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11 - Stories from the History of Rome by Emily Beesly · Stories from the History of Rome

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  Speaker 1: Chapter ten of Stories from the History of Rome by
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  Speaker 1: Emily Beasley. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: The Taking of Rome. In the northern part of Italy,
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  Speaker 1: there lived at this time a people called the Gauls.
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  Speaker 2: They were of the same race as the Scotch highlanders,
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  Speaker 2: who were still sometimes called Gayelles, and were a fierce
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  Speaker 2: and savage people who loved fighting. They are described to
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  Speaker 2: us as tall, strong men with fair hair, who wore
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  Speaker 2: dresses of many colors like the Scotch plaids, and were
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  Speaker 2: armed with shields and long broadswords.
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  Speaker 1: It was many years before the time of which I
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  Speaker 1: am now telling you, that the Gauls had first crossed
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  Speaker 1: the Alps and settled in northern Italy. But they now
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  Speaker 1: began to march further south and attacked Clusium. The people
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  Speaker 1: of clusiums sent to Rome to beg for help. The
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  Speaker 1: Senate refused to send an army to their aid, but
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  Speaker 1: chose three young nobles of the family of Fabius as
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  Speaker 1: ambassadors to go to the Gauls to try and make peace.
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  Speaker 1: When the three fabie arrived in the Gaulish camp, they
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  Speaker 1: were led before the king and spoke to him. Thus
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  Speaker 1: the Roman Senate O King, would have you put an
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  Speaker 1: end to the war against the Clusians, who have never
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  Speaker 1: injured you. If it should be needful, Know that the
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  Speaker 1: Romans will fight with you to defend their friends and allies.
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  Speaker 1: But they will gladly be at peace with you. If
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  Speaker 1: you will stop fighting. We will make peace with the Clusians,
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  Speaker 1: answered the Gaulish king, if they will give up to
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  Speaker 1: us a part of their lands. If not, we will
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  Speaker 1: fight them in your presence, Romans, and then you may
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  Speaker 1: go home and tell your fellow countryman how much braver
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  Speaker 1: the Galls are than any other people. But said the ambassador,
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  Speaker 1: what right have you to come and take the lands
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  Speaker 1: of Clusium? What have you to do in a truia
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  Speaker 1: that I will soon show you with this good sword,
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  Speaker 1: cried the gall fiercely. A brave man has a right
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  Speaker 1: to everything. So the ambassadors went back to Clusium, and
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  Speaker 1: all was got ready for fighting. Now it has always
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  Speaker 1: been a rule among nations that an ambassador ought to
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  Speaker 1: take no part in war. He must not fight, and
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  Speaker 1: if he were to be harmed by any one of
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  Speaker 1: the people to whom he has sent, it would be
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  Speaker 1: a great wrong. But the Roman ambassadors, when they saw
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  Speaker 1: their Clusian friends march out against the Gauls, could not
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  Speaker 1: resist the pleasure of going with them. The battle began,
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  Speaker 1: and Quintus Fabius attacked the Gaullish general and ran him
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  Speaker 1: through with his spear. The Gauls soon found out that
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  Speaker 1: it was the Roman ambassador who had killed their general,
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  Speaker 1: and their rage against the Romans was so great that
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  Speaker 1: they left off fighting the Clusians and marched away to
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  Speaker 1: their camp to plan what should be done. Some of
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  Speaker 1: them wished to march straight to Rome, but the elder
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  Speaker 1: men determined first to send messengers to the Senate to
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  Speaker 1: ask that the Fabia should be given up to them.
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  Speaker 1: The Romans, however, instead of punishing the Fabii, praised them
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  Speaker 1: and chose them to be chief officers in the army
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  Speaker 1: for the next year. When the Gaulls heard of this,
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  Speaker 1: their anger was very great, for they were passionate and
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  Speaker 1: savage people, and they at once set out for Rome.
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  Speaker 1: The people in the towns and villages through which they
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  Speaker 1: passed were very much frightened at the wild and strange warriors,
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  Speaker 1: but they when they saw the people trying to run
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  Speaker 1: away to save themselves.
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  Speaker 2: Cried out in a loud voice that they.
