Polybius, Rome, and the East

Abstract

Sixteen years ago, in an article entitled ‘Polybius and Rome's eastern policy,’ F. W. Walbank raised and examined aspects of what seemed to be an absolutely central flaw in the fabric of Polybius’ account of Roman expansion in the Greek world. The situation that he saw both then and a decade later in his Sather Lectures on Polybius may be put briefly, and I hope fairly, as follows. Polybius believed that Rome's eastern expansion came as the conscious execution by Rome of a consciously adopted plan. Such a view, however, is altogether at odds with the interpretation worked out by Maurice Holleaux on the basis of Polybius’ own narrative (and its survivals in Livy). This state of affairs could come about because of a fundamental contradiction between Polybius' general statements and his own detailed narrative.