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Polybius · The Histories §3.67.1-3.67.9

Defection of the Celts and Publius's Retreat to the Trebia

Passage 226 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Celts serving with the Romans treacherously attack the Roman camp at night and defect to Hannibal with the severed heads of the dead. Fearing a general defection of the neighboring Gauls, Publius decides to withdraw his forces to the Trebia River and the adjacent hills before dawn.

§3.67.1οἱ δὲ συστρατευόμενοι Κελτοὶ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις θεωροῦντες ἐπικυδεστέρας τὰς τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐλπίδας, συνταξάμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους καιρὸν ἐπετήρουν πρὸς ἐπίθεσιν, μένοντες ἐν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστοι σκηναῖς.
The Celts who were campaigning with the Romans, seeing that the prospects of the Carthaginians were more promising, agreed among themselves upon a time and watched for an opportunity to attack, each remaining in their own tents.
§3.67.2δειπνοποιησαμένων δὲ καὶ κατακοιμισθέντων τῶν ἐν τῷ χάρακι, παρελθεῖν ἐάσαντες τὸ πλεῖον μέρος τῆς νυκτὸς καθωπλισμένοι περὶ τὴν ἑωθινὴν φυλακὴν ἐπιτίθενται τοῖς σύνεγγυς τῶν Ῥωμαίων παραστρατοπεδεύουσι.
When those in the camp had finished their supper and fallen asleep, having allowed the greater part of the night to pass, they made an attack with arms, around the morning watch, on the Romans who were encamped near them.
§3.67.3καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἀπέκτειναν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ κατετραυμάτισαν· τέλος δὲ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀποτεμόντες τῶν τεθνεώτων ἀπεχώρουν πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους, ὄντες πεζοὶ μὲν εἰς δισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ μικρῷ λείποντες διακοσίων.
They killed many of them and wounded not a few; and finally, cutting off the heads of the dead, they retreated to the Carthaginians, being about two thousand infantry and a little less than two hundred cavalry.
§3.67.4Ἀννίβας δὲ φιλοφρόνως ἀποδεξάμενος αὐτῶν τὴν παρουσίαν, τούτους μὲν εὐθέως παρακαλέσας καὶ δωρεὰς ἑκάστοις τὰς ἁρμοζούσας ἐπαγγειλάμενος ἐξέπεμψεν εἰς τὰς αὑτῶν πόλεις, δηλώσοντας μὲν τὰ πεπραγμένα τοῖς πολίταις, παρακαλέσοντας δὲ πρὸς τὴν αὑτοῦ συμμαχίαν.
Hannibal, receiving their arrival cordially, immediately encouraged them, and having promised each the appropriate rewards, sent them off to their own cities, in order to make known what had been done to their fellow citizens and to exhort them to enter into alliance with him.
§3.67.5ᾔδει γὰρ ὅτι πάντες κατʼ ἀνάγκην αὐτῷ κοινωνήσουσι τῶν πραγμάτων, ἐπιγνόντες τὸ γεγονὸς ἐκ τῶν σφετέρων πολιτῶν παρασπόνδημα κατὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίων.
For he knew that all of them would of necessity share in his fortunes, when they learned of the treacherous act committed by their own citizens against the Romans.
§3.67.6ἅμα δὲ τούτοις καὶ τῶν Βοίων παραγεγονότων καὶ τοὺς τρεῖς ἄνδρας ἐγχειριζόντων αὐτῷ τοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν διάδοσιν τῆς χώρας ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἐξαπεσταλμένους, ὧν κατʼ ἀρχὰς ἐκυρίευσαν τοῦ πολέμου παρασπονδήσαντες, καθάπερ ἐπάνω προεῖπον,
At the same time, the Boii also arrived and handed over to him the three men who had been sent by the Romans for the division of the land, whom they had captured at the beginning of the war by an act of treachery, as I mentioned above.
§3.67.7ἀποδεξάμενος Ἀννίβας τὴν εὔνοιαν αὐτῶν ὑπὲρ μὲν τῆς φιλίας καὶ συμμαχίας ἔθετο πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας πίστεις· τούς γε μὴν ἄνδρας αὐτοῖς ἀπέδωκε, παραγγείλας τηρεῖν, ἵνα παρὰ τούτων κομίσωνται τοὺς αὑτῶν ὁμήρους κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πρόθεσιν.
Hannibal, accepting their goodwill, made pledges of friendship and alliance with those present; however, he returned the men to them, ordering them to guard them, so that they might recover their own hostages from them according to their original purpose.
§3.67.8Πόπλιος δὲ σχετλιάζων ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι παρασπονδήματι καὶ συλλογισάμενος ὅτι πάλαι τῶν Κελτῶν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀλλοτρίως διακειμένων, τούτων ἐπιγεγονότων πάντας τοὺς πέριξ Γαλάτας συμβήσεται πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἀπονεύειν, ἔγνω δεῖν εὐλαβηθῆναι τὸ μέλλον.
Publius, being indignant at the treachery that had occurred, and calculating that, since the Celts had long been ill-disposed toward them, now that this had happened, all the neighboring Gauls would turn to the Carthaginians, decided that he must be on his guard against the future.
§3.67.9διόπερ ἐπιγενομένης τῆς νυκτὸς ὑπὸ τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἀναζεύξας ἐποιεῖτο τὴν πορείαν ὡς ἐπὶ τὸν Τρεβίαν ποταμὸν καὶ τοὺς τούτῳ συνάπτοντας γεωλόφους, πιστεύων τῇ τε τῶν τόπων
Therefore, when night came, just before dawn, he broke camp and directed his march toward the river Trebia and the hills adjoining it, trusting in the... of the places

Notes

  1. 3.67.1ἐπικυδεστέρας τὰς τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἐλπίδας — The comparative adjective ἐπικυδεστέρας is used predicatively with τὰς ... ἐλπίδας, which is the object of the participle θεωροῦντες, meaning 'seeing that the prospects of the Carthaginians were more promising.'
  2. 3.67.5ἐπιγνόντες τὸ γεγονὸς ἐκ τῶν σφετέρων πολιτῶν παρασπόνδημα — The participle ἐπιγνόντες expresses a condition ('if they recognize/learn'), and its object is τὸ ... παρασπόνδημα. The prepositional phrase ἐκ τῶν σφετέρων πολιτῶν ('by their own citizens') is embedded to modify the noun.
  3. 3.67.8ὅτι πάλαι τῶν Κελτῶν... ἀπονεύειν — Within the ὅτι clause, two genitive absolutes (τῶν Κελτῶν... διακειμένων and τούτων ἐπιγεγονότων) are embedded. The main verb of the clause is the impersonal future συμβήσεται, which takes the accusative and infinitive phrase (πάντας τοὺς πέριξ Γαλάτας ... ἀπονεύειν) as its subject, meaning 'it will come about that...'

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §3.67.1-3.67.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.67.1-3.67.9

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