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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

Appian of Alexandria

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I

Ancient Greek with Horace White’s English translation

Appian’s Roman History, Volume IBook IV · Fragments III–VI

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Book IV · Fragments III–VI

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Ancient Greek

p. 108

χιλιάρχους, καὶ τοῖς πρεσβεύουσι τῶν Κελτῶν ἔφασαν οὐ δύνασθαι νῦν οὐδὲν ἐς τοὺς Φαβίους ἄρχοντας ἤδη. τοῦ δʼ ἐπιόντος ἔτους ἥκειν αὐτούς, ἂν ἔτι μηνίωσιν, ἐκέλευον. Βρέννος δὲ καὶ ὅσοι Κελτῶν ἦσαν ὑπʼ ἐκείνῳ, νομίσαντες ὑβρίσθαι καὶ χαλεπῶς ἐνεγκόντες ἐς τοὺς ἄλλους Κελτοὺς περιέπεμπον, ἀξιοῦντες αὐτοὺς συνεφάψασθαι τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου. καὶ πολλῶν ἀφικομένων ἄραντες ἤλαυνον ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥώμην.

ὁ δὲ ὑφίσταται γράμματα διοίσειν διὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐς τὸ Καπιτώλιον.

ὅτι Καιδίκιος γράμμα φέρων ἀπὸ τῆς βουλῆς περὶ τῆς ὑπάτου ἀρχῆς, παρεκάλει τὸν Κάμιλλον μηδὲν ἐν τῷ παρόντι μηνῖσαι τῇ πατρίδι τῆς ζημίας. ὁ δὲ ἐπισχὼν αὐτὸν ἔτι λέγοντα εἶπεν, οὐκ ἂν ηὐξάμην ἐπιποθῆσαί με Ῥωμαίους, εἰ τοιαύτην ἤλπισα τὴν ἐπιπόθησιν αὐτοῖς ἔσεσθαι. νῦν δὲ δικαιοτέραν εὐχὴν εὔχομαι, γενέσθαι τῇ πατρίδι χρήσιμος ἐς τοσοῦτον ἀγαθοῦ ἐς ὅσον κακοῦ περιελήλυθεν.

ὅτι Κελτοὶ μηδεμιᾷ μηχανῇ δυνηθέντες ἐπιβῆναι τῆς ἀκροπόλεως, ἠρέμουν ὡς λιμῷ τοὺς ἔνδον παραστησόμενοι. καί τις ἀπὸ τοῦ Καπιτωλίου

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Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book IV

p. 109

military tribunes for that year, and then said to the Gallic ambassadors that they could not do anything to the Fabii now because they were now holding office, but told them to come again next year if they were still in a bad humor. Brennus and the Gauls under him considered this an insult and took it hard. Accordingly they sent around to the other Gauls asking them to make common cause of war with them. When a large number had collected in obedience to this summons they broke camp and marched against Rome.

He (Caedicius) promised to carry letters through the enemy’s ranks to the Capitol.

When Caedicius bore the decree of the Senate to Camillus, by which he was made consul, he exhorted him not to lay up against his country the injury it had done him. The latter, interrupting him, said: I could not have prayed to the gods that the Romans might some time long for me if I had cherished any such feeling as that towards them. Now I pray the nobler prayer that I may render my country a service equal to the calamity that has befallen her.

When the Gauls could find no means for scaling the Capitol they remained quietly in camp in order to reduce the defenders by famine. A certain priest named Dorso went down from the Capitol to make a

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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.