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grabbing the man's beard, he pulled it down, as it was long; but he struck that one's head with his staff. And the barbarian, drawing his sword, killed the man.2.155 And so the barbarians, falling upon them, were killing the rest as well, and they were sacking and burning the houses. Then they also attacked the Capitol; but when after trying for many days they accomplished nothing, some guarded the Capitol, while others overran the country providing themselves with food, scattering and advancing sporadically, but not together, since they were greatly proud of their good fortune, and they were tripped up by drunkenness; for having come upon much wine, they used it rather immoderately, having never before tasted such a drink. Seeing the Gauls in this state, Camillus, since they were plundering the land of the Ardeates, and the Ardeates themselves were sufficient in number, but lacking in courage because of their inexperience and lack of training for battles, put forth an argument to the younger men that their good fortune should not be ascribed to the courage of the barbarians, but to the misfortune of the Romans, and he maintained that if they themselves were eager and bold, they would defeat the enemy without risk. Having thus persuaded the young men, and then the rest, he armed those of military age, and in the dead of night, he himself with the Ardeates attacked the drunken barbarians. And he cut down most of them there, and if any were able to flee in the darkness, by day cavalry, overtaking them, destroyed them. When the report of the success quickly proclaimed it everywhere, as many of the Romans as had fled and been saved from the first battle against the Gauls, took up their arms and went to Camillus, begging him to accept the command over them. But he said he would not be persuaded, 2.156 unless those being saved on the Capitol first voted him the command. But there was a problem finding someone to announce these things to those on the Capitol. But a certain one of the young men, Cominius Pontius, desiring glory, undertook the contest, and having passed unseen through the midst of the enemy, and having approached the hill of the Capitol and with difficulty creeping up and barely climbing up, he was brought in by the guards to the Roman magistrates, and he announced the victory of Camillus, and having told what had been decided by the soldiers, he urged them to confirm the command for Camillus. And they voted Camillus dictator. And he, gathering the Romans who were outside, about twenty thousand, and many from the allies, prepared for an attack. But the barbarians, passing by during the day, and learning from where Pontius had approached the Capitol, and they surmised this both from the broken fragments of the rock and from the grass, much of which was on it, some of which was torn up, some of which was matted down, they themselves also planned to ascend from there by night. And they attempted the deed, and with difficulty, but they went up nevertheless, and they would have gone unnoticed having grasped the parapet and attacked the guards, if there had not been geese kept near the temple of Hera, which being by nature sensitive and fearful of noise, quickly sensed the approach of the Gauls, and rushing with a confused cackling towards the guards they roused everyone. And so the Romans, engaging those coming up, killed some, and pushed others down the rock, and they escaped the danger. From this point on the Celts were more disheartened, being worn out by the siege for seven months. Therefore both 2.157 Brennus, the king of the barbarians, and Sulpicius, the tribune of the Romans, conferred about terms. And it was decided that the Romans would pay one thousand pounds of gold to the Gauls, and that they, having received the gold, would immediately depart from the city and the country. But when the gold was brought, and the barbarians were secretly cheating with the weights, Brennus, loosening his sword together with his belt, placed it on the scales. And when the tribune asked what was happening, "What else," he said, "but woe to the conquered?" In the midst of these things, Camillus, leading the army, appeared at the gates of the city; and having learned what was happening, he proceeded in haste towards the Romans. And having come, the gold

