A Good Works Translation from Description of Greece 10.19.5-12

Pausanias begins his Delphic account of the Galatian invasion by tracing the first Celtic expedition under Cambaules, the second wave against Macedonia and Paeonia, Brennus' persuasion of the Galatian leaders, the immense cavalry system called trimarkisia, and the terror that forced the Greeks to defend themselves.

Translation

Section 5

The expedition of the Galatians into Greece has some remembrance also in my account of the Athenian council chamber. But I wished to bring the things concerning them into clearer view in the account of Delphi, because the greatest deeds done by the Greeks against the barbarians happened there. The Celts made their first campaign beyond their borders under Cambaules as leader. After advancing as far as Thrace, they lost courage for the rest of the march, judging themselves too few and not equal to the Greeks in number for battle.

Section 6

When it seemed good to bring arms a second time against the land of others, those who had campaigned with Cambaules urged it most of all. They had already tasted raiding and plunder, and had come into desire for gain. A great body of foot soldiers, and not a small number for the cavalry as well, were gathered. The leaders divided the army into three parts, and each of them was assigned to go against a different country.

Section 7

Cererthrius was to lead against the Thracians and the people of the Triballi. Brennus and Acichorius were commanders of those going into Paeonia. Bolgius marched against the Macedonians and Illyrians, and came into battle with Ptolemy, who then held the kingship of the Macedonians. This was the Ptolemy who murdered Seleucus son of Antiochus, even though he had fled to him as a suppliant, and he had the surname Keraunos because of his extreme boldness. Ptolemy himself died in the battle, and no small destruction came upon the Macedonians. Even then the Celts did not dare advance against Greece, and so the second expedition returned home.

Section 8

Then Brennus was much at work in the common assemblies, and much also with each of the Galatian men in office, stirring them up to campaign against Greece. He described the weakness of the Greeks at that time, and said that there was much public wealth, and still more in the sanctuaries: votive offerings, and coined silver and gold. So he persuaded the Galatians to march against Greece. Among the other men in office whom he chose as joint commanders with himself was Acichorius.

Section 9

The army that was gathered amounted to fifteen myriads of foot soldiers with two thousand added to them, and the horsemen were twenty thousand four hundred. This was the number of cavalry always in active service, but their true number was sixty-one thousand two hundred. For around each horseman were two attendants, themselves good at riding and likewise having horses.

Section 10

When battle had been joined for the Galatian horsemen, the attendants waited behind the formation and became useful to them in this way. If the rider or the horse happened to fall, the attendant supplied a horse for the man to mount; if the man died, the slave mounted the horse in place of his master. If fate overtook both rider and horse, a horseman was ready there. When the riders received wounds, one of the slaves carried the wounded man away to the camp, and the other took his place in the formation instead of the one who had departed.

Section 11

To me, this practice of the Galatians seemed to have been devised in imitation of the number of the ten thousand among the Persians, who were called the Immortals. But there was a difference: among the Persians, replacements for the dead were enrolled after the battle; among the Galatians, the number of the horsemen was filled up in the very height of the action. They called this arrangement trimarkisia in their native speech; and one should know that marka is the name for a horse among the Celts.

Section 12

With such preparation and with such intention, Brennus drove against Greece. The spirits of the Greeks had utterly fallen; yet the strength of their terror drove Greece into the necessity of defending itself. They saw that the present struggle would not be for freedom, as it once had been against the Mede, nor that after giving earth and water safety would come to them from that. The things done to the Macedonians, Thracians, and Paeonians in the former Galatian raid still lay in their memory, and the lawless acts then being done against the Thessalians were being reported. Therefore each man privately, and the cities together, were in this state: they must either be destroyed or prevail.

Colophon

This page translates Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.19.5-12 from Greek for the Celtic continental expansion of the Good Work Library. The passage is a Greek Delphic memory of Galatian invasion and resistance, useful for Galatian history but shaped by Pausanias' Hellenic frame and by the sacred geography of Delphi.

