A Complete Good Works Translation from Ab Urbe Condita 5.34-49
This complete source-unit gives Livy's long Roman memory of the Gauls in Italy: Ambigatus, Bellovesus and Segovesus, the Senones, Clusium, the Allia, the entry into Rome, the Capitol siege, the geese of Juno, Brennus' ransom, and Camillus' counter-story of recovery.
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 36
The embassy would have been mild, if it had not had envoys too fierce and more like Gauls than Romans. After they delivered their instructions in the council of the Gauls, this answer was given: although the Gauls were hearing the name of Romans for the first time, they believed them to be brave men, since the Clusines had begged their help in a crisis. Since the Romans had preferred to protect their allies against them by embassy rather than by arms, the Gauls also would not reject the peace the Romans brought, if the Clusines gave part of their territory to the Gauls, who lacked land, though the Clusines possessed more than they cultivated. Otherwise peace could not be obtained. They wished to receive the answer in the Romans' presence, and if the land was refused, they would fight in the presence of the same Romans, so that the envoys could report home how much the Gauls surpassed other mortals in courage. When the Romans asked what right they had to seek land from its possessors or threaten arms, and what business the Gauls had in Etruria, they fiercely answered that they carried their right in their weapons and that everything belonged to brave men. With spirits inflamed on both sides, they ran to arms and battle was joined. There, with the fates already pressing on the Roman city, the envoys took up arms against the law of nations. This could not be hidden, since three of the noblest and bravest young Romans were fighting before the Etruscan standards; their foreign courage stood out so much. Quintus Fabius even rode out beyond the line, pierced through the side with his spear a leader of the Gauls who was charging fiercely into the Etruscan standards, and killed him. As he was stripping the spoils, the Gauls recognized him, and through the whole line the signal was given that he was a Roman envoy. Then, dropping their anger against the Clusines, they sounded the retreat while threatening the Romans. Some thought they should go straight to Rome; the older men prevailed, so that envoys should first be sent to complain of the wrongs and demand that the Fabii be surrendered for violating the law of nations. When the envoys of the Gauls had set out these instructions as they had been given, the senate did not approve the deed of the Fabii, and the barbarians seemed to be making a lawful demand. But ambition stood in the way of decreeing what was approved against men of such nobility. Therefore, so that responsibility would not lie with the senate if some disaster was received in the Gallic war, they referred judgment on the Gauls' demands to the people. There favor and power had so much more weight that the men whose punishment was under discussion were elected military tribunes with consular power for the following year. After this, the Gauls, angered no less than was deserved and openly threatening war, returned to their own people. The military tribunes elected with the three Fabii were Quintus Sulpicius Longus, Quintus Servilius for the fourth time, and Publius Cornelius Maluginensis.
Section 37
When so great a mass of evil was bearing down, fortune so blinds minds when it does not wish its oncoming force to be broken that a state which, in many crises, had named a dictator as a last resort against the Fidenaean and Veientine enemy and other neighboring peoples, now, when an unseen and unheard-of enemy from the Ocean and the farthest edges of the earth was raising war, sought no extraordinary command or help. The tribunes whose rashness had contracted the war held the highest authority, and they held a levy no more careful than was customary for ordinary wars, even making light of the report of war. Meanwhile the Gauls, when they heard that honor had actually been given to violators of human law and that their embassy had been mocked, burning with anger, a passion that nation cannot control, immediately tore up the standards and set out on the march with a swift column. As frightened cities ran to arms at the sudden tumult of their passing and the country people fled, the Gauls shouted everywhere they went that they were going to Rome, filling an immense stretch of ground with a far-spread column of horses and men. But their speed, with report going before them and messengers from the Clusines and then from other peoples, brought the greatest terror to Rome. A hastily led emergency army barely met them at the eleventh milestone, where the river Allia, flowing down from the Crustumine hills in a deep channel, joins the Tiber not far below the road. Everything in front and around was already full of the enemy, and the nation, born for empty tumult, filled everything with horrible sound by savage song and varied shouting.
Section 38
There the military tribunes drew up the line without having first taken a place for a camp, without having fortified a rampart to which there might be a retreat, and mindful not even of the gods, if not of men, without taking auspices or favorable omens. They stretched the line into the wings so that they would not be surrounded by the multitude of the enemy; yet they could not make their front equal, since by stretching it they had made the middle line weak and scarcely holding together. A little on the right there was a higher place, which they decided to fill with reserves; this was both the beginning of fear and flight and the one safety for those fleeing. For Brennus, petty king of the Gauls, fearing strategy most of all because of the small number of the enemy, thought the higher place had been taken for this purpose: that when the Gauls had met the line of the legions straight in front, the reserves might attack their backs and sides. He turned the standards toward the reserves, certain that if he drove them from the place there would be easy victory on the level field for his far superior multitude. So not only fortune but also calculation stood with the barbarians. In the other line there was nothing like this among the Romans, neither in the leaders nor among the soldiers. Fear and flight had taken their minds, and there was such forgetfulness of everything that a much greater part fled to Veii, an enemy city, since the Tiber blocked them, than by the straight road to Rome to their wives and children. For a little while the place protected the reserves. In the rest of the line, as soon as the shout was heard by the nearest from the side and by the last from behind, they fled whole and untouched, almost before they saw the unknown enemy, without trying battle and without even returning the shout. There was no slaughter of men fighting; their backs were cut down as they hindered one another's flight in the crowd. Around the bank of the Tiber, where the whole left wing fled after throwing away its arms, there was great slaughter; many, ignorant of swimming or weak, weighed down by breastplates and other coverings, were swallowed by the currents. The largest part, however, fled unharmed to Veii, and from there not only no help, but not even a messenger of the disaster, was sent to Rome. From the right wing, which had stood far from the river and more under the mountain, all made for Rome and, without even closing the city gates, fled into the citadel.
