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 III · Fragment X

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 40 of 315

Book III · Fragment X

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Ancient Greek

p. 86

εἶπεν, ὅτι μὴ βλέπω· νῦν δʼ ὅτι ἀκούω. τὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα ὑμῶν βουλεύματα ἠξίουν μήθʼ ὁρᾶν μήτʼ ἀκούειν, οἳ διʼ ἓν ἀτύχημα ἀθρόως οὕτως ἑαυτῶν ἐκλέλησθε, καὶ τὸν τοῦτο δράσαντα αὐτόν τε καὶ τοὺς ἐπαγαγομένους αὐτὸν βουλεύεσθε φίλους ἀντὶ πολεμίων θέσθαι, καὶ τὰ τῶν προγόνων κτήματα Λευκανοῖς καὶ Βρεττίοις δοῦναι. τί τοῦτʼ ἐστὶν ἢ Ῥωμαίους ἐπὶ Μακεδόσι γενέσθαι; καὶ ταῦτά τινες εἰρήνην ἀντὶ δουλείας τολμῶσιν ὀνομάζειν. ἄλλα τε πολλὰ ὅμοια τούτοις ὁ Ἄππιος εἰπὼν καὶ ἐρεθίσας, ἐσηγήσατο Πύρρον, εἰ δέοιτο τῆς Ῥωμαίων φιλίας καὶ συμμαχίας, ἐξ Ἰταλίας ἀπελθόντα πρεσβεύειν, παρόντα δὲ μήτε φίλον ἡγεῖσθαι μήτε σύμμαχον μήτε Ῥωμαίοις δικαστὴν ἢ διαιτητήν.

καὶ ἡ βουλὴ ταῦθʼ ἅπερ καὶ Ἄππιος εἶπεν ἀπεκρίνατο Κινέᾳ. Λαιουίνῳ δʼ ἄλλα δύο τέλη καταλέγοντες ἐκήρυξαν οὕτως, εἴ τις ἀντὶ τῶν ἀπολωλότων αὑτὸν ἐπιδίδωσιν, ἐς τὴν στρατιὰν ἀπογράφεσθαι. καὶ ὁ Κινέας ἔτι παρών, καὶ θεώμενος αὐτοὺς ὠθουμένους ἐς τὰς ἀπογραφάς, λέγεται πρὸς τὸν Πύρρον ἐπανελθὼν εἰπεῖν ὅτι πρὸς ὕδραν ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς ὁ πόλεμος. οἱ δὲ οὐ Κινέαν ἀλλὰ Πύρρον αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν τοῦτο τὸ ἔπος, ἰδόντα τὴν στρατιὰν τῶν Ῥωμαίων τῆς προτέρας πλείονα· καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἕτερος ὕπατος τῷ Λαιουίνῳ Κορουγκάνιος ἧκεν ἐκ Τυρρηνίας μεθʼ ἧς εἶχε παρασκευῆς. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τἆλλα περὶ τῆς Ῥώμης πυνθανομένῳ Πύρρῳ Κινέας εἰπεῖν ὅτι πόλις ἐστὶ στρατηγῶν ὅλη, καὶ τοῦ Πύρρου θαυμάσαντος μεταλαβὼν φάναι, βασιλέων μᾶλλον

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book III

p. 87

was grieved at the loss of my sight; now I regret that I did not lose my hearing also, for never did I expect to see or hear deliberations of this kind from you. Have you become so forgetful of yourselves all of a sudden, by reason of one misfortune, as to take the man who brought it upon you, and those who called him hither, for friends instead of enemies, and to give back to the Lucanians and Bruttians the property that your ancestors took from them? What is this but making the Romans servants of the Macedonians? And some of you dare to call this peace instead of servitude! Many other things in the like sense did Appius urge to arouse their spirit. If Pyrrhus wanted peace and the friendship of the Romans, let him withdraw from Italy and then send his embassy. As long as he remained let him be considered neither friend nor ally, neither judge nor arbitrator in Roman affairs.

The Senate made answer to Cineas as Appius advised. They decreed the levying of two new legions for Laevinus, and made proclamation that whoever would volunteer in place of those who had been lost should put their names on the army roll. Cineas, who was still present and saw the multitude hastening to be enrolled, is reported to have said to Pyrrhus on his return: We are waging war against a hydra. Others say that not Cineas, but even Pyrrhus himself said this when he saw the new Roman army larger than the former one; for the other consul, Coruncanius, came from Etruria and joined his forces with those of Laevinus. It is said also that when Pyrrhus made some further inquiries about Rome, Cineas replied that it was a city of generals; and when Pyrrhus wondered at this, he corrected himself, and said that it seemed more like a city

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.