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.
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!"
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.
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:
"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.