edit of my essay

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THE

HISTORY OF ROME.

TITUS LIVIUS.

THE FIRST EIGHT BOOKS.

LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS,

D. SPILLAN, A.M. M.D.

LONDON:

HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

MDCCCLIII.

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY

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Though danger of such magnitude was impending (so completely does Fortune blind th e minds

of men when she wishes not her threatening stroke to be foiled) a state, which against the

Fidenatian and Veientian enemies, and other neighbouring states, had recourse to aid even from

the most extreme quarters, and had appointed a dictator on man y trying occasions, that same

state now, when an enemy, never before seen or heard of, from the ocean and remotest

regions [Pg 369] of the earth, was advancing in arms against them, looked not for any

extraordinary command or aid. Tribunes, by whose temerit y the war had been brought on them,

were appointed to the chief direction of affairs, and even making less of the war than fame had

represented it, held the levy with no greater diligence than used to be exercised for ordinary

wars. In the mean while the G auls, on hearing that honour was even conferred on the violators of

human law, and that their embassy was slighted, inflamed with resentment, over which that

nation has no control, immediately snatched up their standards, and enter on their march with the

utmost expedition. When the cities, alarmed at the tumult occasioned by them as they passed

precipitately along, began to run to arms, and the peasants took to flight, they indicated by a loud

shout that they were proceeding to Rome, taking up an immense s pace of ground, wherever they

passed, with their horses and men, their troops spreading widely in every direction. But fame and

the messengers of the Clusians, and then of the other states one after another, preceding them,

the rapid advance of the enemy b rought the greatest consternation to Rome; for, with their

tumultuary troops hastily led on, they met them within the distance of the eleventh mile -stone,

where the river Allia, descending from the Crustuminian mountains in a very deep channel, joins

the r iver Tiber not far below the road. Already all places in front and on each side were crowded

with the enemy, and this nation, which has a natural turn for causeless confusion, by their harsh

music and discordant clamours, filled all places with a horrible din.

There the military tribunes, without having previously selected a place for their camp, without

having previously raised a rampart to which they might have a retreat, unmindful of their duty to

the gods, to say nothing of that to man, without taking auspices or offering sacrifices, draw up

their line, which was extended towards the flanks, lest they should be surrounded by the great

numbers of the enemy. Still their front could not be made equal to that of th e enemy, though by

thinning their line they rendered their centre weak and scarcely connected. There was on the

right a small eminence, which it was determined to fill with bodies of reserve; and that

circumstance, as it was the first cause of their dismay and flight, so it proved their only means of

safety in [Pg 370] their flight. For Brennus, the chieftain of the Gauls, being chiefly apprehensive

of some design [169] being intended in the small number of the enemy, thinking that the high

ground had been seized for this purpose, that, when the Gauls had been engaged in front with the

line of the legions, the reserve was to make an attack on their rear and flank, di rected his troops

against the reserve; certain, that if he had dislodged them from their ground, the victory would be

easy in the plain for a force which had so much the advantage in point of numbers: thus not only

fortune, but judgment also stood on the s ide of the barbarians. In the opposite army there

appeared nothing like Romans, either in the commanders, or in the soldiers. Terror and dismay

had taken possession of their minds, and such a forgetfulness of every thing, that a far greater

number of them fled to Veii, a city of their enemy, though the Tiber stood in their way, than by http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

the direct road to Rome, to their wives and children. Their situation defended the reserve for

some time; throughout the remainder of the line as soon as the shout was heard, by those who

stood nearest on their flank, and by those at a distance on their rear, almost before they could

look at the enemy as yet untried, not only without attempting to fight, but without even returning

the shout, fresh and unhurt they took to fligh t. Nor was there any slaughter of them in the act of

fighting; but their rear was cut to pieces, whilst they obstructed their flight by their struggling

one with another. Great slaughter was made on the bank of the Tiber, whither the entire left

wing, havi ng thrown down their arms, directed their flight; and many who did not know how to

swim, or were exhausted, being weighed down by their coats of mail and other defensive armour,

were swallowed up in the current. The greatest part however escaped safe to Ve ii; whence not

only no reinforcement, but not even an account of their defeat, was forwarded to Rome. Those

on the right wing which had been posted at a distance from the river, and rather near the foot of

the mountain, all made for Rome, and, without even shutting the gates, fled into the citadel.

