§7.3.1ἐπὶ τῆς ἑξηκοστῆς καὶ τετάρτης ὀλυμπιάδος ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι Μιλτιάδου Κύμην τὴν ἐν Ὀπικοῖς Ἑλληνίδα πόλιν, ἣν Ἐρετριεῖς τε καὶ Χαλκιδεῖς ἔκτισαν, Τυρρηνῶν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἰόνιον κόλπον κατοικοῦντες ἐκεῖθέν θʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Κελτῶν ἐξελασθέντες σὺν χρόνῳ, καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς Ὀμβρικοί τε καὶ Δαύνιοι καὶ συχνοὶ τῶν ἄλλων βαρβάρων ἐπεχείρησαν ἀνελεῖν οὐδεμίαν ἔχοντες εἰπεῖν πρόφασιν τοῦ μίσους δικαίαν ὅτι μὴ §7.3.2τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τῆς πόλεως.
In the sixty-fourth Olympiad, when Miltiades was archon at Athens, the Greek city of Cumae in the land of the Opici, which Eretrians and Chalcidians had founded, was plotted against by the Tyrrhenians who dwelt around the Ionian Gulf and were in course of time driven thence by the Celts, and with them the Umbrians, Daunians, and many of the other barbarians, who attempted to destroy it, having no just pretext of hatred to offer except the prosperity of the city.
ἦν γὰρ Κύμη κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους περιβόητος ἀνὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ὅλην πλούτου τε καὶ δυνάμεως ἕνεκα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν γῆν τε κατέχουσα τῆς Καμπανῶν πεδιάδος τὴν πολυκαρποτάτην καὶ λιμένων κρατοῦσα τῶν περὶ Μισηνὸν ἐπικαιροτάτων.
For Cumae was in those times celebrated throughout all Italy for its wealth, power, and other blessings, possessing the most fertile part of the Campanian plain and controlling the most advantageous ports around Misenum.
τούτοις ἐπιβουλεύσαντες τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς οἱ βάρβαροι στρατεύουσιν ἐπʼ αὐτήν, πεζοὶ μὲν οὐκ ἐλάττους πεντήκοντα μυριάδων, ἱππεῖς δὲ δυεῖν χιλιάδων ἀποδέοντες εἶναι δισμύριοι.
Having designs upon these blessings, the barbarians marched against her, with infantry numbering no fewer than five hundred thousand, and cavalry lacking two thousand of being twenty thousand.
ἐστρατοπεδευκόσι δʼ αὐτοῖς οὐ μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως τέρας γίνεται θαυμαστόν, οἷον ἐν οὐδενὶ χρόνῳ μνημονεύεται γενόμενον οὔθʼ Ἑλλάδος οὔτε βαρβάρου γῆς οὐδαμόθι.
When they had encamped not far from the city, a wonderful portent occurred, such as is not recorded to have happened at any time anywhere in either Greece or barbarian lands.
§7.3.3οἱ γὰρ παρὰ τὰ στρατόπεδα ῥέοντες αὐτῶν ποταμοί, Οὐολτοῦρνος ὄνομα θατέρῳ, τῷ δʼ ἑτέρῳ Γλάνις, ἀφέντες τὰς κατὰ φύσιν ὁδοὺς ἀνέστρεψαν τὰ νάματα καὶ μέχρι πολλοῦ διετέλεσαν ἀπὸ τῶν στομάτων ἀναχωροῦντες ἐπὶ τὰς πηγάς.
For the rivers flowing past their camps, Volturnus by name to the one, and Glanis to the other, leaving their natural courses, turned back their streams, and for a long time continued flowing backward from their mouths toward their sources.
§7.3.4τοῦτο καταμαθόντες οἱ Κυμαῖοι τότʼ ἐθάρρησαν ὁμόσε τοῖς βαρβάροις χωρεῖν ὡς τοῦ δαιμονίου ταπεινὰ μὲν τἀκείνων μετέωρα θήσοντος, ὑψηλὰ δὲ τὰ δοκοῦντα εἶναι σφῶν ταπεινά.
Having observed this, the Cumaeans then took courage to meet the barbarians hand-to-hand, believing that the divinity would bring low the proud position of the enemy, and would raise up their own state which seemed to be low.
νείμαντες δὲ τὴν ἐν ἀκμῇ δύναμιν ἅπασαν τριχῇ, μιᾷ μὲν τὴν πόλιν ἐφρούρουν, τῇ δʼ ἑτέρᾳ τὰς ναῦς εἶχον ἐν φυλακῇ, τῇ δὲ τρίτῃ πρὸ τοῦ τείχους ταξάμενοι τοὺς ἐπιόντας ἐδέχοντο.
And having divided all their force in its prime into three parts, they guarded the city with one, kept the ships under watch with the second, and with the third, drawing up before the wall, they received the attackers.
τούτων ἱππεῖς μὲν ἦσαν ἑξακόσιοι, πεζοὶ δὲ τετρακισχίλιοι καὶ πεντἀκόσιοι· καὶ οὕτως ὄντες τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὀλίγοι τὰς τοσαύτας ὑπέστησαν μυριάδας.
Of these, the cavalry were six hundred, and the infantry four thousand five hundred; and being so few in number, they withstood so many tens of thousands.