§5.33.1expulso cive, quo manente, si quicquam humanorum certi est, capi Roma non potuerat, adventante fatali urbi clade legati ab Clusinis veniunt auxilium adversus Gallos petentes.
With this citizen expelled—who, had he remained, if there is any certainty in human affairs, Rome could not have been taken—as the destruction fatal to the city was approaching, ambassadors came from the Clusini seeking aid against the Gauls.
§5.33.2eam gentem traditur fama dulcedine frugum maximeque vini, nova tum voluptate, captam Alpes transisse agrosque ab Etruscis ante cultos possedisse; §5.33.3et invexisse in Galliam vinum inliciendae gentis causa Arruntem Clusinum ira corruptae uxoris ab Lucumone, cui tutor ipse fuerat, praepotente iuvene et a quo expeti poenae, nisi externa vis quaesita esset, nequirent; §5.33.4hunc transeuntibus Alpes ducem auctoremque Clusium oppugnandi fuisse.
It is handed down by tradition that this nation, captivated by the sweetness of the fruits and especially of wine, which was then a new pleasure, crossed the Alps and took possession of the lands previously cultivated by the Etruscans; and that Arruns of Clusium had imported wine into Gaul for the purpose of enticing the nation, out of anger at the seduction of his wife by a Lucumo, a very powerful young man whose guardian Arruns himself had been, and from whom punishment could not be exacted unless foreign aid were sought; and that he was the guide for those crossing the Alps and the instigator of the attack on Clusium.
equidem haud abnuerim Clusium Gallos ab Arrunte seu quo alio Clusino adductos; §5.33.5sed eos, qui oppugnaverint Clusium, non fuisse, qui primi Alpes transierint, satis constat.
For my part, I would not deny that the Gauls were led to Clusium by Arruns or some other Clusian; but it is well established that those who besieged Clusium were not the first to cross the Alps.
ducentis quippe annis ante, quam Clusium oppugnarent urbemque Romam caperent, in Italiam Galli transcenderunt; §5.33.6nec cum his primum Etruscorum, sed multo ante cum iis, qui inter Appenninum Alpesque incolebant, saepe exercitus Gallici pugnavere.
Indeed, two hundred years before they besieged Clusium and captured the city of Rome, the Gauls had crossed into Italy; nor did the Gallic armies fight first with these Etruscans, but long before with those who dwelt between the Apennines and the Alps.
§5.33.7Tuscorum ante Romanum imperium late terra marique opes patuere.
Before the Roman empire, the power of the Etruscans extended widely by land and sea.
mari supero inferoque, quibus Italia insulae modo cingitur, quantum potuerint, nomina sunt argumento, quod alterum Tuscum communi vocabulo gentis, alterum Hadriaticum mare ab Hadria, Tuscorum colonia, vocavere Italicae gentes; §5.33.8Graeci eadem Tyrrhenum atque Hadriaticum vocant.
How great their power was on the upper and lower seas, by which Italy is surrounded like an island, is proved by the names; for the Italian races called the one 'Tuscan' from the common name of the people, and the other 'Adriatic' from Hadria, an Etruscan colony; the Greeks call the same seas Tyrrhenian and Adriatic.
§5.33.9et in utrumque mare vergentes incoluere urbibus duodenis terras, prius cis Appenninum ad inferum mare, postea trans Appenninum totidem, quot capita originis erant, coloniis missis, §5.33.10quae trans Padum omnia loca excepto Venetorum angulo, qui sinum circumcolunt maris, usque ad Alpes tenuere.
And sloping towards both seas, they inhabited the lands with twelve cities each; first on this side of the Apennines towards the lower sea, afterwards on the other side of the Apennines, by sending out as many colonies as there were parent cities, which held all the places beyond the Po, up to the Alps, except the corner of the Veneti, who dwell around the gulf of the sea.
§5.33.11Alpinis quoque ea gentibus haud dubie origo est, maxime Raetis, quos loca ipsa efferarunt, ne quid ex antiquo praeter sonum linguae, nec eum incorruptum, retinerent.
Undoubtedly the Alpine tribes also have the same origin, especially the Raeti, whom their very environment rendered savage, so that they retained nothing of their ancient heritage except the sound of their language, and not even that uncorrupted.