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Aimerichius.—Specimen veteris Romanæ Literaturæ deperditæ vel adhuc latentis, seu Syllabus Historicus et Criticus veterum olim notæ eruditionis Romanorum, ab urbe conditâ ad Honorii Augusti excessum, eorum imprimis quorum Latina opera vel omnino vel ex parte desiderantur.

I was a little petted; but you see by this time, reader, that I must have been too much of a philosopher, even in the year one ab urbe condita of my frail earthly tenement, to abuse such indulgence.

Its title, according to the oldest MSS., the summaries of the lost Books, and the grammarians, was Ab urbe condita libri; and this is corroborated by Livy’s own language: i. praef.

Historiarum ab urbe condita libri.

As the title of Gesta Populi Romani was given to the Aeneid on its appearance, so the Historiae ab Urbe Condita might be called, with no less truth, a funeral eulogy—consummatio totius vitae et quasi funebris laudatio—delivered, by the most loving and most eloquent of her children, over the grave of the great Republic.