The Fall Of Rome To The Gauls
Rome, in 390 BCE, fell to strange invaders from the North who sacked and burned it to the ground. Romans knew so little about this foreign tribe except that it loved wine so much and was ferocious in battle.
Livy tells us that for the first time in 360 years, Romans came into contact with an enemy they were so scared to face on the battlefield, and they could not even defend their city against it.
The only man who could save the city had been expelled a few months earlier for standing up to the greed of the leaders in the city.
In this post, I focus on the events that almost brought Rome to its untimely end and how the man his people had ostracized rose to the occasion. His heroic actions to save the city were considered equal to those of Romulus, its founder.
After the fall of the wealthy city of Veii, a story I covered in my previous post, Romans fought over the assets they had taken from it. Some wanted everything distributed amongst citizens. Others wanted part of the assets set aside for the gods and another part in the government treasury.
Marcus Furius Camillus, who had led the war on Veii as the dictator, was the loudest voice of those who wanted part of the assets to be set aside for the gods and the public treasury. This made him an enemy of many within the city, especially the ruling class.
Livy writes:
“They said that by devoting the spoils of Veii to the State and to the gods, he had reduced them to nothing.”
However, what sealed his fate was his support for two tribunes of the people, one Verginius and one Pomponius, who had been impeached unjustly. Camillus was impeached and went into exile in Ardea, the neighboring city of the Rutulians. That is despite the fact that he had led Rome to succeed in many other wars besides conquering Veii.
Around the time Camillus was exiled, ambassadors came from Clusium, an Etruscan town in the North, asking Rome to help against a new and difficult enemy: the Gauls. There had been stories about these strange men crossing the Alps two hundred years before and having some contact with the Etruscans. Livy tells us that, however, very little was known about them except that the Etruscans had introduced wine to them, and they loved it a lot.
The rare sight of Gauls was occasioned by how difficult it used to be to cross the Alps.
Livy writes:
“Beyond stretched the barrier of the Alps, and I am not at all surprised that they appeared insurmountable, for they had never yet been surmounted by any route, as far at least as unbroken memory reaches, unless you choose to believe the fables about Hercules. While the mountain heights kept the Gauls fenced in as it were there, they were looking everywhere to see by what path they could cross the peaks which reached to heaven and so enter a new world.”
Livy tells us that in that year, 390 BCE, the particular tribe of the Gauls that crossed the Alps and came into contact with the Etruscans of Clusium and later marched to Rome were the Senones.
Livy writes:
“The people of Clusium were appalled by this strange war, when they saw the numbers, the extraordinary appearance of the men, and the kind of weapons they used, and heard that the legions of Etruria had been often routed by them.”
As it seemed difficult to fight this tribe by itself, Clusium sent for help from its often enemy, Rome.
Livy writes:
“Although Clusium had no claim on Rome, either on the grounds of alliance or friendly relations, unless it was that they had not defended their kinsmen at Veii against the Romans, they nevertheless sent ambassadors to ask the senate for assistance.”
Rome did not send an army right away, but three sons of Fabius Ambustus were sent as ambassadors to warn the Gauls not to attack Clusium as Rome was ready to defend it. But in actuality, Romans were wary of fighting this enemy they knew little about.
Livy writes:
“Romans preferred that actual war should be avoided and that they should make acquaintance with the Gauls, who were strangers to them, in peace rather than in arms.”
This would likely have worked, but the ambassadors turned out to be somewhat incompetent. Livy tells us that they were of violent temper and not keen on following the law of nations. After delivering the message from Rome, this is the reply they received from the Gauls:
“Although we are hearing the name of Romans for the first time, we believe nevertheless that you are brave men, since the Clusines are imploring your assistance in their time of danger. Since you prefer to protect your allies against us by negotiation rather than by armed force, we on our side do not reject the peace you offer, on condition that the Clusines cede to us Gauls, who are in need of land, a portion of that territory which they possess to a greater extent than they can cultivate. On any other conditions, peace cannot be granted. We wish to receive their reply in your presence, and if territory is refused us, we shall fight while you are still here, that you may report to those at home how far the Gauls surpass all other men in courage.”
