Two Family Plots and the Reader of Livy (Liv. 1–2; 23–26)

Abstract

Two family plots are present at narrative junctions in Livy’s ab urbe condita: the story of Tarquinius Collatinus’ revenge in the section on the Tarquinii in Rome (Liv. 1–2) and the story of Appius Claudius Pulcher’s care for his family in the section on the defection and reconquest of Capua (Liv. 23–26). Both family plots can only be recognized by a reader who is particularly awake to family constellations in texts, both tell stories that run alongside the main plots of the narrative and provide contrast and accentuation. In the paper I am arguing that the two family plots are an expression of Livy’s polyphonous narrative technique and may have been part of a strategy to adapt to the preferences of readers of Republican gentilician historiography and shape their ideas of historiography towards the ideals of early principate historiography.