Polybius describes the Celtic way of life in Cisalpine Gaul as follows:

Polybius describes the system for the distribution of watchwords in the Roman military as follows:

In Book VI, Polybius describes the way of the Romans ; he discusses the powers of the different parts of the republic, as well as the rights of the plebeian.

Yet Polybius describes its splendours — and reactions to them — in some detail.

As the armies advanced on one another, Hannibal gradually extended the center of his line, as Polybius describes: " After thus drawing up his whole army in a straight line, he took the central companies of Hispanics and Celts and advanced with them, keeping the rest of them in contact with these companies, but gradually falling off, so as to produce a crescent-shaped formation, the line of the flanking companies growing thinner as it was prolonged, his object being to employ the Africans as a reserve force and to begin the action with the Hispanics and Celts.

Polybius describes the Hispanic and Celtic horse dismounting in what he considers a barbarian method of fighting.

The name of the Hernici, like that of the Volsci, is missing from the list of Italian peoples whom Polybius describes as able to furnish troops in 225 BC ; by that date, therefore, their territory cannot have been distinguished from Latium generally, and it seems probable that they had then received the full Roman citizenship.

The Greek historian Polybius ( ca 203 BC – 120 BC ), in his Histories, describes hunting for swordfish by using a harpoon with a barbed and detachable head.

The Greek historian Polybius ( ca 203 BC – 120 BC ), in his Histories, describes hunting for swordfish by using a harpoon with a barbed and detachable head.

In Chapters 1. 22-4-11 of his History, Polybius describes this device as a bridge 1. 2 m ( 4 ft ) wide and 10. 9 m ( 36 ft ) long, with a small parapet on both sides.

He also re-established a fleet ( apparently with the help of Cretan allies, whom Polybius describes as " pirates ", and used it to re-establish control of the Laconian coastline.

Polybius also describes Sparta as an earlier manifestation of this ideal.

If one follows Polybius, the course of events was the following: Despite the Carthaginian pre-war naval advantage, the Roman landing was virtually unopposed.

The Carthaginian army in Iberia, excluding the forces in Africa, totaled, according to Polybius, 90, 000 infantry, 12, 000 cavalry and 37 war elephants: it was thus one of the largest in the Hellenistic world and equal in numbers to any that the Romans had yet fielded.

* Mercenary War ( c. 240 BC ) – also called the Libyan War and the Truceless War by Polybius – was an uprising of mercenary armies formerly in the employ of Carthage, backed by Libyan settlements revolting against Carthaginian control.

The famous Greek historian Polybius wrote that Rome used a wrecked Carthaginian quinquereme captured at Messina as a model for the entire fleet, and that the Romans would have otherwise had no basis for design.

The contemporary historian Polybius fails to mention it, instead crediting the victory to the superior maneuverability of Carthaginian warships, making the truthfulness of this incident at least somewhat dubious.

According to Polybius, the Romans seized a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquereme and used it as a blueprint for their own ships, but it is stated that the Roman copies were heavier than the Carthaginian vessels, which were better built.

The Mercenary War ( c. 240 BC ) — also called the Libyan War and the Truceless War by Polybius — was an uprising of mercenary armies formerly employed by Carthage, backed by Libyan settlements revolting against Carthaginian control.

Polybius called it a " truceless war ", without any concept of rules of warfare and exceeding all other conflicts in cruelty, ending only with the total annihilation of one of the opponents. The conflict escalated when the mercenary leadership tortured and killed its Carthaginian prisoners and in response the Carthaginians committed similar actions.

After several skirmishes, in which Scipio and Laelius set fire to the Carthaginian camp Polybius.

According to Polybius the scutum gave Roman soldiers an edge over their Carthaginian enemies during the Punic Wars: " Their arms also give the men both protection and confidence owing to the size of the shield.

< http :// penelope. uchicago. edu / Thayer / E / Roman / Texts / Polybius / 1 *. html ></ ref > The Carthaginian generals Hanno and Hamilcar then came to Utica's defense, managing to raise the siege, but " the severest blow of all … was the defection of Hippacritae and Utica, the only two cities in Libya which had … bravely faced the present war … indeed they never had on any occasion given the least sign of hostility to Carthage .” Polybius.

According to Polybius, the Romans seized a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquereme, and used it as a blueprint for their own ships.

