BRENNUS, I. A leader of the Gauls who invaded Italy in B.C. It should be observed that his name first appears in Livy and is not found in Polybius or Diodorus. It is difficult to dis entangle the facts of this invasion from the legends; it seems clear that Brennus crossed the Apennines, advanced on Rome down the Via Salaria, and defeated the Roman army at the Allia, some I 2m. from Rome. He then appears to have delayed a day or two on the field, giving time to fortify the Capitol; to have sacked Rome, besieged the Capitol for six months, accepted the offer of the defenders to ransom themselves, and then, probably, departed safely with his booty. Of the rest of the picturesque story, the massacre of the Patricians in their chairs; the night attack on the Capitol, the sacred geese and the exploits of Man lius; the false weights at the paying of the ransom, and the hurling by Brennus of his sword into the scales, with the famous words, "Vae Victis," we may believe as much as we please. But the Livian "happy ending," wherein Camillus arrives from the blue at the moment of payment, and wipes out Brennus and his forces together, is really too good to be true.
II. Over a hundred years later (279), another Brennus at the head of a band of Gauls invaded Greece. Earlier raiding expe ditions from Pannonia had been successful at the expense of Ptolemy Ceraunus in Macedonia. Brennus now advanced through Macedonia towards Greece proper, and was first held up at Ther mopylae, and beaten off with great loss. Later, as had happened to Leonidas, the mountain pass was betrayed, but the Greek army was taken off by the Athenian fleet. Brennus, with the ad vance guard that had gone over the upper pass, pushed on for Delphi with its vast treasure. About 4,000 was the strength of the defending force on the rock, but they had an immensely strong position, and when Brennus collapsed under his wounds the invaders broke and fled, pursued by the Greeks all the way to Thermopylae. Brennus disdained to recover after his defeat, and put an end to his life by draughts of strong wine. Justin says that he was "unable to endure the pain of his wounds," and the humiliation of defeat.