Livy and Polybius - Biases?

[Johnny66]

I am interested in the 2nd Punic War and am interested to know if either source were sponsored by Roman families in order to make their military relative's memory look good for history (ie. the slain Consul Paulus at Cannae vs the ''aggressive'' surviving Varro)?

I understand that Polybius was a military man and wrote for the Scipio family, but what about Livy?

It would be wrong to say that Polybios "wrote for the Scipio family". They were most certainly his patrons while in Roman exile from Achaia and, as such, he's unlikely to be critical of them. That does not mean he overly exaggerated their importance or actions. Nor does it mean he is uncritical of Rome; he does indeed criticise.

Polybios wrote for several reasons but the central thread is his need to explain (mainly to his Greek readers) how it was that Rome came to subsume the Greeks and the oikumene. How the Macedonians fell as well as the Seleukids and Carthaginians. Polybios sees his starting Olympiad as the crux: there is Rome and Carthage in the west and in the east, three new rulers of the great Hellenistic kingdoms. It sets the stage for his narrative of power politics over the next seven decades as each power contends for prize. Ptolemy cravenly leaves the stage; Carthage is toppled; Philip V overreaches and, finally, Antiochos is defeated. Rome stands alone.

Livy is another kettle of fish. Not a military man, he culls the works of earlier authors (Polybios among them) and the Roman analysts. His access to these varied sources is demonstrated over and again and examples which spring to mind are Scipio's forces which left Sicily for Africa (where he lists several numbers as well as the make of the the two legions he bulked up with volunteers ) and Cannae where he reports the two traditions providing Roman numbers. A patriotic Roman, Livy enthuses over Roman virtus and rectitude and rarely misses an opportunity to demonstrate such. He is also guilty, at times, of adding what might be described as "Roman colour" to his narrative. That said, his casualty figures for Cannae are likely the more reliable and he provides detail we do not have in other sources (such as the right flank turning assault by Antiochos at Magnesia for example).

Thanks for your detailed reply. I understand alot more about Polybius.

Was Livy also sponsored by any relatives of Punic War survivor's descendents?