The earliest references to them are found in the texts of ancient historians such as Livy and Polybius who mention Cantabrian mercenaries in Carthaginian service fighting at the Battle of the Metaurus in 207 BC.

Ron Mellor also sees Polybius as partisan who, out of loyalty to Scipio, vilified Scipio's opponents.

For example, the plaintext alphabet could be written out in a grid, then every letter in the message replaced by its co-ordinates ( see Polybius square and Straddling checkerboard ).

Apart from his description of the battle itself, when later discussing the subject of Roman Legion versus Greek Phalanx, Polybius says that "... against Hannibal, the defeats they suffered had nothing to do with weapons or formations " because " Hannibal himself ... discarded the equipment with which he had started out ( and ) armed his troops with Roman weapons ".

According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people ( and thus the assemblies ) who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new statutes, the carrying out of capital punishment, the declaration of war and peace, and the creation ( or dissolution ) of alliances.

Polybius wrote that Hannibal calculated that he could draw out Flaminius into battle and that " no sooner had he left the neighbourhood of Faesulae, and, advancing a short way beyond the Roman camp, made a raid upon the neighbouring country, then Flaminius became excited, and enraged at the idea that he was despised by the enemy: and as the devastation of the country went on, and he saw from the smoke that rose in every direction that the work of destruction was proceeding, he could not patiently endure the sight.

According to Polybius, Demetrius was instrumental in turning Philip's ambitions toward Illyria and Rome.

Polybius states that the Carthaginians had 130 ships, but does not give an exact figure for the Romans.

Lycortas attracted the suspicion of the Romans, and Polybius subsequently was one of the 1, 000 Achaean nobles who were transported to Rome as hostages in 167 BC, and was detained there for 17 years.

Polybius concludes the Romans are the pre-eminent power because they are a diverse society in which much of the public have a voice and contribute.

The Romans take hundreds of prisoners from the leading families of Macedonia, including the historian Polybius.

Polybius states that the Libyans fought with equipment taken from previously defeated Romans.

Polybius says that Philip had no " hope of fighting the Romans at sea ", perhaps referring to a lack of experience and training.

Polybius speaks of " panic " and " disorder " to describe the fleet's hasty retreat, and says that in fact the Romans had sent only a squadron of ten ships, and that because of " inconsiderate alarm ", Philip had missed his best chance to achieve his aims in Illyria, returning to Macedon, " without loss indeed, but with considerable dishonour ".

It may have succeeded an earlier military road from Illyria to Byzantium, as described by Polybius and Cicero, which the Romans apparently built over and / or improved.

Polybius ( 3rd century BC ) writes that " the Romans had freed the Greeks from the enemies of all mankind ".

Although Polybius uses his writings he does also accuse him of being biased towards the Romans and inconsistent.

Polybius states that the Carthaginians had 130 ships, but does not give an exact figure for the Romans.

During the Third Macedonian War ( 171 – 168 BC ), the League flirted with the idea of an alliance with Perseus, and the Romans punished it by taking several hostages to ensure good behavior, including Polybius, the Hellenistic historian who wrote about the rise of the Roman Republic.

Polybius remarks: “ Greek statesmen, if entrusted with a single talent, though protected by ten checking-clerks, as many seals and twice as many witnesses, yet cannot be induced to keep faith ; whereas among the Romans, in their magistracies and embassies, men have the handling of a great amount of money, and yet from pure respect for their oath keep their faith intact .” ³

The eighth book, called Castrametation of the Romans, reconstructs a Roman encampment after the description by Polybius, followed by a military city and monumental bridge supposedly built by the Emperor Trajan.

He was restored by the Romans, who, however, allowed Orophernes to reign jointly with him, as is expressly stated by Appian, and implied by Polybius.

The Oxybii attacked Massallia in 155 BCE ( Polybius, Histories, 33. 7 ) and in consequence their allies the Romans sent a commission, consisting of Flaminius, Popilius Laenas, and Lucius Pupius.

When these were attacked at the Oxybian coastal city of Aegitna ( Polybius, Histories, 33. 10 ), the Romans dispatched an army under the consul Quintus Opimius, who defeated the Oxybii and the Deciates at the battle of Aegitna, three kilometres north of Antipolis ( Cosson, p. 21 ; Polybius, Histories, 33. 11 ).