[Pg 371]

The miraculous attainment of so sudden a victory held even the Gauls in a state of stupefaction.

And at first they stood motionless with panic, as if not knowing what had happened; then they

apprehend ed a stratagem; at length they began to collect the spoils of the slain, and to pile up the

arms in heaps, as is their custom. Then, at length, when no appearance of any thing hostile was

any where observed, having proceeded on their journey, they reach th e city of Rome not long

before sun -set: where when some horsemen, who had advanced before, brought back word that

the gates were not shut, that no guard was posted before the gates, no armed troops on the walls,

another cause of amazement similar to the fo rmer made them halt; and dreading the night and

ignorance of the situation of the city, they posted themselves between Rome and the Anio, after

sending scouts about the walls and the several gates to ascertain what plans the enemy would

adopt in their desp erate circumstances. With respect to the Romans, as the greater part had gone

to Veii from the field of battle, and no one supposed that any survived except those who had fled

back to Rome, being all lamented as lost, both those living and those dead, they caused the entire

city to be filled with wailings. The alarm for the public interest stifled private sorrow, as soon as

it was announced that the enemy were at hand. Presently the barbarians patrolling around the

walls in troops, they heard their yells an d the dissonant clangour of their arms. All the interval up

to the next day kept their minds in such a state of suspense, that an assault seemed every moment

about to be made on the city: on their first approach, when they arrived at the city, [it was

expe cted;] for if this were not their design, that they would have remained at the Allia; then

towards sunset, because there was not much of the day remaining, they imagined that they would

attack them before night; then that the design was deferred until nigh t, in order to strike the

greater terror. At length the approach of light struck them with dismay; and the calamity itself

followed closely upon their continued apprehension of it, when the troops entered the gates in

hostile array. During that night, howe ver, and the following day, the state by no means bore any

resemblance to that which which had fled in so dastardly a manner at the Allia. For as there was

not a hope that the city could be defended, so small a number [Pg 372] of troops now remaining,

it wa s determined that the youth fit for military service, and the abler part of the senate with their

wives and children, should retire into the citadel and Capitol; and having collected stores of arms http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

and corn, and thence from a fortified post, that they shou ld defend the deities, and the

inhabitants, and the Roman name: that the flamen [Quirinalis] and the vestal priestesses should

carry away far from slaughter and conflagration the objects appertaining to the religion of the

state: and that their worship sho uld not be intermitted, until there remained no one who should

continue it. If the citadel and Capitol, the mansion of the gods, if the senate, the source of public

counsel, if the youth of military age, should survive the impending ruin of the city, the l oss

would be light of the aged, the crowd left behind in the city, and who were sure to perish [170]

under any circumstances. And in order that the plebeian porti on of the multitude might bear the

thing with greater resignation, the aged men, who had enjoyed triumphs and consulships, openly

declared that they would die along with them, and that they would not burden the scanty stores of

the armed men with those bod ies, with which they were now unable to bear arms, or to defend

their country. Such was the consolation addressed to each other by the aged now destined to

death.

Their exhortations were then turned to the band of young men, whom they escorted to the

Ca pitol and citadel, commending to their valour and youth whatever might be the remaining

fortune of a city, which for three hundred and sixty years had been victorious in all its wars.

When those who carried with them all their hope and resources, parted wi th the others, who had

determined not to survive the ruin of their captured city; both the circumstance itself and the

appearance [it exhibited] was really distressing, and also the weeping of the women, and their

undecided running together, following now these, now those, and asking their husbands and

children what was to become of them, [all together] left nothing that could be added to human

misery. A great many of them, however, escorted their friends into the citadel, no one either

preventing or inviti ng them; because the measure [Pg 373] which was advantageous to the

besieged, that of reducing the number of useless persons, was but little in accordance with

humanity. The rest of the crowd, chiefly plebeians, whom so small a hill could not contain, nor

could they be supported amid such a scarcity of corn, pouring out of the city as if in one

continued train, repaired to the Janiculum. From thence some were dispersed through the

country, some made for the neighbouring cities, without any leader or concert, following each

his own hopes, his own plans, those of the public being given up as lost. In the mean time the

