Discourses on the First Decade of Titus LiviusMachiavelli, Niccolò
Philosophy
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius
Machiavelli, Niccolò
Livy. Ab urbe condita; Political science -- Early works to 1800; Rome -- Historiography
The Romans had to pass through three of these desperate wars; the first
being that in which their city was actually captured by those Gauls
who, as already mentioned, had previously taken Lombardy from the
Etruscans and made it their seat, and for whose invasion Titus Livius
has assigned two causes. First, that they were attracted, as I have
said before, by the fruitful soil and by the wine of Italy which they
had not in Gaul; second, that their population having multiplied so
greatly that they could no longer find wherewithal to live on at home,
the princes of their land decided that certain of their number should
go forth to seek a new abode; and so deciding, chose as leaders of
those who were to go, two Gaulish chiefs, Bellovesus and Siccovesus;
the former of whom came into Italy while the latter passed into Spain.
From the immigration under Bellovesus resulted the occupation of
Lombardy, and, subsequently, the first war of the Gauls with Rome. At a
later date, and after the close of the first war with Carthage, came
the second Gallic invasion, when more than two hundred thousand Gauls
perished in battle between Piombino and Pisa. The third of these wars
broke out on the descent into Italy of the Todi and Cimbri, who, after
defeating several Roman armies, were themselves defeated by Marius.
In these three most dangerous contests the arms of Rome prevailed; but
no ordinary valour was needed for their success. For we see afterwards,
when the spirit of the Romans had declined, and their armies had lost
their former excellence, their supremacy was overthrown by men of the
same race, that is to say by the Goths, the Vandals, and others like
them, who spread themselves over the whole of the Western Empire.
Nations such as these, quit, as I have said, their native land, when
forced by famine, or by defeat in domestic wars, to seek a new
habitation elsewhere. When those thus driven forth are in large
numbers, they violently invade the territories of other nations,
slaughtering the inhabitants, seizing on their possessions, founding
new kingdoms, and giving new names to provinces; as was done by Moses,
and by those tribes who overran the Roman Empire. For the new names
which we find in Italy and elsewhere, have no other origin than in
their having been given by these new occupants; as when the countries
formerly known as Gallia Cisalpina and Gallia Transalpina took the
names of Lombardy and France, from the Lombards and the Franks who
settled themselves there. In the same way Sclavonia was formerly known
as Illyria, Hungary as Pannonia, and England as Britain; while many
other provinces which it would be tedious to enumerate, have similarly
changed their designations; as when the name Judæa was given by Moses
to that part of Syria of which he took possession.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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