26. At the election of military tribunes the patricians succeeded by

their utmost exertions in having Marcus Furius Camillus elected. They

pretended that he was wanted as a commander on account of the wars; but

he was intended as an opponent to the tribunes in their profusion. The

military tribunes with consular authority elected with Camillus were,

Lucius Furius Medullinus a sixth time, Caius Æmilius, Lucius Valerius

Publicola, Spurius Postumius, Publius Cornelius a second time. At the

commencement of the year the tribunes of the commons took not a step

until Marcus Furius Camillus should set out to the Faliscians, as that

war had been assigned to him. Then by delaying the project cooled; and

Camillus, whom they chiefly dreaded as an antagonist, acquired an

increase of glory among the Faliscians. For when the enemy at first

confined themselves within the walls, considering it the safest plan, by

laying waste their lands and burning their houses, he compelled them to

come forth from the city; but their fears prevented them from proceeding

to any considerable length. At about a mile from the town they pitch

their camp; trusting that it was sufficiently secure from no other

cause, than the difficulty of the approaches, the roads around being

rough and craggy, in some parts narrow, in others steep. But Camillus

having followed the direction of a prisoner belonging to the country as

his guide, decamping at an advanced hour of the night, at break of day

shows himself on ground considerably higher [than theirs]. The Romans

worked at the fortifications in three divisions: the rest of the army

stood prepared for battle. There he routs and puts to flight the enemy

when they attempted to interrupt his works; and such terror was struck

into the Faliscians in consequence, that, in their precipitate flight

passing by their own camp which lay in their way, they made for the

city. Many were slain and wounded, before that in their panic they could

make their way through the gates. Their camp was taken; the spoil was

given up to the quæstors, to the great dissatisfaction of the soldiers;

but overcome by the strictness of his authority, they both hated and

admired the same firmness of conduct. Then a regular siege of the city

took place, and the lines of circumvallation were carried on, and

sometimes occasional attacks were made by the townsmen on the Roman

posts, and slight skirmishes took place: and the time was spent, no hope

[of success] inclining to either side, whilst corn and other provisions

were possessed in much greater abundance by the besieged than the

besiegers from [the store] which had been previously laid in. And their

toil appeared likely to prove just as tedious as it had at Veii, had not

fortune presented to the Roman general at once both an opportunity for

displaying his virtuous firmness of mind already tested in warlike

affairs, and a speedy victory.

27. It was the custom among the Faliscians to employ the same person as

preceptor and private tutor for their children; and, as continues the

usage to this day in Greece, several youths were intrusted to the care

of one man. The person who appeared to excel in knowledge, instructed,

as it is natural to suppose, the children of the leading men. As he had

established it as a custom during peace to carry the boys out beyond the

city for the sake of play and of exercise; that custom not having been

discontinued during the existence of the war; then drawing them away

from the gate, sometimes in shorter, sometimes in longer excursions,

advancing farther than usual, when an opportunity offered, by varying

their play and conversation, he led them on between the enemy's guards,

and thence to the Roman camp into his tent to Camillus. There to the

atrocious act he added a still more atrocious speech: that "he had

delivered Falerii into the hands of the Romans, when he put into their

power those children, whose parents are there at the head of affairs."

When Camillus heard this, he says, "Wicked as thou art, thou hast come

with thy villanous offering neither to a people nor a commander like

thyself. Between us and the Faliscians there exists not that form of

society which is established by human compact; but between both there

does exist, and ever will exist, that which nature has implanted. There

are laws of war as well of peace; and we have learned to wage them

justly not less than bravely. We carry arms not against that age which

is spared even when towns are taken, but against men who are themselves

armed, and who, not having been injured or provoked by us, attacked the

Roman camp at Veii. Those thou hast surpassed, as far as lay in you, by

an unprecedented act of villany: I shall conquer them, as I did Veii, by

Roman arts, by bravery, labour, and by arms." Then having stripped him

naked, and tied his hands behind his back, he delivered him up to the

boys to be brought back to Falerii; and supplied them with rods to

scourge the traitor and drive him into the city. At which spectacle, a

crowd of people being assembled, afterwards the senate being convened by

the magistrates on the extraordinary circumstance, so great a change was

produced in their sentiments, that the entire state earnestly demanded

peace at the hands of those, who lately, outrageous by hatred and anger,

almost preferred the fate of the Veientians to the peace of the

Capenatians. The Roman faith, the justice of the commander, are cried up

in the forum and in the senate-house; and by universal consent

ambassadors set out to the camp to Camillus, and thence by permission of

Camillus to Rome to the senate, in order to deliver up Falerii. When

introduced before the senate, they are represented as having spoken

thus: "Conscript fathers, overcome by you and your commander by a

victory at which neither god nor man can feel displeasure, we surrender

ourselves to you, considering that we shall live more happily under your

rule than under our own law, than which nothing can be more glorious for

a conqueror. In the result of this war, two salutary examples have been

exhibited to mankind. You preferred faith in war to present victory: we,

challenged by your good faith, have voluntarily given up to you the

victory. We are under your sovereignty. Send men to receive our arms,

our hostages, our city with its gates thrown open. You shall never have

to repent of our fidelity, nor we of your dominion." Thanks were

returned to Camillus both by the enemy and by his own countrymen. Money

was required of the Faliscians to pay off the soldiers for that year,

that the Roman people might be relieved from the tribute. Peace being

granted, the army was led back to Rome.

