Unless otherwise specified, dates on this page are all assumed to be BC.
Polybius, in ancient Greek Πολύϐιος / Polúbios, (born between 210 and 202, in Megalopolis, (Arcadia), Greece, in the Peloponnese - died in 126 BC), general, statesman, historian and political theorist, is arguably the greatest Greek historian of his time.
Coming from a large Arcadian family, the young Polybius received a solid military education. He spent his youth close to Philopoemen, who trained him in the art of war. In Greece, after the collapse of the Empire of Alexander the Great (323), the Greek cities disputed again. In the wake of his father, Lycortas, Polybius was one of the leaders of the Achaean League - as a hipparch he was in command of the cavalry of the League - at the time of the defeat of King Perseus of Macedonia against Paul Émile the Roman, at Pydna (168). He tried, but in vain, to maintain the neutrality of the Achaeans between Rome and Macedonia. He is one of the first Greek victims of the Romans, Rome demanding from the League, which remained neutral, hostages among the political leaders concerned with the independence of the Greek cities. A thousand hostages are sent to Rome (166); Polybius is one of them. He will not regain his freedom until 17 years later.
During his stay in Italy he had plenty of time to make an in-depth study of the politics and military state of the Romans. He can see the functioning of the political system of the Republic from the inside and is seduced by the political organization of the Romans. Staying with Paul-Emile, and serving as tutor to his two sons, he won the friendship of them, especially the second, Scipion Émilien, known as Le second Africain. In 149, the exile ends. Polybius returns to Greece. But very quickly, Scipion Émilien calls upon the soldier that is Polybius, and with his help, shaves Carthage (146). He then traveled to Africa, Spain, Gaul.
It was then that the Achaean League rose against Rome; the result is disastrous:the Achaeans are crushed, Corinth destroyed. Through his connections, Polybius is charged by the Romans to enforce their wishes in Greek politics. Polybius managed the feat of winning the recognition of the Greeks, in favor of whom he succeeded more than once in softening the winner, and the satisfaction of the Romans. Polybius ended his politico-military career alongside his friend Scipio Emilian in Spain, at the seat of Numantia (133).
The last part of his life was devoted to writing his great work, a General History of his time, in forty books in which he conducted the history of Rome and that of contemporary states. We possess only the first five books of the General History and quite considerable fragments of the others. In this work he wants to show how and why the civilized nations of the world fell under the domination of Rome.
Polybius died around 126 of a fall from a horse. He was 82 years old.
Work
Besides a Praise of Philopoemen (3 books), a Treatise on tactics, a Treatise on the Equatorial Regions and a War of Numantia, lost, Polybius wrote the Histories (in Greek Ἱστορίαι / Historíai), of which only five volumes out of the forty d origin have come down to us in their entirety. Books I to XXIX (the Roman expansion between 220 and 168) were written in Rome during the author's exile. Books XXX to XL (the troubles between 168 and 146) were written in Greece after 146.
Plan of the book:
* Three prefaces are placed at the beginning of Books I, II and IV, while the beginning of Book III (called προέκτεσις / proekthesis) is a summary of the entire work.
* Books I and II constitute the προκατασκευή / prokataskeuế, a summary of the events that took place between 264 and 220 (first Punic war, first Illyrian war, history of the Achaian Confederation until the war of Cleomenes).
* Books III, IV and V retrace the history of the 150th Olympiad (220-216), in particular the beginning of the Second Punic War and the history of the Hellenistic world up to the Battle of Raphia.
* Book VI is an exposition of the Roman constitution.
* Then, on average, each book treats the events of two years following a fixed geographical order:the events of the West and then those of the East.
* Book XII is a veritable treatise on historical criticism. where Polybius, in criticizing the method of Timaeus of Tauromenion, exposes his own conception of historical investigation.
* Book XXXIV was a geographical exposition where Polybius described Gaul, Spain and Africa, all parts of the western Mediterranean he had visited.
* Book XL was a kind of table of contents where Polybius summarized his work.
The Histories had the ambition to tell “how and by what mode of government almost all the inhabited world, conquered in less than 53 years, came under a single authority, that of Rome” (book I). He seeks the key to Roman superiority and the big question he tries to answer in his book is "How and thanks to what form of government did the Roman state manage to dominate the entire earth in such a short time? What is the secret of this superiority? ". He draws a parallel with the Persians, Lacedaemonians and Macedonians and notes that none of these peoples achieved such domination.
The General History of the Roman Republic by Polybius, or rather what has escaped the shipwreck of time, is a valuable source for studying the Punic Wars. He traces the history of Rome from its invasion by the Gauls (4th century BC) to the conquest of Carthage, Corinth (146) and Numantia (133). After the extensive introduction of the first two books, Book III presents the two antagonists of the Second Punic War, Rome and Carthage, and recounts the fortunes and misfortunes of "Hannibal's war". It was from him that Gustave Flaubert borrowed most of the narrative framework of his Salammbô.
Having studied Roman institutions, Polybius formulates in the theory of anacyclosis - admitted by Cicero in the De Republica and taken up by Machiavelli - his typology of political regimes. He considers that there are six forms of government:
* royalty (freely accepted monarchical regime, governed by persuasion, without violence);
* autocracy or despotism (personal and absolute power);
* l 'aristocracy (regime in which the fairest and wisest are in power);
* oligarchy (in which most power is held by a small part of society);
* democracy (when the will of the majority is sovereign and there is obedience to the laws);
* ochlocracy (if the mass has all the powers to impose all his desires).
The best diet, he says, is one that combines the features of the three main ones. According to his cyclical theory of the succession of political regimes, the government of one (kingship) degenerates into despotism; the aristocracy degenerates into oligarchy, causing the anger of the people, who punish abuses.
Polybius criticizes the historians who, prisoners of their lies and their contradictions, represent Hannibal as an exceptional leader, inimitable, but undertaking the crossing of the Alps inconsiderately and finding his salvation only in the intervention of some hero.
The works of Polybius are praised for their rigor, the refusal to invoke the interventions of the Gods in historical phenomena, as well as the method used:rigorous prospective, removing the effects of the handle in favor of accuracy and dry objectivity.; which partly explains his poor style. Moreover, he has a global vision of universal history:he looks for the first cause that directs events in the same direction all over the world.
As a writer, Polybius' style leaves something to be desired, as it is often pretentious, tedious, or monotonous. He engages in frequent digressions and his story is cold, his portraits lack life. But he is distinguished by the accuracy of the facts, his sound judgment and his impartiality. Philosophical historian, he scrutinizes the causes and springs of events; he makes diplomatic or military operations understood; it reveals the characters, talents and faults of politicians. We can say that he was the historian of statesmen, warriors and thinkers.
Quotes
“The beginning is half of everything. »
“A good general must not only know how to win, but also know when victory is impossible. »
“Rome has conquered almost the whole universe, so that there is no one today who can resist her and no one in the future can hope to surpass her. »
“Before, the events that unfolded in the world were not related to each other. Since then, they are all dependent on each other”.
“So we should attach less importance when we read or write history, to the narrative of the facts than to what happened before, at the same time and after; for if we do away with the search for causes, means, intentions and consequences, happy or unhappy, of each event, history is nothing more than a mind game; it no longer serves to instruct the reader; it is distracting for the moment but we derive absolutely no benefit from it for the future. "
(Polybius quoted by Benoît Lacroix, "General History and sense of facts in Christian antiquity", in Ecclesiastical Sciences, volume XVII, October-December 1965, booklet 3, pp. 513- 516).