by Polybius
15. The yield of corn in this district is so abundant that wheat is often sold at four obols a Sicilian medimnus, barley at two, or a metretes of wine for an equal measure of barley. The quantity of panic and millet produced is extraordinary; and the amount of acorns grown in the oak forests scattered about the country may be gathered from the fact that, though nowhere are more pigs slaughtered than in Italy, for sacrifices as well as for family use, and for feeding the army, by far the most important supply is from these plains. The cheapness and abundance of all articles of food may also be clearly shown from the fact that travellers in these parts, when stopping at inns, do not bargain for particular articles, but simply ask what the charge is per head for board. And for the most part the innkeepers are content to supply their guests with every necessary at a charge rarely exceeding half an as (that is, the fourth part of an obol) a day each. Of the numbers, stature, and personal beauty of the inhabitants, and still more of their bravery in war, we shall be able to satisfy ourselves from the facts of their history.
[1] μενούσης ἀεὶ χιόνος ἀοίκητα τελέως ἐστίν. τὸν δ᾽ Ἀπεννῖνον ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς ὑπὲρ Μασσαλίαν καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰς Ἄλπεις συμπτώσεως Λιγυστῖνοι κατοικοῦσιν, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος αὐτοῦ πλευρὰν κεκλιμένην καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ πεδία, [2] παρὰ θάλατταν μὲν μέχρι πόλεως Πίσης, ἣ πρώτη κεῖται τῆς Τυρρηνίας ὡς πρὸς τὰς δυσμάς, κατὰ δὲ τὴν μεσόγαιον ἕως τῆς Ἀρρητίνων χώρας. [3] ἑξῆς δὲ Τυρρηνοί: τούτοις δὲ συνεχεῖς ἑκάτερον τὸ κλίμα νέμονται τῶν προειρημένων ὀρῶν Ὄμβροι. [4] λοιπὸν ὁ μὲν Ἀπεννῖνος ἀπέχων τῆς κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν θαλάττης σταδίους ὡσανεὶ πεντακοσίους ἀπολείπει τὰ πεδία δεξιὸς ἀπονεύων, καὶ διὰ μέσης τῆς λοιπῆς Ἰταλίας διήκων εἰς τὸ Σικελικὸν κατατείνει πέλαγος. [5] τὸ δ᾽ ἀπολειπόμενον μέρος πεδινὸν τῆς πλευρᾶς ἐπὶ θάλατταν καὶ πόλιν καθήκει Σήνην. [6] ὁ δὲ Πάδος ποταμός, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ποιητῶν Ἠριδανὸς θρυλούμενος, ἔχει μὲν τὰς πηγὰς ἀπὸ τῶν Ἄλπεων ὡς πρὸς τὴν κορυφὴν μᾶλλον τοῦ προειρημένου σχήματος, καταφέρεται δ᾽ εἰς τὰ πεδία, ποιούμενος τὴν ῥύσιν ὡς ἐπὶ μεσημβρίαν. [7] ἀφικόμενος δ᾽ εἰς τοὺς ἐπιπέδους τόπους, ἐκκλίνας τῷ ῥεύματι πρὸς ἕω φέρεται δι᾽ αὐτῶν: ποιεῖ δὲ τὴν ἐκβολὴν δυσὶ στόμασιν εἰς τοὺς κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν τόπους: τὸ δὲ πλεῖον ἀποτέμνεται μέρος τῆς πεδιάδος χώρας εἰς τὰς Ἄλπεις καὶ τὸν Ἀδριατικὸν μυχόν. [8] ἄγει δὲ πλῆθος ὕδατος οὐδενὸς ἔλαττον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ποταμῶν διὰ τὸ τὰς ῥύσεις τὰς ἐπὶ τὰ πεδία νευούσας ἀπό τε τῶν Ἄλπεων καὶ τῶν Ἀπεννίνων ὀρῶν εἰς τοῦτον ἐμπίπτειν ἁπάσας καὶ πανταχόθεν. [9] μεγίστῳ δὲ καὶ καλλίστῳ ῥεύματι φέρεται περὶ κυνὸς ἐπιτολήν, αὐξόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἀνατηκομένων χιόνων ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις ὄρεσιν. [10] ἀναπλεῖται δ᾽ ἐκ θαλάττης κατὰ τὸ στόμα τὸ καλούμενον Ὄλανα σχεδὸν ἐπὶ δισχιλίους σταδίους. [11] τὴν μὲν γὰρ πρώτην ἐκ τῶν πηγῶν ἔχει ῥύσιν ἁπλῆν, σχίζεται δ᾽ εἰς δύο μέρη κατὰ τοὺς προσαγορευομένους Τριγαβόλους: τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν ἕτερον στόμα προσονομάζεται Παδόα, τὸ δ᾽ ἕτερον Ὄλανα. [12] κεῖται δ᾽ ἐπὶ τούτῳ λιμήν, οὐδενὸς τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν ἥττω παρεχόμενος ἀσφάλειαν τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ καθορμιζομένοις. παρά γε μὴν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ὁ ποταμὸς προσαγορεύεται Βόδεγκος. [13] τἄλλα δὲ τὰ περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦτον ἱστορούμενα παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι, λέγω δὴ τὰ περὶ Φαέθοντα καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου πτῶσιν, ἔτι δὲ τὰ δάκρυα τῶν αἰγείρων καὶ τοὺς μελανείμονας τοὺς περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν οἰκοῦντας, οὕς φασι τὰς ἐσθῆτας εἰσέτι νῦν φορεῖν τοιαύτας ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Φαέθοντα πένθους, [14] καὶ πᾶσαν δὴ τὴν τραγικὴν καὶ ταύτῃ προσεοικυῖαν ὕλην ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ παρόντος ὑπερθησόμεθα διὰ τὸ μὴ λίαν καθήκειν τῷ τῆς προκατασκευῆς γένει τὴν περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀκριβολογίαν. [15] μεταλαβόντες δὲ καιρὸν ἁρμόττοντα ποιησόμεθα τὴν καθήκουσαν μνήμην, καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὴν Τιμαίου περὶ τοὺς προειρημένους τόπους ἄγνοιαν.
16. Such parts of both slopes of the Alps as are not too rocky or too precipitous are inhabited by different tribes; those on the north towards the Rhone by the Gauls, called Transalpine; those towards the Italian plains by the Taurisci and Agones and a number of other barbarous tribes. The name Transalpine is not tribal, but local, from the Latin proposition trans, “across.” The summits of the Alps, from their rugged character, and the great depth of eternal snow, are entirely uninhabited. Both slopes of the Apennines, towards the Tuscan Sea and towards the plains, are inhabited by the Ligurians, from above Marseilles and the junction with the Alps to Pisae on the coast, the first city on the west of Etruria, and inland to Arretium. Next to them come the Etruscans; and next on both slopes the Umbrians. The distance between the Apennines and the Adriatic averages about five hundred stades; and when it leaves the northern plains the chain verges to the right, and goes entirely through the middle of the rest of Italy, as far as the Sicilian Sea. The remaining portion of this triangle, namely the plain along the sea coast, extends as far as the town of Sena. The Padus, celebrated by the poets under the name of Eridanus, rises in the Alps near the apex of the triangle, and flows down to the plains with a southerly course; but after reaching the plains, it turns to the east, and flowing through them discharges itself by two mouths into the Adriatic. The larger part of the plain is thus cut off by it, and lies between this river and the Alps to the head of the Adriatic. In body of water it is second to no river in Italy, because the mountain streams, descending from the Alps and Apennines to the plain, one and all flow into it on both sides; and its stream is at its height and beauty about the time of the rising of the Dog Star, because it is then swollen by the melting snows on those mountains. It is navigable for nearly two thousand stades up stream, the ships entering by the mouth called Olana; for though it is a single main stream to begin with, it branches off into two at the place called Trigoboli, of which streams the northern is called the Padoa, the southern the Olana. At the mouth of the latter there is a harbour affording as safe anchorage as any in the Adriatic. The whole river is called by the country folk the Bodencus. As to the other stories current in Greece about this river, — I mean Phaethon and his fall, and the tears of the poplars and the black clothes of the inhabitants along this stream, which they are said to wear at this day as mourning for Phaethon, — all such tragic incidents I o
mit for the present, as not being suitable to the kind of work I have in hand; but I shall return to them at some other more fitting opportunity, particularly because Timaeus has shown a strange ignorance of this district.
