Polybius, a Greek historian, born at Megalopolis, in Arcadia; sent to Rome as a hostage, he formed an intimate friendship with Scipio Æmilianus, who aided him in his historical researches, and whom he accompanied to Africa on the expedition which issued in the destruction of Carthage, after which he returned to Greece and began his literary labours, the fruit of which was a history of Greece and Rome from 220 to 146 B.C. in 40 books, of which 5 have come down to us complete, a work characterised by accurate statement of facts and sound judgment of their import, written with a purpose to instruct in practical wisdom; he has been called "the first pragmatical historian" (204-122 B.C.).