Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: J. Davis in 1812 in 608 pages; Subjects: History, Ancient; Rome; Greece; History / Ancient / General; History / Ancient / Greece; History / Ancient / Rome; History / Military / General; History / Europe / Greece; ... Read more

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Volume: 4General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1773Original Publisher: Printed by H. S. Woodfall for J. DodsleySubjects: History, AncientRomeGreeceHistory / Ancient / GeneralHistory / Ancient / GreeceHistory / Ancient / RomeHistory / Europe / GreeceNotes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free.Excerpt: EXTRACT the THIRD.The fentiments of Philopcemen concerning the brightness and neatnefe of arms. The character of this General. He gains a complete victory againji Machanides the tyrant of Sparta, in the battle of Mantinea.UPON this occafion it was faid by Philopcemen : " that the bright- nefs of arms very much contributed to ftrike an enemy with terror; and that great advantage alfo arofe in action, from having the feveral parts of the armour well fitted to the body. That it was much to be wifhed, that men would transfer that attention to their armour, which they now beftowed upon their common drefs ; and become as negligent in the care of their drefs, as they had hitherto been in that of their arms. That fuch a . change would both be ferviceable to their private fortunes, and be attended likewife with manifeft advantage with refpeft to the public fafety. If a man therefore, continued he, be preparinghimfelf for any military exercife, or for an expedition in the field, when he puts on his boots, let him be more careful in obferving whether they are bright and well fitted to his legs, than in examining his fhoes or fandals. When he takes his buckler, his breaftplate, or his helmet, let him defire to fee more fplendour, and more coftly ornaments, in thefe parts of his armour, than in his coat or mantle. For when men preferred mere mew and oftentation to things of real ufe, it was ... ... Read more

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This volume contains nineteen important essays related to the Greek historian Polybius by Professor F.W. Walbank, the recognized authority on the subject. The essays deal with Polybius as a historian, with his views on Rome and with many historical topics for which he is the principal source. A substantial introduction provides a critical account of work done on Polybius during the last twenty-five years. The book will be of special importance to students of Republican Rome and the Hellenistic world and also to anyone interested in historiography. ... Read more

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Polybius (born ca. 208 BCE) of Megalopolis in the Peloponnese (Morea), served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years, favouring alliance with Rome. From 168 to 151 he was hostage in Rome where he became a friend of Aemilius Paulus and his two sons, and 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, 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 Polybius's history covers the years 264–146 BCE. It describes 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 achievement of first rate importance, despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of the forty books have reached us. Polybius's overall theme is how and why the Romans spread their power as they did.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Polybius is in six volumes.

Customer Reviews (1)

Caveat Emptor. A new edition is on the way
This version of my review will be more about the edition than the book itself. I promise a review once I have read the brand spanking new edition of the book.
The Loeb Classical Library has issued a new edition of this book and Vol. 2in May, 2010. There is a revised translation by F.W. Walbank, a noted Polybius scholar with extensive notes. A new introduction is provided by Christian Habicht. The cost is the typical $24 for the Loeb hardback. Go to the Loeb Library website to order until Amazon gets some copies. And while you are there you can buy the whole Polybius set and four other Loeb for the prices that some Amazon sellers are trying to charge.
In the meantime, I give it five stars because it is Polybius. And if you don't know why I think that is important go to Vol. 3 of the Loeb edition and read Book VI.
Update- I have a review of the new edition on the Amazon page for that. Apparently they are keeping this page for the older edition. The new one is much better.
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Product Description
This book an EXACT reproduction of the original book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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6 volumes with green textured cloth boards, each with small gold insignia on cover, gold lettering on spine, no DJ. ... Read more

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The historian Polybius (c. 200–118 BCE) was born into a leading family of Megalopolis in the Peloponnese and served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years, favoring alliance with Rome. From 168 to 151 he was held hostage in Rome, where he became a friend of Lucius Aemilius Paulus and his two sons, especially Scipio Aemilianus, whose campaigns, including the destruction of Carthage, he later attended. Late in his life, as a trusted mediator between Greece and the Romans, he helped in the discussions that preceded the final war with Carthage; and after 146 was entrusted by the Romans with the details of administration in Greece.

Polybius’ overall theme is how and why the Romans spread their power as they did. The main part of his history covers the years 264–146 BCE, describing the rise of Rome, her destruction of Carthage, and her eventual domination of the Greek world. It is a vital achievement of the first importance despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of its original forty books have reached us.

For this edition, W. R. Paton’s excellent translation, first published in 1922, has been thoroughly revised, the Büttner-Wobst Greek text corrected, and explanatory notes and a new introduction added, all reflecting the latest scholarship.

