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 81–82

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Facing Pages · Branch 127 of 315

Book VI · Sections 81–82

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Ancient Greek

p. 266

τοῦ πολέμου, καὶ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦτʼ ἀγνοεῖν ἡγούμενος, ἀγνοεῖν δʼ ὅτι καὶ Βροῦτος αὐτῷ συνεπιλαμβάνει καὶ σῖτον καὶ χρήματα καὶ στρατιὰν Οὐακκαῖοι τοῖς Νομαντίνοις παρέσχον, ἔσεσθαι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀνάζευξιν τοῦ πολέμου φοβερὰν ὑπολαβών, καὶ σχεδὸν Ἰβηρίας ὅλης διάλυσιν, εἰ καταφρονήσειαν ὡς δεδιότων, τοὺς μὲν ἀμφὶ τὸν Κίνναν ἀπράκτους ἀπέλυσε, καὶ τάδε αὐτὰ ἐπέστειλε τῇ βουλῇ, αὐτὸς δὲ ὀχυρωσάμενος φρούριον, μηχανὰς ἐν αὐτῷ συνεπήγνυτο καὶ σῖτον συνέφερεν. Φλάκκος δʼ αὐτῷ σιτολογῶν, ἐνέδρας ἐκφανείσης, εὐμηχάνως διέδωκεν ὅτι Παλλαντίαν ἐξεῖλεν Αἰμίλιος· καὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ συναλαλάξαντος ὡς ἐπὶ νίκῃ, πυθόμενοι τούτων οἱ βάρβαροι καὶ ἀληθῆ νομίσαντες ἀπεχώρουν. Φλάκκος μὲν δὴ τὴν ἀγορὰν κινδυνεύουσαν ὧδε περιέσωζε.

μακρᾶς δὲ τῆς ἐπὶ τῇ Παλλαντίᾳ πολιορκίας οὔσης αἱ τροφαὶ Ῥωμαίους ἐπέλειπον, καὶ λιμὸς ἥπτετο αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ ὑποζύγια πάντα ἔφθαρτο, καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐξ ἀπορίας ἀπέθνησκον. οἱ στρατηγοὶ δέ, Αἰμίλιός τε καὶ Βροῦτος, ἐς μὲν πολὺ διεκαρτέρουν, ἡσσώμενοι δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ νυκτὸς ἄφνω περὶ ἐσχάτην φυλακὴν ἐκέλευον ἀναζευγνύναι· χιλίαρχοί τε καὶ λοχαγοὶ περιθεοντες ἐπέσπευδον ἅπαντας ἐς τοῦτο πρὸ ἕω. οἱ δὲ σὺν θορύβῳ τά τε ἄλλα πάντα καὶ τοὺς τραυματίας καὶ τοὺς νοσοῦντας ἀπέλιπον, συμπλεκομένους τε σφίσι καὶ δεομένους. καὶ αὐτοῖς ἀτάκτου καὶ θορυβώδους τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως γιγνομένης καὶ

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 267

considered that the Senate was ignorant of that, and of the fact that Brutus was coöperating with him, and that the Vaccaei had aided the Numantines with provisions, money, and men. Accordingly he made answer that it would be dangerous to abandon the war, since nearly all Spain would rebel if they should imagine that the Romans were afraid. He sent Cinna’s party home without having accomplished their errand, and he wrote in this sense to the Senate. After this he began, in a fortified place, to construct engines and collect provisions. While he was thus engaged, Flaccus, who had been sent out on a foraging expedition, found himself in an ambuscade but he saved himself by a trick. He cunningly spread a rumor among his men that Aemilius had captured Pallantia. The soldiers raised a shout of victory. The barbarians, hearing it and thinking that the report was true, withdrew. In this way Flaccus rescued his convoy from danger.

The siege of Pallantia was long protracted, the food supply of the Romans failed, and they began to suffer from hunger. All their animals perished and many of the men died of want. The generals, Aemilius and Brutus, kept heart for a long time. Being compelled to yield at last, they gave an order suddenly one night, about the last watch, to retreat. The tribunes and centurions ran hither and thither to hasten the movement, so as to get them all away before daylight. Such was the confusion that they left behind everything, and even the sick and wounded, who clung to them and besought them not to abandon them. Their retreat was disorderly and confused and much like a flight,

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.