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 42–43

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 96 of 315

Book VI · Sections 42–43

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p. 204

τε καὶ ἵππον καὶ ξίφος, ἀποτρέχειν ἐξ Ἰβηρίας πρίν τι κακὸν παθεῖν. ὁ δὲ πολλοὺς αὐτοῖς ἔφη σάγους οἴσειν, καὶ τοῖς πρέσβεσιν αὐτῶν ἑπόμενος τῇ πόλει παρεστρατοπέδευσεν. οἱ δʼ ἀνομοίως ταῖς ἀπειλαῖς σφῶν αὐτίκα ἀπεδίδρασκον, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐγγὺς βαρβάρων ἐλῄζοντο. χρῶνται δὲ διπλοῖς ἱματίοις παχέσιν, ἀντὶ χλαμύδων αὐτὰ περιπορπώμενοι, καὶ τοῦτο σάγον ἡγοῦνται.

Φλάκκῳ μὲν οὖν διάδοχος ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν στρατηγίαν Τιβέριος Σεμπρώνιος Γράκχος. Κάραουιν δὲ πόλιν, ἣ Ῥωμαίων ἦν φίλη, δισμύριοι Κελτιβήρων ἐπολιόρκουν· καὶ ἐπίδοξος ἦν ἁλώσεσθαι, Γράκχου σφόδρα μὲν ἐπειγομένου βοηθῆσαι τῇ πόλει, περιιόντος δʼ ἐν κύκλῳ τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ οὐκ ἔχοντος οὐδὲ μηνῦσαι τῇ πόλει περὶ ἑαυτοῦ. τῶν οὖν τις ἰλάρχων, Κομίνιος, ἐνθυμηθεὶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν καὶ Γράκχῳ τὸ τόλμημα ἀνενεγκών, ἐνεπορπήσατο σάγον Ἰβηρικῶς, καὶ λαθὼν ἀνεμίχθη τοῖς χορτολογοῦσι τῶν πολεμίων, συνεσῆλθέ τε αὐτοῖς ὡς Ἴβηρ ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον, καὶ ἐς τὴν Κάραουιν διαδραμὼν ἐμήνυσεν ὅτι Γράκχος ἐπίοι. οἱ μὲν δὴ διεσώθησαν, ἐγκαρτερήσαντες τῇ πολιορκίᾳ μέχρι Γράκχος αὐτοῖς ἐπῆλθε μετὰ τρίτην ἡμέραν, καὶ οἱ πολιορκοῦντες ἀπανέστησαν· δισμύριοι δʼ ἐκ τῆς Κομπλέγας διέτρεχον ἐς τὸ Γράκχου στρατόπεδον σὺν ἱκετηρίαις, καὶ πλησιάσαντες ἀδοκήτως ἐπέθεντο αὐτῷ, καὶ συνετάραξαν. ὁ δʼ εὐμηχάνως ἐξέλιπεν αὐτοῖς τὸ στρατόπεδον, καὶ ὑπεκρίνατο φεύγειν· εἶτα διαρπάζουσιν ἐπιστραφεὶς ἐπέπεσέ τε καὶ

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 205

for their dead in the late war, and take himself out of Spain or suffer the consequences. Flaccus replied that he would bring them plenty of cloaks, and following closely after their messengers, he encamped before the city. Far from making good their threats, they took to their heels, plundering the neighboring barbarians on the road. These people wore a thick outer garment with a double fold which they fastened with a clasp after the manner of the military cloak, and they called it the sagum.

Flaccus was succeeded in the command by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, at which time the city of Caravis, which was in alliance with Rome, was besieged by 20,000 Celtiberians. As it was reported that the place was about to be taken Gracchus hastened all the more to relieve it. He could but circle about the besiegers, and had no means of communicating to the town his own nearness. Cominius, a prefect of horse, having considered the matter carefully, and communicated his plan to Gracchus, donned a Spanish sagum and secretly mingled with the enemy’s foragers. In this way he gained entrance to their camp as a Spaniard, and passed through it into Caravis and told the people that Gracchus was approaching. Wherefore they endured the siege patiently and were saved, for Gracchus arrived three days later, and the besiegers fled. About the same time the inhabitants of Complega, to the number of 20,000, came to Gracchus’ camp in the guise of petitioners bearing olive-branches, and when they arrived they attacked him unexpectedly, and threw everything into confusion. Gracchus adroitly abandoned his camp to them and simulated flight; then suddenly turning he fell upon

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.