28. When Camillus returned home, signalized by much more solid glory

than when white horses had drawn him through the city, having vanquished

the enemy by justice and good faith, the senate did not conceal their

sense of respect for him, but immediately set about acquitting him of

his vow; and Lucius Valerius, Lucius Sergius, Aulus Manlius, being sent

in a ship of war as ambassadors to carry the golden bowl to Delphos as

an offering to Apollo, were intercepted by the pirates of the Liparenses

not far from the Sicilian Strait, and carried to Liparæ. It was the

custom of the state to make a division of all booty which was acquired,

as it were, by public piracy. On that year it so happened that one

Timasitheus filled the office of chief magistrate, a man more like the

Romans than his own countrymen. Who, himself reverencing the name of

ambassadors, and the offering, and the god to whom it was sent, and the

cause of the offering, impressed the multitude also, who almost on all

occasions resemble their ruler, with [a sense] of religious justice; and

after having brought the ambassadors to a public entertainment, escorted

them with the protection of some ships to Delphos, and from thence

brought them back in safety to Rome. By a decree of the senate a league

of hospitality was formed with him, and presents were conferred on him

by the state. During the same year the war with the Æquans was

conducted with varying success; so that it was a matter of doubt both

among the troops themselves and at Rome, whether they had been

victorious or were vanquished. The Roman commanders were Caius Æmilius

and Spurius Postumius, two of the military tribunes. At first they acted

in conjunction; then, after the enemy were routed in the field, it was

agreed that Æmilius should take possession of Verrugo with a certain

force, and that Postumius should devastate the country. There, as the

latter proceeded rather negligently, and with his troops irregularly

drawn up, he was attacked by the Æquans, and an alarm being occasioned,

he was driven to the nearest hill; and the panic spread from thence to

Verrugo to the other detachment of the army. When Postumius, having

withdrawn his men to a place of safety, summoned an assembly and

upbraided them with their fright and flight; with having been beaten by

a most cowardly and dastardly enemy; the entire army shout aloud that

they deserved to hear all this, and admitted the disgrace they had

incurred; but [they promised] that they would make amends, and that the

enemy's joy should not be of long duration. Demanding that he would

instantly lead them from thence to the camp of the enemy, (this lay in

the plain within their view,) they submitted to any punishment, if they

did not take it before night. Having praised them, he orders them to

take refreshment, and to be in readiness at the fourth watch. And the

enemy, in order to prevent the flight of the Romans from the hill

through the road which led to Verrugo, were posted to meet them; and the

battle commenced before daylight, (but the moon was up all the night,)

and was not more confused than a battle fought by day. But the shout

having reached Verrugo, when they thought that the Roman camp was

attacked, occasioned such a panic, that in spite of the entreaties of

Æmilius and his efforts to stop them, they fled to Tusculum in great

disorder. From thence a report was carried to Rome that "Postumius and

his army were cut to pieces." When the dawn of day had removed all

apprehension of an ambuscade in case of a hasty pursuit, after riding

through the ranks, by demanding [the performance of] their promises he

infused such ardour into them, that the Æquans could no longer withstand

their impetuosity. Then the slaughter of them in their flight, such as

takes place when matters are conducted more under the influence of

anger than of courage, was continued even to the total destruction of

the enemy, and the melancholy news from Tusculum, the state having been

alarmed without cause, was followed by a letter from Postumius decked

with laurel, (announcing) that "the victory belonged to the Roman

people; that the army of the Æquans was destroyed."

29. As the proceedings of the plebeian tribunes had not yet attained a

termination, both the commons exerted themselves to continue their

office for the promoters of the law, and the patricians to re-elect the

opponents of the law; but the commons were more successful in the

election of their own magistrates. Which annoyance the patricians

avenged by passing a decree of the senate that consuls should be

elected, magistrates detested by the commons. After an interval of

fifteen years, Lucius Lucretius Flavus and Servius Sulpicius Camerinus

were appointed consuls. In the beginning of this year, whilst the

tribunes of the commons united their efforts to pass the law, because

none of their college were likely to oppose them, and the consuls

resisted them with no less energy, the Æquans storm Vitellia, a Roman

colony in their territory. The chief part of the colonists made their

way in safety to Rome, because the town, having been taken by treachery

in the night, afforded an unimpeded mode of escape by the remote side of

the city. That province fell to the lot of Lucius Lucretius the consul.

He having set out with his army, vanquished the enemy in the field; and

returned victorious to Rome to a much more serious contest. A day of

trial had been appointed for Aulus Virginius and Quintus Pomponius,

plebeian tribunes of the two preceding years, in whose defence by the

combined power of the patricians, the honour of the senate was involved.

For no one laid against them any other impeachment, either of their mode

of life or of their conduct in office, save that, to gratify the

patricians, they had protested against the tribunitian law. The

resentment of the commons, however, prevailed over the influence of the

senate; and by a most pernicious precedent these men, though innocent,

were condemned [to pay a fine of] ten thousand _asses_ in weight. At

this the patricians were very much incensed. Camillus openly charged the

commons with gross violation of duty, "who, now turning their venom

against their own body, did not feel that by their iniquitous sentence

on the tribune they abolished the right of protesting; that abolishing

this right of protesting, they had upset the tribunitian authority. For

they were mistaken in expecting that the patricians would tolerate the

unbridled licentiousness of that office. If tribunitian violence could

not be repelled by tribunitian aid, that the patricians would find out

some other weapon." The consuls he also blamed, because they had in

silence suffered those tribunes who had followed the authority of the

senate to be deceived by [their reliance] on the public faith. By openly

expressing these sentiments, he every day still further exasperated the

angry feelings of the people.

