Copy 1, Volume 1

History of Rome / [Thomas Arnold].

  • Thomas Arnold
Date:
1840-1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of Rome / [Thomas Arnold]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    were disposed, it is said®^ to accept the offer, be- xxtv.' cause they heard that the Venetians, that nation of • Illyrian blood who dwelt around the northern extre- mity of the Adriatic, had made an inroad into their own country beyond the Apennines. They consented therefore to the terms offered by the Romans; and a thousand pounds’ weight of gold were to be col- lected from the offerings in the Capitoline temple, and from the treasures which had been carried into the Capitol before the siege from every part of Rome, that for this ransom the blockade might be raised. Even in accepting these terms, the Gaulish leader felt that he was admitting to mercy enemies whom he had wholly in his power. His weights, said the Roman story®®, were unfair; the Roman tribune of the soldiers, Q. Sulpicius, complained of the fraud, but the Gaul threw his heavy broadsword into the scale; and when the tribune again asked what he meant, he replied in words which may be best repre- sented by an analogous English proverb, “ It means that the weakest must go to the wall®®.” Thus, according to the true version of this famous event, the Gauls returned from their inroad into Italy loaded with spoil and crowned with glory. Cauis. That as soon as they were known to be retreating, the nations whom they had overrun should have re- covered their courage, and have taken every oppor- tunity to assail them on their march home, is perfectly Polybius, II. 18. Livy, V. 48. 59 <i Ysj2 victis esse.”