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 VII · Sections 15–16

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 157 of 315

Book VII · Sections 15–16

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Ancient Greek

p. 328

τοῖς ταχυτάτοις ἄνευ φωτὸς μετὰ σιωπῆς, ἵνα διαλάθοι, καταλαβὼν δὲ αὐτὰ καὶ κρατυνάμενος ἐσήμηνε τῇ σάλπιγγι· καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἀντεβόησεν αὐτῷ, καὶ πῦρ αἰφνίδιον ἐξέφηναν. Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν δὴ τότε ᾔσθοντο τῆς ἀπάτης, ὁ δὲ στρατὸς ὁ ἄλλος Ἀννίβου καὶ οἱ τὰς βοῦς ἐλαύνοντες ἐπὶ τὰ στενὰ ἀδεῶς διέδραμον. καὶ αὐτοὺς συναγαγὼν ἀπῇρεν ἐς τὸ πρόσω. οὕτω μὲν ἐξ ἀέλπτου τότε ὁ Ἀννίβας αὐτός τε περιῆν καὶ τὸν στρατὸν περιέσωζε, καὶ ἐς Γερωνίαν τῆς Ἰαπυγίας ἐπειχθείς, ἣ σίτου πλήρης ἦν, ἐξεῖλεν αὐτήν, καὶ ἐν ἀφθόνοις ἀδεῶς ἐχείμαζεν.

ὁ δὲ Φάβιος καὶ τότε τῆς αὐτῆς γνώμης ἐχόμενος εἵπετο, καὶ τῆς Γερωνίας ἀποσχὼν δέκα σταδίους ἐστρατοπέδευε, λαβὼν ἐν μέσῳ ποταμὸν Αὔφιδον. ληγόντων δὲ αὐτῷ τῶν ἓξ μηνῶν ἐφʼ οὓς αἱροῦνται Ῥωμαῖοι τοῦς δικτάτορας, οἱ μὲν ὕπατοι Σερουίλιός τε καὶ Ἀτίλιος ἐπὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἀρχὰς ἐπανῄεσαν, καὶ ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον, καὶ ὁ Φάβιος ἐς Ῥώμην ἀπῄει, γίγνονται δέ τινες ἐν τῷδε τῷ χειμῶνι Ἀννίβᾳ καὶ Ῥωμαίοις ἀκροβολισμοὶ συνεχεῖς ἐς ἀλλήλους· καὶ τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐπικυδέστερα καὶ εὐθαρσέστερα ἦν. ὁ δʼ Ἀννίβας ἐπέστελλε μὲν ἀεὶ τὰ γιγνόμενα Καρχηδονίοις ὑπερεπαίρων, τότε δὲ ἀπολωλότων αὐτῷ πολλῶν ἠπόρει, καὶ στρατιὰν ᾔτει καὶ χρήματα. οἱ δὲ ἐχθροὶ πάντα ἐπισκώπτοντες τὰ Ἀννίβου, καὶ τότε ὑπεκρίνοντο ἀπορεῖν ὅτι, τῶν νικώντων οὐκ αἰτούντων χρήματα ἀλλὰ πεμπόντων ἐς τὰς πατρίδας, ὁ Ἀννίβας αἰτοίη, λέγων νικᾶν. οἷς

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VII

p. 329

with a flying detachment, in dead silence and without light, in order to conceal the movement. Having seized the pass and strengthened his position he made a signal by trumpet, and the army in camp answered him with a shout and immediately relighted the fires. Then the Romans saw that they had been deceived. The remainder of Hannibal’s army and those who drove the cattle now advanced to the pass without fear, and when he had brought them all together he moved forward. Thus did Hannibal succeed beyond expectation and rescue his army from danger. Thence he advanced to Geronia, a city of Apulia, which was well stored with provisions. This town he captured, and here went into winter quarters in the midst of abundance.

Fabius, pursuing the same policy as before, followed and encamped at a distance of ten stades from Geronia, with the river Aufidus flowing between them. The six months which limited the terms of dictators among the Romans now expired, and the consuls Servilius and Atilius resumed their offices and came to the camp, and Fabius returned to Rome. During the winter frequent skirmishes took place between Hannibal and the Romans in which the latter were generally successful, and showed to the better advantage. Hannibal was all the time writing exultingly to the Carthaginians about the events of the war, but now, having lost many men and being in want of assistance, he asked them to send him soldiers and money. But his enemies, who had jeered at all of his doings, replied that they could not understand how Hannibal should be asking for help when he said he was winning victories, since victorious generals did not ask for money but sent it

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.