Introduction
Introduction. The importance and magnitude of the subject. |
Had the praise of History been passed over by former
Chroniclers it would perhaps have been incumbent upon me to urge the choice and
special study of records of this sort, as the
readiest means men can have of correcting their
knowledge of the past. But my predecessors have not been
sparing in this respect. They have all begun and ended, so to
speak, by enlarging on this theme: asserting again and again
that the study of History is in the truest sense an education,
and a training for political life; and that the most instructive,
or rather the only, method of learning to bear with dignity
the vicissitudes of fortune is to recall the catastrophes of
others. It is evident, therefore, that no one need think it his
duty to repeat what has been said by many, and said well.
Least of all myself: for the surprising nature of the events
which I have undertaken to relate is in itself sufficient to challenge and stimulate the attention of every one, old or young, to
the study of my work. Can any one be so indifferent or idle
as not to care to know by what means, and under what kind
of polity, almost the whole inhabited world was conquered and
brought under the dominion of the single city of
Rome, and
that too within a period of not quite fifty-three
years? Or who again can be so completely
absorbed in other subjects of contemplation or study, as to
think any of them superior in importance to the accurate understanding of an event for which the past affords no precedent.
Importance and Magnitude of the Subject
We shall best show how marvellous and vast our subject is by comparing the most famous Empires
which preceded, and which have been the
favourite themes of historians, and measuring
them with the superior greatness of
Rome.
There are but three that deserve even to be so
compared and measured: and they are these.
The Persians for a certain length of time were possessed of
a great empire and dominion. But every time they ventured beyond the limits of
Asia, they found not only their
empire, but their own existence also in danger.
The Lacedaemonians, after contending for supremacy in
Greece for many generations, when they did get
it, held it without dispute for barely twelve
years.
The Macedonians obtained dominion
in
Europe from the lands bordering on the Adriatic to the
Danube,—which after all is but a small fraction of this
continent,—and, by the destruction of the Persian Empire,
they afterwards added to that the dominion of
Asia. And
yet, though they had the credit of having made themselves
masters of a larger number of countries and states than any
people had ever done, they still left the greater half of the inhabited world in the hands of others. They never so much
as thought of attempting
Sicily,
Sardinia, or
Libya: and as to
Europe, to speak the plain truth, they never even knew of the
most warlike tribes of the West. The Roman conquest, on
the other hand, was not partial. Nearly the whole inhabited
world was reduced by them to obedience: and they left
behind them an empire not to be paralleled in the past or
rivalled in the future. Students will gain from my narrative
a clearer view of the whole story, and of the numerous and
important advantages which such exact record of events
offers.
The Starting-point of the History
My History begins in the 140th Olympiad. The events
B. C. 220-217. The History starts from the 140th Olympiad, when the tendency towards unity first shows itself. |
from which it starts are these. In
Greece, what
is called the Social war: the first waged by
Philip, son of Demetrius and father of Perseus,
in league with the Achaeans against the Aetolians. In
Asia, the war for the possession of
Coele-Syria which Antiochus and Ptolemy
Philopator carried on against each other. In
Italy,
Libya, and their neighbourhood, the conflict between
Rome and
Carthage, generally called the Hannibalian war.
My work thus begins where that of Aratus of
Sicyon leaves off.
Now up to this time the word's history had been, so to speak,
a series of disconnected transactions, as widely separated in
their origin and results as in their localities. But from this
time forth History becomes a connected whole: the affairs of
Italy and
Libya are involved with those of
Asia and
Greece,
and the tendency of all is to unity. This is why I
have fixed upon this era as the starting-point of my work.
For it was their victory over the Carthaginians in this war,
and their conviction that thereby the most difficult and most
essential step towards universal empire had been taken, which
encouraged the Romans for the first time to stretch out their
hands upon the rest, and to cross with an army into
Greece
and
Asia.
Now, had the states that were rivals for universal empire
A sketch of their previous history necessary to explain the success of the Romans. |
been familiarly known to us, no reference perhaps to their previous history would have been
necessary, to show the purpose and the forces
with which they approached an undertaking of
this nature and magnitude. But the fact is that
the majority of the Greeks have no knowledge of the previous
constitution, power, or achievements either of
Rome or
Carthage. I therefore concluded that it was necessary to prefix this
and the next book to my History. I was anxious that no one,
when fairly embarked upon my actual narrative, should feel at
a loss, and have to ask what were the designs entertained by
the Romans, or the forces and means at their disposal, that
they entered upon those undertakings, which did in fact
lead to their becoming masters of land and sea everywhere
in our part of the world. I wished, on the contrary, that
these books of mine, and the prefatory sketch which they
contained, might make it clear that the resources they
started with justified their original idea, and sufficiently explained their final success in grasping universal empire and
dominion.
Comprehensive View
There is this analogy between the plan of my History
The need of a comprehensive view of history as well as a close study of an epoch. |
and the marvellous spirit of the age with which
I have to deal. Just as Fortune made almost all
the affairs of the world incline in one direction,
and forced them to converge upon one and the
same point; so it is my task as an historian to
put before my readers a compendious view of the
part played by Fortune in bringing about the general catastrophe.
