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 56–57

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 107 of 315

Book VI · Sections 56–57

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Ancient Greek

p. 226

Βλαστοφοίνικας. Πούνικος μὲν οὖν λίθῳ πληγεὶς ἐς τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπέθανε, διαδέχεται δʼ αὐτὸν ἀνὴρ ᾧ ὄνομα ἦν Καίσαρος. οὗτος ὁ Καίσαρος Μουμμίῳ, μετὰ στρατιᾶς ἄλλης ἐπελθόντι ἀπὸ Ῥώμης, ἐς μάχην συνηνέχθη καὶ ἡττώμενος ἔφυγεν. Μουμμίου δʼ αὐτὸν ἀτάκτως διώκοντος ἐπιστραφεὶς ἔκτεινεν ἐς ἐννακισχιλίους, καὶ τήν τε λείαν τὴν ἡρπασμένην καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον στρατόπεδον ἀνεσώσατο, καὶ τὸ Ῥωμαίων προσέλαβέ τε, καὶ διήρπασεν ὅπλα καὶ σημεῖα πολλά, ἅπερ οἱ βάρβαροι κατὰ τὴν Κελτιβηρίαν ὅλην περιφέροντες ἐπετώθαζον.

Μούμμιος δʼ ὑπολοίπους ἔχων πεντακισχιλίους ἐγύμναζεν ἔνδον ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ, δεδιὼς ἄρα προελθεῖν ἐς τὸ πεδίον πρὶν τοὺς ἄνδρας ἀναθαρρῆσαι. φυλάξας δὲ εἴ τι μέρος οἱ βάρβαροι τῆς ἀφῃρημένης λείας παρέφερον, ἀδοκήτως αὐτοῖς ἐπέθετο, καὶ πολλοὺς διαφθείρας ἔλαβε τὴν λείαν καὶ τὰ σημεῖα. Λυσιτανῶν δʼ οἱ ἐπὶ θάτερα τοῦ Τάγου ποταμοῦ, κἀκεῖνοι Ῥωμαίοις πεπολεμωμένοι, Καυκαίνου σφῶν ἡγουμένου Κουνέους ἐπόρθουν, οἳ Ῥωμαίοις ἦσαν ὑπήκοοι, καὶ πόλιν αὐτῶν μεγάλην εἷλον Κονίστοργιν. παρά τε τὰς στήλας τὰς Ἡρακλείους τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἐπέρων, καὶ οἱ μὲν τὴν ἄλλην Λιβύην κατέτρεχον, οἱ δʼ Ὀκίλην πόλιν ἐπολιόρκουν. Μούμμιος δʼ ἑπόμενος ἐννακισχιλίοις πεζοῖς καὶ ἱππεῦσι πεντακοσίοις ἔκτεινε τῶν μὲν δῃούντων ἐς μυρίους καὶ πεντακισχιλίους, τῶν δʼ ἑτέρων τινάς, καὶ τὴν πολιορκίαν διέλυσε τὴν Ὀκίλης. ἐντυχὼν δὲ καὶ τοῖς φέρουσιν ἃ ἐσεσυλήκεσαν, ἔκτεινε καὶ τούσδε πάντας, ὡς μηδʼ ἄγγελον ἀπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 227

Punicus was struck on the head with a stone and killed. He was succeeded by a man named Caesarus. The latter joined battle with Mummius, who came from Rome with another army, was defeated and put to flight, but as Mummius was pursuing him in a disorderly way, he rallied and slew about 9000 Romans, recaptured the plunder they had taken from him as well as his own camp, and took that of the Romans also, together with many arms and standards which the barbarians in derision carried throughout all Celtiberia.

Mummius took his 5000 remaining soldiers and drilled them in camp, not daring to go out into the plain until they should have recovered their courage. While he was watching his opportunity the barbarians passed by, carrying a part of the booty they had captured. He fell upon them suddenly, slew a large number, and recaptured the plunder and the standards. Some of the Lusitanians on the other side of the Tagus, under the leadership of Caucenus, being incensed against the Romans, invaded the Cunei, who were Roman subjects, and captured their large city, Conistorgis, and near the Pillars of Hercules they crossed over the straits, and some of them overran part of Africa, while others laid siege to the city of Ocile. Mummius followed them with 9000 foot and 500 horse, and slew about 15,000 of them who were engaged in plundering, and a few of the others, and raised the siege of Ocile. Falling in with a party who were carrying off booty he slew all of them, so that not one was left to bear the tidings of the disaster. All the booty that it was possible to carry he divided among the soldiers.

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.