´the fates ordained the founding of this great city and the beginning of the world´s mightiest empire, second only to the power of the gods´ Romulus and Remus, the rape of Lucretia, Horatius at the bridge, the saga of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus called from his farm to save the state - these and many more are stories which, immortalised by Livy in his history of early Rome, have become part of our cultural heritage. The historian´s huge work, written between 20 BC and AD 17, ran to 12 books, beginning with Rome´s founding in 753 BC and coming down to Livy´s own lifetime (9 BC). Books 1-5 cover the period from Rome´s beginnings to her first great foreign conquest, the capture of the Etruscan city of Veii and, a few years later, to her first major defeat, the sack of the city by the Gauls in 390 BC.