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What Does Polybius Mean by 'Pragmatic History'

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What Does Polybius Mean by 'Pragmatic History' Amanda Mazur History 532:81, Ancient Greece 1 What does Polybius mean by ‘Pragmatic History’? “The student of politics is interested in the doings of nations, cities and monarchs. As I have confined my attention strictly to these last matters and as my whole work threats of my nothing else…its perusal will have no attraction to the larger number.”1 Polybius is one of the three towering figures of ancient Greek historiography. Born in 203 B.C., he wrote during the Hellenistic period, and was transported in Rome in 168B.C. as an Achaean hostage.2 It was during his time in Rome under a laissez-faire house arrest at the villa of Aemilius Paulus that he began to write his epic history. Upon completion, the work spanned over forty volumes, of which only five survive in entirety, and the sixth is only partially available.3 He not only chronicled the history but also played an important role in what is arguably the most important period for the Romans, a period which witnessed the breathtaking rise of a powerful Italian city-state to dominion over the Mediterranean basin; and along with Thucydides, his rigorous methodology in historical research has provided a model for accurate and successful historical writing through to the present day. Greece itself, stricken by the Peloponnesian War and steadily weakened by the quarreling between the various city-states, was slowly declining in economic strength and, at least in some states, in population. No one heeded Thucydides' terrible warnings about the dangers of stasis.4 The states which grew out of the fragments of Alexander's empire did not 1 Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, trans. W.R Paton (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960-1968), 9.1. 2 F.W Walbank, Polybius, Rome, and the Hellenistic World: Essays and Reflections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) 22. 3 Arnaldo Momigliano, Polybius Between the English and the Turks, (Oxford: Hollywell Press, 1974) 12. 4 Thucydides, trans. Rex Warner. History of the Peloponnesian War. (London: Penguin Classics, 1954), 1.18. Amanda Mazur History 532:81, Ancient Greece 2 keep the peace among themselves. In the West, Rome, cruelly hurt by Hannibal's campaign, was perhaps beginning her long period of decline. 5 Polybius’ views on the writing of history differed a great deal from his contemporaries as well his more predecessors. His work was to be purely political and military, and not follow the previous methods of story-telling which by creating illusion in were fashioned to thrill the audience.6 The strongest theme that his work produces is clearly attempt to necessitate history writing as a medium that would inform people about past events and past actions, as well as to show the importance of Fortune and personal prowess as integral aspects for the growth and success of individual people and of entire states.7 In essence, he wished to create a useful, universal history that could be utilized functionally, rather than an epic story, based on the imagination of the author rather than actual events. Polybius’ Histories is a history that discusses the contemporary events of his time, with his narrative spanning 264 B.C. to 146 B.C., and Rome’s continuous warring with Carthage during the Punic Wars. The events that he wrote of were limited to a much smaller period of time than previous historians, and thus were more tangible, and as such can to some extent be classified as more reliable due to the plethora of sources and primary material that Polybius would have been able to access. The twentieth-century historian Frank Walbank, probably the most notable of all Classicists to have studied Polybius’ work, has written an abundance of literature on The Histories and claims that Polybius’ writing style was almost Machiavellian in nature, and that he could be “ruthless, hard and realistic.”8 The aim of an essay of this nature therefore is to recognize the 5 Stanley Barney Smith, “Polybius of Megalopolis,” The Classical Journal Vol. 45, No. 1 (1949):7. 6 Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 2.56. 7 Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 1.4.2. 8 Walbank, Polybius, Rome and the Hellenistic World, 4. Amanda Mazur History 532:81, Ancient Greece 3 elements of Polybius’ work that differed from the previous histories that had been written, as well as taking into account his methodology, especially with reference to his sources and the methodology of his examination of evidence. What this shall provide is a broad survey of Polybius’ writings, taking into account his pragmatic nature. Throughout the work, Polybius gives various reasons for the way in which he has written his history, and he also has many examples of other historians whom he admonishes with great polemic for their own histories.9 Thus, it is the purpose of this essay to discuss what Polybius meant by ‘pragmatic’ history, and whether his own writing stood up in its entirety to the standard that he set. Polybius’ Rise of the Roman Empire aimed to create a written history that was not a tragedy, but a useful history that was meant to inform future generations of problems that had occurred and he states, There are two roads to reformation for mankind…the knowledge gained from true history is the best of all educations for practical life. For it is history alone which will mature our judgment and prepare us to take right views. 10 The historian Thucydides made a similar declaration in his own introduction with regard to the usefulness of his history, “And it may well be that my history will seem less easy to read because of the absence in it of a romantic element. It will be enough for m, however, if these words of mine are judged useful.”11 As a pragmatic historian, it was Polybius’ aim to provide a useful, non-bias history that was based on his military and political experience. The importance of understanding history was the main basis for his work. If a person had sufficient knowledge of past events, it was unlikely that he would make the same mistakes as his predecessors, and that “History alone can supply him with the precedents.”12 Polybius’ history had a double purpose; it aimed to 9 Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 3.59.3. 10 Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 9.1. 11 Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 1.22. 12 Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 3.31. Amanda Mazur History 532:81, Ancient Greece 4 provide training and experience for politicians as well as to teach the reader the vicissitudes of Fortune by describing what happened to those in the past.13 Thus the reader would gain a greater education and understanding of the contemporary world and how to act accordingly. The purpose therefore of his history was to be wholly pragmatic; it was to be a balanced account of affairs that would educate and inform without bias towards a certain side. Although there are times when Polybius does seem to be driven by his own bias (a point that will be touched upon later), his main aim was to create this pragmatic history. Polybius’ target audience shows that his work was to be both useful and pragmatic. His core audience was to be statesmen and students, and there are many examples within his text that allude to this. In Book Three, Polybius discusses the distinction between causes, pretexts and beginnings with regard to war, and this most certainly was directed at statesmen. He writes, “A physician cannot help the sick if he is ignorant of the causes of certain conditions of the body, nor can a statesman help his fellow citizen if he cannot follow how, why or by what process every event has developed.”14 It is clear also that Polybius’ treatment of the change in character of Philip V was to be a direct piece of ‘useful’ information, as was the account of the Roman Constitution, which would help the reader to further understand the Roman political scene.15 According to Walbank however, although Polybius’ work would be most useful to statesmen, it was not in essence generated for a small group, and was to be accessible and readable to any reader.16 Polybius himself states that he was writing for anyone interested in the affairs of nations cities and rulers, and thus, basically a universal history that enveloped 13 Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 1.12. 14 Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 3.7. 15 For his treatment of Philip V, see Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 7.72. His account of the Roman Constitution, Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, 3.118. 16 F.W Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius Vol. 1(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957) 13. Amanda Mazur History 532:81, Ancient Greece 5 the whole scale rise of the Roman Empire as the dominant state within the Mediterranean at this time.17 Accordingly, Polybius was the first to attempt to write a universal history. Previously, historians had written of a single state, or a limited period of time, and Polybius concludes, “In earlier times the world’s history had consisted, so to speak, of a series of unrelated episodes, the origins and results of each being as widely separated as their localities.”18 Thus, it was Polybius’ aim to create a history that showed the growth of Rome as a leader and how after 220 B.C. (and the final defeat of Carthage and the Roman victory in the Third Punic War) Rome had finally implanted itself at the center of the political world, and therefore of history, becoming an “organic whole.”19 In addition, akin to previous historians, Polybius gives the reasoning behind his own writing of this epic history; the unification of the oecumene, and thus the entire world coming under the power of Rome.20 As previously mentioned, Polybius was highly critical and polemical with regards to other historians and their work.
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