Section 39
The Gauls too were held as if stupefied by the wonder of such sudden victory. At first they stood fixed by fear, as if not knowing what had happened; then they feared ambushes; finally they gathered the spoils of the slain and heaped up piles of arms, as their custom is. Only then, when nothing hostile was seen anywhere, did they set out on the road and arrive at the city of Rome not long before sunset. When the horsemen who had gone ahead reported that the gates were not closed, no guard was keeping watch before the gates, and no armed men were on the walls, another wonder like the first held them back. Fearing night and the unknown position of the city, they settled between Rome and the Anio, sending scouts around the walls and other gates to learn what plans the enemy had in their lost situation. Since a larger part of the Romans had gone from the battle line to Veii than to Rome, no one believed that anyone survived except those who had fled to Rome; all, living and dead alike, were mourned, and nearly the whole city was filled with lamentation. Private griefs were then stunned by public fear when it was announced that the enemy were present. Soon they heard the howls and discordant songs of the barbarians wandering in squadrons around the walls. From then until the next dawn, all time held their spirits suspended, so that again and again an attack on the city seemed about to happen: first at their arrival, because they had come up to the city, for they would have stayed at the Allia unless this had been their plan; then near sunset, because not much of the day remained, they thought the attack would come before night; then that the plan had been delayed into the night to bring more fear. At last the approaching light unnerved them, and after continuous fear came the evil itself when hostile standards were brought to the gates. Yet that night and the following day the state was not at all like the one that had fled so fearfully at the Allia. Since there was no hope that the city could be defended by so small a remaining force, it was decided that the fighting youth and the strength of the senate should withdraw with wives and children into the citadel and Capitol, and, after arms and grain had been gathered, from that fortified place defend the gods, human beings, and the Roman name. The flamen and the Vestal priests were to carry the public sacred things far from slaughter and fires, and their worship was not to be abandoned before no one remained to worship. If the citadel and Capitol, seats of the gods, if the senate, head of public counsel, if the military youth survived the ruin looming over the city, the loss of the older men and of the crowd left in the city, which would perish in any case, would be easy to bear. And so that the multitude of the plebs might endure this with more even spirit, the old men who had celebrated triumphs or held consulships openly declared that they would die together with them, and would not burden the scarcity of the armed men with bodies that could neither carry arms nor defend the fatherland.
Section 40
These comforts were spoken among the elders marked for death. Then encouragements were turned toward the column of young men whom they escorted to the Capitol and citadel, commending to their courage and youth whatever fortune remained of a city victorious in all wars for three hundred sixty years. As those who carried every hope and help with them parted from those who had decided not to survive the destruction of the captured city, the thing itself and its sight were pitiable; but the weeping of women, their uncertain running about, following now these, now those, and asking husbands and sons to what fate they were leaving them, left no human evil remaining. A large part of the women nevertheless followed their own people into the citadel, with no one forbidding and no one inviting them, because what was useful for the besieged, to lessen the noncombatant crowd, was too little humane. Another crowd, chiefly of the plebs, which so small a hill could not hold nor feed in such shortage of grain, poured out of the city as if in one column and sought the Janiculum. From there some scattered through the fields, and some sought neighboring cities, without any leader or agreement, each following his own hope and his own plans after common plans had been abandoned.
Section 41
Meanwhile at Rome, when everything had been arranged as well as possible in such a situation for defending the citadel, the crowd of elders returned to their houses and awaited the enemy's arrival with spirits fixed on death. Those who had held curule offices, so that they might die in the emblems of former fortune, honors, or courage, put on the most august garment, the one worn by those leading chariots in triumphs, and sat in the middle of their houses on ivory chairs. Some say that, with Marcus Folius the chief pontiff reciting the formula first, they devoted themselves for their fatherland and the Roman citizens.