30. But he ceased not to urge the senate to oppose the law; "that when

the day for proposing the law had arrived they should go down to the

forum with no other feeling than as men who remembered that they had to

contend for their altars and homes, and the temples of the gods, and the

soil in which they had been born. For that as far as he himself

individually was concerned, if during this contest [to be sustained] by

his country it were allowable for him to think of his own glory, it

would even reflect honour on himself, that a city captured by him should

be densely inhabited, that he would daily enjoy the monument of his

glory, and that he would have before his eyes a city borne by him in his

triumph, that all would tread in the footsteps of his renown. But that

he deemed it an impiety that a city deserted and forsaken by the

immortal gods should be inhabited; that the Roman people should reside

in a captive soil, and that a vanquished should be taken in exchange for

a victorious country." Stimulated by these exhortations of their leader,

the patricians, both young and old, entered the forum in a body, when

the law was about to be proposed: and dispersing themselves through the

tribes, each earnestly appealing to the members of their own tribe,

began to entreat them with tears "not to desert that country for which

they themselves and their fathers had fought most valiantly and

successfully," pointing to the Capitol, the temple of Vesta, and the

other temples of the gods around; "not to drive the Roman people, exiles

and outcasts, from their native soil and household gods into the city of

the enemy; and not to bring matters to such a state, that it was better

that Veii were not taken, lest Rome should be deserted." Because they

proceeded not by violence, but by entreaties, and in the midst of these

entreaties frequent mention was [made] of the gods, the greatest part

[of the people] were influenced by religious scruples: and more tribes

by one rejected the law than voted for it. And so gratifying was this

victory to the patricians, that on the following day, on a motion made

by the consuls, a decree of the senate was passed, that seven acres a

man of Veientian territory should be distributed to the commons; and not

only to the fathers of families, but so that all persons in their house

in a state of freedom should be considered, and that they might be

willing to rear up their children with that prospect.

31. The commons being won over by such a boon, no opposition was made to

holding the elections for consuls. Lucius Valerius Potitus, and Marcus

Manlius, who afterwards obtained the surname of Capitolinus, were

elected consuls. These consuls celebrated the great games which Marcus

Furius, when dictator, had vowed in the Veientian war. In the same year

the temple of imperial Juno, vowed by the same dictator and during the

same war, is dedicated; and they state that the dedication was attended

with great zeal by the matrons. A war scarcely worth mentioning was

waged with the Æquans at Algidum, the enemies taking to flight almost

before they commenced the fight. To Valerius, because he was more

persevering in slaughtering them in their flight, a triumph was granted;

it was decreed that Manlius should enter the city with an ovation. The

same year a new war broke out with the Volsinians; whither an army could

not be led, on account of a famine and pestilence in the Roman

territories, which arose from drought and excessive heat; on account of

which the Volsinians forming a junction with the Salpinians, being

elated with pride, made an unprovoked incursion into the Roman

territories. War was then proclaimed against the two states. Caius

Julius died during his censorship; Marcus Cornelius was substituted in

his room; a proceeding which was afterwards considered as offensive to

religion; because during that lustrum Rome was taken. Nor since that

time has a censor ever been substituted in the room of one deceased. And

the consuls being seized by the distemper, it was determined that the

auspices should be taken anew during an interregnum.

32. Therefore when in pursuance of a decree of the senate the consuls

resigned their office, Marcus Furius Camillus is created interrex, who

appointed Publius Cornelius Scipio interrex, and he afterwards Lucius

Valerius Potitus. By him were appointed six military tribunes with

consular power; so that, though any one of them should be incommoded by

bad health, the state might have a sufficient number of magistrates. On

the calends of July, the following entered on their office, Lucius

Lucretius, Servius Sulpicius, Marcus Æmilius, Lucius Furius Medullinus a

seventh time, Agrippa Furius, Caius Æmilius a second time. Of these,

Lucius Lucretius and Caius Æmilius got the Volsinians as their province;

the Salpinians fell to the lot of Agrippa Furius and Servius Sulpicius.

The first engagement was with the Volsinians. The war, important from

the number of the enemy, was without difficulty brought to a close. At

the first onset, their army was put to flight. Eight thousand soldiers,

hemmed in by the cavalry, laid down their arms and surrendered. The

account received of that war had the effect of preventing the Salpinians

from hazarding an engagement; the troops secured themselves within their

towns. The Romans drove spoil in every direction, both from the

Salpinian and Volsinian territory, there being no one to repel that

aggression; until a truce for twenty years was granted to the

Volsinians, exhausted by the war, on this condition, that they should

make restitution to the Roman people, and furnish the pay of the army

for that year. During the same year, Marcus Cædicius, a plebeian,

announced to the tribunes that in the New Street, where the chapel now

stands, above the temple of Vesta, he had heard in the silence of the

night a voice louder than that of a human being, which ordered the

magistrates to be told, that the Gauls were approaching. This, as is

usual, was disregarded, on account of the humble station of the author,

and also because the nation was a remote one, and therefore the less

known. And not only were the warnings of the gods disregarded, fate now

impending; but further, the only human aid which was left them, Marcus

Furius, they drove away from the city; who, on a day [of trial] being

appointed for him by Lucius Appuleius, a tribune of the people, in

reference to the Veientian spoil, he having also lost his son, a young

man, about the same time, when he summoned to his house the members of

his tribe and his dependents, (they constituted a considerable portion

of the commons,) and having sounded their sentiments, he received for

answer, "that they would contribute whatever fine he should be condemned

to pay; that to acquit him they were unable,"[168] retired into exile;

after praying to the immortal gods, "that if that outrage was done to

him without his deserving it, they would at the earliest opportunity

give cause to his ungrateful country to regret his absence." In his

absence he was fined fifteen thousand _asses_ in weight.

