POLYBIUS, the Greek historian, was born about 204 n.c. in Megalopolis, a town of Arcadia. From Lycortas. his father, who was among the leading men of the Adman league, he received valuable instruction in the science of politics and in tLe art of W11 r. In 181 he would have visited Egypt in the capacity of ambassador, but the project of sending an embassy to that country was given up. His engaging in public affairs prob ably dates from this period, and he rapidly gained the confidence of his countrymen. He was one of the 1000 noble and influential Achteans who, after the conquest of 3Iace doubt in 16e, were sent to Rome on the summons of the commissioners from that city to answer the charge of having failed to assist the Romans against king Perseus. On their arrival in Italy in 167 they were not put upon their trial, but were distributed among the towns of Etruria. Owing, perhaps, to his haviag the friendship of zEmilins Paulus, or of his sons Fabius and Scipio, he was more fortunately allocated than others of his countrymen. His residence was fixed at Rome and in the house of Paulus. Scipio. then about 18 years of age, became strongly attached to Polybius, made him his companion in all his military expeditions, and profited greatly by his knowledge and experience. Polybius in his turn derived much advantage from the protection and friendship of Scipio, who gave him access to public documents, and aided him in the collection of materials for his great historical work. In 151 the surviving Achrean exiles were permitted by the Roman senate to return to Greece, and among them was Polybius, who arrived in Peloponnesus after a residence of 17 years in Italy. He soon, however, rejoined Scipio, followed him in his African campaign, and was present at the destruc tion of Carthage in 146. But the outbreak of war between the Achteans and Romans summoned him again to Greece, where he arrived soon after the taking of Corinth. All his influence was now exerted to procure from the conquerors favorable terms for the van quished; and so grateful were his countrymen for his services in their behalf. that they erected statues in his honor at Megalopolis (his native town), Mantinea, Pallantium, Tegea, and other places. It must have been about this time that Polybins undertook the writing of his great historical work, the materials of which he had so long been col lecting. We cannot now fix with accuracy at what period of his life he visited in foreign countries the places which he had to describe in his history. We know from himself that at One time, probably while accompanying Scipio. lie undertook long and laborious journeys into Africa. Spain, Gaul, and even as far as the shores of the Atlantic, in order to add to the scanty knowledge previously existing with regard to these regions. In the hitter period of Ills life he traveled in Egypt; and about 12 years before his death, be prob ably aevompanied Scipio to Spain, where he witnessed the fall of Numantia. Ile died about 122 me., in his 82(1 year, in consequence of a fall from his horse.
As a historian Polybius occupies a high rank. His work, which began where that of Aratus broke off, includes the period between 220 and 146 we_ the year when Corinth fell, and, with it, the independence of Greece. Of the two parts into which it was di
vided. the first embraced a period of 53 yeam commencing With the second Punic war and the social war in Greece, and concluding with the subjugation of the kingdom of Macedonia in 168. This, the chief portion of his history, was designed to show how, in the short space of 53 years, the greater part of the world had been conquered by the Ronems; and in order that his countrymen might have a better knowledge than they possesse I of the rise of that people, he gives a sketch of the history of Rome from its capture by the Gauls to the outbreak of the second Punic war. This occupies the first two books, and may be regarded as an introduction to the work. The second part em braces the period from the fall of the Macedonian kingdom, in 163. to the taking of Corinth iu 146. This part is to lie viewed as supplementary to the first. and seems to have brought down the history of the conquert of Greece to its completion in the 30th book. while the 40th and last probably contained a chronological summary of the entire work. The style of Polybius is not his most striking feature, and he incurred the cen sure of later Greek critics for his negligence in the choice of words and in the structure of his sentences. Ills great merits are the care with which he collected his materials, his strong love of truth, and his sound judgment, which was materially assisted by his familiarity with political and military life. His tone is too didactic in general, and although his readers are prepared for this by his calling his work not a Jlistoria, but a Praymateia, still the continuity of the narrative is too often interrupted by digressions, sometimes interesting and valuable in themselves, but fatal to artistic effect. Much the greater part of his work lies perished. Of the 40 books, we possess only live entire; and of the rest, merely fragments or extracts. Some of these latter, however—such as the account of the Roman army—ate of considerable length and value, and four separate collections of them have been added from time to time to the remains of the work. The first of these, discovered soon after the revival of learning, iu it 315. of Corfu, gives us the greater part of the fith book, and portions of the remaining 11. The second consists of extracts made in the 10111 c., entitled Ereerpta de Legationams, and' published at Ant werp by Ursinus in 1582. The third, entitled Excerpla de Virtatibus et Vitas, was pub lished in 1034 by Valesius. The fourth, entitled Ereeepta de Sententiis, was discovered by cardinal Mai in the Vatican, and published by him at Rome in 1827. The history of Polybius was very closely followed by Livy after the period of the second Pnnic war, and by Cicero in his account of the Roman constitution in his treatise De Regablied.— The best annotated edition of Polybius is Sehweightiuser's (Leip. 1789). The best edi tions of the text, including that of the Vatican fragments, are those of Bekker (Ber. 1844) and L. Dindorf (1866).