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 41–42

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Book VI · Sections 41–42

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Ancient Greek

p. 202

πορρωτάτω πόλιν ἀφίξονται. ἐκέλευε δʼ ἡ γραφὴ ταῖς ἀρχαῖς τῶν πόλεων ἁπάσαις καθαιρεῖν τὰ τείχη σφῶν, αὐτῆς ἡμέρας ᾗ τὰ γράμματα λάβοιεν· εἰ δὲ ἀνάθοιντο τὴν ἡμέραν, ἀνδραποδισμὸν ἠπείλει. οἱ δὲ ἄρτι μὲν ἡττημένοι μεγάλῃ μάχῃ, ὑπὸ δὲ ἀγνοίας εἴτε μόνοις εἴθʼ ἅπασι ταῦτα προσετάχθη, φοβούμενοι μόνοι μὲν ὡς εὐκαταφρόνητοι, μετὰ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων μὴ μόνοι βραδύνωσι, καιρόν τε οὐκ ἔχοντες περιπέμψαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας τοὺς ἐληλυθότας μετὰ τῶν γραμμάτων ἐφεστῶτας σφίσιν εὐλαβούμενοι, τὸ σφέτερον ἀσφαλὲς ἕκαστοι προύργου τιθέμενοι, τὰ τείχη καθῄρουν μετὰ σπουδῆς. ἐν ᾧ γὰρ ἅπαξ ὑπακούειν ἐδόκει, καὶ τὸ ταχέως εἰργάσθαι προσλαβεῖν ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο. οὕτω μὲν αἱ πόλεις αἱ περὶ Ἴβηρα ποταμὸν μιᾶς ἡμέρας, ὑφʼ ἑνὸς στρατηγήματος, αὐταὶ τὰ τείχη τὰ ἑαυτῶν καθῄρουν, καὶ Ῥωμαίοις ἐς τὸ μέλλον εὐέφοδοι γενόμεναι διέμειναν ἐς πλεῖστον ἐπὶ εἰρήνης.

Ὀλυμπιάσι δʼ ὕστερον τέσσαρσιν, ἀμφὶ τὰς πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν, πολλοὶ τῶν Ἰβήρων γῆς ἀποροῦντες ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ Ῥωμαίων, ἄλλοι τε καὶ Λούσονες, οἳ περὶ τὸν Ἴβηρα ᾤκηνται. στρατεύσας οὖν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ὕπατος Φούλουιος Φλάκκος ἐνίκα μάχῃ. καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν αὐτῶν κατὰ πόλεις διελύθησαν· ὅσοι δὲ μάλιστα γῆς ἠπόρουν καὶ ἐξ ἄλης ἐβιότευον, ἐς Κομπλέγαν πόλιν συνέφυγον, ἣ νεόκτιστός τε ἦν καὶ ὀχυρά, καὶ ηὔξετο ταχέως. ὅθεν ὁρμώμενοι τὸν Φλάκκον ἐκέλευον, καταθέντα σφίσιν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνῃρημένων ἑκάστου σάγον

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 203

farthest town. The letters commanded the magistrates of all the towns to demolish their walls on the very day they received the order. If there was a day’s delay he threatened to sell them into slavery. They, having been lately vanquished in a great battle, and not knowing whether these orders had been sent to them alone or to all, were much perplexed, for if it were to them alone they felt that they were but weak objects of scorn, but if it were to the others also, they feared to be the only ones to delay. Wherefore, as they had no time to send to each other, and the officers who brought the letters urged them to obey, they decided to do so, each town consulting its own safety. And so they threw down their walls with all speed, for when they had once decided to obey they thought that those who did the work most expeditiously would receive most favor. Thus the towns along the river Iberus in one day, and by one act of generalship, levelled their own walls. Being less able to resist the Romans thereafter, they remained longer at peace.

Four Olympiads later, — that is, about the 150th Olympiad, — many Spanish tribes, having insufficient land, including the Lusones and others who dwelt along the river Iberus, revolted from the Roman rule. These being overcome in battle by the consul Fulvius Flaccus, the greater part of them scattered among their towns. The rest, being destitute of land and living a vagabond life, collected at Complega, a city newly built and fortified, and which had grown rapidly. Sallying out from this place they demanded that Flaccus should deliver to each of them a cloak, a horse, and a sword as recompense

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.