Die Invasion des Brennus und die Entstehung des Metus Gallicus

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Liv. V, 47,1-48,9 – Original

47. dum haec Veis agebantur, interim arx Romae Capitoliumque in ingenti periculo fuit. [2] namque Galli seu vestigio notato humano, qua nuntius a Veis pervenerat, seu sua sponte animadverso ad Carmentis saxo ascensu aequo, nocte sublustri, cum primo inermem, qui temptaret viam, praemisissent, tradentes inde arma, [3] ubi quid iniqui esset, alterni innixi sublevantesque in vicem et trahentes alii alios, prout postularet locus, tanto silentio in summum evasere, ut non custodes solum fallerent, sed ne canes quidem, sollicitum animal ad nocturnos strepitus, excitarent. anseres non fefellere, [4] quibus sacris Iunonis in summa inopia cibi tamen abstinebatur. quae res saluti fuit; namque clangore eorum alarumque crepitu excitus M. Manlius, qui triennio ante consul fuerat, vir belle egregius, armis arreptis simul ad arma ceteros ciens vadit et, dum ceteri trepidant, Gallum, qui iam in summo constiterat, umbone ictum deturbat. [5] cuius casus prolapsi cum proximos sterneret, trepidantes alios armisque omissis saxa, quibus adhaerebant, manibus amplexos trucidat. iamque et alii congregati telis missilibusque saxis proturbare hostes, ruinaque tota prolapsa acies in praeceps deferri. [6] sedato deinde tumultu reliquum noctis, quantum in turbatis mentibus poterat, cum praeteritum quoque periculum sollicitaret, quieti datum est. [7] luce orta vocatis classico ad concilium militibus ad tribunos, cum et recte et perperam facto pretium deberetur, Manlius primum ob virtutem laudatus donatusque non ab tribunis solum militum, sed consensu etiam militari; [8] cui universi selibras farris et quartarios vini ad aedes eius, quae in arce erant, contulerunt, rem dictu parvam, ceterum inopia fecerat eam argumentum ingens caritatis, cum se quisque victu suo fraudans detractum corpori atque usibus necessariis ad honorem unius viri conferret. [9] tum vigiles eius loci, qua fefellerat ascendens hostis, citati; et cum in omnes more militari se animadversurum Q. Sulpicius tribunus militum pronuntiasset, [10] consentiente clamore militum in unum vigilem conicientium culpam deterritus a ceteris abstinuit, reum haud dubium eius noxae adprobantibus cunctis de saxo deiecit. [11] inde intentiores utrimque custodiae esse, et apud Gallos, quia vulgatum erat inter Veios Romamque nuntios commeare, et apud Romanos ab nocturne periculi memoria.
48. sed ante omnia obsidionis bellique mala fames utrumque exercitum urgebat, [2] Gallos pestilentia etiam, cum loco iacente inter tumulos castra habentes tum ab incendiis torrido et vaporis pleno cineremque, non pulverem modo ferente, cum quid venti motum esset. [3] quorum intolerantissima gens umorique ac frigori adsueta, cum aestu et angore vexata vulgatis velut in pecua morbis morerentur, iam pigritia singulos sepeliendi promiscue acervatos cumulos hominum urebant; bustorumque inde Gallicorum nomine insignem locum fecere. indutiae deinde cum Romanis factae [4] et conloquia permissu imperatorum habita; in quibus cum identidem Galli famem obicerent eaque necessitate ad deditionem vocarent, dicitur avertendae eius opinionis causa multis locis panis de Capitolio iactatus esse in hostium stationes. [5] sed iam neque dissimulari neque ferri ultra fames poterat. itaque dum dictator dilectum per se Ardeae habet, magistrum equitum L. Valerium a Veis adducere exercitum iubet, parat instruitque, quibus haud inpar adoriatur hostes, [6] interim Capitolinus exercitus stationibus vigiliisque fessus superatis tamen humanis omnibus malis, cum famem unam natura vinci non sineret, [7] diem de die prospectans, ecquod auxilium ab dictatore appareret, postremo spe quoque iam, non solum cibo deficiente et, cum stationes procederent, prope obruentibus infirmum corpus armis vel dedi vel redimi se, quacumque pactione possent, iussit iactantibus non obscure Gallis haud magna mercede se ad duci posse, ut obsidionem relinquant. [8] tum senatus habitus tribunisque militum negotium datum, ut paciscerentur, inde inter Q. Sulpicium tribunum militum et Brennum, regulum Gallorum, conloquio transacta res, et mille pondo auri pretium populi gentibus mox imperaturi factum. [9] rei foedissimae per se adiecta indignitas est: pondera ab Gallis adlata iniqua, et tribuno recusante additus ab insolente Gallo ponderi gladius auditaque intoleranda Romanis vox: vae victis.

