all was quiet in their camp, Camillus, who had learned the state of the case from spies, led out the men of Ardea, and marching over the intervening ground in silence, about midnight attacked their entrenched camp with loud shouts and blasts of his trumpet, which threw the Gauls, half-drunk and heavy with sleep as they were, into great confusion.  Few recovered their senses so far as to attempt to resist Camillus, and those few fell where they stood; but most of them were slain as they lay helpless with wine and sleep.  Such as escaped from the camp and wandered about the fields were despatched by cavalry the next day.

XXIV.  The fame of this action, when noised among the neighbouring cities, called many men to arms, especially those Romans who had escaped to Veii after the battle of the Allia.  These men lamented their fate, saying, “What a general has Providence removed from Rome in Camillus, whose successes now bring glory to Ardea, while the city that produced and brought up so great a man has utterly perished.  And now we, for want of a general to lead us, are sitting still inside the walls of a city not our own, and giving up Italy to the enemy.  Come, let us send to the men of Ardea, and beg their general of them, or else ourselves take up our arms and march to him.  He is no longer an exile, nor are we any longer his countrymen, for our country is ours no more, but is in the hands of the enemy.”

This was agreed, and they sent to beg Camillus to become their general.  But he refused, saying that he would not do so without a decree from the citizens in the Capitol; for they as long as they survived, represented the city of Rome, and therefore although he would gladly obey their commands, he would not be so officious as to interfere against their will.  The soldiers admired the honourable scruples of Camillus, but there was a great difficulty in representing them to the garrison of the Capitol; indeed, it seemed altogether impossible for a messenger to reach the citadel while the city was in the possession of the enemy.

XXV.  One of the younger Romans, Pontius Cominius, of the middle class of citizens, but with an honourable ambition to distinguish himself, undertook the adventure.  He would not take any writing to the garrison, for fear that if he were taken the enemy might discover Camillus’s plans.  He dressed himself in poor clothes, with corks concealed under them, and performed most of the journey fearlessly by daylight, but when he came near the city he went by night.  As it was impossible to cross the river by the bridge, which was held by the Gauls, he wrapped what few clothes he had round his head, and trusted to his corks to float him over to the city.  After he had landed, he walked round, observing by the lights and the noise where the Gauls were most wakeful, until he reached the Carmentan Gate, where all was quiet.  At this place the Capitolian Hill forms a steep and precipitous crag, up which he climbed by a hollow in the cliff,