Books VI-X of Livy's history of Rome describe the beginnings of Rome's conquest of Italy in the fourth century BC. Stephen Oakley has produced the first full-scale, scholarly commentary to be written in modern times on this part of the history. The second of three volumes, this book is a sequel to the introduction and commentary on Book VI published earlier in 1997. It contains the commentary on Books VII and VIII, in which Livy describes Rome's annexation of Capua and Naples and her first fighting against the Samnites, the powerful tribe that lived in the mountains of central Italy.

The commentary devotes equal attention to historical, literary, linguistic, and textual matters. An excursus provides a brief introduction to the Samnites and to the terrain of the Samnite wars. The remaining volume, which is forthcoming, will deal with Books IX and X. An indispensable work of reference for anyone interested in Latin literature and early Roman history, as well as for scholars of Livy himself, these three volumes represent a major new contribution to Latin scholarship.