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  Speaker 1: Would do them no harm, and that they were going
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  Speaker 1: to punish the Romans. News soon came to Rome of
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  Speaker 1: the terrible enemy that was so near, and the Fabie
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  Speaker 1: and the other generals led out the army to meet them.
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  Speaker 1: The generals were careless and did not make great preparations
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  Speaker 1: as they ought to have done against their new foes.
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  Speaker 1: The soldiers, too, instead of being eager for battle as
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  Speaker 1: they usually were, were very much afraid of these fierce strangers,
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  Speaker 1: whose arms and looks and ways of fighting were quite
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  Speaker 1: different from anything ever seen in southern Italy before. And
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  Speaker 1: if they were afraid when they set out, they grew
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  Speaker 1: much more terrified when the two armies came near together,
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  Speaker 1: and they could hear the Gauls shouting out their war
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  Speaker 1: songs and clashing their arms as their wild and savage
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  Speaker 1: fashion was. They met on the banks of the River Alia,
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  Speaker 1: eleven miles from Rome. Brennus, the king of the Gauls,
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  Speaker 1: led his army to the attack, and the battle did
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  Speaker 1: not last long, for neither officers nor soldiers in the
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  Speaker 1: Roman army behaved like Romans. They thought of nothing but
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  Speaker 1: of saving themselves, and turned and fled without striking a
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  Speaker 1: single blow. Many went to VEII. Others tried to swim
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  Speaker 1: across the Tiber, and many were drowned there. Being tired
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  Speaker 1: and weighed down by their heavy armor, many were slain
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  Speaker 1: by the enemy as they tried to escape. Others got
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  Speaker 1: safely to Rome and fled into the capital in such
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  Speaker 1: haste that they did not even shut the city gates
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  Speaker 1: after them. The Gauls were quite astonished by their easy victory,
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  Speaker 1: and for a while stood still, as if they hardly
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  Speaker 1: knew what had happened. But at last, seeing that the
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  Speaker 1: Romans had all fled, they marched on and reached the
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  Speaker 1: city about sunset. When they found that the gates were open,
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  Speaker 1: and saw that no one came to resist them, they
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  Speaker 1: thought that the army must be concealed in the city,
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  Speaker 1: ready to attack them if they went in, so as
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  Speaker 1: the evening was coming on, they encamped outside the walls
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  Speaker 1: for the night. In the meantime, the terror in Rome
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  Speaker 1: was such as had never been known there before. The
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  Speaker 1: Romans supposed that all their army had been killed, except
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  Speaker 1: the small number who had escaped to Rome, for they
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  Speaker 1: did not know that a much larger number had fled
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  Speaker 1: to Veya. The whole city was filled with wailing and lamenting.
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  Speaker 1: As they had no hope of defending the city with
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  Speaker 1: so few soldiers. It was resolved that the young and
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  Speaker 1: strong men, with their wives and children, and the strongest
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  Speaker 1: of the senators, should go to the capitol, which was
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  Speaker 1: a steep, rocky hill defended with strong walls and towers.
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  Speaker 1: Arms and food were got together and taken to the capitol.
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  Speaker 1: They thought, if they could defend the temple of the
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  Speaker 1: gods which were on this hill, and keep alive the
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  Speaker 1: strongest of the people and some of the senate, that
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  Speaker 1: the loss of the old people and of the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the city would have to be born, and that
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  Speaker 1: the people who were left in the city might bear
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  Speaker 1: their fate more patiently. The aged nobles, many of whom
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  Speaker 1: were senators and had been consuls, declared themselves ready to
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  Speaker 1: die with them, so that they might not be a
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  Speaker 1: burden to the small number of men who were able
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  Speaker 1: to fight. Many of the people fled out of the city.
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  Speaker 1: Some went to neighboring towns. Others wandered about in the fields.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the priests and priestesses, or vestal virgins as
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  Speaker 1: they were called, carried away the statues of the gods
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  Speaker 1: and other sacred things, and fled with them to a
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  Speaker 1: town not far off. When all had been made ready
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  Speaker 1: for the defense of the capital, the old men went
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  Speaker 1: back into their houses. Those who had been consuls or
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  Speaker 1: had held any other high office, clad themselves in their
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  Speaker 1: splendid embroidered robes and seated themselves in their ivory chairs.
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  Speaker 1: And thus they waited for the coming of the enemy.
