncorrected, per the honest-OCR law).

The epic's power granted even as its history is denied: it leaves everything later Rome produced far behind it. charge

all this forms an epic poem, which in power and brilliance of imagination leaves everything produced by the Romans in later times far behind it. Niebuhr, The History of Rome, vol. I (Hare & Thirlwall tr., 1851), p. 259 cited, never reprinted — the apparatus shelf

The consular register itself is arraigned: 'poetry and fiction,' with Fasti framed to fill the space of time. charge

its contents even on this side of the Re- volution are poetry and fiction. The Fasti, which are supposed to substantiate it, were framed with a view of filling up the given space of time. Niebuhr, The History of Rome, vol. I (Hare & Thirlwall tr., 1851), p. 540 cited, never reprinted — the apparatus shelf

The war with Porsenna: nothing in the whole account can stand 'the test of the slightest criticism, as a historical fact.' charge

it is of much higher im- portance to observe that this war probably belongs to a considerably later time, and that in the whole account of it there is nothing that can stand the test of the slight- est criticism, as a historical fact. Niebuhr, The History of Rome, vol. I (Hare & Thirlwall tr., 1851), p. 540 cited, never reprinted — the apparatus shelf

the passage under attack — served as the record carries it: The enemy were astounded at his preternatural courage. Liv. 2.10 The History of Rome · Livy

Horatius at the bridge — the legend's most famous panel, served as the record carries it.

The ceded land and the 'romantic generosity': the restoration tale is called utterly destitute of historical foundation. charge

That the Romans in the treaty with Porsenna were forced to cede the territory on the Etruscan bank of the Tiber is acknowledged: and I shall shew how utterly destitute of historical foundation is the tale of its being restored to them by an act of romantic generosity. Niebuhr, The History of Rome, vol. I (Hare & Thirlwall tr., 1851), p. 418 cited, never reprinted — the apparatus shelf

the passage under attack — served as the record carries it: This year Porsena made the last attempt to effect the restoration of the Tarquins. Liv. 2.15 The History of Rome · Livy

The chapter's close carries the land's return; the scan's text layer frays there (W9's known vol-I casualty), so the clean opening sentence stands for the episode — the panel doors to the whole chapter.

The verdict — the reading's own summary, never the house's

The verdict on testimony: absurd to expect witnesses where all is 'still fabulous and poetical in the history of Rome.'

He would deem it absurd to expect any testimonies with regard to an event five hundred years antecedent to the time when all is still fabulous and poetical in the history of Rome. Niebuhr, The History of Rome, vol. I (Hare & Thirlwall tr., 1851), p. 179 cited, never reprinted — the apparatus shelf

The aftermath — how this reading has itself been read

The correction's own reception is not yet on the shelf. No book on the estate's shelf yet reads Niebuhr as he read Livy; the store leaves his aftermath open — a fact about the shelf, not a verdict on the correction.

The record here: 166 works · 12,119 episodes served · a reception entry asserts that a named reader read the record this way — never that the reading is right · every blow carries its receipt; 3 struck passages served beside their blows

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