prevent the country being plundered before his eyes, but palisaded his camp and remained quiet within it, until he saw that the foraging parties of the Gauls straggled in careless disorder, while those in the camp did nothing but eat and drink.  Then, sending forward his light troops before daybreak to be ready to harass the Gauls and prevent their forming their ranks properly as they came out of their camp, he marched the heavy-armed men down into the plain at sunrise, a numerous and confident body, and not, as the Gauls fancied, a few disheartened men.

The very fact of his commencing the attack dashed the courage of the Gauls; next, the attacks of the light troops, before they had got into their wonted array and divided themselves into regiments, produced disorder.  When at last Camillus led on the heavy-armed troops, the Gauls ran to meet them brandishing their swords, but the Romans with their pikes advanced and met them, receiving their sword-cuts on their armour, which soon made the Gaulish swords bend double, as they were made of soft iron hammered out thin, while the shields of the Gauls were pierced and weighed down by the pikes that stuck in them.  They therefore dropped their own arms, and endeavoured to seize the pikes and turn them against their enemies.  But the Romans, seeing them now defenceless, began to use their swords, and slew many of the first ranks, while the rest took to flight all over the flat country; for Camillus had taken care to guard the hills and rough ground, while the Gauls knew that they, in their over-confidence, had been at no pains to fortify their camp, and that the Romans could easily take it.

This battle is said to have been fought thirteen years after the capture of Rome, and in consequence of it the Romans conceived a contempt for these barbarians, whom they had before greatly dreaded, and even believed that their former victories over the Gauls were due to their being weakened by pestilence, and to fortunate circumstances, rather than to their own valour.  This raised so great a terror of them, that a law was passed which relieved the priests from military service except in case of a Gaulish invasion.

XLII.  This was the last of Camillus’s military exploits, though during this campaign he took the city of Velitrae, which yielded to him without a battle.  But his greatest political struggle was yet to come, for it was harder to deal with the people now that they were elated with victory.  They insisted that the existing constitution should be annulled, and that one of the two consuls should be chosen from among them.  They were opposed by the Senate, which would not permit Camillus to lay down his office, as the patricians imagined that with the help of his great power they could more easily defend their privileges.  One day, however, as Camillus was sitting publicly doing business in the Forum, a viator or servant sent by the tribunes of the people bade him follow him,