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Übersetzung: Benjamin Oliver Foster
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Übersetzung

47. While this was going on at Veii, the Citadel of Rome and the Capitol were in very great danger. [2] For the Gauls had noticed the tracks of a man, where the messenger from Veii had got through, or perhaps had observed for themselves that the cliff near the shrine of Carmentis afforded an easy ascent. So on a starlit night they first sent forward an unarmed man to try the way; [3] then handing up their weapons when there was a steep place, and supporting themselves by their fellows or affording support in their turn, they pulled one another up, as the ground required, and reached- the summit, in such silence that not only the sentries but even the dogs —creatures easily troubled by noises in the night —were not aroused. [4] But they could not elude the vigilance of the geese, which, being sacred to Juno, had, notwithstanding the dearth of provisions, not been killed. This was the salvation of them all; for the geese with their gabbling and clapping of their wings woke Marcus Manlius, —consul of three years before and a distinguished soldier, —who, catching up his weapons and at the same time calling the rest to arms, strode past his bewildered comrades to a Gaul who had already got a foothold on the crest and dislodged him with a blow from the boss of his shield. [5] As he slipped and fell, he overturned those who were next to him, and the others in alarm let go their weapons and grasping the rocks to which they had been clinging, were slain by Manlius. [6] And by now the rest had come together and were assailing the invaders with javelins and stones, and presently the whole company lost their footing and were flung down headlong to destruction. [7] Then after the din was hushed, the rest of the night —so far as their excitement would permit, when even a past peril made them nervous —was given up to sleep. At dawn the trumpet summoned the soldiers to assemble before the tribunes. Good conduct and bad had both to be requited. [8] First Manlius was praised for his courage and presented with gifts, not only by the tribunes of the soldiers, but by agreement amongst the troops, who brought each half a pound of spelt and a gill of wine to his house, which stood in the Citadel. It is a little thing to tell, but the scarcity made it a great token of affection, since everyone robbed himself of his own sustenance and bestowed what he had subtracted from his physical necessities to do honour to one man. [9] Then the watchmen of the cliff which the enemy had scaled without being discovered were called up. [10] Quintus Sulpicius, the tribune, announced his intention to punish them all in the military fashion; but deterred by the cries of the soldiers, who united in throwing the blame upon a single sentinel, he spared the others. This man was guilty beyond a doubt, and was flung from the rock with the approval of all. [11] From that time the guards on both sides were more alert: the Gauls, because it had been put about that messengers were passing between Veii and Rome, the Romans, from their recollection of the peril of the night.
48. But worse than all the evils of the blockade and the war was the famine with which both armies were afflicted. [2] The Gauls suffered also from a pestilence, being encamped between hills on low ground, parched and heated by the conflagration, where the air was filled with ashes, as well as dust, whenever a breeze sprang up. [3] These annoyances were intolerable to a race accustomed to damp and cold, and when, distressed by the suffocating heat, they began to sicken of diseases that spread as though the victims had been cattle, they were soon too slothful to bury their dead singly, and piling the bodies up in promiscuous heaps, they burned them, causing the place to be known from that circumstance as the Gallic Pyres. [4] A truce was afterwards made with the Romans, and the commanders allowed their soldiers to talk together. Since in these conversations the Gauls used frequently to taunt their enemies with their famished state, and call on them to yield to that necessity and surrender, the Romans are said, in order to do away with this opinion, to have cast bread down from the Capitol in many places, into the outposts of the enemy. [5] Yet at last they could neither dissemble their hunger nor endure it any longer. The dictator was now holding a levy of his own at Ardea, and having ordered the master of the horse, Lucius Valerius, to bring up his army from Veii, was mustering and drilling a force with which he might cope with the Gauls on equal terms. [6] But the army on the Capitol was worn out with picket duty and mounting guard; and though they had got the better of all human ills, yet was there one, and that was famine, which nature would not suffer to be overcome. [7] Day after day they looked out to see if any relief from the dictator was at hand; but at last even hope, as well as food, beginning to fail them, and their bodies growing almost too weak to sustain their armour when they went out on picket duty, they declared that they must either surrender or ransom themselves, on whatever conditions they could make; for the Gauls were hinting very plainly that no great price would be required to induce them to raise the siege. [8] Thereupon the senate met, and instructed the tribunes of the soldiers to arrange the terms. Then, at a conference between Quintus Sulpicius the tribune and the Gallic chieftain Brennus, the affair was settled, and a thousand pounds of gold was agreed on as the price of a people that was destined presently to rule the nations. [9] The transaction was a foul disgrace in itself, but an insult was added thereto: the weights brought by the Gauls were dishonest, and on the tribune’s objecting, the insolent Gaul added his sword to the weight, and a saying intolerable to Roman ears was heard, —Woe to the conquered!