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the classics of both political philosophy and history
First, some explanation about the Loeb Classical Library. The Loebs are diglots, i.e., the provide the text in the original Latin or Greek on the left page and the English translation on the right. They are usually considered the standard edition of many works of Roman and Greeks authors, helping to establish the standard text in the original language as well as providing translations. They usually have a minimum of scholarly apparatus- there are no maps and few notes.
The LCL seems to be in the process of reinventing itself. They are in the process of providing new translations of many of their established volumes. Translations that are more modern (sometimes more willing to be obscene), and have somewhat more of an scholarly apparatus. As a case in point, they are releasing a new edition of Polybius' Histories, our earliest extant history of the rise of Rome. The new translation by F.W. Walbank is based on the original by W.R. Paton but includes new Greek text, a more modern English, many more notes and nice bibliographies for further reading. It will undoubtedly remain the only complete English translation. The new translation of this volume will be released in 2011. In the meantime, the Loeb website will provide with a brand spanking copy of the older edition for $24. Any one who tries to sell you any Loeb for more than that is a ne'er-do-well.

As for the text of Polybius' work, we have the first five books (of forty) in their complete form, much of the sixth book and fragments from the remaining books to various degrees. Volume III of the Loeb edition contains the whole of book 5 and what remains of books 6-8. Polybius (hereafter simply "P.") is worth reading for many reasons. As I mentioned, his is the earliest history of Rome that has survived. Livy used P. as one of his major sources for his own history as did many historians that followed.

But one of the main reasons that P. remains essential reading is Book 6. Through out the first five books of his history, P. reiterated that his overarching theme was an exploration of how Rome was able to be the first political entity that was able to overwhelm the whole of the known world. And it had done so in a period of about 60 years. P. had stated that it was due to the excellence of Rome's constitution and it is in Book 6 that he describes that constitution and what made it so excellent.
The first thing to note is the use of the word "constitution". For the most part prior to the 18th century the word did not refer to a written document but to the combination of political institutional structure and the social norms of a country or city-state. To P. this was the single most important determinant of what the character of a people would be.
The second thing to note is that most ancient writers saw the rise and fall of states as a natural phenomena. A city would be born and, if it had a good constitution, would grow into greatness and then suffer through a process of decay. Throughout the whole of his history it is obvious that P. thought that Rome's apogee of greatness was reached during the Wars with Carthage and that afterwords, the city began a slow decline. The rate of growth and decline was largely determined by how rational the leaders of a city was.
There are many interwoven threads to the discussion of these themes by P. In what we have left of the book, there is a discussion of Rome's political institutions, the organization of the Roman army camp during a march, and the funeral rites of the Romans all are woven into the discussion. It is also evident after reading this book that P. is exemplifying part of the process in the rest of his history through the life of one man- Phillip V of Macedon.
What unfolds first in Book 6 is an excellent presentation of the different types of governmental forms- kingship, aristocracy and democracy and their degenerate forms- tyranny, oligarchy and mob rule. There is a discussion of how states are formed and first develop into kingdoms then degenerate into tyranny from there to revolt into aristocracy then to degenerate into an oligarchy then to revolt into democracy then to mob rule then back to the contests of strong men leading to kings and so on. P. states that only those states that have learned to mix the three basic forms together that provides checks and balances on the one, the few and the many manage to form a perfection of political organization that can last for hundreds of years. P. mentions the political reforms of Lycurgus in Sparta as creating such a state on the basis of the wisdom of one man and he argues that Rome manage to evolve into such a state due to their well reasoned responses by the elite to a series of crisis over time.
This discussion was enormously influential. Livy adopted it almost exactly, Machiavelli presents practically a carbon copy of it in the opening to his Discourse on Livy and John Adams praised Polybius as the best of the ancients on mixed government in the book he wrote on it hoping to influence our Constitutional Convention.
Then there is also theremarkable description of the layout of the camp that the Roman Army also used during this period. This layout has been described as almost hyperrationalistic. Every time any Roman army on the march camped it did so in exactly the manner P. described. This brings up a point that no one I have read it in my secondary meanderings through the scholarly literature has mentioned yet. Polybius mentions at one point, that coming into camp, everyone would know where to go and what to do. The camp, in effect, became a city with a known urbanscape no matter where the army was. It is my belief that what P. is doing in this section is really giving us the 'constitution' of the Roman Army and that it was also the excellencies of this constitution that allowed that army to be so successful.
Finally there is the discussion of the funeral rites. P. sees these and the whole of Roman religion in any entirely instrumental light. And a very Straussian one at that. The rites serve to inspire the youth to achieve greatness in the service of the state. Religion as a whole is there to keep the unreasoning masses in line.
All of these aspects of the Roman constitution are part of that whole which gave that people the ability to withstand the disaster of Cannae and to ruthlessly expand their dominion.

The Books on either side of Book 6 in this volume are political histories of the whole of the known world in the late third century B.C. Books 7 and 8 because of their especially fragmentary nature are particularly frustrating.
As a whole, however, I cannot recommend this book enough. P. is great company. He is plain-spoken but tells a gripping tale that is based on an enormous amount of personal research and his own amazing experience. He is opinionated and ornery and very discerning. He is, in his own way, as appealing as any of the ancients I have read. Give him a try.


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Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more