Camillus

At this time the Gauls had marched against the Tuscan city of Clusium and were laying siege to it. The Clusians applied for assistance to the Romans, and begged them to send ambassadors in their behalf with a letter to the Barbarians. So there were sent three men of the Fabian gens who were of great repute and honour in the city.

The Gauls received them courteously, because of the name of Rome, ceased their attacks upon the city walls, and held conference with them. When they were asked what wrong they had suffered at the hands of the Clusians that they had come up against their city, Brennus, the king of the Gauls, burst into a laugh and said: The Clusians wrong us in that, being able to till only a small parcel of earth, they yet are bent on holding a large one, and will not share it with us, who are strangers, many in number and poor.

This is the wrong which ye too suffered, O Romans, formerly at the hands of the Albans, Fidenates, and Ardeates, and now lately at the hands of the Veientines, Capenates, and many of the Faliscans and Volscians. Ye march against these peoples, and if they will not share their goods with you, ye enslave them, despoil them, and raze their cities to the ground; not that in so doing ye are in any wise cruel or unjust,

nay, ye are but obeying that most ancient of all laws which gives to the stronger the goods of his weaker neighbours, the world over, beginning with God himself and ending with the beasts that perish. For these too are so endowed by nature that the stronger seeks to have more than the weaker. Cease ye, therefore, to pity the Clusians when we besiege them, that ye may not teach the Gauls to be kind and full of pity towards those who are wronged by the Romans.

From this speech the Roman envoys saw that there was no coming to terms with Brennus, and so they slipped into Clusium, and emboldened and incited its citizens to sally out against the Barbarians with them, either because they wished to discover the prowess of those warriors or to display their own The Clusians made a sally, and in the fight which raged along the walls one of the Fabii, Quintus Ambustus, drove his horse straight at a stately and handsome Gaul who was riding far out in front of the rest. At first he was not recognized, because the conflict came swiftly to pass and his dazzling armour hid his face.

But when he had conquered and unhorsed his foe and was stripping his arms from him, then Brennus recognized him, and called upon the gods to witness how, contrary to the general practice of all mankind, which was deemed just and holy, he had come as an ambassador, but had wrought as an enemy. Then, putting a stop to the battle, he straightway let the Clusians alone, and led his host against Rome. But not wishing to have it thought that his people were rejoiced at the outrage, and only wanted some pretext for war, he sent and demanded the offender for punishment, and in the meantime advanced but slowly.