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 62–64

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Facing Pages · Branch 112 of 315

Book VI · Sections 62–64

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Ancient Greek

p. 236

τοὺς τῇδε βαρβάρους ἐξῇρεν αὐτόν, καὶ πολλοὶ πανταχόθεν αὐτῷ προσεχώρουν. ὁ δὲ ἐς ὀκτὼ ἔτη Ῥωμαίοις ἐπολέμει.

καί μοι δοκεῖ τὸν Οὐριάτθου πόλεμον, σφόδρα τε ἐνοχλήσαντα Ῥωμαίοις καὶ δυσεργότατον αὐτοῖς γενόμενον, συναγαγεῖν, ἀναθέμενον εἴ τι τοῦ αὐτοῦ χρόνου περὶ Ἰβηρίαν ἄλλο ἐγίγνετο.

Οὐετίλιος μὲν δὴ αὐτὸν διώκων ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν Τριβόλαν, ὁ δʼ Οὐρίατθος ἐν λόχμαις ἐνέδραν ἐπικρύψας ἔφυγε, μέχρι τὰς λόχμας ὑπερελθόντος τοῦ Οὐετιλίου αὐτός τε ἐπεστρέφετο καὶ οἱ ἐκ τῆς ἐνέδρας ἀνεπήδων, καὶ Ῥωμαίους ἑκατέρωθεν ἔκτεινόν τε καὶ ἐζώγρουν καὶ ἐς τὰς φάραγγας ἐώθουν. ἐζωγρήθη δὲ καὶ ὁ Οὐετίλιος· καὶ αὐτὸν ὁ λαβὼν ἀγνοῶν, γέροντα ὑπέρπαχυν ὁρῶν, ἔκτεινεν ὡς οὐδενὸς ἄξιον. Ῥωμαίων δὲ μόλις ἐκ μυρίων ἑξακισχίλιοι διέδρασαν ἐς Καρπησσόν, ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ πόλιν, ἣν ἐγὼ νομίζω πρὸς Ἑλλήνων πάλαι Ταρτησσὸν ὀνομάζεσθαι, καὶ Ἀργανθώνιον αὐτῆς βασιλεῦσαι, ὃν ἐς πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἔτη ἀφικέσθαι φασίν. τοὺς μὲν οὖν ἐς τὴν Καρπησσὸν διαφυγόντας ὁ ταμίας, ὃς εἵπετο τῷ Οὐετιλίῳ, συνέτασσεν ἐπὶ τειχῶν δεδιότας· παρὰ δὲ Βελλῶν καὶ Τίτθων αἰτήσας πεντακισχιλίους συμμάχους, καὶ λαβών, προύπεμψεν ἐπὶ τὸν Οὐρίατθον. ὁ δὲ πάντας ἔκτεινεν, ὡς μηδʼ ἄγγελον διαφυγεῖν. καὶ ὁ ταμίας ἡσύχαζεν ἐν τῇ πόλει, περιμένων τινὰ βοήθειαν ἀπὸ Ῥώμης.

Οὐρίατθος δὲ τὴν Καρπητανιαν, εὐδαίμονα χώραν, ἐπιὼν ἀδεῶς ἐλεηλάτει, ἕως ἧκεν ἐκ

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 237

tribes of that vicinity, brought him fame and many reënforcements from different quarters, and enabled him to wage war against the Romans for eight years.

It is my intention here to relate this war with Viriathus, so very harassing to the Romans and so badly managed by them, and to take up hereafter the other events that happened in Spain at the same time. Vetilius pursued him till he came to Tribola. Viriathus, having first laid an ambush in a dense thicket, retreated until Vetilius was passing through the place, when he turned, and those who were in ambush sprang up. On all sides they began killing the Romans, driving them over the cliffs and taking prisoners. Vetilius himself was taken prisoner; and the man who captured him, not knowing who he was, but seeing that he was old and fat, and considering him worthless, killed him. Of the 10,000 Romans, 6000 with difficulty made their way to the city of Carpessus on the seashore, which I think was formerly called by the Greeks Tartessus, and was ruled by King Arganthonius, who is said to have lived one hundred and fifty years. The soldiers, who made their escape to Carpessus, were stationed on the walls of the town by the quaestor who accompanied Vetilius, badly demoralized. Having asked and obtained 5000 allies from the Belli and Titthi, he sent them against Viriathus who slew them all, so that there was not one left to tell the tale. After that the quaestor remained quietly in the town waiting for help from Rome.

Viriathus overran the fruitful country of Carpetania without hinderance, and ravaged it until Caius Plautius came from Rome bringing 10,000 foot and1300

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.