LIT 231
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Livy, Book XXX

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. In Sophonisba, we get one of the few female characters in Livy's history.  In what mold does Livy create Sophonisba?  What other female character(s) in Roman literature does she resemble?  For Livy, what role do women play in the course of historical events?
2. Traditionally, the Roman consuls were the highest authorities in the land, both politically and militarily, except in national emergencies, when a dictator (literally, in Latin, a "speaker") or imperator (literally, in Latin, a "commander") might be appointed with command over the consuls.  Wherein lies Scipio's authority, then?  He seems, throughout Book XXX, to be above the normal political and military system - without any obligation to answer to the consuls at all, for example.  Why might this anomalous freedom make Livy so interested in the figure of Scipio?  Speculate about Livy's political leanings.  How do you think Livy feels about the Augustan state and the anomalous position of Augustus as the head of government?
3. What, finally, is your impression of Hannibal and Scipio as commanders and characters in Livy's history?  How does Livy seem to want us to view the two of them?  What does Livy value and what does he criticize in his protagonists?  What do we learn about the values of Hannibal and Scipio from their encounter at Zama?