Flamen Quirinalis and the vestal virgins, laying aside all concern for their own affairs, consulting

which of the sacred deposits should be carri ed with them, which should be left behind, for they

had not strength to carry them all, or what place would best preserve them in safe custody,

consider it best to put them into casks and to bury them in the chapel adjoining to the residence

of the Flamen Quirinalis, where now it is profane to spit out. The rest they carry away with them,

after dividing the burden among themselves, by the road which leads by the Sublician bridge to

the Janiculum. When Lucius Albinius, a Roman plebeian, who was conveying his wife and

children in a waggon, beheld them on that ascent among the rest of the crowd which was leaving

the city as unfit to carry arms; even then the distinction of things divine and human being

preserved, considering it an outrage on religion, that the public priests and sacred utensils of the

Roman people should go on foot and be carried, that he and his family should be seen in a

carriage, he commanded his wife and children to alight, placed the virgins and sacred utensils in

the vehicle, and carried t hem on to Cære, whither the priests had intended to go. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

Meanwhile at Rome all arrangements being now made, as far as was possible in such an

emergency, for the defence of the citadel, the crowd of aged persons having returned to their

houses, awaited th e enemy's coming with minds firmly prepared for death. Such of them as had

borne curule offices, in order that they may die in the insignia of their former station, honours,

and merit, arraying themselves in the most magnificent garments worn by those draw ing the

chariots of the gods in procession, or by persons riding in triumph, seated themselves in their

ivory chairs, in the middle of their halls. Some say that they devoted themselves for their

coun [Pg 374] try and the citizens of Rome, Marcus Fabius, the chief pontiff, dictating the form of

words. The Gauls, both because by the intervention of the night they had abated all angry

feelings arising from the irritation of battle, and because they had on no occasion fought a well -

disputed fight, and were then not taking the city by storm or violence, entering the city the next

day, free from resentment or heat of passion, through the Colline gate which lay open, advance

into the forum, casting their eyes around on the temples of the gods, and on the citadel, wh ich

alone exhibited any appearance of war. From thence, after leaving a small guard, lest any attack

should be made on them whilst scattered, from the citadel or Capitol, they dispersed in quest of

plunder; the streets being entirely desolate, rush some of them in a body into the houses that were

nearest; some repair to those which were most distant, considering these to be untouched and

abounding with spoil. Afterwards being terrified by the very solitude, lest any stratagem of the

enemy should surprise th em whilst being dispersed, they returned in bodies into the forum and

the parts adjoining to the forum, where the houses of the commons being shut, and the halls of

the leading men lying open, almost greater backwardness was felt to attack the open than th e

shut houses; so completely did they behold with a sort of veneration men sitting in the porches of

the palaces, who besides their ornaments and apparel more august than human, bore a striking

resemblance to gods, in the majesty which their looks and the gravity of their countenance

displayed. Whilst they stood gazing on these as on statues, it is said that Marcus Papirius, one of

them, roused the anger of a Gaul by striking him on the head with his ivory, while he was

stroking his beard, which was then un iversally worn long; and that the commencement of the

bloodshed began with him, that the rest were slain in their seats. After the slaughter of the

nobles, no person whatever was spared; the houses were plundered, and when emptied were set

on fire.

But whether it was that all were not possessed with a desire of destroying the city, or it had been

so determined by the leading men of the Gauls, both that some fires should be presented to their

view, [to see] if the besieged could be forced into a surrender through affection for their

dwellings, and that all the houses should not be burned down, so that what [Pg 375] ever portion

should remain of the city, they might hold as a pledge to work upon the minds of the enemy; the

fire by no means spread either indis criminately or extensively on the first day, as is usual in a

captured city. The Romans beholding from the citadel the city filled with the enemy, and their

running to and fro through all the streets, some new calamity presenting itself in every different

quarter, were neither able to preserve their presence of mind, nor even to have perfect command

of their ears and eyes. To whatever direction the shouts of the enemy, the cries of women and

children, the crackling of the flames, and the crash of falling ho uses, had called their attention, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

