Appian

“ Appian was a narrator of events rather than a philosophic historian. His style is destitute of ornament, but in the rhetorical passages, which are numerous, it is animated, forcible and at times eloquent. Occasionally he rises to the dignity of the best writers of the ancient world. The introduction to the history of the Civil Wars is an example of this kind. ”

“ So Belisarius led his army from Naples by the Latin Way, leaving on the left the Appian Way, which Appius, the consul of the Romans, had made nine hundred years before [66] and to which he had given his name.
Now the Appian Way is in length a journey of five days for an unencumbered traveller; for it extends from Rome to Capua. And the breadth of this road is such that two waggons going in opposite directions [145] can pass one another, and it is one of the noteworthy sights of the world. ”

“ In this translation of Appian the events before and after Cæsar's death are described minutely and with many graphic touches. Compare, for example, with the quotation from Plutarch given in the note, p. 68, l. 33, this account of the same incident in Appian: "The day before that Cæsar should go to the senate, he had him at a banquet with Lepidus ... and talking merrily what death was best for a man, some saying one and some another, he of all praised sudden death." ”

“ This speech pleased the people, who, moreover, began to lose much of their esteem for Pompey since the time that, by his law on bribery, a great number of citizens were condemned to exile. On all sides they praised Curio; they admired his courage in braving two such powerful men, and on several occasions an immense crowd escorted him to his house, throwing flowers over him “like an athlete,” says Appian, “who had just sustained a severe and dangerous combat.” ”

“ Appian says that when the rich would not allow the election to proceed, Tiberius gave the signal. Plutarch tells us that Fulvius Flaccus came and told him that his foes had resolved to slay him, and, having failed to induce the consul Scaevola to act, were arming their friends and slaves, and that Gracchus gave the signal then. As Appian agrees with Plutarch in his account of Nasica's conduct in the Senate, the last is the more probable version of what occurred. ”

“ There is a possibility that Appian has used the term vaguely: but there is no real difficulty in conceiving the municipia to be meant. Even the majority, that had received Roman citizenship, still continued to bear the name, and they may have continued to enjoy municipal rights in public land. The wealthier classes in these towns were therefore alarmed; the poorer classes (possessed of Roman citizenship) hoped for a share in the assignment. ”

“ Trebonius—Fled to his house amazed.”— (Act III., Sc. I, 96.) This touch is certainly not derived from Plutarch. The biographer says (Julius Caesar, p. 101) : “But Antonius and Lepidus, which were two of Caesar’s chiefest friends, secretly conveying themselves away, fled into other men’s houses and forsook their own.” Appian says: “Antony went to his owne house, entending to take advice for this case of Cesars.” (Appian, 1578, p. 141.) [21]
But one more supposed loan from Appian remains for investigation. This is to be found in the behavior of the conspirators immediately after the murder. ”

“ He uncovers the body of Caesar and displays the pierced and blood-stained garment to the wrath [Pg 647] of the populace. He puts words in the mouth of the dead, and makes him cite the names of those whom he had benefited and preserved that they should destroy him. And the people brook no more.
Thus Appian’s Antony differs from Shakespeare’s Antony in his attitude to his audience, in the arrangement of his material, and to a considerable extent in the material itself. ”

“ The Appian Way, leading to the favourite seaport of Brundusium, a distance of rather less than a hundred and fifty miles, was the true road to Africa, to Palestine, and to all the eastern and southerly provinces of the huge straggling Empire. It was easier to sail the sea than to climb and descend the Alps; there are various records in history of a race, from some spot in the eastern portion of the Empire, run by accuser and accused, the one by sea and the other by land, each striving to reach the seat of power in Rome the first ”

“ Appian gives the list of officers and the limits of their commands, saying: "The coasts of Sicily and the Ionian sea as far as Acarnania were entrusted to Plotius and Varro." It is difficult to understand Varro's own reference to Delos, but Appian makes clear how it happened that Varro was stationed on the coast of Epirus and so fell in with the company of "half Greek shepherds" who are the dramatis personae of the second book. ”

