§39.54.1dum haec in Macedonia geruntur, consules in provincias profecti.
While these things were being done in Macedonia, the consuls set out for their provinces.
§39.54.2Marcellus nuntium praemisit ad L. Porcium proconsulem, ut ad novum Gallorum oppidum legiones admoveret.
Marcellus sent a messenger ahead to the proconsul Lucius Porcius, to move his legions to the new town of the Gauls.
§39.54.3advenienti consuli Galli sese dediderunt.
To the arriving consul, the Gauls surrendered themselves.
duodecim milia armatorum erant: plerique arma ex agris rapta habebant:
There were twelve thousand armed men; most of them held weapons snatched from the fields.
§39.54.4ea aegre patientibus iis adempta, quaeque alia aut populantes agros rapuerant aut secum attulerant. de his rebus qui quererentur, legatos Romam miserunt.
These weapons were taken away from them, though they bore it with reluctance, together with whatever other things they had either seized while plundering the fields or brought with them. They sent ambassadors to Rome to complain about these matters.
§39.54.5introducti in senatum a C. Valerio praetore exposuerunt se superante in Gallia multitudine inopia coactos agri et egestate ad quaerendam sedem Alpes transgressos, quae inculta per solitudines viderent, ibi sine ullius iniuria consedisse.
Having been introduced into the senate by the praetor Gaius Valerius, they explained that they, forced by the overflowing population in Gaul and by the lack of land and poverty, had crossed the Alps to seek a dwelling-place, and had settled there without injury to anyone, in places which they saw to be uncultivated throughout the wilderness.
§39.54.6oppidum quoque aedificare coepisse, quod indicium esset nec agro nec urbi ulli vim adlaturos venisse.
They had also begun to build a town, which was an indication that they had not come to bring violence to any territory or city.
nuper M. Claudium ad se nuntium misisse bellum se cum iis, ni dederentur, gesturum.
Recently Marcus Claudius had sent a messenger to them, stating that he would wage war with them unless they surrendered.
se certam, §39.54.7etsi non speciosam pacem quam incerta belli praeoptantes dedidisse se prius in fidem quam in potestatem populi Romani.
They, preferring a certain, even if not a glorious peace, to the uncertainties of war, had surrendered themselves into the good faith rather than into the power of the Roman people.
§39.54.8post paucos dies iussos et urbe et agro decedere sese tacitos abire, quo terrarum possent, in animo habuisse.
When ordered a few days later to depart from both the city and the territory, they had intended to depart quietly to whatever part of the world they could.
arma deinde sibi, et postremo omnia alia, quae ferrent agerentque, adempta.
Then, their arms, and finally all other things which they were carrying and driving, were taken from them.
§39.54.9orare se senatum populumque Romanum, ne in se innoxios deditos acerbius quam in hostes saevirent.
They begged the senate and the Roman people not to rage more harshly against them, innocent and surrendered, than against enemies.
§39.54.10huic orationi senatus ita responderi iussit, neque illos recte fecisse, cum in Italiam venerint oppidumque in alieno agro, nullius Romani magistratus, qui ei provinciae praeesset, permissu aedificare conati sint; §39.54.11neque senatui placere deditos spoliari.
To this speech the senate ordered the following reply to be given: that neither had they done right when they came into Italy and attempted to build a town on another's land, without the permission of any Roman magistrate who presided over that province; nor did it please the senate that those who had surrendered should be plundered.
itaque se cum iis legatos ad consulem missuros, qui, si redeant, unde venerint, omnia iis sua reddi iubeant, quique protinus eant trans Alpes, et denuntient Gallicis populis, multitudinem suam domi continent: §39.54.12Alpes prope inexsuperabilem finem in medio esse: non utique iis melius fore quamn qui eas primi pervias fecissent.
Therefore, they would send ambassadors with them to the consul, who, if they should return to where they had come from, should order all their possessions to be restored to them, and who should go straightway across the Alps and warn the Gallic peoples to keep their population at home; that the Alps lay between them as an almost insurmountable boundary, and that it would by no means go better with them than with those who had first made them passable.
§39.54.13legati missi L. Furius Purpurio Q. Minucius L. Manlius Acidinus.
The ambassadors sent were Lucius Furius Purpurio, Quintus Minucius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus.
Galli, redditis omnibus, quae sine cuiusquam iniuria habebant, Italia excesserunt.
The Gauls, after everything which they had held without injury to anyone was restored, departed from Italy.