A: Fragments whose reference is known
I (6, 2)
I believe Rome to have been founded in the
second year of the 7th Olympiad.
1
II (6, 2)
Polybius, like Aristodemus of Elis, informs us that the
register of the athletic victors at the Olympic
games began to be kept from the 27th
Olympiad, at which Coroebus of Elis was first registered as
conqueror in the stadium; and this Olympiad was regarded
as an era by the Greeks from which to calculate dates.
2
III (6, 2)
The Palatine was named after Pallas, who died there. He
was the son of Heracles and Lavina, daughter of Evander.
His maternal grandfather raised a barrow as his tomb on this
hill, and called the place after him the Pallantium.
IV (6, 2)
Among the Romans women are forbidden to drink wine;
and they drink what is called
passum, which is made from
raisins, and tastes very like the sweet wine of Aegosthena or
Crete. This is what they drink to quench their thirst. But
it is almost impossible for them to drink wine without
being found out. For, to begin with, the woman has not
got the charge of wine; and, in the next place, she is bound
to kiss all her male relatives and those of her husband, down
to his cousins, every day on seeing them for the first time;
and as she cannot tell which of them she will meet, she has
to be on her guard. For if she has but tasted wine, there is
no occasion for any formal accusation.
3
V (6, 2)
He also founded Ostia at the mouth of the
Tiber.
VI (6, 2)
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus comes to Rome. |
Lucius, the son of Demaratus of Corinth, came to Rome
relying on his own ability and wealth, and convinced that the advantages he possessed would
place him in the front rank in the state: for
he had a wife who, among other useful qualities, was admirably suited by nature to assist in any political enterprise.
Arrived at Rome, and admitted to citizenship, he devoted
himself to flattering the king; and before very long his wealth,
his natural dexterity, and, more than all, his early training,
enabled him so to please the king's taste that he gained his
cordial liking and confidence. As time went on his intimacy
became so close that he lived with [Ancus] Marcius, and
assisted him in managing his kingdom. While so engaged,
he contrived to make himself useful to every one. All who
were suitors for anything found in him an active supporter
and friend: his wealth was spent with noble liberality and
judgment on various objects of national importance; and thus
he secured for himself the gratitude of many, and the goodwill
and good word of all, and finally obtained the throne. . . .
4
Every branch of virtue should be practised by those who
aim at good training, from childhood, but, above all,
courage. . .
(6, 1) An impossible lie admits of no defence even.
(6, 1) It is the act of a wise and sensible man to recognise—as
Hesiod puts it—"how much greater the half is than the whole."
5
VII (6, 1)
To learn sincerity towards the Gods is a kind of image of
truthfulness towards each other.
VIII (6, 1)
It generally happens in the world that men who acquire
have a natural turn for keeping; while those who succeed to
wealth, without any trouble to themselves, are apt to squander it.
IX (10)
The strongest fortifications are in general dangerous to
both sides; which may be illustrated from what occurs in the
case of citadels. These last are regarded as contributing
greatly to the security of the cities in which they stand, and to
the protection of their freedom; but they often turn out to be
the origin of slavery and indisputable misfortunes.
6
X (13)
Some few approved of his doing so, but the majority objected, saying, some that it was folly, and others that it was
madness for a man thus to risk and hazard his life, who was
quite unacquainted with the kind of fighting in use among
these barbarians.
7
XI (16)
"Secure retreat in case disaster fall."
One ought always to keep this line in mind. From failing
to do so Lucius the Roman
8 met with a grave disaster. So
narrow is the risk of destruction to the most powerful forces
when the leaders are unwise. A sufficient illustration to
thoughtful men is furnished by the headstrong invasion of
Argos by Pyrrhus king of the Epirotes,
9 and the expedition
through Thrace of king Lysimachus against Dorimichaites,
king of Odrysae;
10 and indeed many other similar cases.
XII (23)
Marcellus never once conquered Hannibal, who in fact
remained unbeaten until Scipio's victory.