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  Speaker 1: The Gauls spent the night outside the town, as I
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  Speaker 1: told you, But when morning came they marched in. They
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  Speaker 1: were much surprised to find no one in the streets
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  Speaker 1: or public places. So, after setting a small number of
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  Speaker 1: men to watch the capitol lest the garrison there should
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  Speaker 1: attack them unexpectedly, they began to go into the houses
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  Speaker 1: to look for plunder, and, finding the doors of the
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  Speaker 1: great houses where the nobles lived unfastened, they first went
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  Speaker 1: into them. There, to their great astonishment, they found the
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  Speaker 1: grand old nobles sitting in their chairs of state, so
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  Speaker 1: still and quiet that the Gauls did not know if
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  Speaker 1: they were real men or statues of the gods. Then
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  Speaker 1: a gall stretched out his hand and touched the long
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  Speaker 1: white beard of Papirius, one of these old nobles, to
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  Speaker 1: see if he were alive, Papirius, angry at the insult,
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  Speaker 1: struck the rude soul on the head with his ivory staff.
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  Speaker 1: At this the gall quickly drew his sword and killed
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  Speaker 1: the old Roman. Then the slaughter began. The Gauls killed
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  Speaker 1: the old men and plundered their houses, and then rushed
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  Speaker 1: into the other houses, plundering and setting them on fire,
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  Speaker 1: and killing the people who had not fled. When the
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  Speaker 1: Romans and the capitol saw their dear city full of enemies,
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  Speaker 1: plundering and burning and killing, and heard their shouts, the
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  Speaker 1: cries of the Romans, and the noise of the falling houses,
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  Speaker 1: they were full of misery and sorrow. They were so
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  Speaker 1: few that they could do nothing to help their friends.
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  Speaker 1: But their courage still did not fail them, and they
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  Speaker 1: resolved to defend the little hill, which was all they
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  Speaker 1: had left to the very last. After some days, when
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  Speaker 1: the Gauls had finished burning plundering the city, they began
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  Speaker 1: to wish to take the capital too. First, they made
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  Speaker 1: an attack upon it and tried to climb up the
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  Speaker 1: sides of the hill. The Romans let them come halfway up,
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  Speaker 1: and then suddenly set upon them threw them down the
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  Speaker 1: steep rocks and killed a great many. So, finding that
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  Speaker 1: they could not take the capital by force, they resolved
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  Speaker 1: to lay siege to it. They left a small number
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  Speaker 1: of their warriors to guard it, so that no one
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  Speaker 1: should go in or come out, while others of their
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  Speaker 1: troops plundered the country round or attacked the towns that
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  Speaker 1: were near. I told you in the last story that
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  Speaker 1: the brave Camillus had been banished from Rome. He had
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  Speaker 1: gone to live in a town called Ardea. When he
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  Speaker 1: heard of all the misfortunes of his country, he was
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  Speaker 1: more unhappy than his own troubles had made him, and
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  Speaker 1: he wondered what had become of those brave soldiers who
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  Speaker 1: had fought with him at Vais and FILAREI. News was
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  Speaker 1: brought to Ardea that the Gauls were coming, and the
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  Speaker 1: terrified Ardeans asked him, illis what they should do. When
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  Speaker 1: he heard these things, he went to the Ardaean assembly
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  Speaker 1: and spoke in these words to the people, my old
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  Speaker 1: friends of Urdaya. He said, I hope none of you
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  Speaker 1: think that I forget all the kindness you have shown
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  Speaker 1: me since I came to your city, And now in
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  Speaker 1: this danger, it is fitting that everyone should do what
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  Speaker 1: he can for the common good. How can I show
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  Speaker 1: you how grateful I am to you better than at
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  Speaker 1: such a time, And how can I be of use
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  Speaker 1: to you except in war? For in my own country
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  Speaker 1: I had some fame as a soldier. Now, then, Ardeans,
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  Speaker 1: you have a chance of repair, paying the Romans for
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  Speaker 1: all their kindness to you, and also of winning for
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  Speaker 1: your city a glorious name in war. The people that
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  Speaker 1: are coming against you are men who are very big,
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  Speaker 1: but not so strong as they look. They are tired
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  Speaker 1: with the siege of Rome, and they wander about the country,
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  Speaker 1: filling themselves with meat and wine, which they get by thieving.
