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 III · Fragments XI–XII

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Book III · Fragments XI–XII

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Ancient Greek

p. 92

πολλὰ δὲ γυναιξί, φιλοχρήματον καὶ φιλόδωρον εἶναι τὴν πόλιν πυθόμενος, καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ἰσχύειν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἐκ παλαιοῦ.

οἱ δὲ περὶ μὲν τῶν δώρων ἐνεκελεύσαντο ἀλλήλοις· καί φασιν οὐδένα λαβεῖν οὐδέν, οὔτε ἄνδρα οὔτε γυναῖκα. ἀπεκρίναντο δʼ αὐτῷ, καθὰ καὶ πρότερον, ἀπελθόντα Πύρρον ἐξ Ἰταλίας πρεσβεύειν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἄνευ δώρων· ἀπορήσειν γὰρ οὐδενὸς τῶν δικαίων. τοὺς δὲ πρέσβεις καὶ αὐτοὶ πολυτελῶς ἐξένιζον, καὶ Πύρρῳ τοὺς Ταραντίνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων αὐτοῦ συμμάχων αἰχμαλώτους ἀντέπεμπον. ὁ μὲν δὴ Πύρρος ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐς Σικελίαν διέπλει μετά τε τῶν ἐλεφάντων καὶ ὀκτακισχιλίων ἱππέων, ὑποσχόμενος τοῖς συμμάχοις ἐκ Σικελίας ἐπανήξειν ἐς τὴν Ἰταλίαν. καὶ ἐπανῆλθεν ἔτει τρίτῷ, Καρχηδονίων αὐτὸν ἐξελασάντων ἐκ Σικελίας.

ὅτι Πύρρος μετὰ τὴν μάχην καὶ τὰς πρὸς Ῥωμαίους συνθήκας ἐς Σικελίαν διέπλει, ὑποσχόμενος τοῖς συμμάχοις ἐκ Σικελίας ἐπανήξειν ἐς Ἰταλίαν. καὶ ἐπανῆλθεν ἔτει τρίτῳ, Καρχηδονίων αὐτὸν ἐξελασάντων ἐκ Σικελίας, ἤδη καὶ τοῖς Σικελιώταις βαρὺν ἐπί τε ξενίαις καὶ χορηγίαις καὶ φρουραῖς καὶ ἐσφοραῖς γενόμενον. ὁ μὲν δὴ πλούσιος ἐν τῶνδε γεγονὼς ἐς τὸ Ῥήγιον διέπλει ναυσὶ καταφράκτοις δέκα καὶ ἑκατόν, φορτίσι δὲ καὶ ὁλκάσι πολὺ πλείοσιν· οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι διαναυμαχήσαντες αὐτῷ κατέδυσαν ναῦς ἑβδομήκοντα, καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς ἄπλους ἐποίησαν, πλὴν δώδεκα

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book III

p. 93

women, knowing that the people were fond of money and gifts, and that the women had had large influence among the Romans from the earliest times.

But they warned each other against the gifts, and replied that no man or woman would accept anything. They gave Cineas the same answer as before. If Pyrrhus would withdraw from Italy and send an embassy to them without gifts, they would agree to fair terms in all respects. They treated the embassy, however, in a sumptuous manner and sent back to Pyrrhus in exchange all the Tarentines and others of his allies whom they held as prisoners. Thereupon Pyrrhus sailed for Sicily with his elephants and 8000 horse, promising his allies that he would return to Italy. Three years later he returned, for the Carthaginians had driven him out of Sicily.

After the battle and the armistice with the Romans, Pyrrhus sailed for Sicily promising he would return to Italy. Three years later he returned, having been driven out of Sicily by the Carthaginians, and having been a grievous burden to the Sicilians themselves by reason of the lodging and supplying of his troops, the garrisons and the tribute he had imposed on them. Enriched by these exactions he set sail for Rhegium with 110 decked ships, besides a much larger number of merchant vessels and ships of burthen. But the Carthaginians made a naval attack upon him, sunk seventy of his ships, and disabled all the rest except

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.