μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην ἐκείνην εἰ μὲν εὐθὺς ἐπηκολούθησαν οἱ Γαλάται τοῖς φεύγουσιν, οὐδὲν ἂν ἐκώλυσε τὴν Ῥώμην ἄρδην ἀναιρεθῆναι καὶ πάντας ἀπολέσθαι τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ καταλειφθέντας· τοσοῦτον οἱ φεύγοντες ἐνειργάζοντο δεῖμα τοῖς ὑποδεχομένοις, καὶ τοσαύτης πάλιν ἐνεπίμπλαντο ταραχῆς καὶ παραφροσύνης.
Now had the Gauls, after this battle, followed hard upon the fugitives, naught would have hindered Rome from being utterly destroyed and all those who remained in her from perishing, such was the terror which the fugitives infused into the occupants of the city, and with such confusion and delirium were they themselves once more filled.
νυνὶ δʼ ἀπιστίᾳ τοῦ μεγέθους οἱ βάρβαροι τῆς νίκης καὶ πρὸς εὐπάθειαν ἐκ τοῦ περιχαροῦς ἅμα καὶ νεμήσεις τῶν ἑαλωκότων ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ χρημάτων τραπόμενοι, τῷ μὲν ἐκπίπτοντι τῆς πόλεως ὄχλῳ ῥᾳστώνην φυγῆς παρέσχον, ἐλπίσαι δʼ ἔτι καὶ παρασκευάσασθαι τοῖς ὑπομένουσι τὴν γὰρ ἄλλην πόλιν προέμενοι τὸ Καπιτώλιον ἐφράξαντο βέλεσι καὶ διατειχίσμασιν.
But as it was, the Barbarians could not realize the magnitude of their victory, and in the excess of their joy, turned to revelry and the distribution of the good things captured in their enemy’s camp. For this reason the throngs who were for abandoning the city had ample time for flight, and those who were for remaining plucked up hope and prepared to defend themselves. Abandoning the rest of the city, they fenced the Capitol with ramparts and stocked it with missiles.
ἐν πρώτοις δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν ἃ μὲν εἰς τὸ Καπιτώλιον ἀνεσκευάσαντο, τὸ δὲ πῦρ τῆς Ἑστίας αἱ παρθένοι μετὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ἔφευγον ἁρπασάμεναι. καίτοι τινὲς οὐδὲν εἶναι τὸ φρουρούμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἕτερον ἢ πῦρ ἄφθιτον ἱστοροῦσι, Νομᾶ τοῦ βασιλέως καταστήσαντος ὡς ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων σέβεσθαι. κινητικώτατον γὰρ ἐν τῇ φύσει τοῦτο·
But their first care was for their sacred things, most of which they carried away to the Capitol; the fire of Vesta, however, was snatched up and carried off by the vestal virgins in their flight, along with the other sacred things entrusted to their care. However, some writers state that these virgins have watch and ward over nothing more than the ever-living fire, which Numa the King appointed to be worshipped as the first cause of all things.
κίνησις δέ τις ἢ σύν τινι κινήσει πάντως ἡ γένεσις· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα τῆς ὕλης μόρια θερμότητος ἐπιλιπούσης ἀργὰ κείμενα καὶ νεκροῖς ἐοικότα ποθεῖ τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς δύναμιν, ὡς ψυχήν, καὶ προσελθούσης ἁμῶς γέ πως ἐπὶ τὸ δρᾶν τι καὶ πάσχειν τρέπεται, τοῦτʼ οὖν ἅτε δὴ περιττὸν ἄνδρα τὸν Νομᾶν καὶ λόγον ἔχοντα ταῖς Μούσαις συνεῖναι διὰ σοφίαν ἐξοσιῶσαι καὶ φρουρεῖν ἀκοίμητον ἐν εἰκόνι τῆς τὰ πάντα κοσμούσης ἀιδίου δυνάμεως.
For fire produces more motion than anything else in nature, and all birth is a mode of motion, or is accompanied by motion. All other portions of matter, in the absence of heat, lie inert and dead, yearning for the force of fire to inform them, like a spirit, and on its accession in any manner soever, they become capable of acting and being acted upon. This principle of fire, then, Numa, who was an extraordinary man, and whose wisdom gave him the repute of holding converse with the Muses, is said to have hallowed and ordered to be kept sleepless, that it might image forth the ever-living force which orders the universe aright.
