Плутарх - Plutarch's Lives - Volume I

Numa therefore, being a learned man and commonly supposed on account of his wisdom to hold communion with the Muses, consecrated fire, and ordered it to be kept unquenched for ever as an emblem of the eternal power that orders all things. Others say that, as among the Greeks, a purificatory fire burns before the temple, but that within are other holy things which no man may see, except only the virgins, who are named Vestals; and a very wide–spread notion is, that the famous Trojan Palladium, which was brought to Italy by Aeneas, is kept there. Others say that the Samothracian gods are there, whom Dardanus brought to Troy after he had founded it, and caused to be worshipped there, which, after the fall of Troy, Aeneas carried off and kept until he settled in Italy. But those who pretend to know most about such matters say that there are two jars of no great size in the temple, one open and empty, and the other full and sealed, and that these may be seen only by the holy virgins. Others think that this is a mistake, arising from the fact that, at the time of which we are treating, the Vestal virgins placed most of their sacred things in two jars and concealed them in the earth under the Temple of Quirinus, which place even to the present day is called the Doliola , or place of the jars.

XXI. However this may be, the Vestals took the most important of their holy things and betook themselves to flight along the Tiber. Here Lucius Albinus, a plebian, was journeying among the fugitives, with his wife and infant children and their few necessaries in a waggon. When he saw the Vestal virgins, without any attendants, journeying on foot and in distress, carrying in their bosoms the sacred images of the gods, he at once removed his wife, children, and property from the waggon and handed it over to them, to escape into one of the Greek cities in Italy. The piety of Albinus and his care for the duties of religion at so terrible a crisis deserve to be recorded.

The rest of the priests and the old men who had been consuls, and been honoured with triumphs, could not bear to leave the city. At the instance of Fabius, the Pontifex Maximus, they put on their sacred vestments and robes of state, and after offering prayer to the gods, as if they were consecrating themselves as victims to be offered on behalf of their country, they sat down in their ivory chairs in the Forum in full senatorial costume, and waited what fortune might befal them.

XXII. On the third day after the battle Brennus appeared, leading his army to attack the city. At first, seeing the gates open and no guards on the walls, he feared some ambuscade, as he could not believe that the Romans had so utterly despaired of themselves. When he discovered the truth, he marched through the Colline Gate, and captured Rome, a little more than three hundred and sixty years after its foundation, if we can believe that any accurate record has been kept of those periods whose confusion has produced such difficulties in the chronology of later times. However, an indistinct rumour of the fall of Rome seems at once to have reached Greece: for Herakleides of Pontus, who lived about that time, speaks in his book 'On the Spirit,' of a rumour from the west that an army had come from the Hyperboreans and had sacked a Greek colony called Rome, which stood somewhere in that direction, near the great ocean. Now, as Herakleides was fond of strange legends, I should not be surprised if he adorned the original true tale of the capture of the city with these accessories of "the Hyperboreans" and "the great ocean." Aristotle, the philosopher, had evidently heard quite accurately that the city was taken by the Gauls, but he says that it was saved by one Lucius: now Camillus's name was Marcus, not Lucius. All this, however, was pure conjecture.

Brennus, after taking possession of Rome, posted a force to watch the Capitol, and himself went down to the Forum, and wondered at the men who sat there silent, with all their ornaments, how they neither rose from their seats at the approach of the enemy, nor changed colour, but sat leaning on their staffs with fearless confidence, quietly looking at one another. The Gauls were astonished at so strange a sight, and for a long time they forbore to approach and touch them, as if they were superior beings. But when one of them ventured to draw near to Marcus Papirius and gently stroke his long beard, Papirius struck him on the head with his staff, at which the barbarian drew his sword and slew him. Upon this they fell upon the rest and killed them, with any other Romans whom they found, and spent many days in plundering the houses, after which they burned them and pulled them down in their rage at the men in the Capitol, because they would not surrender, but drove them back when they assaulted it. For this reason they wreaked their vengeance on the city, and put to death all their captives, men and women, old and young alike.

XXIII. As the siege was a long one, the Gauls began to want for provisions. They divided themselves into two bodies, one of which remained with the king and carried on the siege, while the others scoured the country, plundering and destroying the villages, not going all together in a body, but scattered in small detachments in various directions, as their elation at their success caused them to have no fear about separating their forces. Their largest and best disciplined body marched towards Ardea, where Camillus, since his banishment, had lived as a private person. All his thoughts, however, were bent not upon avoiding or fleeing from the Gauls, but upon defeating them if possible. And so, seeing that the people of Ardea were sufficient in numbers, but wanting in confidence because of the want of experience and remissness of their leaders, he first began to tell the younger men that they ought not to ascribe the misfortunes of the Romans to the bravery of the Gauls, for the misconduct of the former had given them a triumph which they did not deserve. It would, he urged, be a glorious thing, even at the risk of some danger, to drive away a tribe of savage barbarians, who if they were victorious always exterminated the vanquished: while, if they only showed bravery and confidence, he could, by watching his opportunity, lead them to certain victory. As the younger men eagerly listened to these words, Camillus proceeded to confer with the chief magistrates of the Ardeates. After obtaining their consent also, he armed all those who were capable of service, but kept them within the walls, as he wished to conceal their presence from the enemy who were now close at hand. But when the Gauls after scouring the country returned laden with plunder and carelessly encamped in the plain, and when at night by the influence of wine and sleep all was quiet in their camp, Camillus, who had learned the state of the case from spies, led out the men of Ardea, and marching over the intervening ground in silence, about midnight attacked their entrenched camp with loud shouts and blasts of his trumpet, which threw the Gauls, half–drunk and heavy with sleep as they were, into great confusion. Few recovered their senses so far as to attempt to resist Camillus, and those few fell where they stood; but most of them were slain as they lay helpless with wine and sleep. Such as escaped from the camp and wandered about the fields were despatched by cavalry the next day.

XXIV. The fame of this action, when noised among the neighbouring cities, called many men to arms, especially those Romans who had escaped to Veii after the battle of the Allia. These men lamented their fate, saying, "What a general has Providence removed from Rome in Camillus, whose successes now bring glory to Ardea, while the city that produced and brought up so great a man has utterly perished. And now we, for want of a general to lead us, are sitting still inside the walls of a city not our own, and giving up Italy to the enemy. Come, let us send to the men of Ardea, and beg their general of them, or else ourselves take up our arms and march to him. He is no longer an exile, nor are we any longer his countrymen, for our country is ours no more, but is in the hands of the enemy."