The Goose Guards

by Terry Deary

  “We were saved by the geese,” Marcus Manlius said.

  “A sign from the gods–a miracle,” Marius said.

  And Fabia’s eyes glittered in the torchlight. “You can’t kill them now,” she said, and looked at me with fierce glee.

  “We can’t kill them now,” Marius agreed.

  Fabia smiled at me. “Vae victis,” she said quietly. “Vae victis … woe to the defeated.”

  I knew I had been defeated by the gods. And I deserved it.

  AFTERWORD

  The characters of Fabia and Brutus are not real. But much of the rest of the story is true … probably.

  The Gauls did invade Rome and the Roman army ran away. When the Gauls entered Rome the old senators met them in silence and were slaughtered. Marcus Manlius and his troop held the Capitol Hill and the temples for weeks, slowly starving, until Furius arrived.

  The army of Furius arrived in time to see some Romans giving gold to the Gaul invaders so they would leave them in peace. Furius said, “We don’t pay our enemies in gold–we pay them in iron.” He meant the iron of the Roman swords.

  The Roman army attacked and drove the Gauls out. King Brennus was cut down and the Romans cried “vae victis” over his body.

  The tale of the geese is one of the most famous of all Roman legends. But now some people say it may not be true! Marcus Manlius later became one of the most hated men in Rome. He had stolen the Roman people’s taxes and the law said he should be executed. He tried to tell his judges how he had saved Rome … with the help of the geese.

  Maybe Marcus Manlius made up that story to save his own life? It didn’t work. He was taken back to the top of Capitol Hill and thrown onto the Tarpeian Rocks.

  Vae victis.