[Footnote 168: Niebuhr and Arnold understand these words to signify,

that these persons had already made up their minds not to acquit him, or

assist him by voting in favour of him--in fact, that they could not

conscientiously do so. It may, however, signify simply, that the people

were so incensed against him, that there existed not a rational prospect

of acquittal for him.]

33. That citizen being driven away, who being present, Rome could not be

captured, if any thing is certain regarding human affairs; the destined

ruin now approaching the city, ambassadors came from the Clusinians,

soliciting aid against the Gauls. A report is current that that nation,

allured by the delightfulness of the crops, and more especially of the

wine, an enjoyment then new to them, crossed the Alps, and took

possession of the lands formerly cultivated by the Etrurians; and that

Aruns, a native of Clusium, introduced wine into Gaul for the purpose of

enticing the nation, through resentment for his wife's having been

debauched by Lucumo, whose guardian he himself had been, a very

influential young man, and on whom vengeance could not be taken, unless

foreign aid were resorted to; that this person served as a guide to them

when crossing the Alps, and advised them to lay siege to Clusium. I

would not indeed deny that the Gauls were brought to Clusium by Aruns or

any other native of Clusium; but that those persons who laid siege to

Clusium were not they who first crossed the Alps, is sufficiently

certain. For two hundred years before they laid siege to Clusium and

captured the city of Rome, the Gauls passed over into Italy. Nor were

these the first of the Etrurians with whom the Gauls fought, but long

before that they frequently fought with those who dwelt between the

Apennines and the Alps. Before the Roman empire the sway of the Tuscans

was much extended by land and by sea; how very powerful they were in

the upper and lower seas, by which Italy is encompassed like an island,

the names [of these seas] is a proof; the one of which the Italian

nations have called the Tuscan sea, the general appellation of the

people; the other the Hadriatic, from Hadria, a colony of Tuscans. The

Greeks call these same seas the Tyrrhenian and Hadriatic. This people

inhabited the country extending to both seas in twelve cities, colonies

equal in number to the mother cities having been sent, first on this

side the Apennines towards the lower sea, afterwards to the other side

of the Apennines; who obtained possession of all the district beyond the

Po, even as far as the Alps, except the corner of the Venetians, who

dwell round the extreme point of the [Hadriatic] sea. The Alpine nations

also have this origin, more especially the Rhætians; whom their very

situation has rendered savage, so as to retain nothing of their

original, except the accent of their language, and not even that without

corruption.

34. Concerning the passage of the Gauls into Italy we have heard as

follows. In the reign of Tarquinius Priscus at Rome, the supreme

government of the Celts, who compose the third part of Gaul, was in the

hands of the Biturigians: they gave a king to the Celtic nation. This

was Ambigatus, one very much distinguished by his merit, and both his

great prosperity in his own concerns and in those of the public; for

under his administration Gaul was so fruitful and so well peopled, that

so very great a population appeared scarcely capable of being restrained

by any government. He being now advanced in years, and anxious to

relieve his kingdom of so oppressive a crowd, declares his intention to

send his sister's sons, Bellovesus and Sigovesus, two enterprising

youths, into whatever settlements the gods should grant them by augury:

that they should take out with them as great a number of men as they

pleased, so that no nation might be able to obstruct them in their

progress. Then to Sigovesus the Hercynian forest was assigned by the

oracle: to Bellovesus the gods marked out a much more cheering route

into Italy. He carried out with him from the Biturigians, the

Arvernians, the Senonians, the Æduans, the Ambarrians, the Carnutians,

and the Aulercians, all that was superfluous in their population. Having

set out with an immense force of horse and foot, he arrived in the

country of the Tricastinians. Next the Alps were opposed [to their

progress], and I am not surprised that they should seem impassable, as

they had never been climbed over through any path as yet, as far at

least as tradition can extend, unless we are disposed to believe the

stories regarding Hercules. When the height of the mountains kept the

Gauls there penned up as it were, and they were looking around [to

discover] by what path they might pass into another world between the

summits, which joined the sky, a religious scruple detained them, it

having been announced to them that strangers in search of lands were

attacked by the nation of the Salyans. These were the Massilians, who

had come by sea from Phocæa. The Gauls considering this an omen of their

own fortune, assisted them in fortifying the ground which they had taken

possession of on their first landing, covered with spacious woods. They

themselves crossed the Alps through the Taurinian and pathless forests;

and having defeated the Etrurians not far from the Ticinus, on hearing

that the land in which they had posted themselves was called Insubria,

the same name as the Insubres, a canton of the Ædui: embracing the omen

of the place, they built a city there, and called it Mediolanum.

