The Fabii smothered the feelings which that answer excited, and obtained leave to enter Clusium, to con fer with the magistrates. Forgetting the character with which they were invested, Q. Fabius headed a sally against the besiegers, and slew with his own hand one of the chief officers of the Gauls. Incensed at this act of treachery, Brennus raised the siege, and marched deliberately to Rome at the head of 70,000 men. A herald who preceded him, demanded that the Fabii should he delivered up to him; but the senate having referred the question to the people, the requestwas not only refused, but at the next election the Fabii were chosen the first three of the military tribunes.
After this expression of popular opinion, Brennus proceeded on his march. An army or 40,000 men, commanded by the six military tribunes, marched out against him, and the hostile armies met near the river Allia, about sixty furlongs from Rome. The flower of the Roman army, amounting to 24,000 men, was post ed between the river and the neighbouring fields, while the remainder occupied the hills. Brennus attacked the latter, and having soon thrown them into disorder, the forces on the plains were panic struck, and fled without drawing their swords. Most of the Roman soldiers fled to Veil, others were drowned in the Tiber, many fell beneath the avenging sword of Brennus; and a few who fled to Rome, filled the capital with terror and consternation. Brennus marched towards Rome, and encamped on the Arnio. The Romans, abandon ing the city, retired into the capitol, with all that could bear arms; while the old men, women, and children, sought for refuge in the neighbouring towns. The vestals carried off the sacred utensils to Care, in hetruria, where they performed their sacred rites, which were hence called Ceremonies. About eighty of the most illustrious and venerable old men in Rome resolved to await their destiny in the city, and, clothed in their pontifical, consular, and tri umphal robes, they seated themselves in their usual chairs in the forum.
After many needless precautions, Brennus entered Rome four days after the battle of Allia. Advancing into the forum with his troops, he saw with amaze ment the band of old men who had devoted themselves to death. The troops at first kept aloof from the sa cred group; but a soldier, more adventurous than the rest, having from curiosity touched the beard of M. Papirius, the old Roman struck him with his ivory staff, when the soldier instantly slew him; and the Gauls following his example, slaughtered without mercy this little band of devoted patriots. The city was now delivered up to pillage; the inhabitants were put to the sword without distinction; and Brennus having been repulsed in an attempt upon the capitol, he burnt the city, demolished the temples and public buildings, and razed the walls to the very earth.
Brennus now converted the siege of the capitol into a blockade, but, from the scarcity of provisions, he was compelled to raise contributions in the neighbour ing cities. When one of these foraging parties ap peared before Ardea, Camillus, who had spent two years as a private individual in that city, encouraged the Ardeates to arm their youth in the defence of their city. This unexpected resistance brought the army of the Gauls before Ardea; but, despising the Ardeates, they devoted themselves to drunkenness, and no longer preserved any order or discipline in their camp. At the head of a chosen band Camillus sur prised the camp in a dark night, and when the troops were drowned in wine he made a dreadful slaughter among them, while those who escaped were massacred without mercy by the peasants. This unlooked-for success revived the drooping spirits of the Romans.
The wreck of the army defeated at Allia rallied round his standard; but though he was urged to take the command of them, he refused till he received a regu lar appointment from the people.
In this emergency Pontius Cominins, a bold but am bitious plebeian, threw himself into the Tiber early in the night, and suffering himself to be floated down with the stream, landed at the foot of the capitol, at a steep place where no sentinels were placed. Mounting its precipitous sides, he informed the besieged of the success of Camillus; and the senate being assembled, and the Curiae called together, the condemnation of Camillus was abrogated, and he was unanimously ap pointed dictator. Cominitts soon returned with the joyful tidings, and in a short time Camillus found him self at the head of 40,000 men.
In walking round the base of the capitol, some of Brennus's soldiers observed the print of Cominius's feet and hands on the side of the hill, and having com municated the intelligence to their leader, he resolved to enter the capitol by the same path. Ile according ly selected a determined band of mountaineers, who climbed the rock, and entered the citadel without alarming either the sentinels or the dogs. A flock of geese, however, was frightened at their approach, and running up and down cackling and flapping their wings, they awakened Manlius, who mounted the ram parts, slew one of the assailants, and precipitated an other the top of the rock. The Romans in the mean time assembled in numbers, and speedily dis persed the Gauls, the greater number of whom threw themselves over the rock, in order to escape the swords of the enemy.