The history of Appian of Alexandria in two parts : the first consisting of the Punick, Syrian, Parthian, Mithridatick, Illyrian, Spanish, & Hannibalick wars, the second containing five books of the civil wars of Rome / made English by J.D.

THE PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.

DEsigning to write a History of the Roman Wars, I judged it convenient to begin it with the Bounds of their Empire. In the first place, the greatest part of those Nations inhabiting the Coasts of the British Ocean pay them obedience; from thence entring into the Mediterranean Sea by the Straits of Gibraltar, which way soever you cast your eyes, all that you behold of Isles or Ports or Lands, is subject to their Dominion. The first peo∣ple found on the right hand Coast of that Sea are the Mauritanians or Moors, and after them several other Africans, as far as Carthage, and up in the main Land are the Nomades, whom the Latines call Numidians, as they call the Country Numidia. Continuing onwards on the Sea Coast by the Lybians, as far as the* 1.1 Syrtes on the Coast of Cyrene, and Cyrene it self. Next them suc∣ceed the Marmarides, the Hammoniens▪ and all the people neighbouring upon the* 1.2 Palus Marien. Next them is found that great City which took its name from its Founder, Alexander, scituate upon the Confines of Egypt, and then all Egypt stretching it self up towards the Springs of the Nile, as far as the Oriental Aethiopians, and returning to the Sea at Pelusium, from whence going along the Coast you find Syria, Palestine, and above them a part of A∣rabia on the Banks of the Red Sea. Next to Palestine lies Phoenicia, above which is the Country of* 1.3 Coelo Syria, which extends it self as far as Euphrates. A little higher are the Palmyrians, environed with sandy Deserts, which like∣wise extend themselves as far as Euphrates: Those which give Bounds to the Syrians are the Cilicians and Cappadocians their Neighbours, with that Armenia called the lesser▪ then follow all those other Nations which submit to the Roman Empire on the* 1.4 Euxine Sea, of which number the Syrians and Cilicians lie up∣on the Mediterranean. As for the Armenians and Cappadocians, they are on one side bounded by the Pontick Nations, and on the other side joyn those people

living in the Continent, environed by Armenia Major, where the Romans le∣vy no Tribute, but only have a right of naming their Kings. Now between the Cappadocians and the Cilicians there is a great Peninsula which advances into the Sea, whose right hand Coasts are bounded by the Euxine, Propontick▪ H••lle spout and Aegean Seas, and the left by the Seas of Pamphylia and Egypt, for all these Seas compose this Peninsula, whose Inhabitants towards the Egyptian Sea are the Pamphilians and the Lycians, and after them the Carians, as far as Ionia▪ and those towards the Euxine Sea, the Propontick and H••llespont are the Galatians, Bythinians, Mysians and Phrygians: and those who inhabit the middle parts are the Lydians and Pisidians: so many different Nations within this Peninsula submitted to the Roman Rule. Moreover, beyond the Strait on the ••••ropean side ••hey possessed other Provinces on the Euxine Sea, as Mysia and Thrace, so 〈◊〉〈◊〉 at least as they lay upon that Sea.

Opposite to Ionia begins the Gulf of the Aegean Sea, next to it is the Sea of Ionia, and then that of Sicily, which is followed by the Tyrrhene Sea which reaches to the Pillars of Hercules. On the Coasts of all these Seas which extend themselves from Ionia to the Ocean, there lie many Provinces of the Roman Empire, as all Greece, Thessaly, Macedonia, the remainder of Thrace, Pannonia and Illyria, and after them Italy, which is washed at the bottom of it by the Ioni••n Sea, passes along the Tyrrhene, extending it self as far as Gaul, a part of which lies upon the M••dit••••ranean; others are bounded by the Northern Ocean, and some have the R••ine for their Frontier. Next follows all Spain and Celtiberia, which extend themselves along the Coasts of the Northern and Western Ocean to the Pillars of Hercules.