thither, terrified at every incident, they turned their thoughts, faces, and eyes, as if placed by

fortune to be spectators of their falling country, and as if left as protectors of no other of their

effects, except their own persons: so much more to be commiserated than any others who were

ever besieged, because, shut out from their country, they were besieged, beholding all their

effects in the power of the enemy. Nor was the night, which succeeded so shockingly spent a

day, more tranquil; daylight then followed a restless night; nor was there any time which failed

to produce the sight of some new disaster. Loaded and overwhelmed by so many evils, they did

not at all abate their determination, [resolved,] though they shoul d see every thing in flames and

levelled to the dust, to defend by their bravery the hill which they occupied, small and ill

provided as it was, being left [as a refuge] for liberty. And now, as the same events recurred

every day, as if habituated to misfo rtunes, they abstracted their thoughts from all feeling of their

circumstances, regarding their arms only, and the swords in their right hands, as the sole

remnants of their hopes.

The Gauls also, after having for several days waged an ineffectual war a gainst the buildings of

the city, when they saw that among the fires and ruins of the captured city nothing now remained

except armed enemies, neither terrified by so many disasters, nor likely to turn their thoughts to a

surrender, unless force were emplo yed, determine to have recourse to extremities, and to make

an attack on the citadel. A signal being given at break of day, their entire multitude is marshalled

in the forum; thence, after raising the shout and forming a testudo, they advance to the attack .

Against [Pg 376] whom the Romans, acting neither rashly nor precipitately, having strengthened

the guards at every approach, and opposing the main strength of their men in that quarter where

they saw the battalions advancing, suffer the enemy to ascend, j udging that the higher they

ascended, the more easily would they be driven back down the steep. About the middle of the

ascent they met them: and making a charge thence from the higher ground, which of itself bore

them against the enemy, they routed the Ga uls with slaughter and destruction, so that never after,

either in parties or with their whole force, did they try that kind of fighting. Laying aside all hope

of succeeding by force of arms, they prepare for a blockade; of which having had no idea up to

that time, they had, whilst burning the city, destroyed whatever corn had been therein, and during

those very days all the provisions had been carried off from the land to Veii. Accordingly,

dividing their army, they resolved that one part should plunder th rough the neighbouring states,

that the other part should carry on the siege of the citadel, so that the ravagers of the country

might supply the besiegers with corn.

The Gauls, who marched from the city, were led by fortune herself, to make trial of Ro man

valour, to Ardea, where Camillus was in exile: who, more distressed by the fortune of the public

than his own, whilst he now pined away arraigning gods and men, fired with indignation, and

wondering where were now those men who with him had taken Veii and Falerii, who had

conducted other wars rather by their own valour than by the favour of fortune, hears on a sudden

that the army of the Gauls was approaching, and that the people of Ardea in consternation were

met in council on the subject. And as if mo ved by divine inspiration, after he advanced into the

midst of the assembly, having hitherto been accustomed to absent himself from such meetings, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

he says, "People of Ardea, my friends of old, of late my fellow -citizens also, since your kindness

so ordered it, and my good fortune achieved it, let no one of you suppose that I have come

forward here forgetful of my condition; but the [present] case and the common danger obliges

every one to contribute to the common good whatever service he can in our present alarming

situation. And when shall I repay you for your so very important services to me, if I now be

remiss? or where will [Pg 377] you derive benefit from me, if not in war? By this

accomplishment I maintained my rank in my native country: and, unconquere d in war, I was

banished during peace by my ungrateful fellow -citizens. To you, men of Ardea, a favourable

opportunity has been presented of making a return for all the former favours conferred by the

Roman people, such as you yourselves remember, (for whi ch reason, as being mindful of them,

you are not to be upbraided with them,) and of obtaining great military renown for this your city

over the common enemy. The nation, which now approaches in disorderly march, is one to

which nature has given great spiri ts and bodies rather huge than firm. Let the disaster of Rome

serve as a proof. They captured the city when lying open to them; a small handful of men from

the citadel and Capitol withstand them. Already tired out by the slow process of a siege, they

retir e and spread themselves through the country. Gorged with food and wine hastily swallowed,

when night comes on they stretch themselves indiscriminately, like brutes, near streams of water,

without entrenchment, without guards or advanced posts; more incauti ous even now than usual

in consequence of success. If you then are disposed to defend your own walls, and not to suffer

all these places to become Gaul, take up arms in a full body at the first watch: follow me to

slaughter, not to battle. If I do not deli ver them up to you fettered by sleep, to be butchered like

cattle, I decline not the same issue of my affairs at Ardea as I had at Rome."

