by Plutarch
The Romans advanced about 90 stades from the city and pitched camp beside the River Allia,59 not far from where it flows into the Tiber. There the barbarians fell on them unexpectedly, and, after a disgraceful and confused struggle, the Romans were routed. The Gauls drove the Romans’ left wing straight into the river and destroyed it. The right wing suffered fewer losses, but only because it escaped the Gauls’ onslaught by retreating from the plain into the hills, and from there most of the Romans fled back to the city. As for the rest, those who escaped from the enemy, who had become wearied by the slaughter, fled by night to Veii, for they believed that Rome must by now be destroyed and all her citizens dead.
19. This battle was fought just after the summer solstice, around the time of a full moon, on the very day on which the Fabian disaster, in which 300 of the Fabii were once annihilated by the Etruscans, had taken place.60 This second defeat, however, was so much worse than its predecessor that, even now, this day is called the Day of Allia,61 from the name of the river.
Now on the topic of unspeakable days – whether we must consider some days truly unlucky, or whether Heracleitus was correct when he reproached Hesiod for designating some days good and others bad, insisting that the poet did not understand that the nature of every day is the same – this is a matter I have examined elsewhere.62 Still, it is perhaps appropriate, even in this account, to mention a few examples. The Boeotians,63 on the fifth day of their month Hippodromius, which the Athenians call Hecatombaeon,64 won two glorious victories which secured the freedom of the Greeks: one at Leuctra and the other, more than 200 years earlier, at Ceressus, when they defeated Lattamyas and the Thessalians.65 Then again, on the sixth day of the month of Boedromion, the Persians were defeated by the Greeks at Marathon,66 and on the third day of the same month they were defeated by the Greeks at both Plataea and Mycale,67 and they were also defeated at Arbela68 by the Greeks on the twenty-sixth day of this month. Furthermore, the Athenians won a battle at sea off Naxos,69 under the command of Chabrias,70 during Boedromion, around the time of the full moon, and on the twentieth day of that month were victorious at Salamis,71 as I have shown in my essay On Days.
Clearly the month of Thargelion72 has been unfortunate for the barbarians, for it was during this month that Alexander defeated the generals of the Great King at Granicus,73 and on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Carthaginians were beaten by Timoleon in Sicily.74 And it seems that it was on this same day in the month of Thargelion that Troy fell, according to Ephorus, Callisthenes, Damastes and Malacas.75 By contrast, the month of Metageitnion,76 which the Boeotians call Panemus, has not been auspicious for the Greeks. On the seventh day of this month they lost the battle of Crannon to Antipater77 and were ruined. Before this, on the same day, they had fought against Philip78 at Chaeronea and lost. And in the same year, and on this same day in the month of Metageitnion, Archidamus79 and his army, which had invaded Italy, were destroyed by the barbarians there. The Chalcedonians80 observe the twenty-second day of this month because it has consistently brought them the majority – and the most severe – of their misfortunes.
I am all too aware that about the time of the Mysteries, Thebes was razed to the ground for the second time, by Alexander, and that, subsequently, the Athenians received a garrison of Macedonians, on the twentieth of Boedromion, the very day on which they lead forth the mystic Iacchus.81 Similarly, the Romans once lost to the Cimbrians an army under the command of Caepio, but at a later time, on the same day, with Lucullus as general, defeated Tigranes82 and the Armenians. King Attalus and Pompey the Great each died on his own birthday.83 Put simply, it is possible to point out many men who, on the same days of the calendar, have had entirely contrary experiences. Nevertheless, for the Romans, the Day of Allia is one of the unluckiest, and because of it two additional days in each month are also regarded as unlucky. This is what routinely happens in the aftermath of some chance event: piety and superstition excel all limits. But these matters have been treated more carefully in my Roman Questions.84
20. In the aftermath of this battle, had the Gauls raced in hot pursuit after those who fled, nothing could have prevented Rome’s destruction and the deaths of all who remained there. So much terror did the fugitives inspire when they reached the city that everyone in it was entirely given over to confusion and bewilderment. But at the time the barbarians did not grasp the extent of their victory; in their elation, they instead turned to celebrating and dividing the spoils they had taken from the Romans’ camp, all of which afforded ample time for the multitudes in Rome who were deserting the city to make their escape. As for those who had decided to remain, the Gauls’ delay afforded them time to regain their hope and make preparations to defend themselves. They abandoned all the rest of the city except the Capitol, which they fortified with ramparts, and they supplied themselves with missiles. Their central concern was the safety of the sacred objects of the city, many of which they carried to the Capitol, while the Vestal Virgins85 hastily gathered up the fire of Vesta, along with the other sacred objects in their care, and took them away as they fled.
