preserved silence, but violently assaulted the place.  The Romans, snatching up whatever arms came first to hand, ran to repulse them:  and first of all Manlius, a man of consular rank, strong of body and full of courage, fell in with two of the enemy.  As one of them lifted up his battleaxe, Manlius cut off his right hand with his sword, while he dashed his shield into the other’s face, and threw him backwards down the cliff.  After this he stood upon the wall, and with the help of those who assembled round him, beat off the rest, for not many had reached the top, or effected anything commensurate with the boldness of the attempt.  Having thus escaped the danger, the Romans threw their sentinel down the rock; while on Manlius they conferred by vote a reward for his bravery, intended more for honour than advantage; for each man gave him a day’s rations, which consisted of half a Roman pound of meal, and the fourth part of a Greek cotyle of wine.

XXVIII.  This affair disheartened the Gauls, who were also in want of provisions, for they could not forage as before for fear of Camillus, while disease also crept in among them, encamped as they were in the ruins of Rome among heaps of dead bodies, while the deep layer of ashes became blown by the wind into the air, making it dry and harsh, and the vapours of the conflagrations were injurious to breathe.  They were especially distressed by the change from a cloudy country where there are plenty of shady retreats, to the flat burning plains of Rome in autumn, and their siege of the Capitol became wearisome, for they had now beleaguered it for seven months; so that there was much sickness in their camp, and so many died that they no longer buried the dead.  Yet for all this the besieged fared no better.  Hunger pressed them, and their ignorance of what Camillus was doing disheartened them; for no one could reach them with news, because the city was strictly watched by Gauls.  As both parties were in these straits, proposals for a capitulation took place; at first among the outposts on both sides; afterwards the chief men on each side.  Brennus, the Gaulish king, and Sulpicius the Roman tribune, met, and it was agreed that the Romans should pay a thousand pounds of gold, and that the Gauls should, on receiving it, at once leave the country.  Both parties swore to observe these conditions, but when the gold was being weighed, the Gauls at first tampered with the scales unperceived, and then openly pulled the beam, so that the Romans became angry.  But at this Brennus insolently took off his sword and belt, and flung them into the scale; and when Sulpicius asked, “What is this?” “What should it be,” replied the Gaul; “but woe to the vanquished!” At this some of the Romans were angry and thought that they ought to take back their gold into the Capitol, and again endure the siege; while others said that they must put up with insults, provided they were not too outrageous, and not think that there was any additional disgrace in paying more than they had agreed, because in paying any ransom at all, they were acting from sheer necessity rather than feelings of honour.