Source A: Livy, The Early History of Rome, Preface 6-8
'The traditions about the time before the city was founded, or while it was being founded, which are more suited to poets' tales than to reliable records of events, I intend neither to confirm nor to refute. Antiquity is allowed this indulgence: by mixing the human with the divine it makes the beginnings of cities more impressive. And if any people ought to be allowed to make its origins sacred and to name the gods as its founders, the military glory of the Roman people is such that, when it claims Mars above all as its own father and the father of its founder, the nations of the world should accept this as calmly as they accept its rule. But whatever people think or judge about these and similar matters, I shall not attach great importance to them.'
To what extent does Livy present the stories of Rome's foundation as history rather than legend? Use Source A as a starting point and your own knowledge.
Model answer
In Source A Livy openly admits that the foundation stories are closer to legend than history. He says they are 'more suited to poets' tales than to reliable records of events' and that he will 'neither confirm nor refute' them. He accepts that antiquity mixes 'the human with the divine' to make cities' beginnings more impressive, and he says he will not attach great importance to whether they are true. This suggests he presents them as legend.
However, he still includes them as the start of a historical narrative and treats them in a historian's way. He often gives more than one version: two accounts of how Latinus allied with Aeneas, two of Remus' death, and he refuses to decide whether Ascanius was the son of Lavinia or of Creusa, asking who could be certain about something so old. He offers rational explanations for miracles: Rhea Silvia may have named Mars as father 'because a god was a more honourable author of the fault', and the she-wolf may come from Larentia's nickname 'lupa'. He uses distancing phrases such as 'the story goes' and 'they say', and he gives the details expected in history: the thirty years between Lavinium and Alba Longa, the line of Alban kings, the origins of the names Tiber and Aventine.
At the same time the stories are full of the divine: the origin of Rome was 'owed to the fates', the flood happened 'through the will of the gods', and Aeneas becomes Jupiter Indiges. Livy values them mainly for their meaning - Rome's divine favour and the moral examples his Preface promises.
Overall, Livy presents the foundation stories as legend rather than proven history, but he records them carefully and critically, like a historian, because they matter to Rome's sense of its own greatness.
Explanation
Top answers use the Preface's explicit statements and then show how Livy's narrative matches them: alternative versions, rational explanations and cautious language, alongside fate and the gods. A clear judgement about the balance - and why Livy includes stories he will not vouch for - is needed for Level 4.