35. Some time after another body, consisting of Cenomanians, having

followed the tracks of the former under the conduct of Elitovius,

crossed the Alps through the same forest, with the aid of Bellovesus,

and settle themselves where the cities of Brixia and Verona now stand

(the Libuans then possessed these places). After these came the

Salluvians, who fix themselves near the ancient canton of the Ligurians

called Lævi, inhabiting the banks of the Ticinus. Next the Boians and

Lingonians, having made their way over through the Penine pass, all the

tract between the Po and the Alps being occupied, crossed the Po on

rafts, and drove out of the country not only the Etrurians, but the

Umbrians also: they confined themselves however within the Apennines.

Then the Senonians, the latest of these emigrants, took possession of

the track [extending] from the Utens to the Æsis. I find that it was

this nation that came to Clusium, and thence to Rome; whether alone, or

aided by all the nations of the Cisalpine Gauls, is not duly

ascertained. The Clusians, terrified at their strange enemy, on

beholding their great numbers, the forms of the men such as they had

never seen, and the kind of arms [they carried], and on hearing that

the troops of the Etrurians had been frequently defeated by them on both

sides of the Po, sent ambassadors to Rome to solicit aid from the

senate, though they had no claim on the Roman people, in respect either

of alliance or friendship, except that they had not defended their

relations the Veientians against the Roman people. No aid was obtained:

three ambassadors were sent, sons of Marcus Fabius Ambustus, to treat

with the Gauls in the name of the senate and Roman people; that they

should not attack the allies and friends of the Roman people from whom

they had received no wrong. That they should be supported by the Romans

even by force of arms, if circumstances obliged them; but it seemed

better that war itself should be kept aloof, if possible; and that the

Gauls, a nation strangers to them, should be known by peace, rather than

by arms.

36. The embassy was a mild one, had it not been consigned to ambassadors

too hot in temper, and who resembled Gauls more than Romans. To whom,

after they delivered their commission in the assembly of the Gauls, the

following answer is returned: Though the name of the Romans was new to

their ears, yet they believed them to be brave men, whose aid was

implored by the Clusians in their perilous conjuncture. And since they

chose to defend their allies against them by negociation rather than by

arms, that they on their part would not reject the pacific terms which

they propose, if the Clusians would give up to the Gauls in want of

land, a portion of their territories which they possessed to a greater

extent than they could cultivate; otherwise peace could not be obtained:

that they wished to receive an answer in presence of the Romans; and if

the land were refused them, that they would decide the matter with the

sword in presence of the same Romans; that they might have an

opportunity of carrying home an account how much the Gauls excelled all

other mortals in bravery. On the Romans asking what right they had to

demand land from the possessors, or to threaten war [in case of

refusal], and what business the Gauls had in Etruria, and on their

fiercely replying, that they carried their right in their swords, that

all things were the property of the brave, with minds inflamed on both

sides they severally have recourse to arms, and the battle is commenced.

Here, fate now pressing hard on the Roman city, the ambassadors,

contrary to the law of nations, take up arms; nor could this be done in

secret, as three of the noblest and bravest of the Roman youth fought in

the van of the Etrurians; so conspicuous was the valour of the

foreigners. Moreover Quintus Fabius, riding out beyond the line, slew a

general of the Gauls who was furiously charging the very standards of

the Etrurians, having run him through the side with his spear: and the

Gauls recognised him when stripping him of his spoils; and a signal was

given throughout the entire line that he was a Roman ambassador. Giving

up therefore their resentment against the Clusians, they sound a

retreat, threatening the Romans. Some gave it as their opinion that they

should proceed forthwith to Rome. The seniors prevailed, that

ambassadors should be sent to complain of the injuries done them, and to

demand that the Fabii should be given up to them in satisfaction for

having violated the law of nations. When the ambassadors had stated

matters, according to the instructions given to them, the conduct of the

Fabii was neither approved by the senate, and the barbarians seemed to

them to demand what was just: but in the case of men of such station

party favour prevented them from decreeing that which they felt to be

right. Wherefore lest the blame of any misfortune, which might happen to

be received in a war with the Gauls, should lie with them, they refer

the consideration of the demands of the Gauls to the people, where

influence and wealth were so predominant, that those persons, whose

punishment was under consideration, were elected military tribunes with

consular power for the ensuing year. At which proceeding the Gauls being

enraged, as was very natural, openly menacing war, return to their own

party. With the three Fabii the military tribunes elected were Quintus

Sulpicius Longus, Quintus Servilius a fourth time, Servius Cornelius

Maluginensis.

37. Though danger of such magnitude was impending (so completely does

Fortune blind the 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 many trying

occasions, that same state now, when an enemy, never before seen or

heard of, from the ocean and remotest regions of the earth, was

advancing in arms against them, looked not for any extraordinary command

or aid. Tribunes, by whose temerity 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 Gauls, 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 space 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

brought 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 river 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.

38. 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 the 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 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, directed 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 side 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 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 flight. 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, having 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 Veii;

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.

[Footnote 169: In my translation of this passage I have differed from

Baker, who thus renders: "thinking, that as his enemies were few in

number, their skill was what he had chiefly to guard against." Dureau De

Lamalle thus translates: "supposant de la ruse aux ennemis, a raison de

leur petit nombre." This is obviously the correct version.]

