A Good Works Translation from Ab Urbe Condita 5.34-35 and 5.48

Livy links Rome's Gallic crisis to a wider story of Celtic movement: Ambigatus, Bellovesus, Segovesus, the Bituriges, Arverni, Senones, Aedui, and other peoples moving toward the Hercynian forest and Italy. The later ransom scene gives the famous Roman memory of Brennus and the words, woe to the conquered.

Translation

Section 34

We have received this account of the crossing of the Gauls into Italy. When Tarquinius Priscus was ruling at Rome, supreme power among the Celts, who form a third part of Gaul, was held by the Bituriges; they gave a king to Celtic land. That king was Ambigatus, surpassingly powerful in his own courage and fortune and also in the public fortune, because under his rule Gaul was so fertile in crops and people that its overflowing multitude scarcely seemed able to be governed. Since he was now great in age and wished to relieve his kingdom of the crowd pressing on it, he declared that he would send Bellovesus and Segovesus, his sister's sons and energetic young men, to whatever seats the gods had shown by auguries. They were to call out whatever number of people they wished, so that no nation could keep back those who were coming. Then by lot the Hercynian forests were given to Segovesus; to Bellovesus the gods gave the much more pleasing road into Italy. From the peoples in which there was an excess, he called out Bituriges, Arverni, Senones, Aedui, Ambarri, Carnutes, and Aulerci. Setting out with huge forces of foot and horse, he came into the territory of the Tricastini.

Section 35

Soon afterward another band of the Cenomani, with Etitovius as leader, followed the tracks of the earlier people and, crossing the Alps by the same pass with Bellovesus' favor, held the places where the cities Brixia and Verona now stand. The Libui settled after these, and the Salluvii, living near the ancient Ligurian people called the Laevi around the river Ticinus. Then the Boii and Lingones crossed by the Poenine pass; since everything between the Po and the Alps was already held, they crossed the Po on rafts and drove not only the Etruscans but also the Umbrians from their land. Yet they kept themselves this side of the Apennines. Then the Senones, the most recent of the newcomers, held the borders from the river Utens as far as the Aesis. I find that this people came from there to Clusium and Rome; whether alone or helped by all the peoples of the Cisalpine Gauls is not certain enough.

Section 48

But before all the evils of siege and war, hunger was pressing both armies; plague was pressing the Gauls too, because they had their camp in a low place between hills, scorched by fires, full of heat, and carrying ash as well as dust whenever any wind moved. Since that nation, least able to endure these things and accustomed to damp and cold, was tormented by heat and stifling air and died from diseases spread as among cattle, they were already too weary to bury individuals, and burned heaps of people piled together without distinction. From this they made the place famous under the name of the Gallic pyres. Then a truce was made with the Romans, and talks were held with the permission of the commanders. In those talks, when the Gauls kept throwing famine in their faces and calling them by that necessity to surrender, it is said that bread was thrown from the Capitol into the enemy stations in many places to turn aside that opinion. But now hunger could neither be hidden nor endured any longer. And so, while the dictator was holding a levy in person at Ardea, he ordered Lucius Valerius, master of the horse, to bring an army from Veii, and was preparing and arranging the means by which he might attack the enemy with no unequal force. Meanwhile the army on the Capitol, worn out by guard posts and watches, and having overcome all human evils, since nature would not allow hunger alone to be conquered, looked day after day to see whether any help from the dictator appeared. At last, with hope as well as food now failing, and since their weak bodies were almost crushed by their arms when they went on duty, they ordered that they be surrendered or ransomed on whatever terms they could, while the Gauls were openly declaring that they could be induced for no great price to leave the siege. Then the senate was held, and the military tribunes were given the task of making terms. The matter was settled in a conference between Quintus Sulpicius, military tribune, and Brennus, petty king of the Gauls, and a thousand pounds of gold became the price of a people soon to rule nations. To a thing most shameful in itself, an indignity was added: the weights brought by the Gauls were unfair, and when the tribune objected, the insolent Gaul added his sword to the weight, and a saying unbearable to Romans was heard: woe to the conquered.

