The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08
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