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 22–23

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 80 of 315

Book VI · Sections 22–23

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Ancient Greek

p. 172

καὶ πρῶτος ἁρπάσας τινὰ τῶν κλιμάκων μετέφερέ τε καὶ ἀνέβαινεν, οὔπω τινὸς ἀναβάντος ἄλλου, μέχρι περισχόντες αὐτὸν οἵ τε ὑπασπισταὶ καὶ ἡ ἄλλη στρατιὰ τόνδε μὲν ἐπέσχον, αὐτοὶ δὲ πολλὰς ὁμοῦ κλίμακας προσετίθεσάν τε καὶ ἀνεπήδων. βοῆς δὲ καὶ ὁρμῆς ἑκατέρωθεν γενομένης, καὶ ποικίλων ἔργων καὶ παθῶν, ἐκράτησαν ὅμως οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι, καὶ πύργων τινῶν ἐπέβησαν ὀλίγων, οἷς ὁ Σκιπίων σαλπικτὰς καὶ βυκανιστὰς ἐπιστήσας ἐξοτρύνειν ἐκέλευσε καὶ θορυβεῖν ὡς τῆς πόλεως εἰλημμένης ἤδη. ἕτεροί τε περιθέοντες ὁμοίως διετάρασσον. καὶ καθαλόμενοί τινες ἀνέῳξαν τῷ Σκιπίωνι τὰς πύλας· ὁ δʼ ἐσεπήδησε μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς δρόμῳ. καὶ τῶν ἔνδον οἱ μὲν ἐς τὰς οἰκίας ἀπεδίδρασκον, ὁ δὲ Μάγων τοὺς μυρίους ἐς τὴν ἀγορὰν συνεκάλει. ταχὺ δὲ καὶ τούτων κατακοπέντων, ἐς τὴν ἄκραν σὺν ὀλίγοις ἀνεχώρει. τοῦ δὲ Σκιπίωνος καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἄκραν εὐθὺς ἐπιόντος, οὐδὲν ἔτι δρᾶν σὺν ἡττημένοις τε καὶ κατεπτηχόσιν ἔχων ἐνεχείρισεν ἑαυτὸν τῷ Σκιπίωνι.

ὁ δὲ τόλμῃ καὶ τύχῃ πόλιν εὐδαίμονα καὶ δυνατὴν ἑλὼν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ, τετάρτῃ τῆς ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἀφίξεως, ἐπῇρτο μεγάλως, καὶ μᾶλλον ἐδόκει κατὰ θεὸν ἕκαστα δρᾶν, αὐτός τε οὕτως ἐφρόνει καὶ οὕτως ἐλογοποίει καὶ τότε καὶ ἐς τὸν ἔπειτα βίον, ἀρξάμενος ἐξ ἐκείνου. πολλάκις γοῦν ἐς τὸ Καπιτώλιον ἐσῄει μόνος, καὶ τὰς θύρας ἐπέκλειεν ὥσπερ τι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ μανθάνων. καὶ νῦν ἔτι τὴν εἰκόνα τὴν Σκιπίωνος ἐν ταῖς πομπαῖς μόνου

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 173

He was the first to seize a ladder and carry it into the lagoon, and he began to mount where nobody else had yet attempted to do so. But his armor-bearers and other soldiers surrounded him and held him back, while they brought a great number of ladders together, planted them against the wall, and began to mount. Amid shouts and clamor on all sides, giving and receiving blows, the Romans finally prevailed and succeeded in occupying some of the towers, where Scipio placed trumpeters and ordered them to sound a blast as though the city were already taken. This brought others to their assistance and created consternation among the enemy. Some of the Romans jumped down and opened the gates to Scipio, who rushed in with his army. Some of the inhabitants took refuge in their houses, but Mago drew up his 10,000 in the market-place. After most of these were cut down he fled with the remainder to the citadel, which Scipio immediately invested. When Mago saw that he could do nothing with his beaten and cowering force, he surrendered.

Having taken this rich and powerful city by audacity and good fortune in one day (the fourth after his arrival), he was greatly elated and it seemed more than ever that he was divinely inspired. He began to think so himself and to give it out to others, not only then, but all the rest of his life. At all events, he frequently went into the Capitol alone and closed the doors as though he were receiving counsel from the god. Even now in public processions they bring the image of Scipio alone out of the Capitol, all the others being taken from the

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.