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

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Source Text: Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.19.5-12

Greek source text from Perseus Digital Library's text of Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 10. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Section 5

Γαλατῶν δὲ τῆς ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐπιστρατείας ἔχει μέν τινα μνήμην καὶ ἡ ἐς τὸ βουλευτήριον ἡμῖν τὸ Ἀττικὸν συγγραφή: προάγειν δὲ ἐς τὸ σαφέστερον τὰ ἐς αὐτοὺς ἠθέλησα ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Δελφούς, ὅτι ἔργων τῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους τὰ μέγιστα Ἕλλησιν ἐνταῦθα ἦν. ὑπερόριον μὲν οἱ Κελτοὶ στρατείαν πρώτην ὑπὸ ἡγεμόνι ἐποιήσαντο Καμβαύλῃ: προελθόντες δὲ ἄχρι τῆς Θρᾴκης τὸ πρόσω τῆς πορείας οὐκ ἀπεθάρσησαν, καταγνόντες αὑτῶν ὅτι ὀλίγοι τε ἦσαν καὶ οὐκ ἀξιόμαχοι κατ᾽ ἀριθμὸν Ἕλλησιν.

Section 6

ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ δεύτερον ἐπιφέρειν ἐδόκει ὅπλα ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλλων— ἐνῆγον δὲ μάλιστα οἱ ὁμοῦ Καμβαύλῃ ἐκστρατεύσαντες ἅτε λῃστειῶν τε ἤδη γεγευμένοι καὶ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ κερδῶν ἐς ἔρωτα ἥκοντες—, πολὺς μὲν δὴ πεζός, οὐκ ἐλάχιστοι δὲ ἠθροίσθησαν καὶ ἐς τὸ ἱππικόν: ἐς μοίρας οὖν τρεῖς ἔνεμον οἱ ἡγεμόνες τὸν στρατόν, καὶ ἄλλος ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ ἄλλην ἐτέτακτο ἰέναι χώραν.

Section 7

ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν Θρᾷκας καὶ τὸ ἔθνος τὸ Τριβαλλῶν ἔμελλε Κερέθριος ἡγήσεσθαι: τοῖς δὲ ἐς Παιονίαν ἰοῦσι Βρέννος ἦσαν καὶ Ἀκιχώριος ἄρχοντες: Βόλγιος δὲ ἐπὶ Μακεδόνας τε καὶ Ἰλλυριοὺς ἤλασε, καὶ ἐς ἀγῶνα πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον κατέστη τότε ἔχοντα τὴν Μακεδόνων βασιλείαν. Πτολεμαῖος δὲ ἦν οὗτος ὃς Σέλευκόν τε ἐδολοφόνησε τὸν Ἀντιόχου, καταπεφευγὼς ὅμως ἱκέτης ὡς αὐτόν, καὶ εἶχεν ἐπίκλησιν Κεραυνὸς διὰ τὸ ἄγαν τολμηρόν. καὶ ὁ μὲν αὐτός τε ὁ Πτολεμαῖος ἀπέθανεν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ καὶ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἐγένετο οὐκ ἐλαχίστη φθορά: προελθεῖν δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα οὐδὲ τότε ἐθάρσησαν οἱ Κελτοί, καὶ ὁ δεύτερος οὕτω στόλος ἐπανῆλθεν ἐς τὴν οἰκείαν.

Section 8

ἔνθα δὴ ὁ Βρέννος πολὺς μὲν ἐν συλλόγοις τοῖς κοινοῖς, πολὺς δὲ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἦν τῶν ἐν τέλει Γαλατῶν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐπαίρων στρατεύεσθαι, ἀσθένειάν τε Ἑλλήνων τὴν ἐν τῷ παρόντι διηγούμενος καὶ ὡς χρήματα πολλὰ μὲν ἐν τῷ κοινῷ, πλείονα δὲ ἐν ἱεροῖς τά τε ἀναθήματα καὶ ἄργυρος καὶ χρυσός ἐστιν ἐπίσημος: ἀνέπεισέ τε δὴ τοὺς Γαλάτας ἐλαύνειν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, καὶ αὑτῷ συνάρχοντας ἄλλους τε προσείλετο τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ τὸν Ἀκιχώριον.