[1] πλὴν ταῦτά γε τὰ πεδία τὸ παλαιὸν ἐνέμοντο Τυρρηνοί, καθ᾽ οὓς χρόνους καὶ τὰ Φλέγραιά ποτε καλούμενα τὰ περὶ Καπύην καὶ Νώλην: ἃ δὴ καὶ διὰ τὸ πολλοῖς ἐμποδὼν εἶναι καὶ γνωρίζεσθαι μεγάλην ἐπ᾽ ἀρετῇ δόξαν εἴληφεν. [2] διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἱστοροῦντας τὰς Τυρρηνῶν δυναστείας οὐ χρὴ ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἐπὶ τὴν νῦν κατεχομένην ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν χώραν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τὰ προειρημένα πεδία καὶ τὰς ἐκ τούτων τῶν τόπων ἀφορμάς. [3] οἷς ἐπιμιγνύμενοι κατὰ τὴν παράθεσιν Κελτοὶ καὶ περὶ τὸ κάλλος τῆς χώρας ὀφθαλμιάσαντες, ἐκ μικρᾶς προφάσεως μεγάλῃ στρατιᾷ παραδόξως ἐπελθόντες ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὸν Πάδον χώρας Τυρρηνοὺς καὶ κατέσχον αὐτοὶ τὰ πεδία. [4] τὰ μὲν οὖν πρῶτα καὶ περὶ τὰς ἀνατολὰς τοῦ Πάδου κείμενα Λάοι καὶ Λεβέκιοι, μετὰ δὲ τούτους Ἴνσοβρες κατῴκησαν, ὃ μέγιστον ἔθνος ἦν αὐτῶν: ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν Γονομάνοι. [5] τὰ δὲ πρὸς τὸν Ἀδρίαν ἤδη προσήκοντα γένος ἄλλο πάνυ παλαιὸν διακατέσχεν: προσαγορεύονται δ᾽ Οὐένετοι, τοῖς μὲν ἔθεσι καὶ τῷ κόσμῳ βραχεῖ διαφέροντες Κελτῶν, γλώττῃ δ᾽ ἀλλοίᾳ χρώμενοι. [6] περὶ ὧν οἱ τραγῳδιογράφοι πολύν τινα πεποίηνται λόγον καὶ πολλὴν διατέθεινται τερατείαν. [7] τὰ δὲ πέραν τοῦ Πάδου τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἀπεννῖνον πρῶτοι μὲν Ἄναρες, μετὰ δὲ τούτους Βοῖοι κατῴκησαν: ἑξῆς δὲ τούτων ὡς πρὸς τὸν Ἀδρίαν Λίγγονες, τὰ δὲ τελευταῖα πρὸς θαλάττῃ Σήνωνες. [8] τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐπιφανέστατα τῶν κατασχόντων τοὺς προειρημένους τόπους ἐθνῶν ταῦθ᾽ ὑπῆρχεν. [9] ᾤκουν δὲ κατὰ κώμας ἀτειχίστους, τῆς λοιπῆς κατασκευῆς ἄμοιροι καθεστῶτες. [10] διὰ γὰρ τὸ στιβαδοκοιτεῖν καὶ κρεαφαγεῖν, ἔτι δὲ μηδὲν ἄλλο πλὴν τὰ πολεμικὰ καὶ τὰ κατὰ γεωργίαν: ἀσκεῖν ἁπλοῦς εἶχον τοὺς βίους, οὔτ᾽ ἐπιστήμης ἄλλης οὔτε τέχνης παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς τὸ παράπαν γινωσκομένης. [11] ὕπαρξίς γε μὴν ἑκάστοις ἦν θρέμματα καὶ χρυσὸς διὰ τὸ μόνα ταῦτα κατὰ τὰς περιστάσεις ῥᾳδίως δύνασθαι πανταχῇ περιαγαγεῖν καὶ μεθιστάναι κατὰ τὰς αὑτῶν προαιρέσεις. [12] περὶ δὲ τὰς ἑταιρείας μεγίστην σπουδὴν ἐποιοῦντο διὰ τὸ καὶ φοβερώτατον καὶ δυνατώτατον εἶναι παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς τοῦτον ὃς ἂν πλείστους ἔχειν δοκῇ τοὺς θεραπεύοντας καὶ συμπεριφερομένους αὐτῷ.
17. To continue my description. These plains were anciently inhabited by Etruscans, at the same period as what are called the Phlegraean plains round Capua and Nola; which latter, however, have enjoyed the highest reputation, because they lay in a great many people’s way and so got known. In speaking then of the history of the Etruscan Empire, we should not refer to the district occupied by them at the present time, but to these northern plains, and to what they did when they inhabited them. Their chief intercourse was with the Celts, because they occupied the adjoining districts; who, envying the beauty of their lands, seized some slight pretext to gather a great host and expel the Etruscans from the valley of the Padus, which they at once took possession of themselves. First, the country near the source of the Padus was occupied by the Laevi and Lebecii; after them the Insubres settled in the country, the largest tribe of all; and next them, along the bank of the river, the Cenomani. But the district along the shore of the Adriatic was held by another very ancient tribe called Venĕti, in customs and dress nearly allied to Celts, but using quite a different language, about whom the tragic poets have written a great many wonderful tales. South of the Padus, in the Apennine district, first beginning from the west, the Ananes, and next them the Boii settled. Next them, on the coast of the Adriatic, the Lingones; and south of these, still on the sea-coast, the Senones. These are the most important tribes that took possession of this part of the country. They lived in open villages, and without any permanent buildings. As they made their beds of straw or leaves, and fed on meat, and followed no pursuits but those of war and agriculture, they lived simple lives without being acquainted with any science or art whatever. Each man’s property, moreover, consisted in cattle and gold; as they were the only things that could be easily carried with them, when they wandered from place to place, and changed their dwelling as their fancy directed. They made a great point, however, of friendship: for the man who had the largest number of clients or companions in his wanderings, was looked upon as the most formidable and powerful member of the tribe.
