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Appian of Alexandria

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I

Ancient Greek with Horace White’s English translation

Appian’s Roman History, Volume IBook V · Fragment II

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 60 of 315

Book V · Fragment II

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Ancient Greek

p. 130

αὐτοῖς ἐπέθεσαν, καὶ τέλη τὰ θαλάσσια ταῖς πόλεσι μερισάμενοι στρατηγὸν ἐτήσιον ἔπεμπον ἐς Σικελίαν. Ἱέρωνα δὲ τὸν Συρακοσίων τύραννον, ἀνθʼ ὧν αὐτοῖς ἐς τόνδε τὸν πόλεμον συνεπεπράχει, φίλον καὶ σύμμαχον ἔθεντο.

καταλυθέντος δὲ τοῦ πολέμου τοῦδε, Κελτοὶ Καρχηδονίους τόν τε μισθὸν ᾔτουν τὸν ἔτι ὀφειλόμενον σφίσιν ἐκ Σικελίας, καὶ δωρεὰς ὅσας ὑπέσχητο αὐτοῖς δώσειν Ἀμίλχας. ᾔτουν δὲ καὶ Λίβυες, ὑπήκοοι μὲν ὄντες οἵδε Καρχηδονίων, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἐν Σικελίᾳ στρατείας ἐπὶ φρονήματος γεγονότες καὶ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἀσθενεῖς καὶ ταπεινοὺς ὁρῶντες· ἐχαλέπαινόν τε αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀναιρέσεως τῶν τρισχιλίων, οὓς ἐσταυρώκεσαν τῆς ἐς Ῥωμαίους μεταβολῆς οὕνεκα. διωθουμένων δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἑκατέρους, κατέλαβον ἄμφω Τύνητα πόλιν καὶ Ἰτύκην, ἣ μεγίστη Λιβύης ἐστὶ μετὰ Καρχηδόνα· ὅθεν ὁρμώμενοι τήν τε ἄλλην ἀφίστανον καὶ τῶν Νομάδων τινὰς ἔπειθον καὶ δούλων πολὺ πλῆθος ἀποδιδρασκόντων ὑπεδέχοντο, τά τε Καρχηδονίων πάντα ἐλεηλάτουν. οἱ δὲ πανταχόθεν πολεμούμενοι συμμάχους ἐπὶ τοὺς Λίβυας Ῥωμαίους ἐπεκαλοῦντο. καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι στρατιὰν μὲν αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἔπεμψαν, ἀγορὰν δʼ ἔκ τε Ἰταλίας καὶ Σικελίας ἐπάγεσθαι καὶ ξενολογεῖν ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐς μόνον τόνδε τὸν πόλεμον ἐπέτρεψαν. ἔπεμψαν δὲ καὶ πρέσβεις ἐς Λιβύην, εἰ δύναιντο διαλῦσαι τὸν πόλεμον· οἳ ἐπανῆλθον ἄπρακτοι. καὶ Καρχηδόνιοι ἐγκρατῶς εἴχοντο τοῦ πολέμου.

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Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book V

p. 131

Sicilians, and apportioned certain naval charges among their towns, and sent a praetor each year to govern them. On the other hand Hiero, the ruler of Syracuse, who had coöperated with them in this war, was declared to be their friend and ally.

When this war was ended the Gallic mercenaries demanded of the Carthaginians the pay still due to them for their service in Sicily, together with the presents that Hamilcar had promised to give them. The African soldiers, although they were Carthaginian subjects, demanded the same things, on account of their service in Sicily, and this they did the more arrogantly as they saw that the Carthaginians were weakened and humbled; they were angry also on account of the killing of 3000 of their own number whom the Carthaginians had crucified for deserting to the Romans. When the Carthaginians refused the demands of both Gauls and Africans, they joined together and seized the city of Tunis, and also Utica, the largest city in Africa after Carthage. Starting thence they detached the rest of Africa, and brought over to their side some Numidians, and received into their ranks a vast number of fugitive slaves, and pillaged the Carthaginian possessions in every direction. Being pressed by enemies on all sides the Carthaginians appealed to the Romans for aid against the Africans. The Romans did not send them a military force, but allowed them to draw supplies from Italy and Sicily, and to recruit mercenaries in Italy for this war only. They also sent deputies to Africa to arrange peace if they could, but they returned without accomplishing anything. The Carthaginians prosecuted the war vigorously.

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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.