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  Speaker 1: When night comes on, they lay themselves down without any
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  Speaker 1: camp or sentinels, in the fields or by the riversides,
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  Speaker 1: like so many wild beasts. And since their victory they
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  Speaker 1: are even more careless than they were before. Now, then,
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  Speaker 1: if you dare defend your town, stand to your arms
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  Speaker 1: when evening comes on and follow me. And if I
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  Speaker 1: do not give you the chance to kill them like
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  Speaker 1: wild beasts when they are asleep, banish me from Ardea,
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  Speaker 1: as I was banished from Rome. Everybody before this believed
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  Speaker 1: that there never was such a man for war. As
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  Speaker 1: Camillus and the Ardaeans now followed his advice. As soon
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  Speaker 1: as it grew dark, they met him at the city gates.
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  Speaker 1: He led them out, and they had not gone far
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  Speaker 1: before they came to the place where the army of
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  Speaker 1: the Gauls lay sleeping. There were no guards nor sentinels,
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  Speaker 1: so the Ardaeans rushed upon them and killed great numbers
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  Speaker 1: of them, unarmed and asleep. Of the rest of the army,
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  Speaker 1: some were killed by the people of other towns near Ardea,
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  Speaker 1: and some fled away to their fellow countrymen at Rome.
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  Speaker 1: In the meantime, the part of the Roman army which
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  Speaker 1: had gone to Vee was getting larger, for not only
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  Speaker 1: more Romans came to join them who had fled from
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  Speaker 1: Rome when the Gulls took it, but many soldiers came
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  Speaker 1: in from the towns of Latium to help them. When
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  Speaker 1: they heard of the victory that Camillus had won over
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  Speaker 1: the Gulls, they determined to ask him to come and
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  Speaker 1: lead them. They did not like to do this without
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  Speaker 1: asking the leave of the senators at Rome. Yet it
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  Speaker 1: was a difficult thing to get to them, as they
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  Speaker 1: were on the capitol surrounded by the army of the Gauls.
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  Speaker 1: A young man called Pontius Cominius, offered to do his
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  Speaker 1: best to take the message. He easily got to the
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  Speaker 1: Tiber and then swam down the river till he came
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  Speaker 1: to Rome. The side of the capitol nearest the river
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  Speaker 1: was a very steep, craggy rock, and the Gaulls did
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  Speaker 1: not watch it as carefully as the other sides, thinking
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  Speaker 1: that no one could climb it. But Pontius crept out
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  Speaker 1: of the managed to scramble up the rock and so
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  Speaker 1: got into the capitol. He was taken to the senators
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  Speaker 1: and gave them his message from the army at Vei.
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  Speaker 1: They were very glad to hear the good news he brought,
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  Speaker 1: and sent word to the soldiers that the senate recalled
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  Speaker 1: Camillus from banishment and made him dictator. The young man
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  Speaker 1: then went back the same way that he had come
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  Speaker 1: and got safely to Vai. Now, though Pontius got safely away,
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  Speaker 1: he had not been able to help, leaving on the
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  Speaker 1: rocks the marks of where he had scrambled down, and
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  Speaker 1: the galls. When they saw these footprints, found out that
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  Speaker 1: someone had been up the cliffs, which they thought could
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  Speaker 1: not be climbed. If the Romans can get up, why
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  Speaker 1: should not the galls do the same, said one of
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  Speaker 1: the bullsst of them, And the next night, when it
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  Speaker 1: was dark, he climbed up. When he came down, it
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  Speaker 1: was resolved that a party should go up and attack
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  Speaker 1: the Romans while they were asleep. So they began to climb,
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  Speaker 1: helping one another and pulling one another up as best
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  Speaker 1: they could, all without speaking a word. Now the Romans,
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  Speaker 1: trusting in the steepness of the rocks, kept careless guard.
