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 VI · Sections 14–15

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Book VI · Sections 14–15

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Ancient Greek

p. 160

στρατηγοὶ περὶ Λιβύην ἔπραξαν, ἐν τῇ Καρχηδονιακῇ βίβλῳ συγγέγραπται), Πόπλιον δὲ Κορνήλιον Σκιπίωνα ἔστελλον ἐς Ἰβηρίαν ἐπὶ νεῶν ἑξήκοντα μετὰ πεζῶν μυρίων καὶ ἱππέων ἑπτακοσίων, καὶ πρεσβευτὴν αὐτῷ συνέπεμπον Γναῖον Κορνήλιον Σκιπίωνα τὸν ἀδελφόν. τούτοιν ὁ μὲν Πόπλιος παρὰ Μασσαλιωτῶν ἐμπόρων πυθόμενος Ἀννίβαν διὰ τῶν Ἀλπείων ὀρῶν ἐς τὴν Ἰταλίαν ὑπερβάντα, δείσας μὴ ἀδοκήτως τοῖς Ἰταλιώταις ἐπιπέσοι, παραδοὺς Γναίῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ τὴν ἐν Ἰβηρίᾳ στρατιὰν διέπλευσεν ἐπὶ πεντήρους ἐς Τυρρηνίαν. καὶ ὅσα ἔπραξεν ἐν τῇ Ἰταλίᾳ οὗτός τε καὶ ὅσοι μετʼ αὐτὸν ἄλλοι στρατηγοὶ τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου ἐγένοντο, ἕως Ἀννίβαν ἑκκαιδεκάτῳ μόλις ἔτει τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐξήλασαν, ἡ ἑξῆς βίβλος ὑποδείκνυσιν, ἣ τὰ ἔργα Ἀννίβου τὰ ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ πάντα περιλαμβάνει, καὶ παρʼ αὐτὸ λέγεται Ῥωμαϊκῶν Ἀννιβαϊκή.

Γναῖος δὲ οὐδέν, ὅ τι καὶ εἰπεῖν, ἔπραξεν ἐν τοῖς Ἴβηρσι, πρὶν αὐτῷ Πόπλιον τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐπανελθεῖν· Ῥωμαῖοι γάρ, ληγούσης τῆς ἀρχῆς τῷ Ποπλίῳ, πρὸς μὲν Ἀννίβαν ἐς τὴν Ἰταλίαν τοὺς μετὰ τὸν Πόπλιον ὑπάτους ἐξέπεμψαν, αὐτὸν δὲ ἀνθύπατον ἀποφήναντες ἐς Ἰβηρίαν αὖθις ἔστειλαν. καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦδε οἱ δύο Σκιπίωνες τὸν ἐν Ἰβηρίᾳ πόλεμον διέφερον, Ἀσδρούβου σφίσιν ἀντιστρατηγοῦντος, μέχρι Καρχηδόνιοι μὲν ὑπὸ Σύφακος τοῦ τῶν Νομάδων δυνάστου πολεμούμενοι τὸν Ἀσδρούβαν καὶ μέρος τῆς ὑπ· αὐτῷ στρατιᾶς μετεπέμψαντο, τῶν δὲ ὑπολοίπων οἱ Σκιπίωνες εὐμαρῶς ἐκράτουν. καὶ πολλαὶ τῶν πόλεων ἐς αὐτοὺς ἑκοῦσαι μετετίθεντο· καὶ γὰρ

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 161

and the other Roman generals did in Africa has been related in my Punic history. They also ordered Publius Cornelius Scipio to Spain with sixty ships, 10,000 foot, and 700 horse, and sent his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio with him as a legate. The former (Publius), learning from Massilian merchants that Hannibal had crossed the Alps and entered Italy, and fearing lest he should fall upon the Italians unawares, turned over to his brother the command in Spain and sailed with his quinqueremes to Etruria. What he and the other Roman generals after him did in Italy, until, at the end of sixteen years and with exceeding difficulty, they drove Hannibal out of the country, will be shown in the following book, which will contain all the exploits of Hannibal in Italy, and is called the Hannibalic book of Roman history.

Gnaeus did nothing in Spain worthy of mention before his brother Publius returned thither. When the latter’s term of office expired, the Romans, having despatched the new consuls against Hannibal in Italy, appointed him proconsul, and sent him again into Spain. From this time the two Scipios managed the war in Spain, Hasdrubal being the general opposed to them until the Carthaginians recalled him and a part of his army to ward off an attack of Syphax, the ruler of the Numidians. The Scipios easily overcame the remainder. Many towns also came over to them voluntarily, for they

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.