Camillus

When the Senate convened in Rome, many denounced the Fabii, and especially the priests called Fetiales were instant in calling upon the Senate in the name of all the gods to turn the curse of what had been done upon the one guilty man, and so to make expiation for the rest. These Fetiales were instituted by Numa Pompilius, gentlest and justest of kings, to be the guardians of peace, as well as judges and determiners of the grounds on which war could justly be made.

The Senate referred the matter to the people, and although the priests with one accord denounced Fabius, the multitude so scorned and mocked at religion as to appoint him military tribune, along with his brothers. The Gauls, on learning this, were wroth, and suffered nothing to impede their haste, but advanced with all speed.

What with their numbers, the splendour of their equipment, and their furious violence, they struck terror wherever they came. Men thought the lands about their cities lost already, and their cities sure to follow at once. But contrary to all expectation the enemy did them no harm, nor took aught from their fields, but even as they passed close by their cities shouted out that they were marching on Rome and warred only on the Romans, but held the rest as friends.

Against this onset of the Barbarians the military tribunes led the Romans forth to battle. They were not inferior in numbers, being no fewer than forty thousand men-at-arms, but most of them were untrained, and had never handled weapons before. Besides, they had neglected all religious rites, having neither sacrificed with good omens, nor consulted the prophets as was meet before the perils of battle.