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ὑπήνης ἁψάμενος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς κατῆγε ταύτην βαθεῖαν ουσαν· ὁ δὲ τῇ βακτηρίᾳ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐκείνου ἐπάταξε. καὶ ὁ βάρβαρος σπασάμενος τὴν μάχαιραν τὸν ανδρα κατέκτει2.155 νεν. ουτω δὲ καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀνῄρουν προσπεσόντες οἱ βάρβαροι, καὶ τὰς οἰκίας ἐπόρθουν καὶ κατεπίμπρασαν. ειτα καὶ τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ προσέβαλον· ὡς δ' ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἐπιχειροῦντες ἡμέρας οὐδὲν ηνυον, οἱ μὲν ἐφρούρουν τὸ Καπιτώλιον, οἱ δὲ τὴν χώραν κατέτρεχον τροφὰς ποριζόμενοι, σκιδνάμενοι καὶ σποράδην ἐπιόντες, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁμοῦ, ατε μέγα φρονοῦντες τῷ εὐτυχήματι, καὶ ὑπὸ μέθης ἐσφάλλοντο· οινῳ γὰρ ἐντυχόντες πολλῷ ἀκρατέστερον ἐχρῶντο αὐτῷ, μήπω πρότερον πόματος τοιούτου γευσάμενοι. Ουτω δ' εχοντας ὁρῶν τοὺς Γαλάτας ὁ Κάμιλλος, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὴν τῶν ̓Αρδεατῶν ἐληίζοντο χώραν, αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς ̓Αρδεάτας πλήθει μὲν ἱκανοὺς οντας, τόλμης δὲ δεομένους δι' ἀπειρίαν καὶ τὸ πρὸς μάχας ἀνάσκητον, λόγον πρὸς τοὺς νεωτέρους ἐνέβαλεν ὡς οὐκ ἀνδρείᾳ τῶν βαρβάρων τὴν εὐπραγίαν αὐτῶν ἐπιγράφεσθαι δεῖ, ἀλλ' ἀτυχίᾳ ̔Ρωμαίων, καὶ εἰ προθυμοῖντο καὶ θαρροῦσιν αὐτοί, ἀκινδύνως νικήσειν τοὺς πολεμίους διισχυρίζετο. ουτω πείσας τοὺς νέους, ειτα καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς, ωπλισε τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ, καὶ νυκτὸς βαθείας μεθύουσιν αὐτὸς μετὰ τῶν ̓Αρδεατῶν τοῖς βαρβάροις προσέμιξε. καὶ τοὺς πλείονας ἐκεῖ κατέκοψεν, εἰ δέ τινες καὶ φυγεῖν ἠδυνήθησαν ἐν τῷ σκότει, μεθ' ἡμέραν διέφθειρον ἱππεῖς αὐτοὺς καταλαμβάνοντες. Τῆς δὲ φήμης ταχὺ κηρυξάσης ἁπανταχοῦ τὸ κατόρθωμα, οσοι τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων φυγόντες ἐκ τῆς πρώτης πρὸς τοὺς Γαλάτας μάχης ἐσώζοντο, τὰ οπλα λαβόντες ἀπῄεσαν πρὸς τὸν Κάμιλλον, δέχεσθαι δεόμενοι τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτῶν. ὁ δ' οὐκ εφη πεισθήσεσθαι, 2.156 μὴ πρότερον τῶν ἐν τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ σωζομένων ψηφισαμένων αὐτῷ τὴν ἀρχήν. ην δὲ ἀπορία τοῦ ταῦτα διαγγελοῦντος τοῖς εἰς τὸ Καπιτώλιον. εις δέ τις τῶν νέων Κομίνιος Πόντιος, δόξης ἐρῶν, ὑπέστη τὸν αθλον, καὶ λαθὼν διὰ μέσων διέβη τῶν πολεμίων, καὶ τῷ λόφῳ τοῦ Καπιτωλίου προσπελάσας καὶ χαλεπῶς ἀνερπύσας μόλις τε ἀναρριχησάμενος πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τέλει τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων παρὰ τῶν φυλαττόντων εἰσήχθη, καὶ τήν τε νίκην τοῦ Καμίλλου κατήγγειλε, καὶ τὰ δόξαντα τοῖς στρατιώταις εἰπὼν βεβαιῶσαι τῷ Καμίλλῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρεκάλει. οἱ δὲ δικτάτωρα τὸν Κάμιλλον ἐψηφίσαντο. καὶ ος τοὺς εξω οντας ̔Ρωμαίους περὶ δισμυρίους συναγαγὼν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν συμμάχων πολλούς, παρεσκευάζετο πρὸς ἐπίθεσιν. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι μεθ' ἡμέραν διιόντες, καὶ καταμαθόντες οθεν ὁ Πόντιος προσέβη τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ, τοῦτο δ' ὑπετόπασαν εκ τε τῶν ἀπερρωγότων τῆς πέτρας θραυσμάτων καὶ τῆς πόας, η πολλὴ ἐπ' αὐτῆς ην, τῆς μὲν ἀνεσπασμένης, τῆς δὲ συμπεπιλημένης, ἐκεῖθεν ἀναβῆναι νυκτὸς καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐβουλεύσαντο. καὶ ἐπεχείρησαν τῷ εργῳ, καὶ δυσχερῶς μέν, ἀνῄεσαν δ' ομως, καὶ ελαθον αν ἡμμένοι τοῦ προτειχίσματος καὶ τοῖς φύλαξιν ἐπιθέμενοι, εἰ μὴ χῆνες ησαν περὶ τὸν νεὼν τῆς Ηρας τρεφόμενοι, οι φύσει οντες εὐαίσθητοι καὶ ψοφοδεεῖς, ταχὺ τῶν Γαλατῶν τὴν εφοδον ῃσθοντο, καὶ ταραχώδει κλαγγῇ φερόμενοι πρὸς τοὺς φύλακας ἐπήγειραν απαντας. ουτω δὲ τοῖς ἀνιοῦσιν οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι προσμίξαντες τοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δὲ κατὰ τῆς πέτρας ἀπώσαντο, καὶ τὸν κίνδυνον ἐκπεφεύγασιν. ̓Εντεῦθεν ησαν οἱ Κελτοὶ ἀθυμότεροι, ἐφ' ἑπτὰ μησὶ τῇ πολιορκίᾳ ταλαιπωρούμενοι. διὸ καὶ περὶ 2.157 συμβάσεων ο τε τῶν βαρβάρων βασιλεὺς Βρέννος καὶ ὁ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων χιλίαρχος ὁ Σουλπίκιος διειλέχθησαν. καὶ συνέδοξε χιλίας λίτρας χρυσίου τοῖς Γαλάταις τοὺς ̔Ρωμαίους καταβαλεῖν, τοὺς δὲ τὸ χρυσίον λαβόντας αὐτίκα τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῆς χώρας ἀπαναστῆναι. κομισθέντος δὲ τοῦ χρυσίου, καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων περὶ τὸν σταθμὸν κακουργούντων λάθρᾳ, ὁ Βρέννος τὸ ξίφος αμα καὶ τὸν ζωστῆρα λύσας ἐπέθηκε τοῖς σταθμοῖς. πυθομένου δὲ τοῦ χιλιάρχου τί τὸ γινόμενον, "τί αλλο" ειπεν "η τοῖς νενικημένοις ὀδύνη;" ἐν τούτοις ὁ Κάμιλλος αγων τὸν στρατὸν ταῖς πύλαις ἐπέστη τῆς πόλεως· καὶ μαθὼν τὰ γινόμενα πρὸς τοὺς ̔Ρωμαίους ἐπειγόμενος ἐπορεύετο. καὶ ἐλθὼν τὸ μὲν χρυσίον