LITMIR.BIZ

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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.

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      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!"

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      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.

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      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:

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      "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.

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