Author Description

Excerpt from The Histories, Vol. 2 of 6: With an English Translation by W. R. Paton Polybius (born c. 208 b.c.) of Mega lopolis in the Peloponnese (morea), son of Lycortas, served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years, favouring alliance with Rome. From I 68 to 1 51 he was hostage in Rome where he became a friend of Aemilius Paulus and his two sons, especially adopted Scipio Aemilianus whose campaigns he attended later. In late life he was trusted mediator between Greece and the Romans whom he admired; helped in the discussions which preceded the final war with Carthage; and, after 146 b.c was entrusted by the Romans with details of administration in Greece. He died at the age of 82 after a fall from his horse. The main part of his famous historical work covers the years 264-146 b.c. With two introductory books, it described the rise of Rome to the destruction of Carthage and the domination of Greece by Rome. It is a great work; accurate, thoughtful, largely impartial, based on research, full of insight into customs, institutions, geography, causes of events and character of people; it is a vital and most interesting achievement of first rate importance, despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of the forty books have reached us. Polybius' overall theme is how. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.