[1] τὰς μὲν οὖν ἀρχὰς οὐ μόνον τῆς χώρας ἐπεκράτουν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν σύνεγγυς πολλοὺς ὑπηκόους ἐπεποίηντο, τῇ τόλμῃ καταπεπληγμένοι. [2] μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον μάχῃ νικήσαντες Ῥωμαίους καὶ τοὺς μετὰ τούτων παραταξαμένους, ἑπόμενοι τοῖς φεύγουσι τρισὶ τῆς μάχης ἡμέραις ὕστερον κατέσχον αὐτὴν τὴν Ῥώμην πλὴν τοῦ Καπετωλίου. [3] γενομένου δ᾽ ἀντισπάσματος, καὶ τῶν Οὐενέτων ἐμβαλόντων εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν, τότε μὲν ποιησάμενοι συνθήκας πρὸς Ῥωμαίους καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀποδόντες ἐπανῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. [4] μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς ἐμφυλίοις συνείχοντο πολέμοις: ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τῶν τὰς Ἄλπεις κατοικούντων ὁρμὰς ἐποιοῦντο καὶ συνηθροίζοντο πολλάκις ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς, θεωροῦντες ἐκ παραθέσεως τὴν παραγεγενημένην αὐτοῖς εὐδαιμονίαν. [5] ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ Ῥωμαῖοι τήν τε σφετέραν δύναμιν ἀνέλαβον καὶ τὰ κατὰ τοὺς Λατίνους αὖθις πράγματα συνεστήσαντο. [6] παραγενομένων δὲ πάλιν τῶν Κελτῶν εἰς Ἄλβαν στρατεύματι μεγάλῳ μετὰ τὴν τῆς πόλεως κατάληψιν ἔτει τριακοστῷ, τότε μὲν οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν ἀντεξαγαγεῖν Ῥωμαῖοι τὰ στρατόπεδα διὰ τὸ παραδόξου γενομένης τῆς ἐφόδου προκαταληφθῆναι καὶ μὴ καταταχῆσαι τὰς τῶν συμμάχων ἁθροίσαντας δυνάμεις. [7] αὖθις δ᾽ ἐξ ἐπιβολῆς ἑτέρας ἔτει δωδεκάτῳ μετὰ μεγάλης στρατιᾶς ἐπιπορευομένων προαισθόμενοι καὶ συναγείραντες τοὺς συμμάχους μετὰ πολλῆς προθυμίας ἀπήντων, σπεύδοντες συμβαλεῖν καὶ διακινδυνεῦσαι �
�ερὶ τῶν ὅλων. [8] οἱ δὲ Γαλάται καταπλαγέντες τὴν ἔφοδον αὐτῶν καὶ διαστασιάσαντες πρὸς σφᾶς νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης φυγῇ παραπλησίαν ἐποιήσαντο τὴν ἀποχώρησιν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. [9] ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου τοῦ φόβου τριακαίδεκα μὲν ἔτη τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἔσχον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συνορῶντες αὐξανομένην τὴν Ῥωμαίων δύναμιν εἰρήνην ἐποι
18. In the early times of their settlement they did not merely subdue the territory which they occupied, but rendered also many of the neighbouring peoples subject to them, whom they overawed by their audacity. Some time afterwards they conquered the Romans in battle, and pursuing the flying legions, in three days after the battle occupied Rome itself with the exception of the Capitol. But a circumstance intervened which recalled them home, an invasion, that is to say, of their territory by the Venĕti. Accordingly they made terms with the Romans, handed back the city, and returned to their own land; and subsequently were occupied with domestic wars. Some of the tribes, also, who dwelt on the Alps, comparing their own barren districts with the rich territory occupied by the others, were continually making raids upon them, and collecting their forces to attack them. This gave the Romans time to recover their strength, and to come to terms with the people of Latium. When, thirty years after the capture of the city, the Celts came again as far as Alba, the Romans were taken by surprise; and having had no intelligence of the intended invasion, nor time to collect the forces of the Socii, did not venture to give them battle. But when another invasion in great force took place twelve years later, they did get previous intelligence of it; and, having mustered their allies, sallied forth to meet them with great spirit, being eager to engage them and fight a decisive battle. But the Gauls were dismayed at their approach; and, being besides weakened by internal feuds, retreated homewards as soon as night fell, with all the appearance of a regular flight. After this alarm they kept quiet for thirteen years; at the end of which period, seeing that the power of the Romans was growing formidable, they made a peace and a definite treaty with them.