Both friends and enemies were satisfied that there existed no where at that time a man of equal

military talent. Th e assembly being dismissed, they refresh themselves, carefully watching the

moment the signal should be given; which being given, during the silence of the beginning of the

night they attended Camillus at the gates. Having gone forth to no great distance f rom the city,

they found the camp of the Gauls, as had been foretold, unprotected and neglected on every side,

and attack it with a shout. No fight any where, but slaughter every where; their bodies, naked and

relaxed with sleep, are cut to pieces. Those m ost remote, however, being roused from their beds,

not knowing what the tumult was, or whence it came, were directed to flight, and some of them,

without perceiving it, into the midst of the enemy. A great number flying into the territory of

Antium, an att ack [Pg 378] being made on them in their straggling march by the townspeople,

were surrounded and cut off. A like carnage was made of the Tuscans in the Veientian territory;

who were so far from compassionating the city which had now been its neighbour for nearly four

hundred years, overpowered as it now was by a strange and unheard -of enemy, that at that very

time they made incursions on the Roman territory; and laden with plunder, had it in

contemplation to lay siege to Veii, the bulwark and last hope of t he Roman race. The Roman

soldiers had seen them straggling over the country, and collected in a body, driving the spoil

before them, and they perceived their camp pitched at no great distance from Veii. Upon this,

first self -commiseration, then indignation , and after that resentment, took possession of their

minds: "Were their calamities to be a subject of mockery to the Etrurians, from whom they had

turned off the Gallic war on themselves?" Scarce could they curb their passions, so as to refrain

from attac king them at the moment; and being restrained by Quintus Cædicius, the centurion, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

whom they had appointed their commander, they deferred the matter until night. A leader equal

to Camillus was all that was wanted; in other respects matters were conducted in the same order

and with the same fortunate result. And further, under the guidance of some prisoners, who had

survived the nightly slaughter, they set out to Salinæ against another body of Tuscans, they

suddenly made on the following night still greater h avoc, and returned to Veii exulting in their

double victory.

Meanwhile, at Rome, the siege, in general, was slow, and there was quiet on both sides, the

Gauls being intent only on this, that none of the enemy should escape from between their posts;

when , on a sudden, a Roman youth drew on himself the admiration both of his countrymen and

the enemy. There was a sacrifice solemnized at stated times by the Fabian family on the Quirinal

hill. To perform this Caius Fabius Dorso having descended from the Capit ol, in the Gabine

cincture, carrying in his hands the sacred utensils, passed out through the midst of the enemy's

post, without being at all moved by the calls or threats of any of them, and reached the Quirinal

hill; and after duly performing there the s olemn rites, coming back by the same way with the

same firm countenance and gait, confident that the gods [Pg 379] were propitious, whose worship

he had not even neglected when prohibited by the fear of death, he returned to the Capitol to his

friends, the Gauls being either astounded at such an extraordinary manifestation of boldness, or

moved even by religious considerations, of which the nation is by no means regardless. In the

mean time, not only the courage, but the strength of those at Veii increased d aily, not only those

Romans repairing thither from the country who had strayed away after the unsuccessful battle, or

the disaster of the city being taken, but volunteers also flowing in from Latium, to come in for

share of the spoil. It now seemed high ti me that their country should be recovered and rescued

from the hands of the enemy. But a head was wanting to this strong body. The very spot put

them in mind of Camillus, and a considerable part consisted of soldiers who had fought

successfully under his g uidance and auspices: and Cædicius declared that he would not give

occasion that any one, whether god or man, should terminate his command rather than that,

mindful of his own rank, he would himself call (for the appointment of) a general. With universal

consent it was resolved that Camillus should be sent for from Ardea, but not until the senate at

Rome were first consulted: so far did a sense of propriety regulate every proceeding, and so

carefully did they observe the distinctions of things in their almo st desperate circumstances.