οἱ δὲ τὸ μὲν πῦρ, ὥσπερ παρʼ Ἕλλησι, πρὸ ἱερῶν αἴθεσθαι καθάρσιον, ἄλλα δὲ τὰ ἐντὸς ἀθέατα κρύπτεσθαι πᾶσι, πλὴν ταύταις ταῖς παρθένοις, ἃς Ἑστιάδας ἐπονομάζουσι· καὶ πλεῖστος μὲν λόγος κατεῖχε τὸ Τρωικὸν ἐκεῖνο Παλλάδιον ἀποκεῖσθαι διʼ Αἰνείου κομισθὲν εἰς Ἰταλίαν. εἰσὶ δʼ οἱ τὰ Σαμοθρᾴκια μυθολογοῦντες Δάρδανον μὲν εἰς Τροίαν ἐξενεγκάμενον ὀργιάσαι καὶ καθιερῶσαι κτίσαντα τὴν πόλιν, Αἰνείαν δὲ περὶ τὴν ἅλωσιν ἐκκλέψαντα διασῶσαι μέχρι τῆς ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ κατοικήσεως.
Others say that this fire is kept burning before the sacred things by way of purification, as among the Greeks, and that other objects within the temple are kept hidden from the gaze of all except these virgins, whom they call Vestals. And a very prevalent story had it that the famous Palladium of Troy was hidden away there, having been brought to Italy by Aeneas. There are some who say that it is the Samothracian images which are hidden there, and they tell the tale of Dardanus bringing these to Troy, after he had founded that city, and consecrating them there with celebration of their rites; and of Aeneas, at the capture of Troy, stealing them away and preserving them until he settled in Italy.
οἱ δὲ προσποιούμενοί πλέον ἐπίστασθαι τι περὶ τούτων δύο φασὶν οὐ μεγάλους ἀποκεῖσθαι πίθους, ὧν τὸν μὲν ἀνεῳγότα καὶ κενὸν, τὸν δὲ πλήρη καὶ κατασεσημασμένον, ἀμφοτέρους δὲ ταῖς παναγέσι μόναις παρθένοις ὁρατούς εἶναι. ἄλλοι δὲ τούτους διεψεῦσθαι νομίζουσι τῷ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἱερῶν τότε τὰς κόρας ἐμβαλούσας εἰς πίθους δύο κρύψαι κατὰ γῆς ὑπὸ τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Κυρίνου, καὶ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ἔτι καὶ νῦν τῶν Πιθίσκων φέρεσθαι τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν.
Others still, pretending to have larger knowledge in these matters, say that two small jars are stored away there, of which one is open and empty, and the other full and sealed up, and that both are visible only to the holy virgins. But others think that these knowing ones have been led astray by the fact that the virgins, at the time of which I am now speaking, cast the most of their sacred treasures into two jars, and hid them underground in the temple of Quirinus, whence that place, down to the present time, has the name of Doliola, or Jars.
τὰ δὲ κυριώτατα καὶ μέγιστα τῶν ἱερῶν αὗται λαβοῦσαι φυγῇ παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐποιοῦντο τὴν ἀποχώρησιν. ἐνταῦθα Λεύκιος Ἀλβίνιος ἀνὴρ δημοτικὸς ἐν τοῖς φεύγουσιν ἔτυχε τέκνα νήπια καὶ γυναῖκα μετὰ χρημάτων ἀναγκαίων ἐφʼ ἁμάξης ὑπεκκομίζων. ὡς δʼ εἶδε τὰς παρθένους ἐν τοῖς κόλποις φερούσας τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἱερά θεραπείας ἐρήμους παραπορευομένας καὶ κακοπαθούσας, ταχὺ τὴν γυναῖκα μετὰ τῶν παίδων καὶ τῶν χρημάτων καθελὼν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμάξης ἐκείναις παρέδωκεν ἐπιβῆναι καὶ διαφυγεῖν εἴς τινα τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων.
However that may be, these virgins took the choicest and most important of the sacred objects and fled away along the river. There it chanced that Lucius Albinius, a man of the common people, was among the fugitives, carrying off his wife and little children, with the most necessary household goods, upon a waggon. When he saw the virgins with the sacred symbols of the gods in their bosoms, making their way along unattended and in great distress, he speedily took his wife, with the children and the household goods, down from the waggon, and suffered the virgins to mount upon it and make their escape to a Greek city.
