Book 13

1.1. While Camillus was besieging the city of the Falerii, a certain Faliscan — whether despairing of the city or hunting after private gains — having beguiled the children of the most illustrious houses (for he was a teacher of letters), led them out of the city, on the pretext that they were to walk before the wall and behold the Roman camp.

1.2. And drawing them little by little farther from the city, he brought them to a Roman outpost and delivered them to those who ran out; and being led by them to Camillus, he said that the city had long since been resolved by the Romans to be taken, but that, being master of nothing — neither citadel nor gates nor arms — he had devised this way: to make subject the sons of the noblest, supposing that an inescapable necessity would seize their fathers, who, clinging to the preservation of their children, would the sooner deliver the city to the Romans.

1.3. This, then, he said, having great hopes that he would carry off some wonderful rewards for his treachery.

2.1. But Camillus, delivering the schoolmaster and the children into custody, sent word to the senate by letter of what had happened, and asked what he ought to do.

2.2. When the council had given him leave to do whatever should seem to him best, he led the schoolmaster forth from the camp together with the children, and, having ordered the general's tribunal to be set up not far from the gates, when a great crowd had run together — part to the walls, part to the gates — first he made plain to the Faliscans what lawless thing the schoolmaster had dared against them; then he ordered the attendants to tear the man's clothing all about him and

2.3. to flay his body with very many scourges. And when he had had enough of this punishment, having handed rods to the children, he bade them lead the man away into the city, his hands bound behind him, striking and outraging him in every way. And the Faliscans, having recovered their children and punished the schoolmaster as his wicked design deserved, delivered the city to Camillus.

3.1. The same Camillus, marching against the city of the Veientes, vowed to Juno the Queen who dwells among the Veientes that, if he should master the city, he would set up her image at Rome and would establish for her costly

3.2. rites of worship. When the city was taken, he sent the most illustrious of the cavalry to lift the statue from its base; and when those sent came into the temple, and one of them — whether in jest and laughter, or seeking an omen — asked whether the goddess wished to remove to Rome, the image spoke aloud that it did wish. And this happened even twice; for the young men, disbelieving that it was the image that had spoken, asked the same thing again and heard the same voice.

4.1. In the magistracy of the consuls who succeeded Camillus, a pestilential disease fell upon Rome, taking its beginning from lack of rain and severe droughts, by which the tree-bearing and the grain-bearing land, being injured, brought forth for men few crops and unwholesome,

4.2. and little and bad pasture for the cattle. Now of sheep and the other beasts of burden an innumerable multitude perished, lacking not only fodder but also drink; for so great a failure of the river-waters and the other springs occurred at the very time when all the cattle most suffer from thirst.

4.3. And of men a few perished, having taken foods that they had never before tried; but the rest, nearly all, fell into dreadful diseases, beginning from small eruptions, which rose upon the outer skin, but settling into great ulcers like cankers, presenting a foul appearance and a dreadful pain.

4.4. And there was no remedy for the agony of the sufferers, save itchings and continual lacerations that ravaged the skin even to the laying bare of the bones.

5.1. Not long after, the tribunes, envying Camillus, gathered an assembly against him and fined him a hundred thousand asses, not being ignorant that his whole substance was a very small fraction of the condemnation, but in order that, being led off to prison by the tribunes, he who had brought to a happy end the most illustrious wars might be put to shame. The money, then, his clients and kinsmen, contributing from their own substance, paid in, so that he suffered no insult; but the man, holding the indignity insufferable, resolved to withdraw from the city.

5.2. And when he came near the gates and had embraced those present, who lamented and wept at what manner of man they were about to be deprived of, shedding many tears down his cheeks and bewailing the disgrace that had befallen him, he said: 'O gods and spirits, overseers of the deeds of men, I ask you to become judges to me both of my conduct toward my country and of all my past life;'

5.3. 'then, if you find me liable to the charges for which the people condemned me, grant me a wretched and disgraceful end of life; but if in all the things wherewith I was entrusted by my country, in peace and in war, you find me pious and just and pure of every shameful suspicion, become my avengers, setting upon those who have wronged me such dangers and fears that they shall be compelled, seeing no other hope of safety, to take refuge in me.' Having said this, he departed to the city of Ardea.

6.1. The gods hearkened to his prayers, and not long after the city was taken by the Celts, save the Capitol. The more eminent men had taken refuge in it — for the rest of the multitude, fleeing, was scattered among the cities of Italy — and were being besieged by the Celts; and the Romans who had fled to the city of Veii made a certain Caedicius commander of the camp; and he appointed Camillus — and that though he was absent — leader of the war, with the authority of an absolute commander over war and peace.

6.2. And having become head of the embassy, he urged Camillus to be reconciled to his country, reckoning the misfortunes in which it was, on account of which it had brought itself to take refuge in the man whom it had outraged.

6.3. Camillus, taking up the word, said: 'I have no need of urging, Caedicius; for I myself, had you not come the sooner thinking it right that I should share in affairs, was ready, leading this force which you see present with me, to come to you. But to you, O gods and spirits, as many as watch over the life of men, for the honours you have already bestowed on me I know great thanks, and concerning what is to come I pray that my return may prove fair and fortunate for my country.'