I shall speak of these people more exactly, as the method I have propos•••• to follow, shall direct me. But now having described the Bounds of this 〈◊〉〈◊〉 towards the Sea, entring into the Continent we shall find that par•• of Mau••••a∣nia, which lies upon the Occidental Ethiopians, and after it many Countr•••• of Africa (almost uninhabited by reason of the excessive heats and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of ••ild Beasts) stretching as far as the Oriental Aethiopia, which are the Fron∣tiers of the Roman Empire in Africa. As for their Dominions in Asia they are bounded by the Euphrates, Mount Caucasus, and Colchos, extending it self to the Euxine Sea, and the remainder of that Sea Coast, In Europe its ••ounds are the two great Rivers of the Rhine, and the Danube, of which the Rhi••e ••••ses it self in the Northern Ocean, and the Danube, in the Euxine Sea, not but that the Roman Dominion extends it self ovr some Germans beyond the Rhine, and over the Getes whom they call Daci, beyond the Danube.

These are the Limits towards the Continent, as we after a very curious search have learn'd. Besides which all the Islands in the Mediterranean, as the Cy∣cla••••s, Sporades, Echinades, Tyrrhenides, Baleares, and an infinite number of others of different names in the Seas of Africk, Ionia, Egypt 〈◊〉〈◊〉, Sicily, and o••r Sea, as likewise those which for their excellence the Greeks call g••eat, as Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes, Lesbos, Euboea, Sicily, Sar∣dinia, Corsica: In short, all their Isles as well great as small, depend upon the Romans. Who moreover having landed their Forces in Britany, which is an Island so great, that it seems another Continent, they have conquered the better half, slighting the remainder as not worth their pains: nor indeed does that part they possess yield them any great advantage.

Though they have now subdued so many People and Nations, yet were they a∣bove five hundred years before they could make themselves Masters of all Italy. Two hundred and fifty years they lived under their Kings, till having expelled them with a solemn Oath, never to admit them again, their Common-wealth was governed by the worthiest Citizens, and by Magistrates which they yearly changed, insomuch, that within two hundred years after the first five hundred it was by continual Victories, and the assistance of Strangers, who from all parts sought their alliance, increased to such a height, that in those times the Romans became Conquerors of a great number of Provinces.

After which Caesar having made himself the most powerful of the Age he lived in, was so near usurping the Sovereignty, that he left the Romans only the shaddow and name of a Common-wealth, whilst he in effect was become absolute Master of it; insomuch, that from his time even to this all that great Empire has payed obedience to one single person, whom, to avoid the violation of their Oath (occording to my opinion) they stiled nothing but* 1.5 Emperour; and in∣deed the name it self seems much more genuine, as being likewise common to those who commanded an Army for a time: and yet they are indeed Kings in ef∣fect. 'Tis now two hundred years since the first of those Emperours unto our time, during which, a long and constant peace having secured their Dominion, the City is become both beautiful and rich. For the first mightily added to the Provinces, and restrained within bounds of duty those which had a mind to re∣volt. And in short, very prudently chose rather to content themselves with those rich Countries on the Sea Coast, and with the well ordering of them, than to stretch their Empire ad infinitum, over poor and barbarous Nations from whom they could reap no advantage: I my self have seen at Rome Ambassadors who have come expresly to submit themselves and their Country to the Roman Empire, whom the Emperour would not accept of, because they could bring no∣thing to his Coffers; for they give Kings to a multitude of Nations, whose Do∣minions they themselves despise, and are at the expence to defend sundry Pro∣vinces, esteeming it a great dishonour to desert those whom they have once taken into their protection.

They have always been careful to maintain on their Frontiers mighty Armies, as Guards to this vast Empire, which both by Sea and Land they have with such labour and diligence maintained, as if it had been but some little Province: nor was ever any Dominion of so great extent, and so long duration together. For if we consider Greece since the Reign of Darius, which was the time of its beginning of Glory, until Philip the Son of Amyntas adding to him the Athenians, Lacedemonians and Thebans, there would yet be no comparison: for the Greeks rather made War about the preheminence of their Cities, than to enlarge their Territory; and the noblest of their Actions was but the Defence of their Liberty against foreign Princes: for when any of them designed to pass into Sicily, in order to any Conquest, they still came off with dishonour; or if at any time in a hostile manner they entred Asia, they were forced to a re∣treat without doing any memorable Action. In short, the Grecian Prowess, as ambitious as it was, never conquered any thing out of Greece which it any long time enjoyed, being contented with preserving the Liberty of that Country, and the reputation of an invincible valour; but after the time of Philip the Son of Amyntas, and his Son Alexander, their Glory seems to me very much dimi∣nished: nor had the Empire, fo••nded by them in Asia any thing to equal that e∣stablished by the Romans in Europe, considering the weakness and effeminacy of

