Appian’s Roman History, Volume I

Name: Appian’s Roman History, Volume I
Author: Appian of Alexandria

Ancient Greek with Horace White’s English translation

Appian’s Roman History, Volume IBook VI · Sections 47–48

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Book VI · Sections 47–48

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Ancient Greek

p. 212

αὐτῷ τινὰς ἱππέας, οὓς ἐρχομένους ἐλόχων οἱ Κελτίβηρες. καὶ τῆς ἐνέδρας ἐκφανείσης οἱ μὲν σύμμαχοι διεδίδρασκον, ὁ δὲ Βιήσιος μαχόμενος αὐτός τε καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ πολλοὶ Ῥωμαίων ἀπέθανον. συνεχῶν δὲ τοιῶνδε πταισμάτων αὐτοῖς ἐπιγιγνομένων, πόλις Ὄκιλις, ἔνθα ἡ ἀγορὰ καὶ τὰ χρήματα ἦν τὰ Ῥωμαίων, μετέθετο ἐς τοὺς Κελτίβηρας. καὶ ὁ Νωβελίων ἀπιστῶν ἅπασιν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ διεχείμαζε, στεγάσας ὡς ἐδύνατο, καὶ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἔχων ἔνδον, καὶ κακοπαθῶν αὐτῆς τε τῆς ἀγορᾶς τῇ ὀλιγότητι καὶ νιφετοῦ πυκνότητι καὶ κρύους χαλεπότητι, ὥστε πολλοὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν οἱ μὲν ἐν τοῖς φρυγανισμοῖς, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἔνδον ὑπὸ στενοχωρίας καὶ κρύους ἀπώλλυντο.

τοῦ δʼ ἐπιόντος ἔτους Νωβελίωνι μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν στρατηγίαν ἀφικνεῖται διάδοχος Κλαύδιος Μάρκελλος, ἄγων πεζοὺς ὀκτακισχιλίους καὶ ἱππέας πεντακοσίους· λοχώντων δὲ καὶ τόνδε τῶν πολεμίων διῆλθε πεφυλαγμένως, καὶ σύμπαντι τῷ στρατῷ παρὰ τὴν Ὄκιλιν ἐστρατοπέδευσεν. ἐπιτυχὴς δὲ τὰ πολέμια ὢν τὴν πόλιν αὐτίκα παρεστήσατο, καὶ συγγνώμην ἔδωκεν, ὅμηρά τινα καὶ ἀργυρίου τάλαντα τριάκοντα λαβών. Νεργόβριγες δὲ αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆσδε τῆς μετριοπαθείας πυθόμενοι, πέμψαντες ἠρώτων τί ἂν πράξαντες εἰρήνης ἐπιτύχοιεν. ὡς δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐκέλευεν ἑκατὸν ἱππέας δοῦναι συστρατεύσοντας, οἱ μὲν ὑπισχνοῦντο δώσειν, κατὰ δʼ ἄλλο μέρος τοῖς οὐραγοῦσιν ἐπετίθεντο καὶ τῶν σκευοφόρων τι περιέσπων. εἶτʼ ἀφίκοντο τοὺς ἑκατὸν ἱππέας ἄγοντες ὡς δὴ κατὰ τὸ συγκείμενον, περί τε τῶν

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 213

returning with them the Celtiberians laid an ambush for him. The ambush was discovered and the allies escaped, but Biesius, who engaged the enemy, was killed and many of his soldiers with him. Under the influence of such a succession of disasters to the Romans, the town of Ocilis, where their provisions and money were stored, revolted to the Celtiberians. Then Nobilior in despair went into winter quarters in his camp, sheltering himself as well as he could. He suffered much from scantiness of supplies, having only what was inside the camp, and from heavy snowstorms and severe frost, so that many of his men perished while outside gathering wood, and others inside fell victims to confinement and cold.

The following year Claudius Marcellus succeeded Nobilior in the command, bringing with him 8000 foot and 500 horse. The enemy laid an ambush for him also, but he moved with circumspection and pitched his camp before Ocilis with his whole army. As he was renowned for good fortune in war, he brought the place to terms at once and granted it pardon, taking hostages and imposing a fine of thirty talents of silver. The Nergobriges, hearing of his moderation, sent and asked what they could do to obtain peace. In reply he ordered them to furnish him 100 horsemen as auxiliaries, and they promised to do so, but in the meantime they were attacking the rear guard of the Romans and carried off a lot of baggage. When the leaders of the hundred horse arrived according to agreement, and were interrogated about the attack on the rear guard, they replied that this had been done by some of their people who did not know of the agreement.

About This Reading Edition

Appian’s Roman History asked readers of the Roman Empire to reckon with how conquest, ambition, and civil conflict created their world; its questions about political power, cultural encounter, civic division, and the human cost of expansion remain urgent today. This approximately page-aligned parallel-text edition pairs the Ancient Greek text with Horace White’s English translation, following the 1912 facing leaves while omitting translator’s notes, figures, fragment attributions, marginalia, and unnumbered appendices.

Historical Text and Translation

Appian, a Greek-speaking Roman historian from Alexandria, wrote in the second century CE and arranged Rome’s expansion by the peoples and regions it conquered rather than as one continuous chronology—a strikingly original design. Much of his twenty-four-book work is lost, making the surviving books and fragments especially valuable.

About Horace White

Horace White was an American journalist, editor, and financial writer rather than a university professor. He led the Chicago Tribune and later the New York Evening Post, yet his Greek scholarship produced the fluent two-volume Appian translation of 1899 that became the English text of the original Loeb edition in 1912.

Rights

Appian’s ancient work, Ludwig Mendelssohn’s 1879 Greek edition, Horace White’s 1899/1912 English translation, and the Eulogikon Greek Preface are in the public domain in the United States. The Perseus digital transcriptions are reused under CC BY-SA 4.0; their attribution and share-alike terms continue to apply.