Translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh
Though originally composed of 40 books, only the first five books of Polybius’ The Histories are extant in their entirety, having been mostly passed down from collections kept in libraries in Byzantium. Polybius begins his great work in the year 264 BC and finishes in 146 BC. His primary concern, aside from the exact presentation of pragmatic history, is the 53 years in which Rome became a dominant world power, exploring precisely how and why the Romans spread their power as they did, describing the rise of the Republic, the destruction of Carthage and the eventual domination of the Greek world. In spite of its incomplete state, The Histories is a vital achievement, offering many valuable original sources.
Of chief interest in the work is the period 220 BC to 167 BC, which witnesses Rome subjugating Carthage and becoming the dominant Mediterranean power. Books I to V deal extensively with the first and second Punic Wars, whilst Book VI describes the constitution of the Romans, outlining the powers of the consuls, senate and people. Polybius comes to the conclusion, by virtue of his Hellenistic attitude, that the Romans are so successful due to how their constitution is mixed. Therefore, Polybius is notable for his systematic study of Rome’s rise to power, as well as being useful in assessing the Hellenistic manner of writing and as a window into this Hellenistic period.
A key theme of The Histories is the good statesman, acting as virtuous and composed. The character of the Polybian statesman is exemplified in the person of Philip II. His beliefs as to the character of a good statesman led Polybius to reject the historian Theopompus’ description of Philip’s private, drunken debauchery. For Polybius, it was inconceivable that such an able and effective statesman could have had an immoral and unrestrained private life as described by Theopompus.
Other important themes running throughout the work are the role of Fortune in the affairs of nations, Polybius’ insistence that history should be demonstratory, or ‘apodeiktike’, providing lessons for statesmen, and that historians should be “men of action” (pragmatikoi).
Polybius is considered by some to be the successor of Thucydides in terms of objectivity and critical reasoning, and the forefather of scholarly, painstaking historical research in the modern scientific sense. According to this view, his work sets forth the course of history’s occurrences with clearness, penetration, sound judgment, and among the circumstances affecting the outcomes, lays especial emphasis on the geographical conditions. Modern historians are especially impressed with the manner in which Polybius used his sources and in particular documents, his citation and quotation of his sources. Moreover, there is much appreciation of Polybius’s meditation on the nature of historiography in Book 12. His work belongs, therefore, amongst the most learned and unbiased productions of ancient historical writing.