§38.19.1certiora postea Oroandensium legati attulerunt, Tolostobogiorum civitatem Olympum montem cepisse; diversos Tectosagos alium montem, Magaba qui dicatur, petisse; §38.19.2Trocmos coniugibus ac liberis apud Tectosagos depositis armatorum agmine Tolostobogiis statuisse auxilium ferre.
Afterwards, the legates of the Oroandenses brought more certain reports: that the state of the Tolostobogii had occupied Mount Olympus; that the Tectosages, turning in a different direction, had sought another mountain, which is called Magaba; and that the Trocmi, having deposited their wives and children with the Tectosages, had decided to bring aid to the Tolostobogii with a column of armed men.
erant autem tunc trium populorum reguli Ortiago et Combolomarus et Gaulotus.
Moreover, the petty kings of the three peoples at that time were Ortiago, Combolomarus, and Gaulotus.
§38.19.3iis haec maxime ratio belli sumendi fuerat, quod cum montes editissimos regionis eius tenerent, convectis omnibus, quae ad usum quamvis longi temporis sufficerent, taedio se fatigaturos hostem censebant:
For them, this had been the chief reason for undertaking the war: because, since they held the highest mountains of that region and had gathered all things that would suffice for use for however long a time, they thought that they would wear out the enemy by weariness.
§38.19.4nam neque ausuros per tam ardua atque iniqua loca subire eos, et, si conarentur, vel parva manu prohiberi aut deturbari posse, nec quietos in radicibus montium gelidorum sedentes frigus aut inopiam laturos.
For they believed that the enemy would not dare to climb through such steep and unfavorable places to reach them, and, if they should try, they could be kept off or thrown down even by a small force; nor, if they sat quietly at the roots of the cold mountains, would they endure the cold or lack of supplies.
§38.19.5et cum ipsa altitudo locorum eos tutaretur, fossam quoque et alia munimenta verticibus iis, quos insederant, circumiecere.
And since the very height of the places protected them, they also threw a trench and other fortifications around those summits which they had occupied.
§38.19.6minima apparatus missilium telorum cura fuit, quod saxa adfatim praebituram asperitatem ipsam locorum credebant.
There was very little concern for the preparation of missile weapons, because they believed that the very roughness of the places would provide stones in abundance.