Scriptor , the reason it looks weird is because it is an excerpt of a
much longer text (quoted below)
Livy 5.47
While these proceedings were taking place at Veii, the Citadel and
Capitol of Rome were in imminent danger. The Gauls had either noticed
the footprints left by the messenger from Veii, or had themselves
discovered a comparatively easy ascent up the cliff to the temple of
Carmentis. Choosing a night when there was a faint glimmer of light,
they sent an unarmed man in advance to try the road; then handing one
another their arms where the path was difficult, and supporting each
other or dragging each other up as the ground required, they finally
reached the summit. So silent had their movements been that not only
were they unnoticed by the sentinels, but they did not even wake the
dogs, an animal peculiarly sensitive to nocturnal sounds. But they did
not escape the notice of the geese, which were sacred to Juno and had
been left untouched in spite of the extremely scanty supply of food.
This proved the safety of the garrison, for their clamour and the
noise of their wings aroused M. Manlius, the distinguished soldier,
who had been consul three years before. He snatched up his weapons and
ran to call the rest to arms, and while the rest hung back he struck
with the boss of his shield a Gaul who had got a foothold on the
summit and knocked him down. He fell on those behind and upset them,
and Manlius slew others who had laid aside their weapons and were
clinging to the rocks with their hands. By this time others had joined
him, and they began to dislodge the enemy with volleys of stones and
javelins till the whole body fell helplessly down to the bottom. When
the uproar had died away, the remainder of the night was given to
sleep, as far as was possible under such disturbing circumstances,
whilst their peril, though past, still made them anxious.
At daybreak the soldiers were summoned by sound of trumpet to a
council in the presence of the tribunes, when the due rewards for good
conduct and for bad would be awarded. First, Manlius was commended for
his bravery, and rewarded not by the tribunes alone but by the
soldiers as a body, for every man brought to him at his quarters,
which were in the Citadel, half a pound of meal and a quarter of a
pint of wine. This does not sound much, but the scarcity made it an
overwhelming proof of the affection felt for him, since each stinted
himself of food and contributed in honour of that one man what had to
be taken from his necessaries of life. Next, the sentinels who had
been on duty at the spot where the enemy had climbed up without their
noticing it were called forward. Q. Sulpicius, the consular tribune,
declared that he should punish them all by martial law. He was,
however, deterred from this course by the shouts of the soldiers, who
all agreed in throwing the blame upon one man. As there was no doubt
of his guilt, he was amidst general approval flung from the top of the
cliff. A stricter watch was now kept on both sides; by the Gauls
because it had become known that messengers were passing between Rome
and Veii; by the Romans, who had not forgotten the danger they were in
that night.
Livy 5.49
But gods and men alike prevented the Romans from living as a ransomed
people. By a dispensation of Fortune it came about that before the
infamous ransom was completed and all the gold weighed out, whilst the
dispute was still going on, the Dictator appeared on the scene and
ordered the gold to be carried away and the Gauls to move off. As they
declined to do so, and protested that a definite compact had been
made, he informed them that when he was once appointed Dictator no
compact was valid which was made by an inferior magistrate without his
sanction. He then warned the Gauls to prepare for battle, and ordered
his men to pile their baggage into a heap, get their weapons ready,
and win their country back by steel, not by gold. They must keep
before their eyes the temples of the gods, their wives and children,
and their country's soil, disfigured by the ravages of war-everything,
in a word, which it was their duty to defend, to recover or to avenge.
He then drew up his men in the best formation that the nature of the
ground, naturally uneven and now half burnt, admitted, and made every
provision that his military skill suggested for securing the advantage
of position and movement for his men. The Gauls, alarmed at the turn
things had taken, seized their weapons and rushed upon the Romans with
more rage than method. Fortune had now turned, divine aid and human
skill were on the side of Rome. At the very first encounter the Gauls
were routed as easily as they had conquered at the Alia. In a second
and more sustained battle at the eighth milestone on the road to
Gabii, where they had rallied from their flight, they were again
defeated under the generalship and auspices of Camillus. Here the
carnage was complete; the camp was taken, and not a single man was
left to carry tidings of the disaster. After thus recovering his
country from the enemy, the Dictator returned in triumph to the City,
and amongst the homely jests which soldiers are wont to bandy, he was
called in no idle words of praise, "A Romulus," "The Father of his
country," "The Second Founder of the City." He had saved his country
in war, and now that peace was restored, he proved, beyond all doubt,
to be its saviour again, when he prevented the migration to Veii. The
tribunes of the plebs were urging this course more strongly than ever
now that the City was burnt, and the plebs were themselves more in
favour of it. This movement and the pressing appeal which the senate
made to him not to abandon the republic while the position of affairs
was so doubtful, determined him not to lay down his dictatorship after
his triumph. |