the Asiaticks, as may be seen in the progress of this History. For the Romans fought but few Battels to subdue all those Provinces they possessed, though they were defended by Macedonians: but Africa and Europe were gained with mighty labour. Besides, those three great Empires of the Assyrians, Medes and Persians did not (put them altogether) continue nine hundred years, as the Roman Power has done, which subsists to this instant, and yet the extent of those three Empires was less by one half than that of the Romans, if we com∣pare the Bounds of one with the other; for the Roman Empire reached from the Western Ocean, as far as Mount Caucasus, the Euphrates; and to the Ae∣thiopians that are above Egypt to Arabia: and in short, even to the Oriental Sea, so that the Ocean were its bounds both Eastward and Westward, whilst all the Mediterranean and those Isles it embraces, and even* 1.6 (Britain) in the Northern Ocean submitted to its Dominion. Whereas the Medes and Persi∣ans in those times when they were most powerful at Sea, never had more than the Gulph of Pamphilia, with the Island of Cyprus, and some small matter on the Coasts of the Ionian Sea, besides the Persian Gulf which is of no great ex∣tent. As to the Affairs of the Macedonians before the Reign of Philip the Son of Amyntas, they were but in a bad condition, having no sure Foundation. True it is, that Philip was very happy in all he undertook, but he never waged War out of Greece, or the Neighbouring Provinces. At last under Alexan∣der that Kingdom was raised to a prodigious and an incomparable height of Greatness, as well for its extent, and the number of its people, as for the ex∣peditious felicity of itsVictories; yet was it only like a flash of Lightning, if we consider its short continuance, Not but that after it was divided into several * 1.7 Satrapies, every Province did for a long time afterwards maintain and pre∣serve its primitive splendor. For the Kings of Egypt only kept in pay two hundred thousand Foot-men, forty thousand Horsemen, three hundred Ele∣phants trained to the War, two thousand Chariots armed with Scythes, with Arms in store for three hundred thousand Men; and besides all these Land-Forces, had in constant readiness two thousand S••allops, or small Vessels, fif∣teen hundred Gallies, with all their Furniture, eight hundred tall Ships rigged, and splendidly fitted with all Naval Provisions, and richly gilded both in Poop and Prow, on which they were wont to go to War, that they might appear with the greater pomp. As for Money, they had continually in the Treasury seven hundred and forty thousand Egyptian Talents of Silver, as appears by the Registers wherein these things are recorded, which are producible to this day, and particularly those left by Alexander's immediate Successor to the Kingdom of Egypt, who of all the Kings was the most exact in his Accounts of his Reve∣nues, most splendid in his Expences, and most magnificent in his Buildings, Most certain it is, there were some other Satrapies not much inferiour to this, but they all fell to ruine by the Civil Dissentions of the succeeding Princes, than which no more dangerous Plague can infect a great Estate. But the Ro∣man Empire, because admirable both in its greatness and prosperity, by reason of that long continuance, the product of its Senates prudent deliberations, though the raising of this Estate required an extraordinary, vigour, and Spirits capable of undergoing incredible labour and overcoming ten thousand difficulties; for success never made them proud nor presumptuous, till they saw themselves firmly setteled: and on the other side, adversity never dismayed them; for not the loss of twenty, nay forty, no, nor fifty thousand Men in one single Battel, not the hazard of an absolute ruine by Plague, Famine, or Sedition, euer made them abate of their Courage; but at last having baffled all imaginable dangers for seven hundred years together, and triumph'd over all those difficulties dayly op∣posed

them, they raised their Empire to that height of Glory and Greatness; and at present reap the Fruits of both their good Fortune and Prudence.

