Res Gestae

Now, since—as the lofty bard of Mantua said of old—a greater work[*](Aen. vii. 44 f, maior rerum mihi nascitur ordo, Maius opus moveo.) undertake, a greater train of events ariseth before me, I think now a suitable time to describe the regions and situation of the Gauls, for fear that amid fiery encounters and shifting fortunes of battle I may treat of matters unknown to some and seem to follow the example of slovenly sailors, who are forced amid surges and storms to mend their worn sails and rigging, which might have been put in order with less danger.

The ancient writers, in doubt as to the earliest origin of the Gauls, have left an incomplete account of the matter, but later Timagenes,[*](Timagenes of Alexandria, who, according to Suidas, was brought to Rome as a prisoner of war by Pompey. He wrote a History of Alexander and a History of the Gauls. Cf. Hor., Epist. i. 19, 15; Quint., i. 10, 10; x. i. 75.) a true Greek in accuracy as well as language, collected out of various books these facts that had been long forgotten; which, following his authority, and avoiding any obscurity, I shall state clearly and plainly.

Some asserted that the people first seen in these regions were Aborigines, called Celts from the name of a beloved king, and Galatae (for so the Greek language terms the Gauls) from the name of his mother. Others stated that the Dorians, following the earlier Hercules,[*](Earlier seems to be contrasted with the son of Amphytrion in 9, 6, below and the Theban Hercules in 10, 9, whom Ammianus identifies with the son of Amphytrion. The story of a hero similar to Hercules is found in Greece, Italy, Egypt, the Orient, and among the Celts and Germans. Cicero, De Nat. Deor. iii. 16, 42, names six Herculeses, Serv., ad Aen. viii. 564, four: the Tirynthian, Argive, Theban, and Libyan. The Theban Hercules is generally regarded as the son of Amphitryon, but the one here referred to seems to have been the Italic hero, locally called Recaranus and Garanus, who was later identified with the Greek Heracles.) settled in the lands bordering on the Ocean.

The

Some assert that after the destruction of Troy a few of those who fled from the Greeks and were scattered everywhere occupied those regions, which were then deserted.

But the inhabitants of those countries affirm this beyond all else, and I have also read it inscribed upon their monuments, that Hercules, the son of Amphytrion, hastened to destroy the cruel tyrants Geryon and Tauriscus, of whom one oppressed Spain, the other, Gaul; and having overcome them both that he took to wife some high-born women and begat numerous children, who called by their own names the districts which they ruled.

But in fact a people of Asia from Phocaea, to avoid the severity of Harpalus,[*](An error for Harpagus, see Index.) prefect of king Cyrus, set sail for Italy. A part of them founded Velia[*](Modern Castellamare della Bruca.) in Lucania, the rest, Massilia[*](Marseilles.) in the region of Vienne. Then in subsequent ages they established no small number of towns, as their strength and resources increased. But I must not discuss varying opinions, which often causes satiety.

Throughout these regions men gradually grew civilised and the study of the liberal arts flourished, initiated by the Bards, the Euhages and the Druids.[*](The three are connected also by Strabo (iv. 4. 4), who says that the bards were poets; the euhages (οὐάτεις), diviners and natural philosophers; while the Druids studied both natural and moral philosophy. L.C.L. ii. p. 245.) Now, the Bards sang to the sweet strains of the lyre the valorous deeds of famous men composed in heroic