The Gauls were beyond measure astonished that they had vanquished their enemy so easily and in so short a space of time. At the first they stood still in fear, not knowing what had taken place; afterwards they began to fear some stratagem; at last they buried the dead bodies of the slain, and piled together the arms in heaps according to their custom. And now, not perceiving in any place the sign of an enemy, they began to march forward, and came to Rome a little before sunset. But when the horsemen whom they had sent on before brought back tidings that the gates were open, with none to defend them and no soldiers upon the walls, they were not less astonished than before, and came to a halt, fearing lest, in the darkness of the night and in a place whereof they knew nothing, they might fall into some peril. They took up a station, therefore, between Rome and the river Anio, sending scouts about the walls and the gates of the city who should learn what the enemy purposed to do in the great extremity whereunto they had been brought.
CHAPTER XIV. ~~ THE STORY OF ROME AND THE GAULS (continued).
Meanwhile the city was full of weeping and wailing, for none thought that they who had fled to Veii were yet alive, or that any had been saved from the battle, save such as were already come back to Rome. But when tidings were brought that the Gauls were close at hand, sorrow gave place to fear. And now the Gauls were seen to move backwards and forwards before the walls, and there was heard the sound of shouting and of the barbarous music that this people use. And still the inhabitants expected till an attack should be made upon the city. At first they thought that this would be done at the first coming of the enemy; but afterwards believed that it would be delayed until nightfall, that the terror might be increased by the darkness. Nevertheless all men bore themselves bravely, and altogether unlike to them who had turned their backs in such shameful fashion at the river Allia. For since there was no hope that the city should be defended by the small number that yet remained, it was resolved that all the young men that could bear arms, together with such of the Senators as had strength sufficient for war, should go up with their wives and children to the Citadel and the Capitol, where stores of arms and corn having been collected, they might defend the gods of Rome and the honour of the State. Also it was determined that the priests of Quirinus, and the virgins of Vesta with him, should carry away far from peril of fire and sword all that appertained to the gods, that their worship might not be interrupted so long as any should be left to perform it. For they said, "If the citadel and the Capitol, wherein are the dwellings of the Gods, and the Senate, which is the council of the State, and the youth that are of an age to carry arms, survive the destruction that hangs over the city, it is but a small matter that the aged should perish." And that the common people might bear their fate with the more willingness, the old men of the nobles that had been honoured in former days with triumphs and consulships affirmed that they would meet death together with the rest; neither would they burden the scanty stores of the fighting men with bodies that had no longer the strength to carry arms.