Polybius
a Greek historian; born in Megalopolis, Greece, probably about 204 в. c. He was the son of Lycortas, who succeeded Philopœmen as general of the Achæan League, and he profited both by the example and instructions of Philopœmen. en. In the funeral procession of the latter from Messene to Megalopolis, Polybius bore the urn containing the ashes of his friend. He was one of the 1,000 Achæans carried to Italy in 168, on the charge of not having assisted the POLYCRATES Romans against Perseus. He lived in the house of Æmilius Paulus, and became the intimate friend of his son Scipio; returned with his fellow exiles to Greece, in 151; accompanied Scipio to the siege of Carthage. His great work is a general history of the affairs of Greece and Rome from 220 B. C. to 146 в. c., the epoch of the fall of Corinth, prefaced by a summary view of early Roman history. Five only of its books are now extant, with some fragments of the rest, but these are among the most important literary remains of antiquity. He died at the age of 82.