The History of Rome, Books 37 to the End with the Epitomes and Fragments of the Lost Books. Livy

war. The time fixed was the next day, and the place that which seemed the most central between the camp of the Gauls and Ancyra. The consul came thither at the appointed hour, with a guard of five hundred horse, but seeing none of the Gauls there, returned into his camp: after which the same envoys came again, with an apology, that their kings could not come, since religious feelings deterred them; but that the principal men of the nation would attend, and that the business might be as well transacted by them. To which the consul answered, that he would send Attalus on his part. To this meeting both parties came. When Attalus had brought with him as an escort three hundred horse, the terms of peace were proposed. As there could not be a conclusion to the affair in the absence of the leaders, it was agreed, that the consul and the kings should meet in the same place on the following day. The delay of the Gauls had the following objects: first, to waste time, that they might remove their effects, which they were unwilling to risk, and also their wives and children, to the other side of the river Halys; and, secondly, because they were framing a plot against the consul, who took no precautions against treachery in the conference. They chose for this purpose, out of all their number, one thousand horsemen of approved intrepidity; and their treachery would have taken effect, had not fortune exerted herself in favour of the law of nations, in violation of which their plan was laid. The Roman parties, who went out for forage and wood, were led towards that quarter where the conference was to be held; for the tribunes judged that to be the safest course, as they would have the consul’s escort, and himself, as a guard opposed to the enemy. However, they posted another guard of their own, of six hundred horse, nearer to the camp. The consul, being assured by Attalus that the kings would come, and that the business might be concluded, having set out from his camp with the same attendants as before, when he had advanced about five miles, and was not far from the place appointed, he saw, on a sudden, the Gauls coming on with hostile fury, and with their horses at full gallop. He halted, and ordering his horsemen to make ready their arms, and recall their courage, received the enemy’s first charge with firmness, nor gave way. At length, when their numbers were overpowering him, he began to retreat leisurely, without disturbing the order of the troops, but at last, when there was more danger in delay than protection in keeping their ranks, they all fled in hurry and disorder. Then truly the Gauls pressed hard on them, dispersed, and killed several; and a great part of them would have been cut off, had not the six hundred horse, the guard of the foragers, come up to meet them. These, on hearing, at a distance, the shout of dismay raised by their friends, made ready their weapons and horses, and, being quite fresh, renewed the fight after it was almost over. The fortune of the battle, therefore, was instantly reversed, and dismay recoiled from the conquered on the conquerors. At the first charge the Gauls were routed; at the same time the foragers from the fields ran together towards the spot, and an enemy was on every side of the Gauls in such a manner that they could not have an easy or safe retreat, especially as the Romans pursued on fresh horses, while theirs were fatigued. Few therefore escaped; yet not one was taken; by far the greater part paid their lives as a forfeit for having violated the faith of a conference. The whole army of the Romans, with minds burning with rage, marched up, next day, close to the enemy.

      26 The consul, that no particular should escape his knowledge, spent two days in examining the nature of the mountain with his own eyes. On the third day, after taking the auspices, and then offering sacrifice, he formed his troops in four divisions, that he might lead two up the middle of the mountain, and direct the other two, one on each side, against the wings of the Gauls. The main strength of the enemy, the Tectosagians and Trocmians, amounting to fifty thousand men, formed the centre of their line. They dismounted their cavalry, in number ten thousand men, because horsemen could not act among the uneven rocks, and placed them on the right wing. The Cappadocians of Ariarathes, with the auxiliary troops of Morzes, on the left, made up almost four thousand. The consul, having placed his light troops in the van, as he had done before at Mount Olympus, took care that they should have ready at hand the same abundance of weapons of every sort. When they approached the enemy, all circumstances, on both sides, were the same as in the former battle, excepting their spirits; those of the victors being elated by their success, and those of the Gauls depressed; because, though they themselves had not been defeated, yet they considered as their own, the overthrow of people of their own race. The battle, therefore, commencing under similar circumstances, had the same issue. The cloud, as it were, of light weapons that were thrown, overwhelmed the army of the Gauls; and, as none of them dared to charge forward from their ranks, for fear of exposing all parts of their bodies to the blows, so while they stood still, the closer they were together the more wounds they received, as the assailants directed their weapons as if at a mark. The consul now judged, that if he should once show the standards of the legions to them already disordered, they would instantly turn about and fly; receiving, therefore, the light infantry, and the rest of the auxiliaries, between the ranks, he ordered the line to advance.