11
XIII (25)
No darkness, no storm however violent, turned him from
his purpose. He forced his way through all such obstacles;
he overcame even disease by resolute labour, and never once
failed in an object or experienced a variation in his uniform
good fortune.
XIV (29)
In old times single combats among the Romans were conducted with good faith [but in our days many contrivances
have been hit upon].
XV (31)
The horse, from the agony of the wound, first fell forward,
and then galloped furiously through the middle of the camp.
XVI (42)
Seeing that the superstitious feelings of the soldiers were
roused by these portents, he exerted himself to remove the
scruples of the men by means of his own intelligence and
strategic skill.
XVII (63)
Ships with six banks of oars
These vessels appear to be as swift sailers as penteconters,
but to be much inferior to triremes; and their construction has
been abandoned for many years past. Polybius, however, is
supposed to lay down the measurements of such vessels, which
the Romans and Carthaginians appear to have often employed
in their wars with each other.
12
XVIII (64)
Getting completely drunk, and all flung on the ground in
the various tents, they neither heard any word of command
nor took any thought of the future whatever.
13
XIX (66)
In consultations of war, as in those relating to bodily sickness, one ought to take as much account of the symptoms
that have since arisen as of those originally existing.
XX (90)
Cappadocia extends from Mount Taurus and Lycaonia up
to the Pontic Sea. The name is Persian and arose thus. A
certain Persian [named Cappadocus?] was present at a hunt
with Artaxerxes, or some other king, when a lion sprang upon
the king's horse. This Persian happened to be in that part of
the hunting company, and drawing his sword rescued the king
from his imminent danger and killed the lion. This Persian
therefore ascending the highest mountain in the neighbourhood
received as a gift from the king as much territory as the
human eye could take in, looking east, west, north, and south.
14
XXI (95)
The Celtiberians have a peculiar manœuvre in war.
When they see their infantry hard pressed, they dismount and
leave their horses standing in their places. They have small
pegs attached to their leading reins, and having fixed them
carefully into the ground, they train their horses to keep their
places obediently in line until they come back and pull up the
pegs.
XXII (96)
The Celtiberians excel the rest of the world in the construction of their swords; for their point is strong and serviceable,
and they can deliver a cut with both edges. Wherefore
the Romans abandoned their ancestral swords after the
Hannibalian war and adopted those of the Iberians. They
adopted, I say, the construction of the swords, but they can
by no means imitate the excellence of the steel or the other
points in which they are so elaborately finished.
15
XXIII (102)
The Roman praetor Marcus
16 wished to get rid of the war
against the Lusitani, and laying aside war altogether, to shirk—
as the saying is—"the men's hall for the women's bower,"
because of the recent defeat of the praetor by the Lusitani.
(103)
But those of the Ligurians who fought against Mago were
unable to do anything important or great.
XXIV (113)
A
mora consisted of nine hundred men.
17
XXV (117)
A general needs good sense and boldness; they are the
most necessary qualities for dangerous and venturesome undertakings.
XXVI (154)
The second king of Egypt, called Philadelphus, when
giving his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus king of
Syria, was careful to send her some Nile water, that the young
bride might drink no other water.
XXVII (156)
I say this to point out the wisdom of the Romans, and the
folly of those who despise the practice of making comparisons
with the habits of foreign nations, and believe themselves competent to reform their own armies
without reference to others.
18
XXVIII (157)
The Romans were wont to take great care not to appear to
be the aggressors, or to attack their neighbours without provocation; but to be considered always to be acting in self-defence,
and only to enter upon war under compulsion.
19
XXIX (166)
When Scipio Africanus, the younger, was commissioned by,
the Senate to settle the kingdoms throughout the world, and see
that they were put in proper hands, he only took five slaves
with him; and, on one of these dying during the journey, he
wrote home to his relations to buy another and send him to
take the place of the dead one.
20
XXX (184)
If one ought to speak of Fortune in regard to such things;
for I fear she often gets credit of that sort without good reason;
while the real fault lies with the men who administer public
business, who sometimes act with seriousness and sometimes
the reverse.
