Lucas C . Wagner
AN ALL-NEW, SECOND EDITION FOR 2026
Vae Victis.
The Greatest Hits of the Early Roman Republic.
An action-packed journey into the Roman Republic's turbulent beginnings.Before Rome became an Empire, it was a Republic. Part frontier, part battlefield, and part political cauldron. This book is about the process of becoming Rome. Instead of the Romans fighting barbarians, the Romans are the barbarians.The First Romans invites readers to see Rome not as an inevitability, but as a succession of moments when only "honor ... training, courageousness, and great weaponry" determined whether the fragile Republic would break apart or move forward.
The Best of the Best.Learn the stories behind the legends. Romulus. Brutus. Cincinnatus. Coriolanus. Appius Claudius (and his descendants). Capitolinus. Camillus. And even a patrician bully named Caeso.In The First Romans, Lucas C. Wagner writes a kinetic version of Rome's best tales, edited and revised from his translation of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita. Along the way, references are also added from other ancient authors as Homer and Plutarch.
How to Build Rome?
Learn From a Roman.
Amazon Top 10 Bestseller, Ancient Military History
Amazon Top 10 Bestseller, Ancient Civilization
Civilizations have come and gone, but Livy's epic about the Roman Republic endures.A thoroughly modern and readable translation of History of Rome, Books I-X, designed for the 21st Century.The last full public domain translation of Livy I - X was in 1922 by Benjamin O. Foster. In the interests of public learning and having free, quality literature in the public domain, this translation was dedicated to the public domain (CC0 1.0) by Lucas C. Wagner in 2025, a little over 100 years later.
In a first for any Livy translation, we've created section headings and chapter subheadings for simplicity and ease of use.
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