The Roman ambassadors asked them what right they had to demand land. The Gauls told them that everything belonged to the brave. An argument arose, and the ambassadors joined the Etruscans in fighting the Gauls there and then, which was against the law of nations. It was not acceptable to attack ambassadors, nor was it acceptable for ambassadors to engage in violence.
In the skirmishes that followed, Quinctius Fabius, one of the Roman ambassadors, killed a chief of the Gauls, making them ignore the Etruscans and focus on Rome as the enemy.
The Gauls sent demands to Rome for the three ambassadors to be handed over to them for punishment. While their demand was legal, according to the law of nations, the Romans declined, in particular, because the three were from a prominent family, the Fabian family.
Livy writes:
“The senate, while disapproving of the conduct of the Fabii, and recognizing the justice of the demand which the barbarians made, were prevented by political interests from placing their convictions on record in the form of a decree in the case of men of such high rank.”
Feeling treated with contempt, the Gauls started to march towards Rome.
Livy Writes:
“But though they were preceded by rumors and by messages from Clusium, and then from one town after another, it was the swiftness of their approach that created most alarm in Rome.”
The Romans assembled an army and marched to meet the enemy away from the city. The two forces met eleven miles from Rome.
The Gauls were in quite huge numbers.
Livy writes:
“The whole country in front and around was now swarming with the enemy, who, being as a nation given to wild outbreaks, had by their hideous howls and discordant clamor filled everything with dreadful noise.”
When the battle started, Rome was no match for the larger army with men who seemed bigger and more experienced in battle.
Livy writes:
“The soldiers were terrified, and all they thought about was flight, and so utterly had they lost their heads that a far greater number fled to Veii, a hostile city, though the Tiber lay in their way than by the direct road to Rome, to their wives and children.”
Most of those who did not flee were massacred, and soon Rome was exposed. The small remaining army ran towards the city with the Gauls in hot pursuit. The Romans entered the city in a rush and were extremely frightened. They were not even courageous enough to close the gates.
When the Gauls reached the gates, they did not follow inside because they thought the gates being left open was a strategy on the side of the Romans. And before they secured much of the surrounding land, many citizens with their belongings escaped, and the majority went to Veii and other neighboring cities. Even the priests escaped carrying the religious artifacts they could not bury in the ground.
The Gauls camped around the city for days. Most of those inside secured themselves in the citadel. At some point, many who had remained in the city prepared to die, and left the citadel to face their fate.
Livy writes:
“The old men returned to their respective homes and, fully prepared to die, awaited the coming of the enemy. Those who had filled curule offices resolved to meet their fate wearing the insignia of their former rank and honor and distinctions. They put on the splendid dress which they wore when conducting the chariots of the gods or riding in triumph through the City, and thus arrayed, they seated themselves in their ivory chairs in front of their houses. Some writers record that, led by Marcus Fabius, the Pontifex Maximus, they recited the solemn formula in which they devoted themselves to death for their country and the Quirites.”
Livy tells us that when the Gauls entered the city, they focused on looting and did not initially kill anyone. That changed when one of the Roman elders hit one of them.
Livy writes:
“They gazed with feelings of real veneration upon the men who were seated in the porticoes of their mansions, not only because of the superhuman magnificence of their apparel and their whole bearing and demeanor but also because of the majestic expression of their countenances, wearing the very aspect of gods. So they stood, gazing at them as if they were statues, till, as it is asserted, one of the patricians, Marcus Papirius, roused the passion of a Gaul, who began to stroke his beard — which in those days was universally worn long — by smiting him on the head with his ivory staff. He was the first to be killed, the others were butchered in their chairs.”