Colophon

This page translates Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 5.34-35 and 5.48 from Latin for the Celtic continental expansion of the Good Work Library. The account is Roman memory shaped by defeat, recovery, and moral drama; the translation keeps that framing visible while giving direct access to Livy's Latin witness.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲

Source Text: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 5.34-35 and 5.48

Latin source text from The Latin Library's text of Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, Book 5. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Section 34

De transitu in Italiam Gallorum haec accepimus: Prisco Tarquinio Romae regnante, Celtarum quae pars Galliae tertia est penes Bituriges summa imperii fuit; ii regem Celtico dabant. Ambigatus is fuit, virtute fortunaque cum sua, tum publica praepollens, quod in imperio eius Gallia adeo frugum hominumque fertilis fuit ut abundans multitudo vix regi videretur posse. Hic magno natu ipse iam exonerare praegravante turba regnum cupiens, Bellovesum ac Segovesum sororis filios impigros iuvenes missurum se esse in quas di dedissent auguriis sedes ostendit; quantum ipsi vellent numerum hominum excirent ne qua gens arcere advenientes posset. Tum Segoveso sortibus dati Hercynei saltus; Belloveso haud paulo laetiorem in Italiam viam di dabant. Is quod eius ex populis abundabat, Bituriges, Arvernos, Senones, Haeduos, Ambarros, Carnutes, Aulercos excivit. Profectus ingentibus peditum equitumque copiis in Tricastinos venit.

Section 35

Alia subinde manus Cenomanorum Etitovio duce vestigia priorum secuta eodem saltu favente Belloveso cum transcendisset Alpes, ubi nunc Brixia ac Verona urbes sunt locos tenuere. Libui considunt post hos Salluviique, prope antiquam gentem Laevos Ligures incolentes circa Ticinum amnem. Poenino deinde Boii Lingonesque transgressi cum iam inter Padum atque Alpes omnia tenerentur, Pado ratibus traiecto non Etruscos modo sed etiam Umbros agro pellunt; intra Appenninum tamen sese tenuere. Tum Senones, recentissimi advenarum, ab Utente flumine usque ad Aesim fines habuere. Hanc gentem Clusium Romamque inde venisse comperio: id parum certum est, solamne an ab omnibus Cisalpinorum Gallorum populis adiutam.

Section 48

Sed ante omnia obsidionis bellique mala fames utrimque exercitum urgebat, Gallos pestilentia etiam, cum loco iacente inter tumulos castra habentes, tum ab incendiis torrido et vaporis pleno cineremque non puluerem modo ferente cum quid venti motum esset. Quorum intolerantissima gens umorique ac frigori adsueta cum aestu et angore vexati volgatis velut in pecua morbis morerentur, iam pigritia singulos sepeliendi promisce acervatos cumulos hominum urebant, bustorumque inde Gallicorum nomine insignem locum fecere. Indutiae deinde cum Romanis factae et conloquia permissu imperatorum habita; in quibus cum identidem Galli famem obicerent eaque necessitate ad deditionem vocarent, dicitur avertendae eius opinionis causa multis locis panis de Capitolio iactatus esse in hostium stationes. Sed iam neque dissimulari neque ferri ultra fames poterat. Itaque dum dictator dilectum per se Ardeae habet, magistrum equitum L. Valerium a Veiis adducere exercitum iubet, parat instruitque quibus haud impar adoriatur hostes, interim Capitolinus exercitus, stationibus vigiliis fessus, superatis tamen humanis omnibus malis cum famem unam natura vinci non sineret, diem de die prospectans ecquod auxilium ab dictatore appareret, postremo spe quoque iam non solum cibo deficiente et cum stationes procederent prope obruentibus infirmum corpus armis, vel dedi vel redimi se quacumque pactione possint iussit, iactantibus non obscure Gallis haud magna mercede se adduci posse ut obsidionem relinquant. Tum senatus habitus tribunisque militum negotium datum ut paciscerentur. Inde inter Q. Sulpicium tribunum militum et Brennum regulum Gallorum conloquio transacta res est, et mille pondo auri pretium populi gentibus mox imperaturi factum. Rei foedissimae per se adiecta indignitas est: pondera ab Gallis allata iniqua et tribuno recusante additus ab insolente Gallo ponderi gladius, auditaque intoleranda Romanis vox, vae victis.

Source Colophon

The Latin source was captured from The Latin Library on 2026-05-13 and inspected on disk at Tulku/Tools/celtic/sources/continental_batch_2026-05-13/livy_5_latin_library.html. The English translation is a New Tianmu Anglican Church Good Works Translation made from the Latin source.

🌲