Section 42
Whether not all the Gauls had the desire to destroy the city, or whether the leaders of the Gauls had decided that some fires should be displayed for terror, so that the besieged could be compelled toward surrender by love of their homes, and that not all roofs should be burned so that whatever of the city survived might be a pledge to bend the enemy's spirits, fire did not wander on the first day of the captured city everywhere or widely as it might have. The Romans from the citadel, seeing the city filled with enemies and their wandering courses through all the streets, while a new disaster arose in one place after another, could not keep their minds steady, nor even their ears and eyes. Wherever the shout of enemies, the weeping of women and children, the sound of flame, and the crash of falling roofs had turned them, they bent frightened spirits, faces, and eyes toward everything, as if set by fortune to watch the spectacle of their dying fatherland and left as defenders of none of their possessions except their bodies. They were more pitiable than any others who have ever been besieged, because they were besieged while cut off from their own fatherland, seeing everything of theirs in the enemy's power. Nor did a more peaceful night follow a day so foully spent; then a restless dawn followed the night, and there was no time free from the sight of some always new disaster. Yet, loaded and overwhelmed by so many evils, they did not bend their spirits from defending by courage, though they had seen everything leveled by flames and ruins, the poor and small hill they held, left as the one place of freedom. And when the same things happened day by day, as if accustomed to evils, they alienated their spirits from any feeling for their own possessions, looking only at arms and iron in their right hands as the sole remains of their hope.
Section 43
The Gauls also, after war had been waged for several days only against the roofs of the city and to no purpose, when among the fires and ruins of the captured city they saw nothing surviving except armed enemies, and those not terrified by so many disasters nor likely to bend their spirits to surrender unless force was applied, decided to try the last things and make an attack on the citadel. At first light, when the signal had been given, the whole multitude was drawn up in the forum; then, with a shout raised and a testudo formed, they advanced. Against them the Romans did nothing rashly or fearfully. Guards had been strengthened at every approach; wherever they saw the standards being carried, they set the strength of men against them and allowed the enemy to climb, thinking that the higher he advanced into the steep place, the more easily he could be driven down the slope. About the middle of the hill they stopped; and from there, from the higher place which almost of itself carried them into the enemy, the Romans made an attack and routed the Gauls with slaughter and collapse. Never afterward, neither by part nor by the whole, did the Gauls try that kind of fighting. Giving up hope of climbing by force and arms, they prepared a siege. Until then they had forgotten siege conditions: the grain that had been in the city they had consumed in the city's fires, and all that had been seized from the fields during those days had gone to Veii. Therefore they decided to divide the army, part to plunder through the neighboring peoples, part to besiege the citadel, so that those besieging could be supplied with grain by those plundering the fields.
Section 44
Camillus said: 'Ardeates, old friends and now also my new fellow citizens, since your kindness has brought this about and my fortune has needed it, let none of you think that I have come forward forgetting my condition. But the common situation and danger force each person to bring into the shared center whatever protection he can in a crisis. And when shall I repay you for such great merits toward me, if I hold back now? Or where will you have use of me, if not in war? By this art I stood in my fatherland and was unconquered in war; in peace I was driven out by ungrateful citizens. But to you, Ardeates, fortune has offered a chance both to repay the Roman people for their former benefits, so great as you yourselves remember, for these things need not be cast up among the mindful, and to win for this city immense glory in war from a common enemy. The nation that is coming in a scattered column is one to whom nature has given bodies and spirits large rather than firm; therefore they bring into every contest more terror than strength. Let the Roman disaster be proof. They took an open city; from the citadel and Capitol a small force resists them. Already, overcome by weariness of siege, they are departing and roaming through the fields. Stuffed with food and wine hastily seized, when night approaches they stretch themselves like wild beasts near streams of water, without defense, without stations or guards, now even more careless than usual because of success. If you have it in mind to protect your walls and not allow all these things to become Gaul, take arms in force at the first watch and follow me to slaughter, not to battle. If I do not hand them over to be cut down, bound by sleep like cattle, I do not refuse the same end for my affairs at Ardea that I had at Rome.'
Section 45
Those with and against him were persuaded that there was nowhere at that time a man so great in war. After the assembly was dismissed, they cared for their bodies, intent on how soon the signal would be given. When it was given, in the silence of the first night they stood ready for Camillus at the gates. Going out not far from the city, just as had been foretold, they found the camp of the Gauls unprotected and neglected on every side, and attacked it with a huge shout. There was no battle anywhere, only slaughter everywhere; naked bodies, loosened by sleep, were cut down. Yet fear roused the farthest men from their beds; ignorant what or where the force was, it carried them into flight and some, unaware, into the enemy itself. A great part, carried into the territory of Antium, were surrounded by the townspeople in an attack upon the scattered men.
Section 46
Meanwhile at Rome the siege was mostly sluggish and there was silence on both sides, the Gauls intent only on this, that no enemy escape between the stations, when suddenly a young Roman turned the admiration of citizens and enemies upon himself. There was a fixed sacrifice on the Quirinal hill for the Fabian clan. To perform it, Gaius Fabius Dorsuo, wearing the Gabine cincture and carrying the sacred things in his hands, came down from the Capitol, went out through the middle of the enemy stations, moved by no one's voice or threat, and reached the Quirinal hill. There, after everything had been solemnly performed, he returned with the same steady face and step to the Capitol and his own people, trusting sufficiently that the gods were favorable because he had not abandoned their worship even when fear of death opposed him. The Gauls were either stunned by the wonder of his daring or moved by religion, of which that nation is by no means neglectful.
