Livy wrote the History of Rome centuries later. Book 4 of this early-Rome series finds a small city on the Tiber, a Republic of senate and elected officials, not a king. Book 3 ended when ten law-writers became kings until a father killed his daughter and the army seceded.

Marriage opens between patricians, the noble clans, and plebeians, the other citizens. Who may command and who may wed is the fight. Military tribunes with consular power let a man of the people lead an army without sitting as consul — one of two officials elected to run Rome for a year. Fidenae revolts. Veii, the rich Etruscan rival across the river, looms with walls and a goddess. Plague thins the levies. Clans clutch the auspices, the right to read the gods' signs, as a lock on high office. War is still raids in central Italy. Discord invites the enemy. The siege of Veii gathers. Camillus is not yet second founder; the Gallic sack already waits ahead.