HOW ROME BECAME RULER OF ITALY 53
others with him . The Romans hurled down stones and jave lins . The Gauls who were not killed fled , and the Capitol was saved .
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Soon the Gauls heard that ene mies were invad ing their own country , and they offered to leave Rome if the Romans would give them one thousand pounds of gold . The Ro
m a ns were obliged to agree, and even when they saw that the weights of the scales were false, they could only complain .
Bren'nus, leader of the Gauls, threw his sword into the scales beside the weights and cried insolently , " Woe to the van quished ! But unexpected help was coming to the van quished . After the fall of Veii , the enemies of Camillus had
Motte
THE GEESE OF THE CAPITOL
54 STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE
caused him to be accused of taking for himself some of the treasures of the place , and he had indignantly left Rome . Now in their time of distress, the Romans who had fled from their city begged him to become their commander and lead them back against the Gauls. If such is the wish of my countrymen in the Capitol, he replied . The men shut up in the Capitol were glad enough not only to ask him to return , but to elect him dictator. This was how it came about that just when Brennus was saying, Woe to the vanquished ! Camillus appeared with his force and cried , Rome is not ransomed with gold , but with steel ! The Gauls were so taken by surprise that they were easily routed .
The Gauls had been driven away, but the houses of the Romans were only heaps of ruins and cinders . It is small wonder that they were dismayed .
" Let us go to Veii, they cried , and make that our home. According to the custom of victors, they had either slain the people of Veii or sold them as slaves, and the vacant city stood ready for them . Camillus, however , finally persuaded them not to desert their homes and the places sacred to the rites of the gods , and they set to work to rebuild the city. The poor plebeians were obliged to borrow mo ney, and soon many of them were in great distress . The good Marcus
Manlius helped them in every way that he could . He sold
ROMAN SOLDIERS WITH SHIELDS
( From Column of Trajan )
HOW ROME BECAME RULER OF ITALY 55
his property and paid the debts of many poor people . It was whispered that he was trying to win the favor of the crowd that he might be made king, and he was put to death . The Gauls came again more than once, but they were finally so harassed by one Lucius Fu'ri-us Camillus, a nephew of the first Camillus , that they fled , and Rome was free from them . The houses and temples were rebuilt; but there was one loss which nothing could make up, and that was of the old records kept by the priests of what had taken place in the city from year to year. These were burned with the temples, and that is why we have only legends for the history of the early days of Rome . / Rome had now fought with the Æquians , Volscians, Etruscans , and Gauls ; but lying to the southeast was the land of the Sam-ni'tes , and between them and the Romans , war arose . The Samnites were a bold , hardy race of moun taineers . They attacked Cap'u-a , one of the cities founded by the Greeks in Italy ; and Capua begged Rome to come to her aid . This war was bitter while it lasted , for the Samnites were almost as strong as the Romans . Rome was glad when peace was made , for she was now having trouble, not with her enemies, but with her old allies , the Latins. They were willing and glad to be friends with Rome , but they did not wish to be under her command . We are as strong as you , they said , and where there is equal strength , should there not be an equal share in the government ? Let half of the senate and one of the consuls be Latins , and we are ready to call ourselves Romans and take Rome for our fatherland ."
The proud Roman senators were angry and scornful. If