39. 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 apprehended 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 the 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 former 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 desperate

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

and 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 expected;] 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 night, 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,

however, 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 of troops now remaining, it was 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 and corn, and thence from a

fortified post, that they should 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 should 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 loss

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 portion 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 bodies, 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.

[Footnote 170: The aged were doomed to perish under any circumstances,

(_utique_,) from scarcity of provisions, whether they retired into the

Capitol with the military youth, or were left behind in the city.]

40. Their exhortations were then turned to the band of young men, whom

they escorted to the Capitol 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 with 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 inviting them; because the measure 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

carried 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 them on to Cære,

whither the priests had intended to go.

41. 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 the 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 drawing 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 country 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, which 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 them 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 the 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 universally 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.

42. 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 whatever 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 indiscriminately 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 houses, had called their attention,

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 should 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 misfortunes, 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.

43. The Gauls also, after having for several days waged an ineffectual

war against 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 employed, 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 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,

judging 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 Gauls 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 through

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.

44. The Gauls, who marched from the city, were led by fortune herself,

to make trial of Roman 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 moved by divine inspiration, after he

advanced into the midst of the assembly, having hitherto been accustomed

to absent himself from such meetings, 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 you derive benefit

from me, if not in war? By this accomplishment I maintained my rank in

my native country: and, unconquered 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 which 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 spirits 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 retire 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

incautious 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 deliver 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."

45. Both friends and enemies were satisfied that there existed no where

at that time a man of equal military talent. The 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 from 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 most 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 attack 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 the

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 attacking them at the moment; and being restrained by

Quintus Cædicius, the centurion, 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 havoc,

and returned to Veii exulting in their double victory.

46. 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 Capitol, 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 solemn rites, coming back by the same way with the same firm

countenance and gait, confident that the gods 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 daily, 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 time

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 guidance 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 almost 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. Then 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 the

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 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.

47. 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 they 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

night 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 gifts, not

only by the military tribunes, but with the consent of the soldiers, for

they all carried 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 his 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, with 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 which occurred during

the night.

48. 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, 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 Romans, 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 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

weighing 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 chieftain 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 Gauls, 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!"

49. But both gods and men interfered to prevent the Romans from living

on 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. When 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

and children, and the soil of their country disfigured by the calamities

of war, and all those objects which they were solemnly bound 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 gaining 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 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

such 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.

50. First of all, he proposed matters appertaining to the immortal gods;

for he was a most scrupulous observer of religious duties; and he

procures a decree of the senate, "that all the temples, as the enemy had

possessed them, should be restored, their bounds traced, and expiations

made for them, and that the form of expiation should be sought in the

books by the decemvirs; that a league of hospitality should be entered

into by public authority with the people of Cære, because they had

afforded a reception to the sacred utensils of the Roman people and to

their priests; and because, by the kindness of that people, the worship

of the immortal gods had not been intermitted; that Capitoline games

should be exhibited, for that Jupiter, supremely good and great, had

protected his own mansion and the citadel of the Roman people when in

danger; and that Marcus Furius, the dictator, should establish a college

for that purpose, out of those who should inhabit the Capitol and

citadel." Mention was also introduced of expiating the voice heard by

night, which had been heard announcing the calamity before the Gallic

war, and neglected, and a temple was ordered in the New Street to Aius

Locutius. The gold, which had been rescued from the Gauls, and that also

which during the alarm had been collected from the other temples into

the recess of Jupiter's temple, the recollection being confused as to

the temples to which it should be carried back, was all judged to be

sacred, and ordered to be placed under the throne of Jupiter. Already

the religious scruples of the state had appeared in this, that when gold

was wanting for public uses, to make up for the Gauls the amount of the

ransom agreed upon, they had accepted that which was contributed by the

matrons, so that they might not touch the sacred gold. Thanks were

returned to the matrons, and to this was added the honour of their

having funeral orations pronounced on them after death, in the same

manner as the men. Those things being finished which appertained to the

gods, and such measures as could be transacted through the senate, then,

at length, as the tribunes were teasing the commons by their unceasing

harangues, to leave the ruins, to remove to Veii, a city ready prepared

for them, being escorted by the entire senate, he ascends the tribunal,

and spoke as follows:

51. "Romans, so disagreeable to me are contentions with the tribunes of

the people, that in my most melancholy exile, whilst I resided at Ardea,

I had no other consolation than that I was removed from these contests;

