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 V · Fragment VI

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Book V · Fragment VI

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Ancient Greek

p. 134

Κρήτη ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὐνοϊκῶς ἔχειν ἐδόκει Μιθριδάτῃ βασιλεύοντι Πόντου, καὶ αὐτῷ μισθοφορῆσαι πολεμοῦντι Ῥωμαίοις ἐλέγετο. ἔδοξε δὲ καὶ τοῖς πλεύσασι τότε λῃσταῖς ἐς χάριν τοῦ Μιθριδάτου συλλαβεῖν καὶ συμμαχῆσαι σαφῶς διωκομένοις ὑπὸ Μάρκου Ἀντωνίου. πρεσβευσαμένου δὲ τοῦ Ἀντωνίου πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὑπεριδεῖν καὶ ὑπερηφάνως ἀποκρίνασθαι. καὶ πολεμῆσαι μὲν αὐτοῖς εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τῷδε Ἀντώνιος, καὶ οὐ πρᾶξαι καλῶς, χρηματίσαι δʼ ὅμως διὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν Κρητικός. καὶ ἦν ὅδε πατὴρ Μάρκου Ἀντωνίου τοῦ πολεμήσαντος ὕστερον Καίσαρι τῷ κληθέντι Σεβαστῷ περὶ Ἄκτιον. ψηφισαμένων δὲ Ῥωμαίων Κρησὶ πολεμεῖν διὰ τάδε, οἱ Κρῆτες ἐπρέσβευσαν ἐς Ῥώμην περὶ διαλλαγῶν. οἱ δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐκέλευον ἐκδοῦναί τε αὐτοῖς Λασθένη τὸν πολεμήσαντα Ἀντωνίῳ, καὶ τὰ σκάφη τὰ λῃστικὰ πάντα παραδοῦναι, καὶ ὅσα Ῥωμαίων εἶχον αἰχμάλωτα, καὶ ὅμηρα τριακόσια καὶ ἀργυρίου τάλαντα τετρακισχίλια.

οὐ δεξαμένων δὲ ταῦτα Κρητῶν ᾑρέθη στρατηγὸς ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς Μέτελλος. καὶ νικᾷ μὲν ὁ Μέτελλος ἐν Κυδωνίᾳ Λασθένη, καὶ φυγόντος ἐς Κνωσσὸν Πανάρης Μετέλλῳ τὴν Κυδωνίαν παρέδωκεν ἐπὶ συνθήκῃ, μηδὲν παθεῖν αὐτός. Μετέλλου δὲ Κνωσσὸν περικαθημένου, ὁ Λασθένης τὴν οἰκίαν χρημάτων πλήσας κατέφλεξε, καὶ διέφυγεν ἀπὸ τῆς Κνωσσοῦ. καὶ οἱ Κρῆτες ἐς Πομπήιον

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book V

p. 135

The island of Crete seemed to be favorably disposed towards Mithridates, king of Pontus, from the beginning, and it was said that they furnished him mercenaries when he was at war with the Romans. It is believed also that they recommended to the favor of Mithridates the pirates who then infested the sea, and openly assisted them when they were pursued by Marcus Antonius. When Antonius sent legates to them on this subject, they made light of the matter and gave him a disdainful answer. Antonius forthwith made war against them, and although he did not accomplish much, he gained the title of Creticus for his work. He was the father of the Mark Antony who, at a later period, fought against Octavius Caesar at Actium. When the Romans declared war against the Cretans, on account of these things, the latter sent an embassy to Rome to treat for peace. The Romans ordered them to surrender Lasthenes, the author of the war against Antonius, and to deliver up all their pirate ships and all the Roman prisoners in their hands, together with 300 hostages, and to pay 4000 talents of silver.

As the Cretans would not accept these conditions, Metellus was chosen as the general against them. He gained a victory over Lasthenes at Cydonia. The latter fled to Gnossus, and Panares delivered over Cydonia to Metellus on condition of his own safety. While Metellus was besieging Gnossus, Lasthenes set fire to his own house there, which was full of money, and fled from the place. Then the Cretans sent word to Pompey the Great,

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.