According to some sources, however, the Vestals protect only the imperishable fire, the veneration of which was instituted by King Numa on the grounds that it is the fundamental element in all things. For in nature fire is the thing most characterized by motion, and all generation is either a kind of motion or happens in combination with motion. Now all other parts of matter, whenever heat is absent, lie inert, as if dead, and these inert parts of matter desire the force of fire, as if it were a soul, and as soon as this force is present, they become capable of acting and being acted upon. It is Numa who was so learned that he is reputed to have enjoyed conversations with the Muses, who is said to have consecrated the Vestals’ fire, ordaining that it should be kept burning as a symbol of the eternal force that orders and activates all things.86 Other writers, however, claim that this fire is kept burning in front of sacred objects for the purpose of their purification, as is the custom among the Greeks, and that everything apart from the fire is kept hidden87 within the temple and is seen by no one except the Vestal Virgins. It is commonly believed that the Trojan Palladium,88 which was carried to Italy by Aeneas, is hidden there. But others say that the Samothracian images are kept there, and they relate how Dardanus brought these with him to Troy and, after he had founded the city, celebrated their rites and their consecration, and how Aeneas, when Troy fell, stole these images away, preserving them until he came to Italy.89 Those who profess to have the most knowledge of these matters insist that two small jars are stored there, one of which is open and empty, the other is full and sealed, and that both of these can be viewed only by the Vestals. Others, however, believe that these authorities have been misled by the fact that, when they were fleeing Rome, the Vestals stored most of the sacred objects in two jars and hid them underground beneath the temple of Quirinus,90 and to this day that spot bears the name Jars.91
21. In any case, the Vestals took the most precious and important of the sacred objects with them as they fled beside the river. There, among the other fugitives, was Lucius Albinius, a common citizen, who was carrying in a wagon his small children, his wife and their essential possessions. When he saw the Vestals bearing in their arms the sacred objects of the gods, making their way unassisted and with great difficulty, he immediately removed his children, his wife and his possessions from his wagon so that he could hand it over to the Vestals for making their escape to a Greek city.92 The piety of Albinius, and the respect he showed the gods in this moment of extreme danger, could not rightly go unremarked.
The priests of the other gods, as well as the senior men who had been consuls and had celebrated triumphs, could not bear to forsake the city, and so, donning their sacred and official attire, offered prayers, led by Fabius93 the chief priest, in which they devoted themselves to the gods as a sacrifice on behalf of their country. They then seated themselves in the forum on ivory chairs, and, so arrayed, awaited their fates.
/> 22. On the third day after the battle, Brennus brought his army up to the city. There he found its gates open and its walls undefended, which led him at first to suspect an ambush, because he could not imagine so total a collapse on the part of the Romans. But, once he recognized the truth, he entered by the Colline Gate and captured Rome. This took place a little more than 360 years after the foundation of the city, if one can believe that anything in the way of an exact chronology has been preserved in this matter, especially when confusion associated with this very episode has led to controversies in the chronology of later events. It seems, however, that faint rumours of this disaster, and of the capture of the city, quickly made their way to Greece. For Heracleides of Pontus, who lived soon after these events, records, in his essay On the Soul, a story from the west claiming that an army of Hyperboreans had come from far away and captured a Greek city called Rome, settled somewhere on the Great Sea. Now I am hardly surprised that Heracleides, a writer inclined towards fable and invention, should embellish the true story of Rome’s fall with fictitious items like Hyperboreans and the Great Sea.94 By contrast, it is obvious that the philosopher Aristotle had heard an accurate report of the city’s capture by the Gauls, although he calls the saviour of the city Lucius, when in fact Camillus’ name was not Lucius but Marcus.95 Details such as this, however, were arrived at by conjecture.