      27 The Gauls, discouraged by the memory of the defeat of the Tolistoboians, and carrying weapons sticking in their flesh, fatigued also by long standing and wounds, were not able to support even the first shout and onset of the Romans. Their flight was directed towards their camp; only a few of them entered the trenches; the greater part, passing by, on the right and left, fled whichever way each man’s giddy haste carried him. The conquerors, following them to the camp, cut off their rear; but then, through greediness for booty, they stopped in the camp, and not one of them continued the pursuit. The Gauls in the wings stood some time longer, because the Romans reached them at a later period. But they did not endure even the first discharge of weapons. The consul, as he could not draw off the men who had got into the camp for plunder, sent forward those, who had been in the wings, to pursue the enemy. They, accordingly, followed them a considerable way; yet, in the pursuit, for there was no fight, they killed not more than eight thousand men: the rest crossed the river Halys. A great part of the Romans lodged that night in the enemy’s camp; the consul led back the rest to his own. Next day, he took a review of the prisoners, and of the booty, the quantity of which was as great as a nation most greedy of rapine could amass, after holding possession, by force of arms, of all the country on this side Mount Taurus, during a space of many years. The Gauls, after this scattered and confused flight, re-assembled in one place, a great part of them being wounded or unarmed, and as all were destitute of every kind of property, they sent deputies to the consul, to supplicate for peace. Manlius ordered them to attend him at Ephesus; and, being in haste to quit those cold regions, in the vicinity of Mount Taurus, as it was now the middle of autumn, he led back his victorious army into winter quarters on the sea-coast.

      28 During the time of those transactions in Asia, affairs were tranquil in the other provinces. At Rome, the censors, Titus Quintius Flamininus and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, read over the roll of the senate; Publius Scipio Africanus was, a third time, declared prince of the senate, and only four members were struck out, none of whom had held any curule office. In their review of the knights, also, their censorship was very mild. They contracted for the erection of a building in the Æquimælium, on the capitoline mount, and for paving, with flint, a road from the gate Capena to the temple of Mars. The Campanians consulted the senate respecting the place where they should have their census; and an order was passed that they should be rated at Rome. Extraordinary quantities of rain fell this year; twelve times the Tiber overflowed the field of Mars and the lower parts of the city. The war with the Gauls in Asia having been brought to a conclusion by the consul Cneius Manlius, the other consul, Marcus Fulvius, as the Ætolians were now completely reduced, passed over to Cephallenia, and sent messengers round the states of the island, to inquire whether they chose to submit to the Romans, or to try the fortune of war. Fear prevailed so strongly on them all, that they did not refuse to surrender. They gave the number of hostages demanded, which was proportioned to the abilities of a weak people, the Nesians, Cranians, Pallenians, and Samæans, giving twenty each. An unhoped-for peace had now shone on Cephallenia, when one state, the Samæans, suddenly revolted, from some motive not yet ascertained. They said, that as their city was commodiously situated, they were afraid that the Romans would compel them to remove from it. But whether, they conceived this in their own minds, and, under the impulse of a groundless fear, disturbed the general quiet, or whether, such a project had been mentioned in conversation among the Romans, and reported to them, nothing is ascertained, unless that after having given hostages they suddenly shut their gates, and would not relinquish their design, even for the prayers of their friends, whom the consul sent to the walls, to try