5.39
The Gauls for their part
were almost dumb with astonishment at so sudden and
extraordinary a victory. At first they did not dare
to move from the spot, as though puzzled by what had
happened, then they began to fear a surprise, at
last they began to despoil the dead, and, as their
custom is, to pile up the arms in heaps. Finally, as
no hostile movement was anywhere visible, they
commenced their march and reached Rome shortly
before sunset. The cavalry, who had ridden on in
front, reported that the gates were not shut, there
were no pickets on guard in front of them, no troops
on the walls. This second surprise, as extraordinary
as the previous one, held them back, and fearing a
nocturnal conflict in the streets of an unknown
City, they halted and bivouacked between Rome and
the Anio. Reconnoitring parties were sent out to
examine the circuit of the walls and the other
gates, and to ascertain what plans their enemies
were forming in their desperate plight. As for the
Romans, since the greater number had fled from the
field in the direction of Veii instead of Rome, it
was universally believed that the only survivors
were those who had found refuge in Rome, and the
mourning for all who were lost, whether living or
dead, filled the whole City with the cries of
lamentation. But the sounds of private grief were
stifled by the general terror when it was announced
that the enemy were at hand. Presently the yells and
wild war-whoops of the squadrons were heard as they
rode round the walls. All the time until the next
day's dawn the citizens were in such a state of
suspense that they expected from moment to moment an
attack on the City. They expected it first when the
enemy approached the walls, for they would have
remained at the Alia had not this been their object;
then just before sunset they thought the enemy would
attack because there was not much daylight left; and
then when night was fallen they imagined that the
attack was delayed till then to create all the
greater terror. Finally, the approach of the next
day deprived them of their senses; the entrance of
the enemy's standards within the gates was the
dreadful climax to fears that had known no respite.
But all through that night and the following
day the citizens afforded an utter contrast to those
who had fled in such terror at the Alia. Realising
the hopelessness of attempting any defence of the
City with the small numbers that were left, they
decided that the men of military age and the
able-bodied amongst the senators should, with their
wives and children, withdraw into the Citadel and
the Capitol, and after getting in stores of arms and
provisions, should from that fortified position
defend their gods, themselves, and the great name of
Rome. The Flamen and priestesses of Vesta were to
carry the sacred things of the State far away from
the bloodshed and the fire, and their sacred cult
should not be abandoned as long as a single person
survived to observe it. If only the Citadel and the
Capitol, the abode of gods; if only the senate, the
guiding mind of the national policy; if only the men
of military age survived the impending ruin of the
City, then the loss of the crowd of old men left
behind in the City could be easily borne; in any
case, they were certain to perish. To reconcile the
aged plebeians to their fate, the men who had been
consuls and enjoyed triumphs gave out that they
would meet their fate side by side with them, and
not burden the scanty force of fighting men with
bodies too weak to carry arms or defend their
country.