They had to pass at great risk through the enemy's guards. For this purpose a spirited youth,

Pontius Cominius, offered his services, and supporting himself on cork was carried down the

Tiber to the city. From thence, where the distance from the bank was shortest, he makes his way

into the Capitol over a portion of the rock that was craggy, and therefore neglected by the

enemy's guard: and being conducted to the magistrates, he delivers the instructions received from

the army. Th en having received a decree of the senate, both that Camillus should be recalled

from exile at the comitia curiata, and be forthwith appointed dictator by order of the people, and

that the soldiers should have the general whom they wished, he passed out th e same way and

proceeded with his despatches to Veii; and deputies being sent to Camillus to Ardea, conducted

him to Veii: or else the law was passed by the curiæ, and he was nominated dictator in his

absence; for I am more inclined to believe that he did not set out [Pg 380] from Ardea until he

found that the law was passed; because he could neither change his residence without an order of

the people, nor hold the privilege of the auspices in the army until he was nominated dictator. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

Whilst these things were going on at Veii, in the mean while the citadel and Capitol of Rome

were in great danger. For the Gauls either having perceived the track of a human foot where the

messenger from Veii had passed, or having of themselves remarked the easy ascent by the rock

at the temple of Carmentis, on a moonlight night, after they had at first sent forward an unarmed

person, to make trial of the way, delivering their arms, whenever any difficulty occurred,

alternately supported and supporting each other, and drawing each other up, according as the

ground required, they reached the summit in such silence, that they not only escaped the notice

of the sentinels, but of the dogs also, an animal extremely wakeful with respect to noises by

night. The notice of the geese the y did not escape, which, as being sacred to Juno, were spared

though they were in the greatest scarcity of food. Which circumstance was the cause of their

preservation. For Marcus Manlius, who three years before had been consul, a man distinguished

in war, being aroused from sleep by their cackling and the clapping of their wings, snatched up

his arms, and at the same time calling the others to do the same, proceeds to the spot; and whilst

the others are thrown into confusion, he struck with the boss of his shield and tumbles down a

Gaul, who had already got footing on the summit; and when the fall of this man as he tumbled

threw down those who were next him, he slew others, who in their consternation had thrown

away their arms, and caught hold of the rocks to which they clung. And now the others also

having assembled beat down the enemy by javelins and stones, and the entire band, having lost

their footing, were hurled down the precipice in promiscuous ruin. The alarm then subsiding, the

remainder of the nig ht was given up to repose, (as far as could be done considering the disturbed

state of their minds,) when the danger, even though past, still kept them in a state of anxiety. Day

having appeared, the soldiers were summoned by sound of trumpet to attend the tribunes in

assembly, when recompence was to be made both to merit and to demerit; Manlius was first of

all commended for his bravery and presented with [Pg 381] gifts, not only by the military

tribunes, but with the consent of the soldiers, for they all c arried to his house, which was in the

citadel, a contribution of half a pound of corn and half a pint of wine: a matter trifling in the

relation, but the [prevailing] scarcity had rendered it a strong proof of esteem, when each man,

depriving himself of hi s own food, contributed in honour of one man a portion subtracted from

his body and from his necessary requirements. Then the guards of that place where the enemy

had climbed up unobserved, were summoned; and when Quintus Sulpicius declared openly that

he would punish all according to the usage of military discipline, being deterred by the

consentient shout of the soldiers who threw the blame on one sentinel, he spared the rest. The

man, who was manifestly guilty of the crime, he threw down from the rock, w ith the approbation

of all. From this time forth the guards on both sides became more vigilant; on the part of the

Gauls, because a rumour spread that messengers passed between Veii and Rome, and on that of

the Romans, from the recollection of the danger w hich occurred during the night.

