ed, 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 provin