1 It was this peculiarity which originally challenged
my attention, and determined me on undertaking this work.
And combined with this was the fact that no writer of our
time has undertaken a general history. Had any one done so
my ambition in this direction would have been much diminished. But, in point of fact, I notice that by far the greater
number of historians concern themselves with isolated wars
and the incidents that accompany them: while as to a general
and comprehensive scheme of events, their date, origin, and
catastrophe, no one as far as I know has undertaken to
examine it. I thought it, therefore, distinctly my duty neither
to pass by myself, nor allow any one else to pass by, without
full study, a characteristic specimen of the dealings of Fortune
at once brilliant and instructive in the highest degree. For
fruitful as Fortune is in change, and constantly as she is producing dramas in the life of men, yet never assuredly before
this did she work such a marvel, or act such a drama, as that
which we have witnessed. And of this we cannot obtain a
comprehensive view from writers of mere episodes. It would
be as absurd to expect to do so as for a man to imagine
that he has learnt the shape of the whole world, its entire
arrangement and order, because he has visited one after the
other the most famous cities in it; or perhaps merely examined
them in separate pictures. That would be indeed absurd: and
it has always seemed to me that men, who are persuaded that
they get a competent view of universal from episodical
history, are very like persons who should see the limbs of
some body, which had once been living and beautiful,
scattered and remote; and should imagine that to be quite
as good as actually beholding the activity and beauty of the
living creature itself. But if some one could there and then
reconstruct the animal once more, in the perfection of its
beauty and the charm of its vitality, and could display it
to the same people, they would beyond doubt confess that
they had been far from conceiving the truth, and had
been little better than dreamers. For indeed some idea
of a whole may be got from a part, but an accurate knowledge and clear comprehension cannot. Wherefore we
must conclude that episodical history contributes exceedingly little to the familiar knowledge and secure grasp of
universal history. While it is only by the combination
and comparison of the separate parts of the whole,—by observing their likeness and their difference,—that a man can
attain his object: can obtain a view at once clear and complete; and thus secure both the profit and the delight of
History.
The Romans in Sicily
I shall adopt as the starting-point of this book the
first occasion on which the Romans crossed
B. C. 264-261. I begin my preliminary account in the 129th Olympiad, and with the circumstances which took the Romans to Sicily. |
the sea from
Italy. This is just where the
History of Timaeus left off; and it falls in the
129th Olympiad. I shall accordingly have
to describe what the state of their affairs in
Italy was, how long that settlement had lasted,
and on what resources they reckoned, when
they resolved to invade
Sicily. For this was
the first place outside
Italy in which they set foot. The
precise cause of their thus crossing I must state without
comment; for if I let one cause lead me back to another, my
point of departure will always elude my grasp, and I shall
never arrive at the view of my subject which I wish to present. As to dates, then, I must fix on some era agreed
upon and recognised by all: and as to events, one that admits of distinctly separate treatment; even though I may
be obliged to go back some short way in point of time, and
take a summary review of the intermediate transactions. For
if the facts with which one starts are unknown, or even open
to controversy, all that comes after will fail of approval and
belief. But opinion being once formed on that point, and a
general assent obtained, all the succeeding narrative becomes
intelligible.
Roman Dominion in Italy
It was in the nineteenth year after the sea-fight at
B. C. 387-386. The rise of the Roman dominion may be traced from the retirement of the Gauls from the city. From that time one nation after another in Italy fell into their hands. |
Aegospotami, and the sixteenth before the battle
at Leuctra; the year in which the Lacedaemonians made what is called the Peace of
Antalcidas with the King of
Persia; the year
in which the elder Dionysius was besieging
Rhegium after beating the Italian Greeks on
the river Elleporus; and in which the Gauls
took
Rome itself by storm and were occupying
the whole of it except the Capitol. With these
Gauls the Romans made a treaty and settlement
which they were content to accept: and having thus become
beyond all expectation once more masters of their own country,
they made a start in their career of expansion; and in the
succeeding period engaged in various wars with their neighbours.
First, by dint of valour, and the good
fortune which attended them in the field, they
mastered all the Latini; then they went to war with the
Etruscans; then with the Celts; and next with
the Samnites, who lived on the eastern and
northern frontiers of
Latium.
The Etruscans, Gauls, and Samnites. |
Some time after
this the Tarentines insulted the ambassadors of
Rome, and,
in fear of the consequences, invited and obtained the assistance of Pyrrhus.
This happened in the year
before the Gauls invaded
Greece, some of whom
perished near
Delphi, while others crossed into
Asia. Then it was that the Romans—having reduced the
Etruscans and Samnites to obedience, and conquered the
Italian Celts in many battles—attempted for the first time the
reduction of the rest of
Italy.
The nations
for whose possessions they were about to fight
they affected to regard, not in the light of foreigners, but as
already for the most part belonging and pertaining to themselves. The experience gained from their contests with the
Samnites and the Celts had served as a genuine training in
the art of war.