But beyond all the evils of siege and war, famine distressed both armies; pestilence, moreover,

[oppressed] the Gauls, both as being encamped in a place lying between hills, as well as heated

by the burning of the houses, and full of exhalations, and sending up not only ashes but embers

also, whenever the wind rose to any degree; and as the nation, accustomed to moisture and cold,

is most intolerant of these annoyances, and, suffering severely from the heat and suffocation , http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

they were dying, the diseases spreading as among cattle, now becoming weary of burying

separately, they heaped up the bodies promiscuously and burned them; and rendered the place

remarkable by the name of Gallic piles. A truce was now made with the Roman s, and

conferences were held with the permission of the commanders; in which when the Gauls

frequently alluded to the famine, and referred to the urgency of that as a further motive for their

surrendering, for the purpose of removing that opinion, bread is said to have been thrown in

many places from the Capitol, into the advanced posts of the enemy. But the famine could

neither be dissembled nor endured any longer. Accordingly, whilst the dictator is engaged in

person in holding a levy, in ordering his [Pg 382] master of the horse, Lucius Valerius, to bring

up the troops from Veii, in making preparations and arrangements, so that he may attack the

enemy on equal terms, in the mean time the army of the Capitol, wearied out with keeping guard

and with watches, having surmounted all human sufferings, whilst nature would not suffer

famine alone to be overcome, looking forward from day to day, to see whether any succour

would come from the dictator, at length not only food but hope also failing, and their arms

wei ghing down their debilitated bodies, whilst the guards were being relieved, insisted that there

should be either a surrender, or that they should be bought off, on whatever terms were possible,

the Gauls intimating in rather plain terms, that they could be induced for no very great

compensation to relinquish the siege. Then the senate was held and instructions were given to the

military tribunes to capitulate. Upon this the matter was settled between Quintus Sulpicius, a

military tribune, and Brennus, the c hieftain of the Gauls, and one thousand pounds' weight of

gold was agreed on as the ransom of a people, who were soon after to be the rulers of the world.

To a transaction very humiliating in itself, insult was added. False weights were brought by the

Gaul s, and on the tribune objecting, his sword was thrown in in addition to the weight by the

insolent Gaul, and an expression was heard intolerable to the Romans, "Woe to the vanquished!"

But both gods and men interfered to prevent the Romans from living o n the condition of being

ransomed; for by some chance, before the execrable price was completed, all the gold being not

yet weighed in consequence of the altercation, the dictator comes up, and orders the gold to be

removed, and the Gauls to clear away. Wh en they, holding out against him, affirmed that they

had concluded a bargain, he denied that the agreement was a valid one, which had been entered

into with a magistrate of inferior authority without his orders, after he had been nominated

dictator; and he gives notice to the Gauls to get ready for battle. He orders his men to throw their

baggage in a heap, and to get ready their arms, and to recover their country with steel, not with

gold, having before their eyes the temples of the gods, and their wives a nd children, and the soil

of their country disfigured by the calamities of war, and all those objects which they were

solemnly bound [Pg 383] to defend, to recover, and to revenge. He then draws up his army, as the

nature of the place admitted, on the site of the half -demolished city, and which was uneven by

nature, and he secured all those advantages for his own men, which could be prepared or selected

by military skill. The Gauls, thrown into confusion by the unexpected event, take up arms, and

with rage, rather than good judgment, rushed upon the Romans. Fortune had now changed; now

the aid of the gods and human prudence assisted the Roman cause. At the first encounter,

therefore, the Gauls were routed with no greater difficulty than they had found in gain ing the

victory at Allia. They were afterwards beaten under the conduct and auspices of the same

Camillus, in a more regular engagement, at the eighth stone on the Gabine road, whither they had http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725 -h/19725 -h.htm#e37

betaken themselves after their defeat. There the slaughter was universal: their camp was taken,

and not even one person was left to carry news of the defeat. The dictator, after having recovered

his country from the enemy, returns into the city in triumph; and among the rough military jests

which they throw out [on s uch occasions] he is styled, with praises by no means undeserved,

Romulus, and parent of his country, and a second founder of the city. His country, thus preserved

by arms, he unquestionably saved a second time in peace, when he hindered the people from

removing to Veii, both the tribunes pressing the matter with greater earnestness after the burning

of the city, and the commons of themselves being more inclined to that measure; and that was the

cause of his not resigning his dictatorship after the triumph, the senate entreating him not to

leave the commonwealth in so unsettled a state.