After Brennus took possession of the city, he set a guard around the Capitol while he went down to the forum. There he was astonished to see men sitting silently in state, who did not rise to meet their enemies, nor did they alter their expressions or their colour. Instead, they sat calmly and fearlessly, each of them leaning on the staff he held, as they gazed into one another’s faces. This strange sight surprised and perplexed the Gauls, and for some time they hesitated, uncertain whether they should approach or touch these men whom they mistook for higher beings. Finally one of them made so bold as to come near Manius Papirius,96 and, putting forward his hand, gently touched his chin and stroked his long beard. Papirius at once took his staff and struck the barbarian hard upon his head, at which the barbarian drew his sword and killed him. After that, the Gauls fell upon the others and slew them all, and they went on cutting down anyone else who came in their way. For many days they pillaged and plundered the private homes of the city, at length setting them on fire and burning them to the ground, so angry were they at the men who were holding the Capitol. For these men would not yield, although the Gauls summoned them to surrender. Moreover, when attacked, they fought back and drove the enemy from the ramparts. For this reason, the Gauls inflicted every cruel abuse on the city, and they slaughtered everyone they captured, men and women, young and old alike.
23. The siege continued for a long time and the Gauls began to run out of supplies. So they divided their forces, some remaining with their king in order to guard the Capitol, while the rest ravaged the countryside, falling on villages and pillaging them. They did not do this as a single army. Instead, they ranged about in different companies under different commanders, and their successes rendered them so supremely confident that they were soon conducting raids without any fear whatsoever. The largest and best disciplined of these forces advanced towards the city of Ardea, where Camillus had been living since his exile, uninvolved in public business and immersed in private life. He was not, however, the sort of man whose hopes and designs were centred on avoiding the notice of his enemies. On the contrary, he actively looked for an opportunity to punish them. Consequently, when he concluded that the Ardeans had sufficient numbers of men to defend themselves, but lacked courage owing to the inexperience and timidity of their generals, he began to urge the younger men not to attribute the Romans’ calamity to the valour of the Celts: the Romans suffered on account of their own rashness, he insisted, and no one should credit what had happened to the deeds of the Celts, for they did not deserve their victory, which should instead be seen as the work of fortune. It was a noble thing, he said, even if it was also dangerous, to repel the attack of a foreign and barbarian invader, whose purpose in conquering was the same as that of fire: to destroy whatever it could. If, moreover, they were courageous and resolute, he would provide them with a victory that was safe and sure.
When Camillus was assured that the young men embraced his arguments, he went to the magistrates and council of Ardea and persuaded them as well. Everyone of military age he then armed, but kept them inside the city’s walls to prevent the enemy, who were near, from becoming aware of them. At that time, in fact, the Gauls were raiding the nearby countryside, and, when they found themselves burdened by a surfeit of plunder, decided to pitch camp on the plain, unworried and unconcerned about defences. Soon night fell on their drunken carousing and their entire camp was silent. After Camillus learned this from his scouts, he led the Ardeans out of their city. Crossing silently to the camp, at around midnight they attacked with a roar of loud cries and trumpet blasts. This completely confused the Gauls, who were drunk and so were scarcely awakened even by this clamour. A few of them, sobered by their fear, equipped themselves and fought back against Camillus and his men, and so fell in combat. Most of them, however, remained drunk and were barely awake. They were unarmed when the attack occurred and were easily cut down. Only a few escaped the camp under cover of darkness, but in the morning the cavalry found them wandering in small groups through the countryside. They chased them down and finished them off.
