ings had been set in order, as far as might be,
for the defending of the Citadel; and the old men, going back to their
homes, sat awaiting the coming of the Gauls with minds wholly fixed
on death. And such among them as had borne the more honourable
magistracies, because they would die having on them the emblems of their
old glory, put on them the splendid robes which they wear who draw the
ropes of the chariots of the gods, or ride in triumph, and so sat down
in their ivory chairs before their houses. Some say that, following
a form of words which Marcus Folius the chief priest repeated, they
devoted themselves to death for their country and for the citizens of
Rome.

The next day the Gauls entered the city by the Colline Gate without any
anger or fury, for such as had been stirred by the battle had abated
during the night; and indeed they had met with no peril in the field,
nor did they now take the city by storm. So they came to the marketplace
and thence looked about them on the Citadel, which alone in the city
still preserved some semblance of war, and on the temples of the Gods.
Here they left a guard of no great strength, lest haply some attack
should be made upon them from the Capitol, while they were scattered;
and the rest scattered themselves to gather spoil, some seeking it in
the dwellings that were nigh at hand, and some in such as were more
distant, thinking that they would find these rather untouched and
abounding with riches. Thence again, terrified by the silence of the
place, and fearing lest some stratagem of the enemy might be concealed
thereby, they returned to the market-place and to the parts adjacent
thereto. Here finding that the palaces of the nobles were open, and the
houses of the common folk barred, they were slower to enter the open
than the shut, for they beheld with no small reverence the men that sat
each in the porch of his house, noting how great was the splendour
of their apparel and their ornaments, and that the majesty of their
countenances was rather that of gods than of men. So they stood
marvelling at them as though they had been images of the gods, till a
certain Marcus Papirius, one of the priests, smote a Gaul on the head
with his ivory staff, the man having stroked his beard, which it was
then the custom to wear of a great length. The barbarian in a rage
slew him, and all the others also were slain where they sat. The nobles
having thus perished, all others that were found i