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Autor_in: Falk Wackerow
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Leitfragen:

1) Was ist der Inhalt der livianischen Erzählung?

2) Welche Ergebnisse fördert ein Quellenabgleich zutage?

3) Was hat es mit dem metus Gallicus auf sich?

Kommentar:

Nach der verheerenden Niederlage an der Allia, deren Datierung immer noch unklar ist (ca. 390-387), hatten sich die Römer in die nahe Stadt zurückgezogen. Ganz offensichtlich war es ihnen durch die Verluste und die Versprengung der Überreste ihres Feldheeres nicht mehr möglich, die gesamte Stadt zu verteidigen, sodass sie sich auf das stark befestigte Kapitol beschränken mussten. Die obige Erzählung des Livius setzt hernach an. Einem Boten aus Veji war es gelungen, über einen steilen Abhang zu den Belagerten zu gelangen. Dies war jedoch den Kelten unter Brennus aufgefallen, und so schickten sie des Nachts einige Krieger herauf, die einen Überraschungsangriff starten sollten. Allerdings wurden die Römer von den heiligen Gänsen der Juno geweckt und so vor dem drohenden Unheil bewahrt. Sie schlugen den Angriff zurück. Fortan unterließen die Kelten Attacken, hielten aber die Belagerung aufrecht. Anders als die Römer oben auf dem Hügel litten sie zusätzlich zum Hunger unter einer nicht näher bestimmten Seuche. Aus diesem Grunde wurden Verhandlungen initiiert, in deren Verlauf die Kelten falsche Gewichte bei der Ermittlung der Höhe des Tributs (Tribute wurden in Talenten, einer Gewichtseinheit, gezahlt) einsetzten. Als die Römer sich zu beschweren wagten, warf Brennus zusätzlich sein Schwert in die Waagschale. Die ihm in den Mund gelegten Worte „Vae victis!“ („Wehe den Besiegten!“) verdeutlichen die Schmach der Römer als Unterlegene. Der Vergleich mit anderen Quellen zeigt, dass nicht allzu viel Wahrheit in der ausgeschmückten Erzählung des Livius stecken muss. Im wesentlich kürzeren Bericht des Polybios (II, 18; 22) wird als Grund für den Abzug der Kelten ein Angriff auf ihre Heimatländer seitens der Veneter genannt. Auch die anschließende Wiedererlangung der Beute durch die Entsatztruppen aus Veji unter dem Dictator Marcus Furius Camillus findet mit keinem Wort Erwähnung bei Polybios, ebenso wie die – für Livius typischen – Heldentaten adliger wie nichtadliger Römer. Polybios gibt sogar ganz im Gegenteil an, die Kelten seien wohlbehalten und reichlich mit Beute beladen in ihre Heimat zurückgekehrt. Das plötzliche Auftauchen des exilierten ehemaligen Dictators Camillus, der später als zweiter Gründer Roms gefeiert wurde, sollte wohl zu dessen Glorifizierung beitragen. Ein Großteil der Forschung lehnt deswegen seine Rolle während der Belagerung Roms ab und folgt eher dem polybianischen Bericht. So oder so gruben sich die Ereignisse tief in das gesamtrömische Bewusstsein ein. Seit dem Feldzug des Kriegerfürsten Porsenna (siehe den gleichnamigen Quellenkommentar) war Rom nicht mehr belagert und geplündert worden. Erst in der Spätantike sollte dies wieder geschehen. Somit wurden die Niederlage an der Allia, die folgende sieben Monate währende Belagerung und besonders die schmähliche Demütigung bei den Verhandlungen Teil eines nationalen Traumas aller Römer, das selbst zu Hannibals Zeiten noch das Bild der Kelten in Rom prägte. Der metus Gallicus, die Furcht vor den Kelten, hielt bis in die späte Republik, als Caesar seinen berühmten Gallischen Krieg mit der Unterwerfung zahlreicher keltischer Stämme im heutigen Frankreich abschloss und damit dem Erzfeind einen wesentlichen Teil seines Schreckens nahm.

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Podcast-Hinweise
Sehen Sie zu dieser Quelle auch den Podcast „Die Unterwerfung Italiens/ Das Ausgreifen nach Westen“. Um einen breiteren Einblick in die Zeit der Römischen Republik zu erhalten, sehen Sie auch die Podcastreihe „Römische Geschichte I – Republik“.
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