Section 47
While these things were being done at Veii, the citadel of Rome and the Capitol were meanwhile in enormous danger. For the Gauls, whether after noticing a human track where the messenger from Veii had come through, or by their own observation that the ascent at the rock of Carmentis was level, sent ahead at night, in half-light, one unarmed man to test the way. Then, passing weapons along where the place was difficult, leaning on one another in turn and lifting each other, and others drawing others up as the place required, they reached the top in such silence that they not only escaped the guards, but did not even wake the dogs, an animal alert to noises at night. They did not escape the geese, which, sacred to Juno, were spared even in the greatest lack of food. This saved the situation. Awakened by their calling and the sound of their wings, Marcus Manlius, who had been consul three years before and was an outstanding man in war, seized arms, at the same time called the others to arms, and while the rest were confused, struck with his shield-boss a Gaul who had already stood at the top and hurled him down. As that falling man knocked down those nearest, Manlius cut down others who were shaken, had dropped their weapons, and were clinging with their hands to the rocks to which they held. Soon others too gathered and drove the enemy back with spears, missiles, and stones; the whole line slipped and was carried down headlong in collapse. After the tumult had been settled, the rest of the night, as much as could be given to rest with minds disturbed and the past danger also troubling them, was given to quiet. When dawn came, the soldiers were called by trumpet to council before the tribunes. Since reward was owed for both right and wrong deed, Manlius was first praised and rewarded for courage, not only by the military tribunes but also by military agreement. All together brought to his house, which was on the citadel, half-pound measures of grain and quarter-measures of wine. This thing is small to tell, but scarcity had made it an immense proof of affection, since each person, depriving himself of his own food and necessary use, gave what had been taken from his body to honor one man. Then the guards of the place where the enemy had deceived them by climbing were summoned. When Quintus Sulpicius the military tribune had announced that he would punish all of them according to military custom, he was deterred by the consenting shout of the soldiers, who cast the blame onto one guard; he spared the others and, with everyone approving, threw the man certainly guilty of that fault from the rock. From then on the watches were more intent on both sides: among the Gauls, because it had become known that messengers were passing between Veii and Rome; among the Romans, from the memory of the danger by night.
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.
Section 49
But gods and human beings prevented the Romans from living as ransomed men. For by chance, before the unspeakable payment was completed, while the dispute continued and not all the gold had yet been weighed out, the dictator arrived and ordered the gold removed from the middle and the Gauls driven away. When they resisted and said that an agreement had been made, he denied that an agreement was valid which, after he had been made dictator, had been made without his order by a magistrate of lower right. He warned the Gauls to prepare themselves for battle. He ordered his own men to throw their packs into a heap, ready their weapons, and recover the fatherland by iron, not gold, keeping before their eyes the temples of the gods, their wives and children, the soil of the fatherland deformed by the evils of war, and everything that it was right to defend, recover, and avenge. Then he drew up the line as the nature of the place allowed, on the ground of the half-ruined city and a naturally uneven place, and provided everything that could be chosen or prepared for his own side by the art of war. The Gauls, frightened by the new situation, took up arms and rushed against the Romans more in anger than in counsel. Fortune had now turned; divine help and human plans were now aiding the Roman cause. Therefore, at the first clash, the Gauls were routed in no greater time than they had conquered at the Allia. Then in a second, more regular battle at the eighth milestone on the Gabine road, where they had gathered after flight, they were defeated under the same leadership and auspices of Camillus. There slaughter held everything; the camp was taken, and not even a messenger of the disaster was left. The dictator, after recovering the fatherland from the enemy, returned in triumph into the city; and among the military jokes that soldiers throw out in rough form, he was called Romulus, father of the fatherland, and second founder of the city, with praises not empty.
Colophon
This page translates Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 5.34-49 from Latin for the Celtic continental expansion of the Good Work Library. Livy's account is Roman moral memory shaped by defeat, religious drama, and recovery; the translation preserves that frame as source evidence rather than neutral ethnography.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 5.34-49
Latin source text from The Latin Library's text of Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, Book 5. This page gives the continuous Gallic migration, Clusium, Allia, sack of Rome, Capitol siege, Brennus ransom, and Camillus recovery narrative.
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 36
Mitis legatio, ni praeferoces legatos Gallisque magis quam Romanis similes habuisset. Quibus postquam mandata ediderunt in concilio [Gallorum] datur responsum, etsi novum nomen audiant Romanorum, tamen credere viros fortes esse quorum auxilium a Clusinis in re trepida sit imploratum; et quoniam legatione adversus se maluerint quam armis tueri socios, ne se quidem pacem quam illi adferant aspernari, si Gallis egentibus agro, quem latius possideant quam colant Clusini, partem finium concedant; aliter pacem impetrari non posse. Et responsum coram Romanis accipere velle et si negetur ager, coram iisdem Romanis dimicaturos, ut nuntiare domum possent quantum Galli virtute ceteros mortales praestarent. Quodnam id ius esset agrum a possessoribus petere aut minari arma Romanis quaerentibus et quid in Etruria rei Gallis esset, cum illi se in armis ius ferre et omnia fortium virorum esse ferociter dicerent, accensis utrimque animis ad arma discurritur et proelium conseritur. Ibi iam urgentibus Romanam urbem fatis legati contra ius gentium arma capiunt. Nec id clam esse potuit cum ante signa Etruscorum tres nobilissimi fortissimique Romanae iuventutis pugnarent; tantum eminebat peregrina virtus. Quin etiam Q. Fabius, evectus extra aciem equo, ducem Gallorum, ferociter in ipsa signa Etruscorum incursantem, per latus transfixum hasta occidit; spoliaque eius legentem Galli agnovere, perque totam aciem Romanum legatum esse signum datum est. Omissa inde in Clusinos ira, receptui canunt minantes Romanis. Erant qui extemplo Romam eundum censerent; vicere seniores, ut legati prius mitterentur questum iniurias postulatumque ut pro iure gentium violato Fabii dederentur. Legati Gallorum cum ea sicut erant mandata exposuissent, senatui nec factum placebat Fabiorum et ius postulare barbari videbantur; sed ne id quod placebat decerneretur in tantae nobilitatis viris ambitio obstabat. Itaque ne penes ipsos culpa esset cladis forte Gallico bello acceptae, cognitionem de postulatis Gallorum ad populum reiciunt; ubi tanto plus gratia atque opes valuere ut quorum de poena agebatur tribuni militum consulari potestate in insequentem annum crearentur. Quo facto haud secus quam dignum erat infensi Galli bellum propalam minantes ad suos redeunt. Tribuni militum cum tribus Fabiis creati Q. Sulpicius Longus Q. Servilius quartum P. Cornelius Maluginensis.
Section 37
Cum tanta moles mali instaret—adeo occaecat animos fortuna, ubi vim suam ingruentem refringi non volt—civitas quae adversus Fidenatem ac Veientem hostem aliosque finitimos populos ultima experiens auxilia dictatorem multis tempestatibus dixisset, ea tunc invisitato atque inaudito hoste ab Oceano terrarumque ultimis oris bellum ciente, nihil extraordinarii imperii aut auxilii quaesivit. Tribuni quorum temeritate bellum contractum erat summae rerum praeerant, dilectumque nihilo accuratiorem quam ad media bella haberi solitus erat, extenuantes etiam famam belli, habebant. Interim Galli postquam accepere ultro honorem habitum violatoribus iuris humani elusamque legationem suam esse, flagrantes ira cuius impotens est gens, confestim signis conuolsis citato agmine iter ingrediuntur. Ad quorum praetereuntium raptim tumultum cum exterritae urbes ad arma concurrerent fugaque agrestium fieret, Romam se ire magno clamore significabant quacumque ibant, equis virisque longe ac late fuso agmine immensum obtinentes loci. Sed antecedente fama nuntiisque Clusinorum, deinceps inde aliorum populorum, plurimum terroris Romam celeritas hostium tulit, quippe quibus velut tumultuario exercitu raptim ducto aegre ad undecimum lapidem occursum est, qua flumen Allia, Crustuminis montibus praealto defluens alueo, haud multum infra viam Tiberino amni miscetur. Iam omnia contra circaque hostium plena erant et nata in vanos tumultus gens truci cantu clamoribusque variis horrendo cuncta compleverant sono.
Section 38
Ibi tribuni militum non loco castris ante capto, non praemunito vallo quo receptus esset, non deorum saltem si non hominum memores, nec auspicato nec litato, instruunt aciem, diductam in cornua ne circumveniri multitudine hostium possent; nec tamen aequari frontes poterant cum extenuando infirmam et vix cohaerentem mediam aciem haberent. Paulum erat ab dextera editi loci quem subsidiariis repleri placuit, eaque res ut initium pavoris ac fugae, sic una salus fugientibus fuit. Nam Brennus regulus Gallorum in paucitate hostium artem maxime timens, ratus ad id captum superiorem locum ut ubi Galli cum acie legionum recta fronte concucurrissent subsidia in aversos transversosque impetum darent, ad subsidiarios signa convertit, si eos loco depulissit haud dubius facilem in aequo campi tantum superanti multitudine victoriam fore. Adeo non fortuna modo sed ratio etiam cum barbaris stabat. In altera acie nihil simile Romanis, non apud duces, non apud milites erat. Pavor fugaque occupaverat animos et tanta omnium oblivio, ut multo maior pars Veios in hostium urbem, cum Tiberis arceret, quam recto itinere Romam ad coniuges ac liberos fugerent. Parumper subsidiarios tutatus est locus; in reliqua acie simul est clamor proximis ab latere, ultimis ab tergo auditus, ignotum hostem prius paene quam viderent, non modo non temptato certamine sed ne clamore quidem reddito integri intactique fugerunt; nec ulla caedes pugnantium fuit; terga caesa suomet ipsorum certamine in turba impedientium fugam. Circa ripam Tiberis quo armis abiectis totum sinistrum cornu defugit, magna strages facta est, multosque imperitos nandi aut invalidos, graves loricis aliisque tegminibus, hausere gurgites; maxima tamen pars incolumis Veios perfugit, unde non modo praesidii quicquam sed ne nuntius quidem cladis Romam est missus. Ab dextro cornu quod procul a flumine et magis sub monte steterat, Romam omnes petiere et ne clausis quidem portis urbis in arcem confugerunt.
