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 50–52

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Ancient Greek Page · Branch 185 of 315

Book VII · Sections 50–52

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 384

ἔκαυσε λαμπρῶς, καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ τῷ παιδὶ προσέπεμψεν ἐς τὸ Ῥωμαίων στρατόπεδον·

Σαλαπίνοις δὲ μηνίων εὐθὺς ἐτύπωσεν ἐπιστολὴν τῇ σφραγῖδι Μαρκέλλου, πρὶν αἰσθέσθαι πολλοὺς περὶ τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ αὐτόμολον ἄνδρα Ῥωμαῖον ἔπεμψε φέρειν, δηλοῦντα ὅτι στρατιὰ Μαρκέλλου κατόπιν ἔρχοιτο, καὶ ὁ Μάρκελλος αὐτὴν ὑποδέξασθαι κελεύοι. ἄρτι δʼ εἰλήφεσαν Κρισπίνου γράμματα, περιπέμψαντος ἐς ἅπαντας ὅτι τῆς Μαρκέλλου σφραγῖδος Ἀννίβας κεκρατήκοι. τὸν οὖν ἄγγελον, ἵνα μὴ παραμένων ἐπιγνοίη τὰ γιγνόμενα, ἀπέπεμψαν ὑποσχόμενοι τὰ προστασσόμενα ποιήσειν, αὐτοὶ δʼ ὁπλισάμενοι τὴν ἐνέδραν ἐπὶ τῶν τειχῶν ἀνέμενον. καὶ προσιόντος τοῦ Ἀννίβου μετὰ Νομάδων, οὓς Ῥωμαϊκοῖς ὅπλοις ἐσκεύασε, τὰς μὲν πύλας ἐκ μηχανήματος ἀνέσπασαν ὡς δὴ Μαρκέλλου προσιόντος ἀσμενίζοντες, ἐσδεξάμενοι δὲ ὅσων εὐμαρῶς κρατήσειν ἔμελλον, αὖθις ἐκ τοῦ μηχανήματος αὐτὰς ἐπικαθῆκαν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐσελθόντας ἔκτειναν, τοὺς δʼ ἔξω τῶν τειχῶν ἔτι περιεστῶτας ἄνωθεν ἔβαλλόν τε καὶ κατετίτρωσκον. καὶ δευτέρας τῆσδε πείρας ὁ Ἀννίβας ἐπὶ τῇ πόλει σφαλεὶς ἀπεχώρει.

ἐν τούτῳ δὲ καὶ Ἀσδρούβας ὁ ἀδελφὸς Ἀννίβου, τὴν στρατιὰν ἣν ἐξενάγησεν ἐν τοῖς Κελτίβηρσιν ἔχων, διέβαινεν ἐς τὴν Ἰταλίαν, καὶ Κελτῶν φιλίως αὐτὸν δεχομένων τὰ Ἄλπεια ὄρη, ὡδοποιημένα πρότερον ὑπὸ Ἀννίβου, διώδευε δύο μησίν, ὅσα τέως Ἀννίβας ἓξ διῆλθεν. ἐσέβαλέ

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VII

p. 385

distinguished honors, and sent his bones to his son in the Roman camp.

Being angry with the Salapians, Hannibal sent a Roman deserter to them with a letter stamped with the signet ring of Marcellus, before the latter’s death had become generally known, saying that the army of Marcellus was on the way thither and that Marcellus gave orders that the gates should be opened to receive them. But the citizens had received letters a little before from Crispinus, who had sent word to all the surrounding towns that Hannibal had got possession of Marcellus’ ring. So they sent Hannibal’s messenger back in order that he might not know by remaining there what was going on, and they promised to do as they had been ordered. Then they armed them-selves and having taken their station on the walls awaited the result of the stratagem. When Hannibal came with his Numidians, whom he had armed with Roman weapons, they drew up the portcullis as though they were gladly welcoming Marcellus. When they had admitted as many as they thought they could easily master, they dropped the portcullis and slew all those who had gained entrance. Upon those who were still standing around outside the walls they hurled missiles from above and covered them with wounds. Hannibal, having failed in his second attempt against the city, now withdrew.

In the meantime his brother Hasdrubal, with the army he had enlisted in Celtiberia, marched to Italy. Being received in a friendly way by the Gauls he had passed over the Alps by the road that Hannibal had opened, accomplishing in two months the journey which had previously taken 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.