Learning Latin With Plutarch: Vae Victis
Libram removiteque discedite. Romani ferro non auro patriam servare solent
I’ve started working on a second volume of my Learning Latin With Plutarch series which provides excerpts from Plutarch’s Lives in intermediate Latin. You can check out Volume I here, and I will posting sections from Volume II as I finish them. If you like this sort of thing, please show your support by liking posts, buying books and leaving favorable reviews for books!
Vae Victis
Prima luce[1] Romani ducem vigilium a apice Capitolii iecerunt, et praemium Manlio dederunt. Nunc Galli erant in periculo magno: in urbe ab exercitu Camilli clausi sunt et pestilentiam, ob menses septemque devastationem urbis in qua habitant, patiebantur. Tot Galli moriti sunt ut[2] non iam mortuos sepelirent. Romani autem in Capitolio famemque terrorem patiebantur, nam nihil Camilli audiverant.
Tandem duces Gallorumque Romanorum in Capitolio de foedere dixerunt. Sulpicius, tribunus plebis, et Brennus locuti sunt, et constitit[3] Romanos libras mille auri Gallis, qui a Romaque Italia discedent, daturos esse. Cum Romani molem auri tulissent, Galli mentiti suntque deceperunt: libram qua aurum mensum est moverunt. Romani questi sunt, sed Brennus, qui insulatque ridet, cingulum removit et id in libra iecit. Sulpicius rogavit, “Quae est sententia huius?” Brennus autem respondit, “Vae victis.”
Romani divisi sunt: alii ad obsidionem redire voluerunt dum alii aurum dare volueruntque pati dedecus. Dum Romanique Galli altercantur, Camillus, qui est ad portas urbis, de foedere audivitque imperavit exercitum contendere ad conventum. Camillus autem et milites optimi ad Romanos festinaverunt, et, cum advenisset, Romani eum ducem solum acceperunt. Camillus libram Gallorum appropinquavitque aurum removitque id Romanis reddidit. Tunc Gallis imperavit, “Libram removiteque discedite. Romani ferro non auro patriam servare solent”
Brennus furereque queri[4] incepit foedus iniuste fractum esse, sed Camillus respondit foedus iuste numquam factum esset cum is esset dictatorque magistratus solus. Nunc autem se adesse et loqui posse cum potentia legis qua ignoscat aut puniat. Brennusque Galli sunt irati et proelium breve eruptum est; mox autem Galli ab urbe ad locum, qui est paene octem mille passus ex urbe, discesserunt. Prima luce Camillusque Romani appropinquaverunt, et proelium ferox, in quo exercitum Gallorum perditum est, accidit.
[1] An ablative of time
[2] Introduces a result clause
[3] Introduces an indirect statemen
[4] Introduces an indirect statement
Vocabulary
Accidō, ere, accidī +dat.- to happen
Adiungō, ere, iūnxī, iūnctus- to join
Adsum, adesse, adfuī, adfuturus- to be present
Appropinquō, āre, āvī, ātus- to approach
Aurum, ī, n.- gold
Cingulum, ī, n.- belt, girdle, sword belt
Claudō, ere, clausī, clausus- to close, shut in
Concurrō, ere, currī, cursus- to rush together, clash
Consto, are, constiti, constatus- to agree
Contendō, ere, contendī, contentus- to hurry, march, strive
Dēcipiō, ere, dēcepī, dēceptus- to deceive
Dēdēcus, dēdēcoris, n.- disgrace
Dēdī, āre, dedī, datus- to give
Dēdūcō, ere, dēduxī, dēductus- to lead away
Dēscendō, ere, dēscendī, dēscēnsus- to descend
Discedō, ere, discessī, discessus- to depart, leave
Dīvidō, ere, dīvīsī, dīvīsus- to divide
Dūx, ducis, m.- leaders
Ēiciō, ere, ēiēcī, ēiectus- to throw out
Exerceō, ēre, uī, itus- to train, exercise
Ferō, ferre, tulī, lātus- to bring, carry
Festīnō, āre, āvī, ātus- to hurry
Foedus, foederis, n.- treaty, agreement
Frangō, ere, frēgī, frāctus- to break
Furō, ere, furuī- to rage, be furious
Gallī, ōrum, m. pl.- the Gauls