τὴν μὲν οὖν Ἀλβινίου πρὸς τὸ θεῖον εὐλάβειαν καὶ τιμὴν ἐν τοῖς ἐπισφαλεστάτοις καιροῖς ἐκφανῆ γενομένην οὐκ ἄξιον ἦν ἀμνημόνευτον παρελθεῖν. οἱ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν ἱερεῖς οἵ τε γηραιοὶ τῶν ὑπατικῶν καὶ θριαμβικῶν ἀνδρῶν τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἐκλιπεῖν οὐχ ὑπέμειναν, ἱερὰς δὲ καὶ λαμπρὰς ἀναλαβόντες ἐσθῆτας, ἐξηγουμένου Φαβίου τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, ἐπευξάμενοι τοῖς θεοῖς, ὡς ἑαυτοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος τῷ δαίμονι καθιεροῦντες, ἐπὶ τῶν ἐλεφαντίνων δίφρων ἐν ἀγορᾷ ἐκάθηντο κεκοσμημένοι, τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν τύχην ὑπομένοντες.
This pious act of Albinius, and the conspicuous honour which he showed the gods in a season of the greatest danger, could not well be passed over in silence. But the priests of the other gods, and the aged men who had been consuls and celebrated triumphs, could not endure to leave the city. So they put on their robes of state and ceremony, following the lead of Fabius, the pontifex maximus, and vowed the gods that they would devote themselves to death in their country’s behalf. Then they sat themselves down, thus arrayed, on their ivory chairs in the forum, and awaited their fate.
τρίτῃ δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης ἡμέρᾳ παρῆν ὁ Βρέννος ἄγων ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν τὸ στράτευμα· καὶ τάς τε πύλας εὑρὼν ἀνεῳγμένας καὶ τὰ τείχη φυλάκων ἔρημα, πρῶτον μὲν ἔδεισεν ἐνέδραν καὶ δόλον, ἀπιστῶν οὕτω παντάπασιν ἀπειρηκέναι τοὺς Ῥωμαίους, ἐπεὶ δʼ ἔγνω τὸ ἀληθές, εἰσελάσας διὰ τῆς Κολλίνης πύλης εἷλε τὴν Ῥώμην ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίων ἐτῶν πλείονα βραχὺ χρόνον ἀπὸ τῆς κτίσεως ἔχουσαν, εἴ τῳ πιστόν ἀποσῴζεσθαί τινα τῶν χρόνων ἀκρίβειαν, οἷς καὶ περὶ νεωτέρων ἄλλων ἀμφισβήτησιν ἡ σύγχυσις ἐκείνη παρέσχε.
On the third day after the battle, Brennus came up to the city with his army. Finding its gates open and its walls without defenders, at first he feared a treacherous ambush, being unable to believe that the Romans were in such utter despair. But when he realised the truth, he marched in by the Colline gate, and took Rome. This was a little more than three hundred and sixty years from her foundation, if one can believe that any accurate chronology has been preserved in this matter, when that of even later events is disputed, owing to the confusion caused by this very disaster.
τοῦ μέντοι πάθους αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως ἔοικεν ἀμυδρά τις εὐθὺς εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα φήμη διελθεῖν. Ἡρακλείδης γὰρ ὁ Ποντικὸς οὐ πολὺ τῶν χρόνων ἐκείνων ἀπολειπόμενος ἐν τῷ Περὶ ψυχῆς συγγράμματί φησιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας λόγον κατασχεῖν, ὡς στρατὸς ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων ἐλθὼν ἔξωθεν ᾑρήκοι πόλιν Ἑλληνίδα Ῥώμην, ἐκεῖ που κατῳκημένην περὶ τὴν μεγάλην θάλασσαν.
However, it would seem that some vague tidings of the calamity and capture of the city made their way at once to Greece. For Heracleides Ponticus, who lived not long after that time, in his treatise On the soul, says that out of the West a story prevailed, how an army of Hyperboreans had come from afar and captured a Greek city called Rome, situated somewhere on the shores of the Great Sea.
