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 VII · Sections 12–14

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Facing Pages · Branch 155 of 315

Book VII · Sections 12–14

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Ancient Greek

p. 324

βουλῇ, τὸν Φάβιον αἰτιώμενος οὐκ ἐθέλοντα νικῆσαι. καὶ ἡ βουλή, ἐπανεληλυθότος ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἤδη τοῦ Φαβίου, ἴσον ἰσχύειν αὐτῷ τὸν ἵππαρχον ἀπέφηνεν.

οἱ μὲν δὴ μερισάμενοι τὴν στρατιὰν πλησίον ἀλλήλων ἐστρατοπέδευον, καὶ τῆς γνώμης ἑκάτερος εἴχοντο τῆς ἑαυτοῦ, Φάβιος μὲν ἐκτρύχειν Ἀννίβαν τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ πειρᾶσθαι μηδὲν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ παθεῖν, ὁ δὲ Μινούκιος μάχῃ διακριθῆναι. συνιόντος δὲ ἐς μάχην τοῦ Μινουκίου, Φάβιος τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι προορῶν ἐν μέσῳ τὴν στρατιὰν ἀτρεμοῦσαν ἔστησε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τοὺς τοῦ Μινουκίου τραπέντας ἀνελάμβανε, τοὺς δʼ Ἀννίβου διώκοντας ἀπεκρούετο. καὶ Φάβιος μὲν ὧδε τὴν συμφορὰν ἐπεκούφισε τῷ Μινουκίῳ, οὐδὲν ἐπιμηνίσας τῆς διαβολῆς· ὁ δὲ Μινούκιος αὑτοῦ καταγνους ἀπειρίαν ἀπέθετο τὴν ἀρχήν, καὶ τὸ μέρος τοῦ στρατοῦ παρέδωκε τῷ Φαβίῳ, ἡγουμένῳ πρὸς ἄνδρα τεχνίτην μάχης ἕνα καιρὸν εἶναι τὴν ἀνάγκην. οὗ δὴ καὶ ὁ Σεβαστὸς ὕστερον πολλάκις ἐμέμνητο, οὐκ ὢν εὐχερὴς οὐδʼ οὗτος ἐς μάχας μᾶλλον τόλμῃ ἢ τέχνῃ χρῆσθαι. Φάβιος μὲν οὖν αὖθις ὁμοίως ἐφύλασσε τὸν Ἀννίβαν, καὶ τὴν χώραν πορθεῖν ἐκώλυεν, οὐ συμπλεκόμενος αὐτοῦ τῷ στρατῷ παντί, τοῖς δʼ ἀποσκιδναμένοις μόνοις ἐπιτιθέμενος, καὶ σαφῶς εἰδὼς ἀπορήσοντα τροφῶν αὐτίκα τὸν Ἀννίβαν.

στενῆς δὲ διόδου πλησιαζούσης, ὁ μὲν Ἀννίβας αὐτὴν οὐ προείδετο, Φάβιος δὲ προπέμψας τετρακισχιλίους κατέλαβε, καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς αὐτὸς ἐπὶ θάτερα ἐστρατοπέδευεν ἐπὶ λόφου καρτεροῦ. ὁ δὲ Ἀννίβας ὡς ᾔσθετο ληφθεὶς ἐν μέσῳ Φαβίου τε καὶ τῶν στενῶν φυλασσομένων,

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VII

p. 325

Senate accusing Fabius of not wanting to win a victory; and the Senate, when Fabius had returned to the camp, voted that his master of horse should share the command equally with him.

They accordingly divided the army and encamped near each other; and each held to his own opinion, Fabius seeking to exhaust Hannibal by the lapse of time and meanwhile to receive no damage from him, while Minucius was eager for a decisive fight. Shortly afterward Minucius joined battle, and Fabius looked on to see what would happen, holding his own forces well in hand. In this way he was enabled to receive Minucius when he was beaten, and to drive Hannibal’s men back from the pursuit. Thus did Fabius save Minucius from a great disaster, bearing him no malice for his slander. Then Minucius, recognizing his own want of experience, laid down his command and delivered his part of the army to Fabius, who held to the belief that the only time for a skilful captain to fight is when it is necessary. This maxim, at a later time, was often brought to mind by Augustus, who was slow to fight and preferred to win by art rather than by valor. Fabius continued to watch Hannibal as before and prevented him from ravaging the country, not coming to an engagement with his whole army but merely cutting off stragglers, well knowing that Hannibal would soon be short of supplies.

They were now approaching a narrow pass of which Hannibal was ignorant. Fabius sent forward 4000 men to occupy it, keeping the remainder of his force at the other extremity where he encamped on a strong hill. When Hannibal

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.