Livy and the Gladius vs Macedonians

[Dan Howard]

Livy wrote his work during the reign of Augustus. When you determine who Livy's target audience was you get a better idea of why he wrote the way he did. He was also hampered because he never served as a senator or magistrate so he didn't have access to many official records. He was never a soldier either and makes many rudimentary mistakes when describing military matters. It didn't matter for his work because he was more interested in morality and people's motivations than accurately recording history. He tells us this right at the start in his preface.