Section 39
Gallos quoque velut obstupefactos miraculum victoriae tam repentinae tenuit, et ipsi pavore defixi primum steterunt, velut ignari quid accidisset; deinde insidias vereri; postremo caesorum spolia legere armorumque cumulos, ut mos eis est, coacervare; tum demum postquam nihil usquam hostile cernebatur viam ingressi, haud multo ante solis occasum ad urbem Romam perveniunt. Ubi cum praegressi equites non portas clausas, non stationem pro portis excubare, non armatos esse in muris rettulissent, aliud priori simile miraculum eos sustinuit; noctemque veriti et ignotae situm urbis, inter Romam atque Anienem consedere, exploratoribus missis circa moenia aliasque portas quaenam hostibus in perdita re consilia essent. Romani cum pars maior ex acie Veios petisset quam Romam, nemo superesse quemquam praeter eos qui Romam refugerant crederet, complorati omnes pariter vivi mortuique totam prope urbem lamentis impleverunt. Privatos deinde luctus stupefecit publicus pavor, postquam hostes adesse nuntiatum est; mox ululatus cantusque dissonos vagantibus circa moenia turmatim barbaris audiebant. Omne inde tempus suspensos ita tenuit animos usque ad lucem alteram ut identidem iam in urbem futurus videretur impetus; primo adventu, quia accesserant ad urbem,—mansuros enim ad Alliam fuisse nisi hoc consilii foret,—deinde sub occasum solis, quia haud multum diei supererat,—ante noctem [enim] [rati se] invasuros;—tum in noctem dilatum consilium esse, quo plus pavoris inferrent. Postremo lux appropinquans exanimare, timorique perpetuo ipsum malum continens fuit cum signa infesta portis sunt inlata. Nequaquam tamen ea nocte neque insequenti die similis illi quae ad Alliam tam pavide fugerat civitas fuit. Nam cum defendi urbem posse tam parva relicta manu spes nulla esset, placuit cum coniugibus ac liberis iuventutem militarem senatusque robur in arcem Capitoliumque concedere, armisque et frumento conlato, ex loco inde munito deos hominesque et Romanum nomen defendere; flaminem sacerdotesque Vestales sacra publica a caede, ab incendiis procul auferre, nec ante deseri cultum eorum quam non superessent qui colerent. si arx Capitoliumque, sedes deorum, si senatus, caput publici consilii, si militaris iuventus superfuerit imminenti ruinae urbis, facilem iacturam esse seniorum relictae in urbe utique periturae turbae. Et quo id aequiore animo de plebe multitudo ferret, senes triumphales consularesque simul se cum illis palam dicere obituros, nec his corporibus, quibus non arma ferre, non tueri patriam possent, oneraturos inopiam armatorum.
Section 40
Haec inter seniores morti destinatos iactata solacia. Versae inde adhortationes ad agmen iuvenum quos in Capitolium atque in arcem prosequebantur, commendantes virtuti eorum iuventaeque urbis per trecentos sexaginta annos omnibus bellis victricis quaecumque reliqua esset fortuna. Digredientibus qui spem omnem atque opem secum ferebant ab iis qui captae urbis non superesse statuerant exitio, cum ipsa res speciesque miserabilis erat, tum muliebris fletus et concursatio incerta nunc hos, nunc illos sequentium rogitantiumque viros natosque cui se fato darent, nihil quod humani superesset mali relinquebant. Magna pars tamen earum in arcem suos persecutae sunt, nec prohibente ullo nec vocante, quia quod utile obsessis ad minvendam imbellem multitudinem, id parum humanum erat. Alia maxime plebis turba, quam nec capere tam exiguus collis nec alere in tanta inopia frumenti poterat, ex urbe effusa velut agmine iam uno petiit Ianiculum. Inde pars per agros dilapsi, pars urbes petunt finitimas, sine ullo duce aut consensu, suam quisque spem, sua consilia communibus deploratis exsequentes.
Section 41
Romae interim satis iam omnibus, ut in tali re, ad tuendam arcem compositis, turba seniorum domos regressi adventum hostium obstinato ad mortem animo exspectabant. Qui eorum curules gesserant magistratus, ut in fortunae pristinae honorumque aut virtutis insignibus morerentur, quae augustissima vestis est tensas ducentibus triumphantibusue, ea vestiti medio aedium eburneis sellis sedere. Sunt qui M. Folio pontifice maximo praefante carmen devovisse eos se pro patria Quiritibusque Romanis tradant.
