The Histories (Selections)
Forthcoming The translation of this work is in preparation and will be published in the library.
Introduction
Polybius' Histories, originally in forty books, recount how Rome rose to mastery of the Mediterranean between 264 and 146 BC, including Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, the battle of Cannae and the destruction of Carthage; only the first five books survive complete, the rest in fragments. This volume translates the most important parts, above all the famous analysis of the Roman constitution in Book VI, where consuls, senate and popular assemblies check one another, combining the virtues of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. This idea became a source of the doctrine of the separation of powers.