Appian of Alexandria's Civil Wars are the five books of his Roman History that tell of Rome's internal conflicts, from the tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BCE to the death of Sextus Pompey in 35 BCE. Appian, an advocate at Rome who became a procurator under Antoninus Pius, wrote the history in Greek in the middle of the second century CE and arranged it by the peoples and wars of Rome's conquests; the civil wars are its Books 13 to 17. These five books survive complete in medieval manuscripts; of the rest of the history, some books survive whole and others only in excerpts and fragments.
Book I looks back to the secession of the plebs and Coriolanus, then follows the Gracchi, Saturninus, the Social War, Marius and Sulla, Sertorius and Spartacus, to the reconciliation of Crassus and Pompey in 70 BCE. Book II runs from Catiline to Caesar's war with Pompey, Pharsalus, and Caesar's murder and funeral. Book III follows the young Octavian's rivalry with Antony and the war at Mutina. Book IV tells of the triumvirs' proscriptions, through many stories of men hunted, hidden or saved, and of the two battles at Philippi. Book V follows Antony in the East and Octavian in Italy, the war at Perusia and the struggle with Sextus Pompey, to Sextus' death in Asia.
Appian of Alexandria Civil Wars: summary and contents (PDF)
Appian of Alexandria Civil Wars: summary and contents (Markdown)
Contents
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Αʹ Book I
Appian traces Rome's internal conflicts from the secession of the plebs and Coriolanus to the killing of Tiberius Gracchus, the first time a sword was brought into the assembly. Gaius Gracchus, Saturninus, the Social War, Marius and Sulla's march on Rome follow, with Sulla's dictatorship, Sertorius and Spartacus, and the book closes as the consuls Crassus and Pompey are reconciled before the people, about sixty years after Tiberius's death.
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Βʹ Book II
From Catiline's conspiracy in Cicero's consulship, Book 2 follows Julius Caesar's rise, his alliance and then war with Pompey, and the battle of Pharsalus, where Appian weighs Pompey's order to stand and receive the charge against Caesar's own criticism of it. Pompey's death in Egypt and Caesar's later wars lead to the murder in the senate house and the funeral, and the book ends by comparing Caesar with Alexander and noting his reform of the calendar.
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Γʹ Book III
Book 3 opens after Caesar's funeral, with the senate's anger at Antony and the agitator Amatius, who claimed to be Marius's grandson. Its subject is the young Octavian, Caesar's heir, and his rivalry with Antony: the bounties that hold two legions that had deserted Antony, the war around Mutina over Decimus Brutus, and Decimus's end, beheaded on Antony's orders, the second of the assassins to be punished after Trebonius.
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Δʹ Book IV
The meeting of Octavian, Antony and Lepidus on a river island near Mutina opens Book 4, and with it the triumvirs' proscriptions, which Appian tells through a long series of stories of men hunted, hidden or saved. The narrative then turns east to Cassius and Brutus: Cassius's demands on Rhodes and the sea fight off Myndus, and the two battles at Philippi, after which, Appian says, Rome never returned to popular government.
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Εʹ Book V
After Philippi, Antony goes to Asia and meets Cleopatra while Octavian returns to Italy; Appian notes that the book therefore holds a little Egyptian matter. It follows the war at Perusia, the dealings with Sextus Pompey, including a conference near Dicaearchia held on platforms built out into the sea, Sextus's defeat and the fall of Lepidus, and ends with Sextus's death in Asia and Octavian's campaign against the Illyrians.