§12#2καὶ τοὺς συνεργοὺς καὶ προκοίτους τῆς φρουρᾶς κύνας ὕπνῳ κρατηθέντας.
and undetected by the dogs that were the helpers and night-watchmen of the guard, as they had been overcome by sleep.
οὐ μὴν ἠπόρησεν ἡ τῆς Ῥώμης Τύχη φωνῆς κακὸν τοσοῦτο μηνῦσαι καὶ φράσαι δυναμένης.
Yet the Fortune of Rome did not lack a voice capable of indicating and telling of so great an evil.
χῆνες ἱεροὶ περὶ τὸν νεὼν τῆς Ἥρας ἐτρέφοντο θεραπεύοντες τὴν θεόν.
Sacred geese were kept around the temple of Juno, ministering to the goddess.
φύσει μὲν οὖν τὸ ζῷον εὐθορύβητόν ἐστι καὶ ψοφοδεές· τότε δέ, συντόνου περὶ τοὺς ἔνδον οὔσης ἀπορίας ἀμελουμένων αὐτῶν, λεπτὸς ἦν καὶ λιμώδης ὁ ὕπνος, ὡστʼ εὐθὺς ᾔσθοντο τῶν πολεμίων ὑπερφανέντων τῆς στεφάνης καὶ καταβοῶντες ἰταμῶς προσεφέροντο, καὶ τῇ τῶν ὅπλων ὄψει μᾶλλον ἐκταραττόμενοι κλαγγῆς διατόρου καὶ τραχείας ἐνεπεπλήκεσαν τὸν τόπον ὑφʼ ἧς ἀναστάντες οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ συμφρονήσαντες τὸ γενόμενον ἐώσαντο καὶ κατεκρήμνισαν τοὺς πολεμίους.
By nature, indeed, this animal is easily startled and afraid of noise; but at that time, because of the intense distress of those within, they were neglected, and their sleep was light and hungry, so that they immediately perceived the enemy appearing over the crest, and rushing forward, they cried out aggressively. And being even more terrified by the sight of weapons, they filled the place with a piercing and harsh clangor, by which the Romans, having been aroused and having understood what had happened, repulsed the enemy and hurled them down the cliff.
πομπεύει δὲ μέχρι νῦν ἐπὶ μνήμῃ τῶν τότε συμπτωμάτων κύων μὲν ἀνεσταυρωμένος, χὴν δὲ μάλα σεμνῶς ἐπὶ στρωμνῆς πολυτελοῦς καὶ φορείου καθήμενος.
And even to this day, in memory of the events of that time, a dog is crucified in the procession, while a goose sits very solemnly upon a costly bed and a litter.
ἡ δʼ ὄψις ἐπιδείκνυται Τ ύχης ἰσχὺν καὶ πρὸς ἅπαν εὐπορίαν ἐκ τῶν παραλόγων, ὅταν τι πραγματεύηται καὶ στρατηγῇ, νοῦν μὲν ἀλόγοις καὶ ἄφροσιν, ἀλκὴν δὲ καὶ θράσος δειλοῖς ἐντιθείσης.
And this sight demonstrates the power of Fortune and her resourcefulness in all things from unexpected means, when she manages and generalises something, implanting mind in the irrational and foolish, and strength and courage in the cowardly.
τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐκπλαγείη καὶ θαυμάσειεν ἐπιμαθὴς γενόμενος καὶ λογισμῷ τινι τὴν τότε κατήφειαν καὶ τὴν νῦν ὑπάρχουσαν εὐδαιμονίαν τῆς πόλεως περιλαβὼν καὶ ἀποβλέψας ναῶν λαμπρότητα καὶ πλοῦτον ἀναθημάτων καὶ τεχνῶν ἁμίλλας καὶ φιλοτιμίας πόλεων καὶ στεφάνους βασιλέων, καὶ ὅσα γῆ φέρει καὶ θάλαττα καὶ νῆσοι καὶ ἤπειροι καὶ ποταμοὶ καὶ δένδρα καὶ ζῷα καὶ πεδία καὶ ὄρη καὶ μέταλλα, πάντων ἀπαρχὰς ἐριζούσας εἰς κάλλος ὄψει καὶ χάριτι κοσμούσῃ τὸν τόπον, ὡς ταῦτα παρὰ μικρὸν ἦλθε μὴ γενέσθαι μηδʼ εἶναι;
For who indeed would not be astonished and marvel, having learned and embraced in his reasoning the dejection of that time and the now existing prosperity of the city, and having looked upon the splendor of the temples, the wealth of offerings, the rivalries of arts, the ambitions of cities, the crowns of kings, and all that land bears, and sea, and islands, and continents, and rivers, and trees, and animals, and plains, and mountains, and mines, the first-fruits of all competing in beauty and adorning the place with grace, when he knows that these things came within a hair's breadth of not happening or even existing?
πυρὶ δὲ καὶ σκότει φοβερῷ καὶ ὄρφνῃ καὶ ξίφεσι βαρβάροις καὶ μιαιφόνοις θυμοῖς κρατουμένων πάντων, εὐτελῆ καὶ ἄλογα καὶ ἄτολμα θρέμματα σωτηρίας ἀρχὴν παρέσχε καὶ τοὺς μεγάλους ἐκείνους ἀριστεῖς καὶ ἡγεμόνας Μαλλίους καὶ Σερουιλίους καὶ Ποστουμίους καὶ Παπιρίους, τῶν αὖθις οἴκων γενάρχας, παρʼ οὐδὲν ἥκοντας ἀπολέσθαι, χῆνες ἀνέστησαν ὑπὲρ τοῦ πατρίου θεοῦ καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἀμύνεσθαι.
When all things were held by fire and terrible darkness, gloom, and barbarian swords and murderous rages, cheap, irrational, and timid beasts provided the beginning of salvation, and those great heroes and leaders—the Mallii, the Servilii, the Postumii, and the Papirii, founders of the families that followed—when they had come to nothingness in being destroyed, the geese aroused them to defend their ancestral god and their fatherland.
εἰ δέ, ὥσπερ Πολύβιος ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ βίβλῳ περὶ τῶν τότε τὴν Ῥωμαιων πόλιν καταλαβόντων ἱστόρηκε Κελτῶν, ἀληθές ἐστιν, ὅτι προσπεσούσης αὐτοῖς ἀγγελίας φθείρεσθαι τὰ οἴκοι ὑπὸ τῶν προσοίκων βαρβάρων ἐμβεβληκότων εἰς τὴν χώραν καὶ κρατούντων ἀνεχώρησαν εἰρήνην θέμενοι πρὸς τὸν Κάμιλλον, οὐδʼ ἀμφισβήτησις ἔστι πρὸς τὴν Τύχην ὡς οὐχὶ τῆς σωτηρίας αἰτία κατέστη περισπάσασα τοὺς πολεμίους, μᾶλλον δʼ ἀποσπάσασα τῆς Ῥώμης ἀπροσδοκήτως.
And if, as Polybius has recorded in his second book concerning the Celts who then occupied the city of the Romans, it is true that, a report having reached them that their homes were being destroyed by the neighboring barbarians who had invaded and mastered their land, they withdrew having made peace with Camillus, there is not even any dispute against Fortune that she became the cause of their salvation by distracting the enemy, or rather, by snatching them away from Rome unexpectedly.