and for this same reason I would never have returned, even though you

recalled me by a decree of the senate, and by order of the people. Nor

has it been any change in my own sentiments, but in your fortune, that

has persuaded me to return now. For the question was that my country

should remain in its own established seat, not that I should reside in

my country. And on the present occasion I would gladly remain quiet and

silent, were not the present struggle also appertaining to my country's

interests, to be wanting to which, as long as life lasts, were base in

others, in Camillus impious. For why have we recovered it? Why have we

rescued it when besieged out of the hands of the enemy, if we ourselves

desert it when recovered? And when, the Gauls being victorious, the

entire city captured, both the gods and the natives of Rome still

retained and inhabited the Capitol and citadel, shall even the citadel

and the Capitol be deserted, now when the Romans are victorious and the

city has been recovered? And shall our prosperous fortune cause more

desolation to this city than our adverse caused? Truly if we had no

religious institutions established together with the city, and regularly

transmitted down to us, still the divine power has so manifestly

interested itself in behalf of the Roman state on the present trying

occasion, that I should think that all neglect of the divine worship was

removed from the minds of men. For consider the events of these latter

years one after the other, whether prosperous or adverse; you will find

that all things succeeded favourably with us whilst we followed the

gods, and unfavourably when we neglected them. Now, first of all the

Veientian war--of how many years' duration, with what immense labour

waged!--was not brought to a termination, until the water was discharged

from the Alban lake by the admonition of the gods. What, in the name of

heaven, regarding this recent calamity of our city? did it arise, until

the voice sent from heaven concerning the approach of the Gauls was

treated with slight? until the law of nations was violated by our

ambassadors, and until such violation was passed over by us with the

same indifference towards the gods, when it should have been punished by

us? Accordingly vanquished, made captives and ransomed, we have suffered

such punishments at the hands of gods and men, as that we are now a

warning to the whole world. Afterwards our misfortunes reminded us of

our religious duties. We fled for refuge to the gods, to the seat of

Jupiter supremely good and great; amid the ruin of all our effects our

sacred utensils we partly concealed in the earth; part of them we

carried away to the neighbouring cities and removed from the eyes of the

enemy. Though deserted by gods and men, still we intermitted not the

worship of the gods. Accordingly they have restored to us our country,

and victory, our ancient renown in war which had been lost, and on our

enemies, who, blinded by avarice, have violated the faith of a treaty

with respect to the weight of gold, they have turned dismay, and flight,

and slaughter.

52. "When you behold such striking instances of the effects of honouring

or neglecting the deity, do you perceive what an act of impiety we are

about to perpetrate, scarcely emerging from the wreck of our former

misconduct and calamity? We possess a city founded under auspices and

auguries; not a spot is there in it that is not full of religious rites

and of the gods: the days for the anniversary sacrifices are not more

definitely stated, than are the places in which they are to be

performed. All these gods, both public and private, do ye, Romans,

pretend to forsake. What similarity does your conduct bear [to that]

which lately during the siege was beheld with no less admiration by the

enemy than by yourselves in that excellent Caius Fabius, when he

descended from the citadel amid the Gallic weapons, and performed on the

Quirinal hill the solemn rites of the Fabian family? Is it your wish

that the family religious rites should not be intermitted even during

war, but that the public rites and the Roman gods should be deserted

even in time of peace, and that the pontiffs and flamens should be more

negligent of public religious ceremonies, than a private individual in

the anniversary rite of a particular family? Perhaps some one may say,

that we will either perform these duties at Veii, or that we will send

our priests hither from thence in order to perform them; neither of

which can be done, without infringing on the established forms. For not

to enumerate all the sacred rites severally and all the gods, whether in

the banquet of Jupiter can the lectisternium be performed in any other

place, save in the Capitol? What shall I say of the eternal fire of

Vesta, and of the statue, which, as the pledge of empire, is kept under

the safeguard of her temple? What, O Mars Gradivus, and you, father

Quirinus, of your Ancilia? Is it right that these sacred things, coeval

with the city, some of them more ancient than the origin of the city,

should be abandoned to profanation? And, observe the difference existing

between us and our ancestors. They handed down to us certain sacred

rites to be performed by us on the Alban and on the Lavinian mounts. Was

it in conformity with religion that these sacred rites were transferred

to us to Rome from the cities of our enemies? shall we transfer them

hence to Veii, an enemy's city, without impiety? Come, recollect how

often sacred rites are performed anew, because some ceremony of our

country had been omitted through negligence or accident. On a late

occasion, what circumstance, after the prodigy of the Alban lake, proved

a remedy to the state distressed by the Veientian war, but the

repetition of the sacred rites and the renewal of the auspices? But

further, as if duly mindful of ancient religious usages, we have both

transferred foreign deities to Rome, and have established new ones. Very

recently, imperial Juno was transferred from Veii, and had her

dedication performed on a day how distinguished for the extraordinary

zeal of the matrons, and with what a full attendance! We have directed a

temple to be erected to Aius Locutius, in consequence of the heavenly

voice heard in the New Street. To our other solemnities we have added

the Capitoline games, and, by direction of the senate, we have founded a

new college for that purpose. Which of these things need we have done,

if we were to leave the Roman city together with the Gauls? if it was

not voluntarily we remained in the Capitol for so many months of siege;

if we were retained by the enemy through motives of fear? We are

speaking of the sacred rites and of the temples; what, pray, of the

priests? Does it not occur to you, what a degree of profaneness would be

committed in respect of them. The Vestals, forsooth, have but that one

settlement, from which nothing ever disturbed them, except the capture

of the city. It is an act of impiety for the flamen Dialis to remain for

a single night without the city. Do ye mean to make them Veientian

instead of Roman priests? And shall the virgins forsake thee, O Vesta?

And shall the flamen by living abroad draw on himself and on his country

such a weight of guilt every night? What of the other things, all of

which we transact under auspices within the Pomærium, to what oblivion,

to what neglect do we consign them? The assemblies of the Curias, which

comprise military affairs; the assemblies of the Centuries, at which you

elect consuls and military tribunes, when can they be held under

auspices, unless where they are wont [to be held]? Shall we transfer

them to Veii? or whether for the purpose of holding their elections

shall the people assemble at so great inconvenience into a city deserted

by gods and men?

53. "But the case itself forces us to leave a city desolated by fire and

ruin, and remove to Veii, where all things are entire, and not to

distress the needy commons by building here. But that this is only held

out as a pretext, rather than that it is the real motive, I think is

evident to you, though I should say nothing on the subject; for you

remember that before the arrival of the Gauls, when the buildings, both

public and private, were still unhurt, and the city still stood in

safety, this same question was agitated, that we should remove to Veii.