Besides slaughtering many, they set the houses on fire. Many other Romans remained in the citadel, unsure how it would end.
Livy writes:
“In whatever direction their attention was drawn by the shouts of the enemy, the shrieks of the women and boys, the roar of the flames, and the crash of houses falling in, thither they turned their eyes and minds as though set by Fortune to be spectators of their country’s fall, powerless to protect anything left of all they possessed beyond their lives.”
A few days after sacking the rest of the city, looting and killing many, the Gauls made an attempt on the citadel. However, they were unsuccessful, and they, therefore, set in for a long siege. Soon, their food supplies ran out. They split into several groups. One was assigned to maintain the siege on Rome, and the rest were sent to raid the neighboring cities for food.
One headed to Ardea, where Cumillus had gone to stay after being sent into exile. The reports reached Ardea before the Gauls arrived, and the city started to prepare for an attack.
Livy writes:
“Suddenly, Camillus heard that the Gaulish army was approaching and that the Ardeates were engaged in anxious deliberation about it. He had generally avoided the council meetings, but now, seized with an inspiration nothing short of divine, he hastened to the assembled councilors and addressed them.”
He offered his service to protect the city from the attack by the Gauls, and they accepted his offer. Camillus had done his research about the Gauls. He understood that while they were ferocious and efficient fighters, they had a weakness. They loved wine so much. They drank it in the evening and slept without having anyone on duty to guard.
Camillus led his army from Ardea to attack their camp at night and killed the group that was to raid the city.
When faced with a similar threat, the Romans in Veii agreed they needed a dictator, and Camillus was the perfect person for the job. They secretly sent messages to Ardea and Rome. They requested Camillus to accept being a dictator and asked the senate hiding in the citadel to appoint him.
This was done, and Camillus was informed of his appointment. He appointed Lucius Valerius as his master of the horse, went to Veii, and organized Romans into a force that could face the Gauls.
Meanwhile, in Rome, both the Gauls and the Romans in the city had grown tired of the siege. The Romans did not trust that Camillus had any chance to save them. On their part, the Gauls were struggling to get food, and a disease was spreading in their camp, killing many of them. Livy also tells us they struggled in a climate they were not used to.
Livy writes:
“They had their camp on low-lying ground between the hills, which had been scorched by the fires and was full of malaria, and the least breath of wind raised not dust only but ashes. Accustomed as a nation to wet and cold, they could not stand this at all, and tortured as they were by heat and suffocation, disease became rife among them, and they died off like sheep.”
Indeed, at some point, the Romans, out of pity, threw them bread from the citadel. The two camps agreed to negotiate and end the siege. The Romans were to pay them an amount of gold, and the Gauls would march off. After negotiation, it was agreed that Rome would pay a ransom of 1000 lbs of gold. However, the Gauls proved untrustworthy in carrying out this transaction.
Livy writes:
“This humiliation was great enough as it was, but it was aggravated by the despicable meanness of the Gauls, who produced unjust weights, and when the tribune protested, the insolent Gaul threw his sword into the scale, with an exclamation intolerable to Roman ears, ‘Woe to the vanquished!’”
Just as the Romans were about to deliver the gold, Camillus appeared with his army. He ordered the gold to be carried away and the Gauls to move off.
Livy writes:
“He then warned the Gauls to prepare for battle, and ordered his men to pile their baggage into a heap, get their weapons ready, and win their country back by steel, not by gold.”
Livy tells us that the Gauls, alarmed at the turn of events, seized their weapons and rushed upon the Romans with more rage than strategy, and they were massacred, and their camp was taken.
This was such a great victory that Camillus was considered the second founder of Rome.
Livy writes:
“The Dictator returned in triumph to the City, and amongst the homely jests which soldiers are wont to bandy, he was called in no idle words of praise, ‘A Romulus,’ ‘The Father of his country,’ ‘The Second Founder of the City.’”