Many Authors as well Greek as Latine have wrote of all these things, and indeed the Subject is greater than that of the Macedonian Affairs, though they ••ere in their season possibly more considerable. But for my part, after having well considered the Roman Virtue, that I might make the more contemplative comparison of it with that of other Nations, I have given freedom to my thoughts to wander from one place to another, from Carthage to Spain, from thence to Sicily or Macedonia, and fancied either an Embassie, or a Commissi∣on to succour the oppressed, and thence like a perfect Vagabond (that had no∣thing else to do) returning either to Carthage or Sicily, I have collected all things necessary to compose this History: I informed my self how often the Romans sent Ambassadors or Armies into Sicily, and of every minute Action they performed there, till they reduced it under that obedience it now ac∣knowledges. I enquired into all Treaties of Peace, or Overtures between one or t'other that had been transacted between the Carthaginians and Roman People, what Wrongs one had done to the other, and what Losses and Overthrows each had received till such time as Carthage was demolished, and Africa was made a Roman Province; and at last how Carthage being rebuilt, Africa came into the state we now find it: I have followed the same course through all the other Provinces, led by a curiosity to understand all that the Romans had done of great and glorious, to know the sloth or industry of every Nation, the Virtue and Fortune of this victorious People. And in short, all things worthy recording: and imagining it would be no unpleasant thing to the world to know the Roman History, in this manner I laid my design to write the particular Actions of e∣very Province by themselves, omitting what in those times was done elsewhere, and referring it to its proper place and order. I looked upon it likewise as un∣necessary to set down throughout the whole the time when every thing passed, 〈…〉〈…〉 sufficient to observe it in Affairs of most Importance.

Let me add, that heretofore the Romans had but one name, like other men, in process of time they added another; and it is not long since that some of them took a third, the better to make themselves be known, either by some bodily mark, or some advantageous endowment of mind; so some Greeks likewise to their names added Sirnames. Wherefore I shall sometime make use of all their Names, especially when I am treating of Illustrious Personages, to the intent they may be the better known; but Ishall call many, as well of the one as the other, by those names most agreeable to the matter in hand.

For the Order and Method of this History, 'tis taken from the time in which these Wars were begun and ended (notwithstanding there were divers others interfer'd, which are omitted to avoid confusion.) Wherefore the several Books shall take their Titles from the matter, as the Punik, Syrian, Parthi∣an, Mithridatick, Iberian, and Hannibal's War, &c.

As to the Domestick Seditions, and Civil Wars, we shall treat of them according to the time in which the Authors of them lived, as that of Marius and Sylla; of Pompey and Caesar; of Anthony and the other Caesar, sir∣named Augustus, against the Murderers of the first Caesar. And lastly, the War which the Conquerours made one against another, which is the last Civil War, and during which, Egypt fell into the Power of the Romans. Thus the

Affairs with strange Nations, shall be divided by each Book, and the Civil Wars by the Chiefs of the Parties.

But who am I that write all these things? Many persons know already, and I my self have declared it, but to declare it yet more publickly. I was born in Alexandria, of an honest Family in my Country: afterwards I lived at Rome where I pleaded Causes before the Tribunal of the Caesars, till such time as they honoured me with the Quality of one of their Proc••••atores. He that would know more, may learn it from the Books I have wrote on this Subject.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Or Quick∣sands.
• * 1.2

  This is pos∣sibly that which H••rodo∣d••tus calls Pa∣lus Tritandes.
• * 1.3

  Or the Lower Syria.
• * 1.4

  Now called the Black Sea.
• * 1.5

  Commander in chief, or Ge∣neral of the Army.
• * 1.6

  England, not known in the Authors days, but by the name of Bri∣tain; the name of England be∣ing brought in by the Angles, a People in Ger∣many, called in by the Britains to assist them in their War with the Picts, a People that then possessed that part of the Island call∣ed then Cale∣donia, now Scotland.
• * 1.7

  Lieutenan∣cies, or Vice∣gerencies.