Observe then, tribunes, what a difference there is between my way of

thinking and yours. Ye think that though it may not have been advisable

to do it then, still that now it ought certainly to be done; I, on the

contrary, (and be not surprised until you shall have heard the state of

the case,) admitting it were advisable to remove when the entire city

was safe, would not vote for relinquishing these ruins now. For then

victory would be the cause of our removing into a captured city, one

that would be glorious to ourselves and our posterity; whilst now this

same removal would be wretched and disgraceful to us, and glorious to

the Gauls. For we shall appear not to have left our country as

conquerors, but to have lost it from having been vanquished; the flight

at Allia, the capture of the city, the blockading of the Capitol, [will

seem] to have imposed this necessity on us of forsaking our household

gods, of having recourse to exile and flight from that place which we

were unable to defend. And have the Gauls been able to demolish Rome,

which the Romans shall be deemed to have been unable to restore? What

remains, but that if they should now come with new forces, (for it is

evident that their number is scarcely credible,) and should they feel

disposed to dwell in this city, captured by them, and deserted by you,

would you suffer them? What, if not the Gauls, but your old enemies, the

Æquans and Volscians, should form the design of removing to Rome; would

you be willing that they should become Romans, you Veientians? Would ye

prefer that this should be a desert in your possession, or a city of the

enemy? For my part I can see nothing more impious. Is it because ye are

averse to building, ye are prepared to incur this guilt, this disgrace?

Even though no better, no more ample structure could be erected

throughout the entire city than that cottage of our founder, is it not

better to dwell in cottages, like shepherds and rustics, amid your

sacred places and your household gods, than to go publicly into exile?

Our forefathers, strangers and shepherds, when there was nothing in

these places but woods and marshes, erected a new city in a very short

time; do we, with a Capitol and citadel safe, and the temples of the

gods still standing, feel it irksome to build up what has been burnt?

and what we individually would have done, if our private residence had

been burned down, shall we as a body refuse to do in the case of a

public conflagration?

54. "What, if by some evil design of accident a fire should break out at

Veii, and the flames spread by the wind, as may happen, should consume a

considerable portion of the city; are we then to seek Fidenæ, or Gabii,

or any other city to remove to? Has our native soil so slight a hold on

us, or this earth which we call mother; or does our love of country lie

merely in the surface and in the timber of the houses? For my part, I

will acknowledge to you, whilst I was absent, though I am less disposed

to remember this as the effect of your injustice than of my own

misfortune, as often as my country came into my mind, all these

circumstances occurred to me, the hills, the plains, the Tiber, the face

of the country familiar to my eyes, and this sky, beneath which I had

been born and educated; may these now induce you, by their endearing

hold on you, to remain in your present settlement, rather than they

should cause you to pine away through regret, after having left them.

Not without good reason did gods and men select this place for founding

a city: these most healthful hills; a commodious river, by means of

which the produce of the soil may be conveyed from the inland countries,

by which maritime supplies may be obtained; close enough to the sea for

all purposes of convenience, and not exposed by too much proximity to

the dangers of foreign fleets; a situation in the centre of the regions

of Italy, singularly adapted by nature for the increase of a city. The

very size of so new a city is a proof. Romans, the present year is the

three hundred and sixty-fifth year of the city; for so long a time are

you waging war amid nations of such long standing; yet not to mention

single cities, neither the Volscians combined with the Æquans, so many

and such strong towns, nor all Etruria, so potent by land and sea,

occupying the breadth of Italy between the two seas, can cope with you

in war. And as the case is so, where, in the name of goodness, is the

wisdom in you who have tried [this situation] to make trial now of some

other, when, though your own valour may be removed elsewhere, the

fortune of this place certainly cannot be transferred? Here is the

Capitol, where, a human head being found, it was foretold that in that

place would be the head of the world, and the chief seat of empire.

Here, when the Capitol was to be freed by the rites of augury, Juventas

and Terminus, to the very great joy of our fathers, suffered not

themselves to be moved. Here is the fire of Vesta, here the Ancilia sent

down from heaven, here are all the gods propitious to you if you stay."

55. Camillus is said to have moved them as well by other parts of his

speech, but chiefly by that which related to religious matters. But an

expression seasonably uttered determined the matter whilst still

undecided; for when a meeting of the senate, a little after this, was

being held in the Curia Hostilia regarding these questions, and some

troops returning from relieving guard passed through the forum in their

march, a centurion in the comitium cried out, "Standard-bearer, fix your

standard! it is best for us to remain here." Which expression being

heard, both the senate came out from the senate-house, and all cried out

that "they embraced the omen," and the commons, who were collected

around, joined their approbation. The law [under discussion] being

rejected, the building of the city commenced in several parts at once.

Tiles were supplied at the public expense. The privilege of hewing stone

and felling timber wherever each person wished was granted, security

being taken that they would finish the buildings on that year. Their

haste took away all attention to the regulating the course of the

streets, whilst, setting aside all distinction of property, they build

on any part that was vacant. That is the reason why the ancient sewers,

at first conducted through the public streets, now in many places pass

under private houses, and why the form of the city appears more like one

taken up by individuals, than regularly portioned out [by

commissioners].