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 37–38

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English Page · Branch 174 of 315

Book VII · Sections 37–38

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Ancient Greek

p. 362

οἱ στρατηγοὶ τὸ μεσον εἶχον ἀντὶ στρατοπέδου. ἐπάλξεις δʼ ἦσαν αὐτοῖς αἱ μὲν ἐς Καπυαίους πολιορκουμένους αἱ δʼ ἐς τοὺς ἔξωθεν ἐπιόντας ἐπεστραμμέναι, ἥ τε ὄψις ἦν πόλεως μεγάλης σμικροτέραν ἐχούσης ἐν μέσῳ. τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ περιτειχίσματος ἐς τὴν Καπύην διάστημα διστάδιον ἦν μάλιστα· ἐν ᾧ πολλαὶ ἐγίγνοντο πεῖραι καὶ συμβολαὶ καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, πολλὰ δʼ ὡς ἐν θεάτρῳ μεσοτειχίῳ μονομάχια, προκαλουμένων ἀλλήλους τῶν ἀρίστων. καί τις Καπυαῖος, Ταυρέας, Ῥωμαίων ἐν μονομαχίῳ Κλαύδιον Ἄσελλον περιφεύγων ὑπεχώρει, μέχρι τοῖς Καπυαίων τείχεσιν ὁ Ἄσελλος ἐγκύρσας καὶ τὸν ἵππον οὐ δυνάμενος ἐκ τῆς ῥύμης ἐπιστρέψαι διὰ τῶν πολεμίων πυλῶν ἐς τὴν Καπύην ἐσήλατο σὺν ὁρμῇ, καὶ διιππεύσας τὴν πόλιν ὅλην κατὰ τὰς ἑτέρας ἐξέδραμεν ἐς τοὺς ἐπὶ θάτερα Ῥωμαίους.

καὶ ὁ μὲν οὕτω παραβόλως διεσώζετο, Ἀννίβας δὲ τῆς χρείας ψευσθεὶς ἐφʼ ἣν ἐς Λευκανοὺς μετεκέκλητο, ἀνέστρεφεν ἐς Καπύην, μέγα ποιούμενος μὴ περιιδεῖν πόλιν μεγάλην καὶ εὔκαιρον ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίοις γενομένην. προσβαλὼν δὲ τῷ περιτειχίσματι καὶ μηδὲν δυνηθείς, μηδʼ ἐπινοῶν ὅπως ἂν ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἐσπέμψειεν ἢ σῖτον ἢ στρατιάν, οὐδενὸς οὐδʼ ἀπʼ ἐκείνων αὐτῷ συμβαλεῖν δυναμένου διὰ τὴν ἐπιτείχισιν πάντῃ περιλαμβάνουσαν, ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥώμην ἠπείγετο παντὶ τῷ στρατῷ, πυνθανόμενος μὲν κἀκείνους ὑπὸ λιμοῦ πιέζεσθαι, ἐλπίζων δὲ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς αὐτῶν ἀπὸ Καπύης ἀναστήσειν, ἢ αὐτός τι Καπύης μεῖζον ἐργάσεσθαι. συντόνῳ δὲ σπουδῇ διελθὼν ἔθνη πολλὰ καὶ πολέμια, τῶν μὲν οὐ δυνηθέντων αὐτὸν ἐπισχεῖν,

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VII

p. 363

two. They erected battlements also, some toward the besieged Capuans and others toward the enemy outside. There was the appearance of a great city enclosing a smaller one. The space between the enclosing wall and Capua was about two stades, in which many enterprises and encounters took place each day and many single combats, as in a theatre surrounded by walls, for the bravest were continually challenging each other. A certain Capuan named Taureus having had a single combat with the Roman Claudius Asellus, and seeking to escape, retreated, Asellus pursuing till he came to the walls of Capua. The latter not being able to check his horse dashed at full speed through the gate into Capua, and galloping through the whole city, ran out at the opposite gate and rejoined the Romans, and was thus marvellously saved.

Hannibal, having failed in the task that called him to Lucania, turned back to Capua, considering it very important to defend a city so large, and which had been a city of importance under Roman sway. He accordingly at-tacked their enclosing wall, but as he accomplished nothing and could devise no way to introduce either provisions or soldiers into the city, and as none of them could communicate with him on account of the closeness of the siege, he marched to Rome with his whole army, having learned that the Romans also were hard pressed by famine and hoping to draw the Roman generals away from Capua, or to accomplish something more important than its relief. Moving with the greatest celerity through the country inhabited by many hostile peoples, some of whom were not able to hinder him while others would not incur

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.