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 80–81

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Facing Pages · Branch 126 of 315

Book VI · Sections 80–81

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Ancient Greek

p. 264

ἄπυρον τὴν νύκτα διήγαγεν ὅλην ἐν σκότῳ, φεύγων ἐς ἔρημον τὸ Νωβελίωνός ποτε χαράκωμα. καὶ μεθʼ ἡμέραν ἐς αὐτὸ συγκλεισθεὶς οὔτε κατεσκευασμένον οὔτε ὠχυρωμένον, περισχόντων αὐτὸν τῶν Νομαντίνων, καὶ πάντας ἀποκτενεῖν ἀπειλούντων εἰ μὴ συνθοῖτο εἰρήνην, συνέθετο ἐπὶ ἴσῃ καὶ ὁμοίᾳ Ῥωμαίοις καὶ Νομαντίνοις. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τούτοις ὤμνυε τοῖς Νομαντίνοις, οἱ δʼ ἐν ἄστει πυθόμενοι χαλεπῶς ἔφερον ὡς ἐπὶ αἰσχίσταις πάνυ σπονδαῖς, καὶ τὸν ἕτερον τῶν ὑπάτων Αἰμίλιον Λέπιδον ἐς Ἰβηρίαν ἐξέπεμπον, Μαγκῖνον δʼ ἀνεκάλουν ἐς κρίσιν. καὶ τῷδε μὲν ἕσποντο πρέσβεις Νομαντίνων· ὁ δὲ Αἰμίλιος, ἀναμένων καὶ ὅδε τὰς ἐκ Ῥώμης ἀποκρίσεις, καὶ τὴν ἀργίαν οὐ φέρων (ὡς γὰρ ἐπὶ δόξαν ἢ κέρδος ἢ θριάμβου φιλοτιμίαν ἐξῄεσάν τινες ἐς τὰς στρατηγίας, οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸ τῇ πόλει συμφέρον), Οὐακκαίων κατεψεύδετο ὡς ἀγορὰν ἐν τῷδε τῷ πολέμῳ Νομαντίνοις παρασχόντων, καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν κατέτρεχε, Παλλαντίαν τε πόλιν, ἣ μεγίστη Οὐακκαίων ἐστίν, οὐδὲν ἐξαμαρτοῦσαν ἐς τὰ συγκείμενα ἐπολιόρκει, καὶ Βροῦτον ἐφʼ ἕτερα τῆς Ἰβηρίας ἀπεσταλμένον, ὥς μοι προείρηται, κηδεστὴν ὄντα οἱ τοῦδε τοῦ ἔργου μετασχεῖν ἔπεισεν.

κατέλαβον δʼ αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ Ῥώμης πρέσβεις Κίννας τε καὶ Καικίλιος, οἳ τὴν βουλὴν ἔφασαν ἀπορεῖν εἰ τοσῶνδε πταισμάτων σφίσιν ἐν Ἰβηρίᾳ γενομένων ὁ Αἰμίλιος πόλεμον ἕτερον ἀρεῖται, καὶ ψήφισμα ἐπέδοσαν αὐτῷ προαγορεῦον Αἰμίλιον Οὐακκαίοις μὴ πολεμεῖν. ὁ δὲ ἀρξάμενός τε ἤδη

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 265

coming to the aid of the Numantines, he became alarmed, extinguished his fires, and fled in the darkness of night to a desert place where Nobilior once had a camp. Being shut up in this place at daybreak without preparation or fortification and surrounded by Numantines, who threatened all with death unless he made peace, he agreed to terms like those previously made between the Romans and Numantines. To this agreement he bound himself by an oath. When these things were known at Rome there was great indignation at this most ignominious treaty, and the other consul, Aemilius Lepidus, was sent to Spain, Mancinus being called home to stand trial. The Numantine ambassadors followed him thither. Aemilius becoming tired of idleness while awaiting the decision from Rome (for some men sought the command, not for the advantage of the city, but for glory, or gain, or the honor of a triumph), falsely accused the Vaccaei of supplying the Numantines with provisions during the war. Accordingly he ravaged their country and laid siege to their principal city, Pallantia, which had in no way violated the treaty, and he persuaded Brutus, his brother-in-law, who had been sent to Farther Spain (as I have before related), to join him in this undertaking.

Here they were overtaken by Cinna and Caecilius, messengers from Rome, who said that the Senate was at a loss to know why, after so many disasters had befallen them in Spain, Aemilius should be seeking a new war, and they placed in his hands a decree warning him not to attack the Vaccaei. But he, having actually begun the war,

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.