Section 42
Ceterum, seu non omnibus delendi urbem libido erat, seu ita placuerat principibus Gallorum et ostentari quaedam incendia terroris causa, si compelli ad deditionem caritate sedum suarum obsessi possent, et non omnia concremari tecta ut quodcumque superesset urbis, id pignus ad flectendos hostium animos haberent, nequaquam perinde atque in capta urbe primo die aut passim aut late vagatus est ignis. Romani ex arce plenam hostium urbem cernentes vagosque per vias omnes cursus, cum alia atque alia parte nova aliqua clades oreretur, non mentibus solum concipere sed ne auribus quidem atque oculis satis constare poterant. Quocumque clamor hostium, mulierum puerorumque ploratus, sonitus flammae et fragor ruentium tectorum avertisset, paventes ad omnia animos oraque et oculos flectebant, velut ad spectaculum a fortuna positi occidentis patriae nec ullius rerum suarum relicti praeterquam corporum vindices, tanto ante alios miserandi magis qui unquam obsessi sunt quod interclusi a patria obsidebantur, omnia sua cernentes in hostium potestate. Nec tranquillior nox diem tam foede actum excepit; lux deinde noctem inquieta insecuta est, nec ullum erat tempus quod a novae semper cladis alicuius spectaculo cessaret. Nihil tamen tot onerati atque obruti malis flexerunt animos quin etsi omnia flammis ac ruinis aequata vidissent, quamvis inopem parvumque quem tenebant collem liberati relictum virtute defenderent; et iam cum eadem cottidie acciderent, velut adsueti malis abalienaverant ab sensu rerum suarum animos, arma tantum ferrumque in dextris velut solas reliquias spei suae intuentes.
Section 43
Galli quoque per aliquot dies in tecta modo urbis nequiquam bello gesto cum inter incendia ac ruinas captae urbis nihil superesse praeter armatos hostes viderent, nec quicquam tot cladibus territos nec flexuros ad deditionem animos ni vis adhiberetur, experiri ultima et impetum facere in arcem statuunt. Prima luce signo dato multitudo omnis in foro instruitur; inde clamore sublato ac testudine facta subeunt. Adversus quos Romani nihil temere nec trepide; ad omnes aditus stationibus firmatis, qua signa ferri videbant ea robore virorum opposito scandere hostem sinunt, quo successerit magis in arduum eo pelli posse per proclive facilius rati. Medio fere clivo restitere; atque inde ex loco superiore qui prope sua sponte in hostem inferebat impetu facto, strage ac ruina fudere Gallos; ut nunquam postea nec pars nec universi temptaverint tale pugnae genus. Omissa itaque spe per vim atque arma subeundi obsidionem parant, cuius ad id tempus immemores et quod in urbe fuerat frumentum incendiis urbis absumpserant, et ex agris per eos ipsos dies raptum omne Veios erat. Igitur exercitu diviso partim per finitimos populos praedari placuit, partim obsideri arcem, ut obsidentibus frumentum populatores agrorum praeberent.
Section 44
"Ardeates" inquit, "veteres amici, novi etiam cives mei, quando et vestrum beneficium ita tulit et fortuna hoc eguit mea, nemo vestrum condicionis meae oblitum me huc processisse putet; sed res ac periculum commune cogit quod quisque possit in re trepida praesidii in medium conferre. Et quando ego vobis pro tantis vestris in me meritis gratiam referam, si nunc cessavero? Aut ubi usus erit mei vobis, si in bello non fuerit? Hac arte in patria steti et invictus bello, in pace ab ingratis civibus pulsus sum. Vobis autem, Ardeates, fortuna oblata est et pro tantis populi Romani pristinis beneficiis quanta ipsi meministis—nec enim exprobranda ea apud memores sunt —gratiae referendae et huic urbi decus ingens belli ex hoste communi pariendi. Qui effuso agmine adventant gens est cui natura corpora animosque magna magis quam firma dederit; eo in certamen omne plus terroris quam virium ferunt. Argumento sit clades Romana. Patentem cepere urbem: ex arce Capitolioque iis exigua resistitur manu: iam obsidionis taedio victi abscedunt vagique per agros palantur. Cibo vinoque raptim hausto repleti, ubi nox adpetit, prope rivos aquarum sine munimento, sine stationibus ac custodiis passim ferarum ritu sternuntur, nunc ab secundis rebus magis etiam solito incauti. Si vobis in animo est tueri moenia vestra nec pati haec omnia Galliam fieri, prima vigilia capite arma frequentes, me sequimini ad caedem, non ad pugnam. Nisi vinctos somno velut pecudes trucidandos tradidero, non recuso eundem Ardeae rerum mearum exitum quem Romae habui".
Section 45
Aequis iniquisque persuasum erat tantum bello virum neminem usquam ea tempestate esse. Contione dimissa, corpora curant, intenti quam mox signum daretur. Quo dato, primae silentio noctis ad portas Camillo praesto fuere. Egressi haud procul urbe, sicut praedictum erat, castra Gallorum intuta neglectaque ab omni parte nacti cum ingenti clamore invadunt. Nusquam proelium, omnibus locis caedes est; nuda corpora et soluta somno trucidantur. Extremos tamen pavor cubilibus suis excitos, quae aut unde vis esset ignaros, in fugam et quosdam in hostem ipsum improvidos tulit. Magna pars in agrum Antiatem delati incursione ab oppidanis in palatos facta circumveniuntur.
