This shield, dedicated to Zeus, is that of A valiant man,

Cydias.  It still bewails its

Young master.  For the first time

He bare it on his left arm

When terrible Ares crushed

TheGauls.

But soon, just as in the case of the Persians, traitors guided Brennus and his Gauls across the mountain-paths; the position of Thermopylae was turned; the Greek army owed its safety to the Athenian galleys; and by evening of the same day the barbarians appeared in sight of Delphi.

Brennus would have led them at once to the assault.  He showed them, to excite them, the statues, vases, cars, monuments of every kind, laden with gold, which adorned the approaches of the town and of the temple:  “’Tis pure gold—­massive gold,” was the news he had spread in every direction.  But the very cupidity he provoked was against his plan; for the Gauls fell out to plunder.  He had to put off the assault until the morrow.  The night was passed in irregularities and orgies.

The Greeks, on the contrary, prepared with ardor for the fight.  Their enthusiasm was intense.  Those barbarians, with their half-nakedness, their grossness, their ferocity, their ignorance, and their impiety, were revolting.  They committed murder and devastation like dolts.  They left their dead on the field, without burial.  They engaged in battle without consulting priest or augur.  It was not only their goods, but their families, their life, the honor of their country, and the sanctuary of their religion, that the Greeks were defending, and they might rely on the protection of the gods.  The oracle of Apollo had answered, “I and the white virgins will provide for this matter.”  The people surrounded the temple, and the priests supported and encouraged the people.  During the night small bodies of AEtolians, Amphisseans, and Phocidians arrived one after another.  Four thousand men had joined within Delphi, when the Gallic bands, in the morning, began to mount the narrow and rough incline which led up to the town.  The Greeks rained down from above a deluge of stones and other missiles.  The Gauls recoiled, but recovered themselves.  The besieged fell back on the nearest streets of the town, leaving open the approach to the temple, upon which the barbarians threw themselves.  The pillage of the shrines had just commenced when the sky looked threatening; a storm burst forth, the thunder echoed, the rain fell, the hail rattled.  Readily taking advantage of this incident, the priests and the augurs sallied from the temple clothed in their sacred garments, with hair dishevelled and sparkling eyes, proclaiming the advent of the god:  “’Tis he! we saw him shoot athwart the temple’s vault,