Numa and Pythagoras: Did Livy Misrepresent Valerius Antias?

According to Livy, Valerius Antias claimed that the books of Numa Pompilius, Rome’s second king, contained Pythagorean material, a claim that is chronologically impossible. Other evidence for Antias’ account does not support Livy’s allegation, although it has often been assumed that it does, with the result that the allegation has been widely accepted in modern scholarship. These circumstances have not been helped by the way in which some of the other evidence has been presented. As for Livy’s accusation, that may be little more than the hasty conclusion of a man eager to find fault with a predecessor in whose work he had already found much to criticise.