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 52–54

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Book VI · Sections 52–54

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p. 220

διαφυγόντων ὀλίγων· ὁ δὲ Λεύκολλος τὴν πόλιν διήρπαζε, καὶ δόξης Ῥωμαίους ἐνεπίμπλη κακῆς. οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι βάρβαροι συνέθεον ἐκ τῶν πεδίων, οἱ μὲν ἐς τὰ ἀπόκρημνα, οἱ δὲ ἐς τὰς ὀχυρωτέρας πόλεις, συμφέροντες ἃ δύναιντο καὶ ἐμπιπράντες ὅσα λείποιεν, τοῦ μηδὲν ἔτι Λεύκολλον εὑρεῖν.

ὁ δὲ πολλὴν γῆν ἔρημον ὁδεύσας, ἔς τινα πόλιν Ἰντερκατίαν ἀφίκετο, ἔνθα πεζοὶ μὲν ὑπὲρ δισμυρίους συνεπεφεύγεσαν, ἱππεῖς δὲ δισχίλιοι. καὶ αὐτοὺς ὁ Λεύκολλος ἐς συνθήκας ὑπʼ ἀνοίας προυκαλεῖτο· οἱ δʼ ἐπʼ ὀνείδει τὰ Καυκαίων αὐτῷ προύφερον, καὶ ἐπυνθάνοντο εἰ ἐπὶ τὰς ἐκείνων πίστεις αὐτοὺς καλοίη. ὁ δʼ, οἷον ἅπαντες οἱ ἁμαρτόντες, ἀνθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τοῖς ὀνειδίζουσι χαλεπαίνων, ἔκειρεν αὐτῶν τὰ πεδία, καὶ περικαθίσας κύκλῳ τὴν πόλιν χώματα ἤγειρε πολλά, καὶ συνεχῶς ἐξέτασσε προκαλούμενος ἐς μάχην. οἱ δʼ οὔτω μὲν ἀντεξέτασσον, ἀλλʼ ἦσαν ἀκροβολισμοὶ μόνοι, θαμινὰ δέ τις τῶν βαρβάρων ἐξίππευεν ἐς τὸ μεταίχμιον, κεκοσμημένος ὅπλοις περιφανῶς, καὶ προυκαλεῖτο Ῥωμαίων ἐς μονομαχίαν τὸν ἐθέλοντα, οὐδενὸς δʼ ὑπακούοντος ἐπιτωθάσας καὶ τῷ σχήματι κατορχησάμενος ἀπεχώρει. γιγνομένου δὲ τούτου πολλάκις, ὁ Σκιπίων ἔτι νέος ὢν ὑπερήλγησέ τε καὶ προπηδήσας ὑπέστη τὸ μονομάχιον, εὐτυχῶς δʼ ἐκράτησεν ἀνδρὸς μεγάλου μικρὸς ὤν.

καὶ τόδε μὲν ἐπῇρε Ῥωμαίους, νυκτὸς δὲ φόβοι πολλοὶ κατεῖχον· οἱ γὰρ ἱππεῖς, ὅσοι τῶν

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 221

down the sheer walls at the gates. Lucullus sacked the city and brought infamy upon the Roman name. The rest of the barbarians collecting together from the fields took refuge among inaccessible rocks or in the most strongly fortified towns, carrying away what they could, and burning what they were obliged to leave, so that Lucullus should not find any plunder.

The latter, having traversed a long stretch of deserted country, came to the city of Intercatia where more than 20,000 foot and 2000 horse had taken refuge together. Lucullus very foolishly invited them to enter into a treaty. They reproached him with the slaughter of the Caucaei, and asked him whether he invited them to the same kind of a pledge that he had given to that people. He, like all guilty souls, being angry with his accusers instead of reproaching himself, laid waste their fields. Then he drew a line of siege around the city, threw up several mounds, and repeatedly set his forces in order of battle to provoke a fight. The enemy did not respond but fought with projectiles only. There was a certain barbarian distinguished by his splendid armor, who frequently rode into the space between the armies and challenged the Romans to single combat, and when nobody accepted the challenge he jeered at them, made insulting gestures, and went back. After he had done this several times, Scipio, who was still a youth, felt very much aggrieved, and springing forward accepted the challenge. Fortunately he won the victory over this giant although he was himself a man of small size.

This victory raised the spirits of the Romans, but the next night they were seized with

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.