24. News of this exploit quickly spread throughout other cities and inspired many men of military age to join Camillus, especially those Romans who had fled from the battle of Allia and were now in Veii, lamenting their condition with sentiments like this: ‘What a great leader has been stolen from Rome by a divinity who now adorns Ardea with the achievements of Camillus! The city that gave birth to this splendid man and equipped him for life is now dead and gone, while we, for want of a general, forsake Italy and sit cooped up behind foreign walls. Come, let us send to Ardea and demand back our general, or let us take up our weapons and go to him! For he is no longer an exile, nor are we any longer citizens, since our country no longer exists but has been vanquished by our enemies.’ On this they all agreed and invited Camillus to take command. He refused to do so, however, unless the citizens still on the Capitol elected him in accordance with the law, for, in his view, it was they who preserved what remained of the legitimate state of Rome. Their commands he would eagerly obey, but he would never involve himself in Roman affairs against their wishes. Camillus’ deference exhibited his nobility and was admired, but it was far from obvious how any of this could be communicated to the Capitol. In fact, it looked impossible for a messenger to make his way to the citadel so long as the enemy occupied the city.
25. Now there was a young man named Pontius Cominius,97 a citizen of ordinary birth who possessed a deep passion for glory and honour. He volunteered for this difficult task. He did not carry a letter for the men on the Capitol lest, should he be captured, the enemy learn Camillus’ intentions from it, and he wore cheap garments, beneath which he carried corks. He was fearless and managed to make most of his journey in a single day. As he approached Rome, it was beginning to grow dark. The bridge over the river was closed to him because it was being guarded by the barbarians, and so he wrapped his garments around his head (they did not weigh very much), attached the corks to his body and, buoyed up by them, got across and made his way to the city. By taking notice of the Gauls’ campfires and by listening for whatever noise they made, he succeeded in avoiding any of the enemy who were awake, until eventually he came to the Carmental Gate,98 where it was very quiet. This is also the place, more than any other, where the Capitoline Hill is steep and sheer, on every approach a huge jagged cliff. Unnoticed by the enemy, Cominius climbed, straining and struggling, along the hollow of the escarpment until at last he reached the Romans who were guarding the wall. He called out, identified himself and was pulled up. He was then led in front of the men in charge. Before a quickly convened senate, Cominius announced
Camillus’ victory, which none of them had yet learned about, and he explained the decisions taken by the soldiers at Veii. He went on to urge them to confirm Camillus in his command because he was the only man the citizens outside the city would obey. After the senators had listened and deliberated, they appointed Camillus dictator99 and sent Cominius back again. He returned by the same route he had come, with just as much good luck as before, once again escaping the enemy’s notice. He announced the senate’s decision to the Romans at Veii.
26. These soldiers welcomed the news enthusiastically, and by the time Camillus arrived he found 20,000 men already in arms. He collected even more from the allies and began making preparations for an attack. [So it was that Camillus was appointed dictator for the second time. He proceeded to Veii, where he took command of the soldiers there, and he collected even more troops from the allies, all for the purpose of making an attack on the enemy.]100
Meanwhile, in Rome, some of the barbarians just happened to pass near the spot where Pontius had climbed to the Capitol by night and noticed the many places where his hands and his feet had left marks as he was clambering his way up – as well as other places where plants had been torn from the rocks on which they had been growing and where the earth had slipped. This they reported to their king, who came along and made an inspection, but at the time did nothing more. That evening, however, he selected those Celts who were most agile and most talented at climbing mountains, to whom he said: ‘The enemy have revealed to us an unknown route against them and have shown us that this approach is neither impenetrable nor impassable. It would be a great disgrace, when we have begun so well, if in the end we should fail and abandon this place, supposing it to be impregnable, when the enemy themselves are teaching us how to take it. For where it was easy for one man to climb, it will not be difficult for many, one after the other, to do the same. Quite the contrary, in fact, for they will be able to offer one another stout support. Every man who undertakes this hazardous mission will receive gifts and honours befitting his bravery.’