6.4. 'And if it were possible for a man to foresee what was to come, never would I have prayed, my country having come to such fortunes, that it should have need of me; ten thousand times rather would I have chosen that my life thereafter should be unenviable and unhonoured, than to behold Rome become subject to the cruelty of barbarian men and having in me'

6.5. 'alone the remaining hopes of its safety.' Having said this and taken over the forces, appearing suddenly to the Celts, he turned them to flight, and, falling upon them disordered and confused, butchered them like sheep.

7.1. While, then, those who had fled to the Capitol were still being besieged, a certain young man, sent by the Romans from the city of Veii to those in the Capitol, escaping the notice of the Celts who kept guard there, went up and, having said what was needful, departed again by night.

7.2. When day came, one of the Celts, seeing the tracks, told the king; and he, calling together the bravest, made plain to them the Roman's ascent; then he thought fit that they should show the same daring as that man and attempt the climb to the fortress, promising many gifts to those who should go up. When many had agreed, he ordered the guards to keep quiet, so that the Romans, supposing them to be asleep, might themselves

7.3. turn to sleep. And when the first had already climbed up and were waiting for the laggards, that, having become more numerous, they might then slaughter those in the watches and seize the stronghold, no man perceived it; but certain sacred geese of Juno, kept in the precinct, both cackling and at the same time coming to grips with the barbarians, became accusers of the mischief.

7.4. From this there was confusion and outcry and the running of all, calling one another to arms; and the Celts, being now more numerous, advanced farther in.

8.1. Thereupon one of those who had held the consular office, Marcus Manlius, snatching up his arms and engaging the barbarians, forestalled the first who had climbed up and was bringing his sword down upon his head, and struck him on the arm and cut off the elbow;

8.2. and the one next to him, before he came to grips, he overturned by striking him in the face with the rim of his shield, and slew him as he lay; then, driving the others, now confused, headlong, some he killed, and some, pursuing them over the cliff, he poured down. In requital for this valour he received the gift befitting that occasion from those who held the Capitol — the daily ration of each man of

8.3. wine and spelt. And concerning those who had abandoned the watch in that place, by which the Celts had climbed up, when an inquiry arose as to what should be done, the senate condemned them all to death; but the people, being more lenient, was content with the punishment of one,

8.4. their leader. And that his death might be made manifest to the barbarians, with his hands bound behind him he was thrown over the cliff toward them. He being punished, there was no longer any slackness about the watches, but all kept awake the whole night through, so that the Celts, despairing of holding the fortress by deceit or stealth, treated concerning a ransom which, having given to the barbarians, they should recover the city.

9.1. When they had completed the oaths and the Romans had brought down the gold, the weight which the Celts were to receive was twenty-five talents; but when the balance was set up, first the Celt brought a weight itself heavier than was just; then, when the Romans were indignant at this, he was so far from showing moderation about the just measure that he even took off his sword together with its sheath and belt and laid it upon the weights.

9.2. And to the quaestor, who asked what this deed was meant to be, he answered in these words: 'Woe to the conquered.' And when the agreed weight was not made up, because of the greed of the Celt, but the third part was still wanting, the Romans went off, asking for time to gather what was lacking; and they endured this arrogance of the barbarians, knowing nothing of the things being done in the camp by Caedicius and Camillus, as we have said.

10.1. The cause of the Celts' coming to Italy was of this sort. A certain Lucumo, a leader of the Etruscans, when about to end his life, committed to a faithful man named Arruns the guardianship of his son; and when the Etruscan had died, Arruns, having taken over the care of the child, became a diligent and just keeper of his trust, and, when the boy came to manhood, rendered up to him all the substance left by his father. In requital for which he received from the youth no like favours.

10.2. For he had a wife, fair and young, whose companionship he valued above all, and who had been chaste all the rest of the time; and the young man, falling in love, corrupted both the body and the mind of the woman, and no longer secretly but openly sought to converse with her. Arruns, then, vexed at the tearing-away of his wife and chafing at the insults offered him by both, but being unable to take vengeance upon them, set forth abroad, making trade the pretext of it.

10.3. And the young man gladly accepting his departure, and providing all that he needed for the trading, he loaded many skins of wine and oil upon the wagons, and many baskets of figs, and led them into the country of the Celts.

11.1. The Celts, knowing at that time neither wine of the vine nor oil such as our olives bear, but using for wine the foul-smelling juice of barley rotted in water, and for oil aged swine's fat, strange in both smell and taste, then for the first time enjoyed fruits they had never tasted, and took wonderful pleasures in each, and asked the stranger how each of these was produced and

11.2. among what men. And the Etruscan said to them that the land which bore these fruits was much and good, but was tilled by a few men no better in war than women; and he suggested to them that they should no longer take these things by purchase from others, but, casting out the present masters, reap them as their own. By these words, then, the Celts, being persuaded, came into Italy and against the Etruscans called the Clusini, from whom too came the man who had persuaded them to make war.

12.1. When envoys had been sent from Rome to the Celts, and one of the envoys, Quintus Fabius, heard that the barbarians had gone out to forage, he joined battle with them and slew the leader of the Celts; and the barbarians, sending to Rome, demanded that the man and his brother be delivered up to them, to pay the penalty for those who had

12.2. perished. And the senate dragging out its answers, the Celts of necessity transferred the war to Rome. The Romans, hearing this, went out of the city, leading from the picked and battle-hardened soldiers four full legions; and from the rest of the citizens, the home-keeping and idle and those less familiar with wars, more in number than the others. These the Celts routed, and brought all Rome, save the Capitol, into their power.