Section 9

ὁ δὲ ἀθροισθεὶς στρατὸς πεζοὶ μὲν μυριάδες ἐγένοντο πεντεκαίδεκα προσόντων σφίσι δισχιλίων, οἱ δὲ ἱππεύοντες τετρακόσιοι καὶ δισμύριοι. τοσοῦτοι μὲν ἦσαν τῶν ἱππέων τὸ ἀεὶ ἐνεργόν, ἀριθμὸς δὲ αὐτῶν ὁ ἀληθὴς διακόσιοί τε καὶ χίλιοι καὶ ἓξ μυριάδες: δύο γὰρ οἰκέται περὶ ἕκαστον τῶν ἱππευόντων ἦσαν, ἀγαθοὶ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰ ἱππικὰ καὶ ἵππους ὁμοίως ἔχοντες.

Section 10

Γαλατῶν δὲ τοῖς ἱππεύουσιν ἀγῶνος συνεστηκότος ὑπομένοντες τῆς τάξεως ὄπισθεν οἱ οἰκέται τοσάδε σφίσιν ἐγίνοντο χρήσιμοι: τῷ γὰρ ἱππεῖ συμβὰν ἢ τῷ ἵππῳ πεσεῖν, τὸν μὲν ἵππον παρεῖχεν ἀναβῆναι τῷ ἀνδρί, τελευτήσαντος δὲ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὁ δοῦλος ἀντὶ τοῦ δεσπότου τὸν ἵππον ἀνέβαινεν: εἰ δὲ ἀμφοτέρους ἐπιλάβοι τὸ χρεών, ἐνταῦθα ἕτοιμος ἦν ἱππεύς. λαμβανόντων δὲ τραύματα αὐτῶν, ὁ μὲν ὑπεξῆγε τῶν δούλων ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸν τραυματίαν, ὁ δὲ καθίστατο ἐς τὴν τάξιν ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀπελθόντος.

Section 11

ταῦτα ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἐνομίσθη τοῖς Γαλάταις ἐς μίμησιν τοῦ ἐν Πέρσαις ἀριθμοῦ τῶν μυρίων, οἳ ἐκαλοῦντο Ἀθάνατοι. διάφορα δὲ ἦν, ὅτι κατελέγοντο ἀντὶ τῶν ἀποθνησκόντων ὑπὸ μὲν Περσῶν τῆς μάχης ὕστερον, Γαλάταις δὲ ὑπ᾽ αὐτὴν τοῦ ἔργου τὴν ἀκμὴν ὁ ἀριθμὸς ἀπεπληροῦτο τῶν ἱππέων. τοῦτο ὠνόμαζον τὸ σύνταγμα τριμαρκισίαν τῇ ἐπιχωρίῳ φωνῇ: καὶ ἵππῳ τὸ ὄνομα ἴστω τις μάρκαν ὂν τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν Κελτῶν.

Section 12

παρασκευῇ μὲν τοσαύτῃ καὶ μετὰ διανοίας τοιαύτης ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὁ Βρέννος ἤλαυνε: τοῖς δέ γε Ἕλλησι κατεπεπτώκει μὲν ἐς ἅπαν τὰ φρονήματα, τὸ δὲ ἰσχυρὸν τοῦ δείματος προῆγεν ἐς ἀνάγκην τῇ Ἑλλάδι ἀμύνειν. ἑώρων δὲ τὸν ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἀγῶνα οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἐλευθερίας γενησόμενον, καθὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ Μήδου ποτέ, οὐδὲ δοῦσιν ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν τὰ ἀπὸ τούτου σφίσιν ἄδειαν φέροντα: ἀλλὰ τά τε ἐς Μακεδόνας καὶ Θρᾷκας καὶ Παίονας τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς προτέρας καταδρομῆς τῶν Γαλατῶν ἔτι σφίσιν ἔκειτο ἐν μνήμῃ, καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ παρόντι τὰ ἐς Θεσσαλοὺς παρανομήματα ἀπηγγέλλετο. ὡς οὖν ἀπολωλέναι δέον ἢ δ᾽ οὖν ἐπικρατεστέρους εἶναι, κατ᾽ ἄνδρα τε ἰδίᾳ καὶ αἱ πόλεις διέκειντο ἐν κοινῷ.

Source Colophon

The Greek source was captured from Perseus Digital Library on 2026-05-13 and inspected on disk at Tulku/Tools/celtic/sources/continental_batch_2026-05-13/pausanias_10_19_greek_perseus.html. The source page identifies the Greek edition as Pausaniae Graeciae Descriptio, Teubner, 1903. The English translation is a New Tianmu Anglican Church Good Works Translation made from the Greek source.

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