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 72–73

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Facing Pages · Branch 119 of 315

Book VI · Sections 72–73

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Ancient Greek

p. 250

τὸν Δόριον περάσας πολλὰ μὲν πολέμῳ κατέδραμε, πολλὰ δὲ παρὰ τῶν αὑτοὺς ἐνδιδόντων ὅμηρα αἰτήσας ἐπὶ Λήθην μετῄει, πρῶτος ὅδε Ῥωμαίων ἐπινοῶν τὸν ποταμὸν τόνδε διαβῆναι. περάσας δὲ καὶ τόνδε, καὶ μέχρι Νίμιος ἑτέρου ποταμοῦ προελθών, Βρακάρων αὐτῷ φερομένην ἀγορὰν ἁρπασάντων ἐστράτευεν ἐπὶ τοὺς Βρακάρους, οἵ εἰσιν ἔθνος μαχιμώτατον, καὶ ἅμα ταῖς γυναιξὶν ὡπλισμέναις καὶ οἵδε ἐμάχοντο, καὶ προθύμως ἔθνησκον, οὐκ ἐπιστρεφόμενος αὐτῶν οὐδείς, οὐδὲ τὰ νῶτα δεικνύς, οὐδὲ φωνὴν ἀφιέντες. ὅσαι δὲ κατήγοντο τῶν γυναικῶν, αἱ μὲν αὑτὰς διεχρῶντο, αἱ δὲ καὶ τῶν τέκνων αὐτόχειρες ἐγίνοντο, χαίρουσαι τῷ θανάτῳ μᾶλλον τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας. εἰσὶ δέ τινες τῶν πόλεων αἳ τότε μὲν τῷ Βρούτῳ προσετίθεντο, οὐ πολὺ δʼ ὕστερον ἀφίσταντο. καὶ αὐτὰς ὁ Βροῦτος κατεστρέφετο αὖθις.

ἐπὶ δὲ Ταλάβριγα πόλιν ἐλθών, ἣ πολλάκις μὲν αὐτῷ συνετέθειτο, πολλάκις δὲ ἀποστᾶσα ἠνώχλει, παρακαλούντων αὐτὸν καὶ τότε τῶν Ταλαβρίγων καὶ διδόντων αὑτοὺς ἐς ὅ τι χρῄζοι, πρῶτα μὲν τοὺς αὐτομόλους Ῥωμαίων ᾔτει καὶ τὰ αἰχμάλωτα, καὶ ὅπλα ὅσα εἶχον, καὶ ὅμηρα ἐπὶ τούτοις, εἶτʼ αὐτοὺς ἐκέλευσε σὺν παισὶ καὶ γυναιξὶν ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν. ὡς δὲ καὶ τοῦθʼ ὑπέστησαν, τὴν στρατιὰν αὐτοῖς περιστήσας ἐδημηγόρει, καταλέγων ὁσάκις ἀποσταῖεν καὶ ὅσους πολέμους πολεμήσειαν αὐτῷ. φόβον δὲ καὶ δόξαν ἐμφήνας ἐργασομένου τι δεινόν, ἐπὶ τῶν ὀνειδῶν ἔληξε, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἵππους αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν σῖτον καὶ χρήματα ὅσα κοινὰ ἦν, ἢ εἴ τις ἄλλη δημοσία παρασκευή,

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 251

He then crossed the river Durius, carrying war far and wide and taking hostages from those who surrendered, until he came to the river Lethe, being the first of the Romans to think of crossing that stream. Passing over this he advanced to another river called the Nimis, where he attacked the Bracari because they had plundered his provision train. They were a very warlike people, the women bearing arms with the men, who fought never turning, never showing their backs, or uttering a cry. Of the women who were captured some killed themselves, others slew their children with their own hands, considering death preferable to captivity. There were some towns that surrendered to Brutus and soon afterwards revolted. These he reduced to subjection again.

One of the towns that often submitted and as often rebelled was Talabriga. When Brutus moved against it the inhabitants begged pardon and offered to surrender at discretion. He first demanded of them all the deserters, the prisoners, and the arms they had, and hostages in addition, and then he ordered them to vacate the town with their wives and children. When they had obeyed these orders, he surrounded them with his army and made a speech to them, telling them how often they had revolted and renewed the war against him. Having inspired them with fear and with the belief that he was about to inflict some terrible punishment on them, he ceased his reproaches. Having deprived them of their horses, provisions, public money, and other general resources, he gave them back their

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.