Habitō, āre, āvī, ātus- to live, dwell
Iaciō, ere, iēcī, iactus- to throw
Imperō, āre, āvī, ātus- to command
Īnspiciō, ere, īnspexī, īnspectus- to inspect, look into
Īnsultō, āre, āvī, ātus- to mock, insult
Iubeō, ēre, iussī, iussus- to order
Iustē- justly
Librā, ae, f.- scale, pound
Mēnsis, is, m.- month
Mentior, īrī, mentītus sum- to lie
Mortuus, a, um- dead
Mōs, mōris, m.- custom, manner
Moveō, ēre, mōvī, mōtus- to move
Mūrus, ī, m.- wall
Passus, ūs, m.- pace, step (measure)
Patior, patī, passus sum- to suffer, endure
Pestilentia, ae, f.- plague, pestilence
Pōnō, ere, posuī, positus- to place
Porta, ae, f.- gate
Praemium, ī, n.- reward
Proelium, ī, n.- battle
Queror, querī, questus sum- to complain
Redō, ere, reddidī, redditus- to give back
Rēgō, ere, rēxī, rēctus- to rule
Removeō, ēre, mōvī, mōtus- to remove
Rīdēō, ēre, rīsī, rīsus- to laugh
Rogō, āre, āvī, ātus- to ask
Sentiō, īre, sēnsī, sēnsus- to feel, perceive
Sepeliō, īre, īvī, sepultus- to bury
Soleō, ēre, solitus sum- to be accustomed
Sulpicius- Roman tribune
Sum, esse, fuī-to be
Terror, terroris, m.- fear, terror
Tollō, ere, sustulī, sublātus- to lift, remove
Tribūnus, ī, m.- tribune
Turba, ae, f.- crowd
Urbs, urbis, f.- city
Utor, ūtī, ūsus sum- to use
Vae victīs- woe to the vanquished
Volō, velle, voluī- to want
Translation
At first light the Romans threw the leader of night-watch from the peak of the Capitoline and gave rewards to Manlius. Now the Gauls were in great danger: they were enclosed in the city by the army of Camillus and were suffering sickness on account of the seven months and the devastation of the city in which they were living. So many Gauls died that they no longer buried the dead. However, the Romans on the Capitoline were enduring famine and terror, for they had heard nothing of Camillus.
At last the leaders of the Gauls and of the Romans in the Capitoline spoke about a treaty. Sulpicius, a tribune of the people, and Brennus spoke, and it was agreed that the Romans would give a thousand pounds of gold to the Gauls who would depart from Rome and Italy. When the Romans had brought the mass of gold, the Gauls lied and deceived: they moved the scale by which the gold was measured. The Romans complained, but Brennus, who insulted and mocked them, removed his sword belt and threw it on the scale. Sulpicius asked, “What is the meaning of this?” Brennus, however, responded, “Woe to the conquered.”
The Romans were divided: some wanted to return to the siege while others wanted to give the gold and bear the shame. While the Romans and the Gauls were arguing, Camillus, who was at the gates of the city, heard about the treaty and ordered his army to march to the meeting. But Camillus and his best soldiers hurried to the Romans, and, when he had arrived, the Romans received him as their sole leader. Camillus approached the scale of the Gauls and removed the gold and returned it to the Romans. Then he ordered the Gauls, “Remove your scale, and depart. The Romans are accustomed to to preserve their country with iron not gold.”
Brennus began to rage and complain that the treaty had been broken unjustly, but Camillus responded that the treaty had never been justly made since he was the dictator and sole magistrate. Now, however, he was present and able to speak with the power of the law by which he would pardon and punish. Brennus and the Gauls were angry, and a brief battle erupted; soon, however, the Gauls departed from the city to a place which is nearly eight miles away. At dawn Camillus and the Romans approached, a fierce battle, in which the army of the Gauls was destroyed, happened.