Was there any basis for an optimistic view of Rome in Livy and Ovid: Livy was a Roman historian/poet who covered over 700 years of Roman history, he was alive in the time when the roman emperor was coming to a close and there was a widespread growth all over Rome, he did not trust wealth and warned against wealth corroding the moral fiber of the society. Livy speaks of the story of Romulus and Remus and how ambition caused blood shed but out of that blood shed came the rise of the Roman empire. I think there is a healthy balance to the good and evil in the history of Rome, but I think he has a more grim outlook on the future for Rome. Ovid was a historian on the creation of the universe and the gods, he tells us how order was imposed on chaos
