Diodorus Siculus

FRAGMENTS - The Library of History



Page 735 About the same time Metellus took the famous City Venusia in Apulia, which had in it a great number of Soldiers, and carry'd away above 3000 prisoners. And now the Romans prevail'd every day more and more against their Enemies: So that the Italians sent Ambassadors to Mithridates King of Pontus (who had then a brave and well appointed Army) to intreat him to march into Italy with his Army to oppose the Romans, by which means (they told him) that their Power would be easily broken: Mithridates answer'd, that he would march into Italy as soon as he had subdu'd Asia, in order to which he was then engag'd. The Rebels therefore being now frustrated in their hopes of Assistance, and of supplies of Money, were greatly discourag'd. For there were but a few of the Samnites remaining: and the Sabellians kept themselves close within Nola, and the like did Lamponius and Cleptius, who commanded those that were left of the Lucanians.

The Marsian War being now almost at an end, there arose again a great Sedition in Rome, by reason of the contentious Ambition of many of the Roman Nobility, every one striving which should be General in the Expedition against Mithridates, stirr'd up thereunto with the Greatness of the Rewards and Riches to be reap'd by that War. For Caius Julius, and Caius Marius who had been Six times Consul, oppos'd one another, and the People on that occasion were divided, some for one and some for the other. There were likewise other disturbances about the same time. For Sylla the Consul went from Rome to the Forces that lay near unto Nola, and so terrify'd many of the bordering Territories, with their Cities, that he forc'd them to the obedience of the Romans. But when Sylla was engag'd in the War in Asia against Mithridates, and Rome was fill'd with slaughters and intestine broils, Marcus Aponius and Tiberius Cleptius Generals of those Italians that were left continuing in Brutia (not being able to take the strong City Aesias, after a long time they had lain before it) left part of their Army to maintain the Siege, and with the rest fiercely assaulted Rhegium, in hopes that if they gain'd this place, they might with ease transport their Army into Sicily, and so become Masters of the richest Island under the Sun. But Caius Urbanus the Governor of Rhegium so terrify'd the Italiots with the greatness of his Army, and his vast preparations, that they drew off from the Siege, and so the Rhegians were delivered. And afterwards when the Civil Wars broke forth between Marius and Sylla, part of them sided with Marius and the rest with Scylla, and most of them were kill'd in the War, and those that surviv'd all joyn'd with the Conqueror Scylla. And thus ended the Marsian War, and the greatest home-bred Sedition of any that was ever before among the Romans.

Eclog. 2. And now that the Marsian War was at an end, a Second great Sedition was rais'd in Rome, stirr'd up by Sylla, and Caius Marius a young Man, the Son of Marius who had been Seven times Consul. In this Commotion many thousands of Men perish'd: At length Sylla prevail'd, and being created Dictator, he call'd himself Epaphroditus; which vain glorious Title did not altogether deceive him, for he prosper'd all his life long, and dy'd a natural death after all his Victories. But Marius, altho' he behav'd himself with great Gallantry in the War against Sylla, being at length routed, fled with 15000 Men to Proeneste, where he was Besieg'd a long time; at length all having forsaken him, and seeing no way how to escape, he earnestly intreated one of his faithful Servants to afford him his helping hand for the extricating him out of the present dangers and mischiefs that surrounded him. After much persuasion the Servant at one stroke put an end to his Masters Life, and then immediately kill'd himself. And so at length ended this Civil War. However, some relicks of it still gave Scylla disturbance for some time till those that pursu'd it, with some others, were suppress'd.

But after these were all ruin'd and destroy'd, there broke out such a flame of Discord between Julius Caesar and Pompey who (for the great and eminent Services he had done for the Romans, partly by the Conduct of Sylla, and partly by his own Valour) was sirnam'd the Great, that the Romans were again involv'd in intestine Slaughters and Butcheries. And as soon as Pompey had lost all his Army in a great Battle, he himself was afterwards Murther'd near Alexandria: and the unbounded power of the Consuls, being at length restrain'd and limited, fell wholly into the hands of Caesar himself, and so ended the Sedition.

But when he was murther'd, another Civil War broke forth against Brutus and Cassius his Murtherers, which was manag'd by the Consuls Lepidus Antonius, and Octavius Augustus. When this War was ended by dint of Sword, and the deaths of Cassius and Brutus, not long after the secret and private grudges and quarrels between Augustus and Anthony for the Supream Power, broke out into an open War: And after much Blood spilt on


Previous Forward

Bibliotheca Historica


The first five books

The last ten books

Contents



Free Books


The Histories of Herodotus written in 440 BC is considered to be the founding work of history in Western literature. His history included stories and fables but he claimed to have traveled extensively and learned about many countries through direct observation.



The thesis of Stolen Legacy is that the Egyptians created what is wrongly called Greek philosophy. Dr. James argues that the African origin of Greek Philosophy is well known but rarely discussed. Ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Diodorus the Sicilian wrote in significant detail about the contributions of Egypt. Egyptian technology and libraries were unmatched and Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato studied there. The contribution of Africa to the intellectual foundation of modern knowledge is tremendous but unacknowledged.





The Library of History by Diodorus the Sicilian is one of the most highly regarded universal histories in antiquities. His work includes the history of Egypt, Asia, Africa, Greece and Europe. His book is a must read for research of ancient history.


Bible Study The King James Bible (kjv), World English Bible (web) and Bible in Basic English (bbe) are all examples of public domain books. The King James Bible (kjv) online uses the content from these books and open source software to enhance Bible study capabilities. The site includes the verse of the day, search tools, christian literature and links to related content. It demonstrates the use of open source to create a valuable service.