BRENNUS, the name of two individ uals known in history. (1) The first was the hero of an early Roman legend, which relates to the migration of the Gauls into Italy and their march to Clusium and Rome. In the account given by Livy v. 33, etc.), he figures as the Regulus Gallorum, or chieftain of the Gauls. When he arrived at Clusium, the inhabitants called on the Romans for aid. He engaged with and defeated the Ro mans on the banks of the Allia, the name of which river they ever after held in detestation. (Vergil's ".1Eneid," vii, 717). The whole city was afterward plundered and burned, and the capitol would have been taken but for the brav ery of Manlius. At last, induced by fam ine and pestilence, the Romans agreed that the Gauls should receive 1,000 pounds of gold, on the condition that they would quit Rome and its territory altogether; the barbarian brought false weights, but his fraud was detected. The
tribune Sulpicius exclaimed against the injustice of Brennus, who immediately laid his sword and belt in the scale, and said, "Woe to the vanquished." The dictator, Camillus, arrived with his forces at this critical time, annulled the capitulation, and ordered him to prepare for battle. The Gauls were defeated; there was a total slaughter, and not a man survived to carry home the news of the defeat. The date of the taking of Rome, assigned by Niebuhr, is the 3d year of the 39th Olympiad, 382 B. c. (2) A king of the Gauls, who, 279 B. c., made an irruption into Macedonia with a force of 150,000 men and 10,000 horse. Pro ceeding into Greece, he attempted to plunder the temple at Delphi. ge en gaged in many battles, lost many thou sand men, and himself received many wounds. In despair and mortification he killed himself.