Veii was a more beautiful city than Rome, and, as it was now without inhabitants, many of the Roman people wished to remove thither. At the persuasion of Camillus the project was abandoned; but the territory of Veii was divided among the Plebeians.
Falerii was almost the only one of the Etruscan cities which had assisted Veii, and she was now exposed single-handed to the vengeance of the Romans. It is related that, when Camillus appeared before Falerii, a schoolmaster of the town treacherously conducted the sons of the noblest families into the Roman camp, but that Camillus, scorning the baseness of the man, ordered his arms to be tied behind him, and the boys to flog him back into the town; whereupon the inhabitants, overcome by such generosity, gave up their arms, and surrendered to the Romans (B.C. 394).
Camillus was one of the proudest of the Patricians; and he now incurred the hatred of the Plebeians by calling upon every man to refund a tenth of the booty taken at Veii; because he had made a vow to consecrate to Apollo a tithe of the spoil. He was accused of having appropriated the great bronze gates at Veii, and was impeached by one of the Tribunes. Seeing that his condemnation was certain, he went into exile, praying as he left the walls that the Republic might soon have cause to regret him (B.C. 491). His prayer was heard, for the Gauls had already crossed the Apennines, and next year Rome was in ashes.
CHAPTER VII.
FROM THE CAPTURE OF ROME BY THE GAULS TO THE FINAL UNION OF THE TWO ORDERS. B.C. 390-367.
The Gauls or Celts were in ancient times spread over the greater part of Western Europe. They inhabited Gaul and the British isles, and had in the time of the Tarquins crossed the Alps and taken possession of Northern Italy. But they now spread farther south, crossed the Apennines, and laid waste with fire and sword the provinces of Central Italy. Rome fell before them, and was reduced to ashes; but the details of its capture are clearly legendary. The common story runs as follows:
The Senones, a tribe of the Gauls, led by their chief Brennus, laid siege to Clusium, the powerful Etruscan city over which Lars Porsena once reigned. Such reputation had Rome gained through her conquests in Etruria, that Clusium applied to her for aid (B.C. 391). The Senate sent three embassadors, sons of the chief pontiff, Fabius Ambustus, to warn the barbarians not to touch an ally of Rome. But the Gauls treated their message with scorn; and the embassadors, forgetting their sacred character, fought in the Clusine ranks. One of the Fabii slew with his own hands a Gallic chieftain, and was recognized while stripping off his armor. Brennus therefore sent to Rome to demand satisfaction. The Roman people not only refused to give it, but elected the three Fabii as Military Tribunes for the following year. On hearing of this insult, the Gauls broke up the siege of Clusium, and hastened southward toward Rome. All the inhabitants fled before them into the towns. They pursued their course without injuring any one, crying to the guards upon the walls of the towns they passed, "Our way lies for Rome." On the news of their approach the Roman army hurried out of the city, and on the 16th of July (B.C. 300), a day ever after regarded as disastrous, they met the Gauls on the Allia, a small river which flows into the Tiber, on its left bank, about eleven miles from Rome. Brennus attacked the Romans on the flank, and threw them into confusion. A general panic seized them: they turned and fled. Some escaped across the Tiber to Veii, and a few reached Rome, but the greater number were slain by the Gauls.