οὐκ ἂν οὖν θαυμάσαιμι μυθώδη καὶ πλασματίαν ὄντα τὸν Ἡρακλείδην ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ τῷ περὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως ἐπικομπάσαι τοὺς Ὑπερβορέους καὶ τὴν μεγάλην θάλατταν. Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ ὁ φιλόσοφος τὸ μὲν ἁλῶναι τὴν πόλιν ὑπὸ Κελτῶν ἀκριβῶς δῆλός ἐστιν ἀκηκοώς, τὸν δὲ σώσαντα Λεύκιον εἶναί φησιν ἦν δὲ Μᾶρκος, οὐ Λεύκιος, ὁ Κάμιλλος. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰκασμῷ λέλεκται.
Now I cannot wonder that so fabulous and fictitious a writer as Heracleides should deck out the true story of the capture of Rome with his Hyperboreans and his Great Sea. But Aristotle the philosopher clearly had accurate tidings of the capture of the city by the Gauls, and yet he says that its saviour was Lucius, although the forename of Camillus was not Lucius, but Marcus. However, these details were matters of conjecture.
κατασχὼν δὲ τὴν Ῥώμην ὁ Βρέννος τῷ μὲν Καπιτωλίῳ φρουρὰν περιέστησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ καταβαίνων διʼ ἀγορᾶς ἐθαύμαζε τοὺς προκαθημένους ἄνδρας ἐν κόσμῳ καὶ σιωπῇ θεώμενος, ὡς οὔθʼ ὑπεξανέστησαν ἐπιόντων πολεμίων οὔτʼ ὄψιν ἢ χρόαν ἔτρεψαν, ἀλλὰ ῥᾳθύμως καὶ ἀδεῶς ἐγκεκλιμένοι τοῖς σκίπωσιν, οὓς ἐφόρουν, καὶ προσβλέποντες ἀλλήλοις ἡσύχαζον.
When he had occupied Rome, Brennus surrounded the Capitol with a guard. He himself went down through the forum, and was amazed to see the men sitting there in public state and perfect silence. They neither rose up to meet their enemies when they approached, nor did they change countenance or colour, but sat there quietly, at ease and without fear, leaning on their staves and gazing into one another’s faces.
ἦν οὖν θαῦμα τοῖς Γαλάταις πρὸς τὴν ἀτοπίαν, καὶ πολὺν χρόνον ὀκνοῦντες ἅψασθαι καὶ προσελθεῖν ὡς κρείττοσι διηπόρουν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τολμήσας τις ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐγγὺς παρέστη Παπειρίῳ Μάρκῳ καὶ προσαγαγὼν τὴν χεῖρα πρᾴως ἥψατο τοῦ γενείου καὶ κατῆγε τὴν ὑπήνην βαθεῖαν οὖσαν, ὁ μὲν Παπείριος τῇ βακτηρίᾳ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ πατάξας συνέτριψεν, ὁ δὲ βάρβαρος σπασάμενος τὴν μάχαιραν ἀπέκτεινεν ἐκεῖνον.
The Gauls were amazed and perplexed at the unwonted sight, and for a long time hesitated to approach and touch them, regarding them as superior beings. But at last one of them, plucking up his courage, drew near Papirius Marcus, and stretching out his hand, gently grasped his chin and stroked his long beard, whereupon Papirius, with his staff, smote him a crushing blow on the head. Then the Barbarian drew his sword and killed him.
ἐκ δὲ τούτου καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀνῄρουν προσπεσόντες, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσοις ἐπιτύχοιεν διεχρῶντο, καὶ τάς οἰκίας ἐπόρθουν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας πολλὰς ἄγοντες καὶ φέροντες, εἶτα κατεπίμπρασαν καὶ κατέσκαπτον ὀργιζόμενοι τοῖς ἔχουσι τὸ Καπιτώλιον, ὅτι καλούντων αὐτῶν οὐχ ὑπήκουον, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσβάλλουσι πληγὰς ἔδοσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ διατειχίσματος ἀμυνόμενοι, διὰ ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐλυμήναντο τὴν πόλιν καὶ προσδιέφθειραν τοὺς ἁλισκομένους, ὁμοίως μὲν ἄνδρας καὶ γυναῖκας, ὁμοίως δὲ πρεσβύτας καὶ παῖδας.
After that, they fell upon the rest and slew them, made away with every one else they met, sacked and plundered the houses of the city for many days together, and finally burned them down and levelled them with the ground, in their wrath at the defenders of the Capitol. For these would not surrender at their summons, but when they were attacked, actually repulsed their foes from the ramparts with loss. Therefore the Gauls inflicted every outrage upon the city, and put to the sword all whom they captured, men and women, old and young alike.
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