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Polybius Biography

Polybius (/pəˈlɪbiəs/; Greek: Πολύβιος, Polýbios; c. 200 – c. 118 BC) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period noted for his work The Histories, which covered the period of 264–146 BC in detail. The work describes the rise of the Roman Republic to the status of dominance in the ancient Mediterranean world and includes his eyewitness account of the Sack of Carthage in 146 BC.

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Polybius Quotes

In our own time the whole of Greece has been subject to a low birth rate and a general decrease of the population, owing to which cities have become deserted and the land has ceased to yield fruit, although there have neither been continuous wars nor epidemics. . . For as men had fallen into such a state of pretentiousness, avarice, and indolence that they did not wish to marry, or if they married to rear the children born to them, or at most as a rule but one or two of them, so as to leave these in affluence and bring them up to waste their substance, the evil rapidly and insensibly grew.

Born, Children, Cities, Men, Rate, War

On any occasion when one can discover the cause of events, one should not resort to the gods.

Causes, Discover, Events, Occasion, Should

[There can be no] rational administration of government when good men are held in the same esteem as bad ones.

Bad, Good, Good Man, Integrity, Men, Rational

A good general not only sees the way to victory; he also knows when victory is impossible.

Creative, Good, Leadership, Sees, Victory, Way

When the ancients said a work well begun was half done, they meant to impress the importance of always endeavoring to make a good beginning.

Done, Half, Make, Said

Monarchy degenerates into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into savage violence and chaos.

Aristocracy, Chaos, Degenerates, Democracy, Historical

Nor ought we ever to allow any growing power to acquire such a degree of strength as to be able to tear from us, without resistance, our natural, undisputed rights.

Acquire, Degrees, Ought, Rights, Strength, Tears

Can any one be so indifferent or idle as not to care to know by what means, and under what kind of polity, almost the whole inhabited world was conquered and brought under the dominion of the single city of Rome, and that too within a period of not quite fifty-three years?

Dominion, Idle, Mean, Rome, Whole, Years

Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.

Make, Numerous, Sports, Victories, Winning, Wisdom

How highly should we honor the Macedonians, who for the greater part of their lives never cease from fighting with the barbarians for the sake of the security of Greece? For who is not aware that Greece would have constantly stood in the greater danger, had we not been fenced by the Macedonians and the honorable ambition of their kings?

Ambition, Barbarians, Fighting, Kings, Lives, Stood

That historians should give their own country a break, I grant you; but not so as to state things contrary to fact. For there are plenty of mistakes made by writers out of ignorance, and which any man finds it difficult to avoid. But if we knowingly write what is false, whether for the sake of our country or our friends or just to be pleasant, what difference is there between us and hack writers? Readers should be very attentive to and critical of historians, and they in turn should be constantly on their guard.

Contrary, Country, Critical, Finds, Friendship, Mistake

The government will take the fairest of names, but the worst of realities--mob rule.

Government, Names, Reality, Rule, Take, Worst

From this I conclude that the best education for the situations of actual life consists of the experience we acquire from the study of serious history. For it is history alone which without causing us harm enables us to judge what is the best course in any situation or circumstance.

Consists, Enables, Judging, Serious, Study

The common people feel themselves oppressed by the grasping of some, and their vanity is flattered by others. Fired with evil passions, they are no longer willing to submit to control, but demand that everything be subject to their authority. The invariable result is that government assumes the noble names of free and popular, but becomes in fact the most execrable thing, mob rule.

Evil, Fact, Flattered, Names, Passion, Vanity

The particular aspect of history which both attracts and benefits its readers is the examination of causes and the capacity, which is the reward of this study, to decide in each case the best policy to follow. Now in all political situations we must understand that the principle factor which makes for success or failure is the form of a state's constitution: it is from this source, as if from a fountainhead, that all designs and plans of action not only originate but reach their fulfillment.

Design, Examination, Plans, Political, Study, Success