s him as
a less trustworthy authority than Fabius Pictor, and Niebuhr considers
him the first to introduce systematic forgeries into Roman history. Q.
CLAUDIUS QUADRIGARIUS (about 80 B.C.) wrote a history, in at least
twenty-three books, which began with the conquest of Rome by the Gauls
and went down to the death of Sulla or perhaps later. He was freely used
by Livy in part of his work (from the sixth book onwards). A long
fragment is preserved in Aulus Gellius (ix. 13), giving an account of
the single combat between Manlius Torquatus and the Gaul. His language
was antiquated and his style dry, but his work was considered important.
VALERIUS ANTIAS, a younger contemporary of Quadrigarius, wrote the
history of Rome from the earliest times, in a voluminous work consisting
of seventy-five books. He is notorious for his wilful exaggeration, both
in narrative and numerical statements. For instance, he asserts the
number of the Sabine virgins to have been exactly 527; again, in a
certain year when no Greek or Latin writers mention any important
campaign, Antias speaks of a big battle with enormous casualties.
Nevertheless, Livy at first made use of him as one of his chief
authorities, until he became convinced of his untrustworthiness. C.
LICINIUS MACER (died 66), who has been called the last of the annalists,
wrote a voluminous work, which, although he paid great attention to the
study of his authorities, was too rhetorical, and exaggerated the
achievements of his own family. Having been convicted of extortion, he
committed suicide (Cicero, _De Legibus_, i. 2, _Brutus_, 67; Plutarch,
_Cicero_, 9).

The writers mentioned dealt with Roman history as a whole; some of the
annalists, however, confined themselves to shorter periods. Thus, L.
CAELIUS ANTIPATER (about 120) limited himself to the Second Punic War.
His work was overloaded with rhetorical embellishment, which he was the
first to introduce into Roman history. He was regarded as the most
careful writer on the war with Hannibal, and one who did not allow
himself to be blinded by partiality in considering the evidence of other
writers (Cicero, _De Oratore_, ii. 12). Livy made great use of him in
his third decade. SEMPRONIUS ASELLIO (about 100 B.C.), military tribune
of Scipio Africanus at the siege of Numantia, composed _Rerum Gestanim
Libri_ in at least fourteen books. As he himself took part in the events
he describes, his work was a kind of memoirs. He was the first of