Section 46
Romae interim plerumque obsidio segnis et utrimque silentium esse, ad id tantum intentis Gallis ne quis hostium evadere inter stationes posset, cum repente iuvenis Romanus admiratione in se cives hostesque convertit. Sacrificium erat statum in Quirinali colle genti Fabiae. Ad id faciendum C. Fabius Dorsuo Gabino [cinctus in] cinctus sacra manibus gerens cum de Capitolio descendisset, per medias hostium stationes egressus nihil ad vocem cuiusquam terroremve motus in Quirinalem collem pervenit; ibique omnibus sollemniter peractis, eadem revertens similiter constanti voltu graduque, satis sperans propitios esse deos quorum cultum ne mortis quidem metu prohibitus deseruisset, in Capitolium ad suos rediit, seu attonitis Gallis miraculo auda ciae seu religione etiam motis cuius haudquaquam neglegens gens est.
Section 47
Dum haec Veiis agebantur, interim arx Romae Capitoliumque in ingenti periculo fuit. Namque Galli, seu vestigio notato humano qua nuntius a Veiis pervenerat seu sua sponte animadverso ad Carmentis saxo in adscensum aequo, nocte sublustri cum primo inermem qui temptaret viam praemisissent, tradentes inde arma ubi quid iniqui esset, alterni innixi sublevantesque in vicem et trahentes alii alios, prout postularet locus, tanto silentio in summum evasere ut non custodes solum fallerent, sed ne canes quidem, sollicitum animal ad nocturnos strepitus, excitarent. Anseres non fefellere quibus sacris Iunonis in summa inopia cibi tamen abstinebatur. Quae res saluti fuit; namque clangore eorum alarumque crepitu excitus M. Manlius qui triennio ante consul fuerat, vir bello egregius, armis arreptis simul ad arma ceteros ciens vadit et dum ceteri trepidant, Gallum qui iam in summo constiterat umbone ictum deturbat. Cuius casus prolapsi cum proximos sterneret, trepidantes alios armisque omissis saxa quibus adhaerebant manibus amplexos trucidat. Iamque et alii congregati telis missilibusque saxis proturbare hostes, ruinaque tota prolapsa acies in praeceps deferri. Sedato deinde tumultu reliquum noctis, quantum in turbatis mentibus poterat cum praeteritum quoque periculum sollicitaret, quieti datum est. Luce orta vocatis classico ad concilium militibus ad tribunos, cum et recte et perperam facto pretium deberetur, Manlius primum ob virtutem laudatus donatusque non ab tribunis solum militum sed consensu etiam militari; cui universi selibras farris et quartarios vini ad aedes eius quae in arce erant contulerunt,—rem dictu paruam, ceterum inopia fecerat eam argumentum ingens caritatis, cum se quisque victu suo fraudans detractum corpori atque usibus necessariis ad honorem unius viri conferret. Tum vigiles eius loci qua fefellerat adscendens hostis citati; et cum in omnes more militari se animadversurum Q. Sulpicius tribunus militum pronuntiasset, consentiente clamore militum in unum vigilem conicientium culpam deterritus, a ceteris abstinuit, reum haud dubium eius noxae adprobantibus cunctis de saxo deiecit. Inde intentiores utrimque custodiae esse, et apud Gallos, quia volgatum erat inter Veios Romamque nuntios commeare, et apud Romanos ab nocturni periculi memoria.
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.
Section 49
Sed dique et homines prohibuere redemptos vivere Romanos. nam forte quadam priusquam infanda merces perficeretur, per altercationem nondum omni auro adpenso, dictator intervenit, auferrique aurum de medio et Gallos submoveri iubet. Cum illi renitentes pactos dicerent sese, negat eam pactionem ratam esse quae postquam ipse dictator creatus esset iniussu suo ab inferioris iuris magistratu facta esset, denuntiatque Gallis ut se ad proelium expediant. Suos in acervum conicere sarcinas et arma aptare ferroque non auro reciperare patriam iubet, in conspectu habentes fana deum et coniuges et liberos et solum patriae deforme belli malis et omnia quae defendi repetique et ulcisci fas sit. Instruit deinde aciem, ut loci natura patiebatur, in semirutae solo urbis et natura inaequali, et omnia quae arte belli secunda suis eligi praepararive poterant providit. Galli nova re trepidi arma capiunt iraque magis quam consilio in Romanos incurrunt. Iam verterat fortuna, iam deorum opes humanaque consilia rem Romanam adiuvabant. Igitur primo concursu haud maiore momento fusi Galli sunt quam ad Alliam vicerant. Iustiore altero deinde proelio ad octavum lapidem Gabina via, quo se ex fuga contulerant, eiusdem ductu auspicioque Camilli vincuntur. Ibi caedes omnia obtinuit; castra capiuntur et ne nuntius quidem cladis relictus. Dictator reciperata ex hostibus patria triumphans in urbem redit, interque iocos militares quos inconditos iaciunt, Romulus ac parens patriae conditorque alter urbis haud vanis laudibus appellabatur.
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.
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