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  Speaker 1: They were all asleep, and so quietly did the gulls
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  Speaker 1: come up that no one heard them. Even the dogs
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  Speaker 1: slept on. But in one of the temples near the walls,
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  Speaker 1: there were some geese which were sacred to Juno, the
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  Speaker 1: goddess of that temple. These geese were disturbed by some
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  Speaker 1: sound that the galls made, and began to cackle and
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  Speaker 1: clap their wings. They made such an noise that they
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  Speaker 1: awoke Marcus Manlius, a brave Roman who had been consoled
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  Speaker 1: three years before springing up and seizing his weapons. Manlius
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  Speaker 1: ran out to see what was the matter. When he
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  Speaker 1: came near the temple, what was his surprise to see
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  Speaker 1: the tall figure of a gall standing on the wall
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  Speaker 1: at the top of the rock. Manlius shouted to the
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  Speaker 1: other Romans to follow him, and rushing at the gall,
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  Speaker 1: he gave him such a blow with his shield that
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  Speaker 1: he knocked him right off the wall and down the
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  Speaker 1: rocks outside. The fall of this man knocked down some
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  Speaker 1: of those who were standing below him, and frightened the
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  Speaker 1: others so that they dropped their weapons. By this time
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  Speaker 1: the other Romans had joined Manlius, and they threw their
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  Speaker 1: spears in large stones down upon the Gauls, putting them
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  Speaker 1: into such fear that they fell down the rock, and
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  Speaker 1: many of them were killed. Next morning, the soldiers were
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  Speaker 1: called together before the funerals, who praised Manlius for his bravery,
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  Speaker 1: but they ordered that the sentinel, who ought to have
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  Speaker 1: been watching the part of the wall where the Gaulls
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  Speaker 1: climbed up, should be thrown down the rock. After this,
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  Speaker 1: both the Roman and Gaulish guards kept better watch, But
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  Speaker 1: now both parties began to be troubled by want of food,
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  Speaker 1: and many of the Gauls fell ill and died. They
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  Speaker 1: were used to live in a much cooler country, and
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  Speaker 1: the heat of Rome made them ill. The Romans, too,
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  Speaker 1: were quite tired of being shut up in the capitol.
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  Speaker 1: Their food was nearly finished. The soldiers grew so weak
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  Speaker 1: that they could hardly bear the weight of their arms,
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  Speaker 1: and they began to think that the dictator Camillus would
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  Speaker 1: never come to drive away the Galls. So both parties
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  Speaker 1: were very glad to make a truce, that is to
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  Speaker 1: agree that they would not fight each other for several days.
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  Speaker 1: The Roman and said they would make any conditions the
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  Speaker 1: Gulls liked, and the Galls said they would go away
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  Speaker 1: if the Romans would give them a thousand pounds weight
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  Speaker 1: of gold. The Romans agreed to this, and Sulpicius, one
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  Speaker 1: of the generals, was sent to Brennus, the king of
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  Speaker 1: the Galls, to pay him. The gold had to be weighed,
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  Speaker 1: for it was not in coins such as we have,
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  Speaker 1: but in lumps. The Gaulls tried to use weights which
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  Speaker 1: were not fair, so as to get more gold than
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  Speaker 1: they ought to have had. Sulpicius saw this and told
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  Speaker 1: them it was unfair and shameful. Then King Brennus threw
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  Speaker 1: his sword into the scale, exclaiming, ha whoa to the
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  Speaker 1: conquered the weighing was not yet done, when to the
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  Speaker 1: joy of the Romans the dictator where Camillus and his
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  Speaker 1: soldiers arrived. When he saw what they were doing, he
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  Speaker 1: was very angry. Begone, he said to the Gauls, and
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  Speaker 1: do you Romans take away that gold. The Romans at
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  Speaker 1: first said they could not obey him, and told him
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  Speaker 1: what they had promised before he came. The promise cannot
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  Speaker 1: be cooked, he answered, no Roman had any right to
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  Speaker 1: make such a promise without the leave of the dictator. Then,
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  Speaker 1: turning to Brennus, he bade him get his men ready
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  Speaker 1: for battle. The Gauls seized their arms and attacked the
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  Speaker 1: Romans with more rage than skill. They were driven back
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  Speaker 1: and forced to fly, and at last had to march
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  Speaker 1: out of the city. The Romans followed them, and another
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  Speaker 1: battle was fought about eight miles from Rome, in which
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  Speaker 1: the Gauls were all killed. Their camp was taken, and
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  Speaker 1: not one man was left to carry the news back
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  Speaker 1: to their own country. End of Chapter ten.