“ Swift horsemen were sent out along the Appian Way to gather information of the conqueror's movements, and to learn, as Livy expresses it, "if the immortal gods, out of pity to the empire, had left any remnant of the Roman name." ”

“ Sturz changes this reading of sixty days to fifty, comparing Appian, Civil Wars, Book Three, chapter 74. Between the two authorities it is difficult to decide, and the only consideration that would incline one to favor Appian is the fact that he says this period of fifty days was unusually long ("more than the Romans had ever voted upon vanquishing the Celtae or winning any war") . Boissevain remarks that Dio is not very careful about such details.]
[Footnote 22: Adopting Reiske's reading, [Greek: tinas] .] ”

“ Pontius, however, was so far from being cruel, that, according to Appian, he gave the Romans, when they marched off, beasts of burthen for their wounded, and provisions enough to last for their journey home. Never was a great victory used more fairly. Now comes the question, whether the peace was ratified by the Roman people; and thereupon is based such a serious charge, that Livy throws it into the shade. The proof of the ratification is the fact that the tribunes of the people were given up to the Samnites ”

“ They are pressed so close together, that even when dead they still remain standing. [230] Such was the ardour of the legionaries, that many rushed upon these sort of tortoises, tearing away the bucklers, and striking the enemies from above. [231] The short and sharp-pointed swords of the Romans had the advantage over the long swords of the Germans. [232] Nevertheless, according to Appian, the legions owed their victory chiefly to the superiority of their tactics and the steadiness with which they kept their ranks. [233] Ariovistus’s left did not resist long ”

“ Two prætors—Minucius and L. Velleius—were cut down while engaged in their courts. To shew how no connections, however high, were to save any man, at the head of the list was a brother of Lepidus, an uncle of Antony, a brother of Plancus, and the father-in-law of Asinius Pollio. But as usual in times of such horror, many perished who from their humble position or their youth could have had no share in politics. The total number eventually proscribed, according to Appian, was “three hundred Senators and about two thousand equites.” ”

“ The battle was set in array in a manner worthy of a son of Hamilcar and brother of Hannibal; the Iberians and Libyans fought like lions: but the star of Rome decreed a requital for the day of Cannæ, and almost all the army, though not the whole of it, as Livy says, together with the general himself, was destroyed. Those who escaped, only got off because the Romans were too tired to follow after them any farther. According to Appian (whose account is from Polybius or Fabius) , part of the Celtiberians cut their way through, and reached Hannibal ”

“ After his patience had been exhausted hy delay and disappointment, the Roman general repassed the Hadriatic, and expected at Dyrrachium the arrival of the troops, which were slowly assembled among the subjects and allies of the empire. His powers were still inadequate to the deliverance of Rome, which was closely besieged by the Gothic king. The Appian way, a march of forty days, was covered by the barbarians; and, as the prudence of Belisarius declined a battle, he preferred the safe and speedy navigation of five days from the coast of Epirus to the mouth of the Tiber. ”

“ But Cicero declares that for nearly fifty years, while the equites discharged this office, there was not even the slightest suspicion of a single eques being bribed in his capacity as judex; and after every allowance has been made for Ciceronian exaggeration, the statement may at least warrant us in believing that Gracchus had some reason for hoping that his change would be a change for the better, even if, as Appian declares, it turned out in the end just the opposite. ”

“ Not to speak of those who were saved by having remained behind in the fortified camp, there also escaped at least ten thousand men from the field of battle; the Romans consequently lost about forty thousand men. In Zonaras and Appian, we meet with the following story, borrowed in all likelihood from Fabius, which is characteristic, as it shows how the Romans tried to throw a vail over their disasters. It is said that in Apulia a breeze rises every afternoon from the east, that is to say, from the sea, which lifts up clouds of dust from the chalky soil ”

“ Here are some of the marginal summaries in Appian: "Cæsar refuseth the name of King," "A crown upon Cæsar's image by one that was apprehended of the tribunes Marullus and Sitius," "Cæsar hath the Falling-Sickness," "Cæsar's Wife (hath) a fearful Dream," "Cæsar contemneth sacrifices of evil Luck," "Cæsar giveth over when Brutus had stricken him," "The fear of the Conspirators," "The bad Angel of Brutus." ”

“ Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.” But one more point in connection with Antony’s oration remains for discussion. Antony’s friendship for Caesar and his desire for vengeance on the latter’s murderers are matters just as readily derivable from Plutarch’s accounts as from the oration by Antony as recorded in Appian. Pescetti, following Appian’s account of the events immediately following the assassination, puts the following in the mouth of the Second Messenger:
“Antonio ... ”

“ When I first made request for Appianus, you gave my petition so kindly a hearing that I had a right to hope.
When I renewed my request the next, which was last, year, your answer contained much that was gracious, one thing even in a vein of pleasantry, that the moment you gave Appianus the procuratorship at my request, a flood of pleaders would gush forth asking a like favour. You remember too the native of Greece whom you graciously and smilingly mentioned. But the cases are far from parallel: there is age, there is childlessness, which calls for consolations to relieve it. ”

“ Appiano, however, at the head of the Raspanti, marched to the palace of Gambacorti. The city was in arms, and they had to fight their way. Arrived before the palace, Gambacorti ordering his men not to shoot his friend, agreed to confer with Appiano. So he went out of his house, and as Appiano stretched out his hand, in token, as it were, of friendship, his bandits fell upon him and slew him. A fight followed, in which the Bergolini were beaten; then Appiano became Captain of the People. In truth, it was only a device of Visconti for seizing the city. ”

“ Apollonius, a philosopher of Chalcedon and teacher of Marcus, I. 235; his son Apollonius, ibid.
Apollonius Rhodius, opening lines of his Argonautica, II. 106
Appianus, the historian and friend of F, letter from F. with a gift of two slaves, I. 265 f.; Fronto 's answer refusing them, I. 269; F. asks Pius to give Appian an office, I. 263
Appius Maximus, see Maximus
Aquila, Antoninus, apiaro? prjrdpwv, wants a place as instructor of youth in Victorinus's province, II. 171
Aquilinus, Julius, recommended to Aegrilius Plarianus in his province, I. 289
Arbaces (?) ”

“ Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 101) describes the course which Mithridates took in his flight. He spent the winter in Dioscuri, as Appianus calls it, or Dioscurias on the east coast of the Euxine; and afterwards entered the countries bordering on the Mæotis or sea of Azoff. (Compare Strabo, p. 555.)
[258] He was the third son of Tigranes by the daughter of Mithridates. The other two had been put to death by their father. The young Tigranes appeared in the triumph of Pompeius at Rome and then was put to death. (Appianus, Mithridatic War, c. 104, 5.) ”

“ That he may keep his promise--that he may have no pretext to break it--quick, then, Marinelli,--tell me a falsehood, and I will go.
MARINELLI. The Prince, dear Countess, is really not alone. There are persons with him, whom he cannot leave for a moment--persons, who have just escaped imminent danger. Count Appiani----
ORSINA. Is with him! What a pity that I know this to be false! Quick, another! for Count Appiani, if you do not know it, has just been assassinated by robbers. I met the carriage, with his body in it, as I came from town. ”

“ However, Apion deserves to be admired for his great prudence, as to what I am going to say, which is this, "That there is a plain mark among us, that we neither have just laws, nor worship God as we ought to do, because we are not governors, but are rather in subjection to Gentiles, sometimes to one nation, and sometimes to another; and that our city hath been liable to several calamities, while their city [Alexandria] hath been of old time an imperial city, and not used to be in subjection to the Romans." ”

“ Whether, therefore, he returned it to us again, or whether Apion took it, and brought it into the temple again, that Antiochus might find it, and afford a handle for a second fable of Apion's, is uncertain.
11. Apion also tells a false story, when he mentions an oath of ours, as if we "swore by God, the Maker of the heaven, and earth, and sea, to bear no good will to any foreigner, and particularly to none of the Greeks." Now this liar ought to have said directly that, "we would bear no good-will to any foreigner, and particularly to none of the Egyptians." ”