et the wood on all sides in arms killed the rest, panic-struck
by so unexpected a disaster. A very small number, who attempted to
escape by a bridge, were taken prisoners, being intercepted by the
enemy who had taken possession of it before them. Here Posthumius
fell, fighting with all his might to prevent his being taken. The Boii
having cut off his head, carried it and the spoils they stole off his
body, in triumph into the most sacred temple they had. Afterwards they
cleansed the head according to their custom, and having covered the
skull with chased gold, used it as a cup for libations in their solemn
festivals, and a drinking cup for their high priests and other
ministers of the temple. The spoils taken by the Gauls were not less
than the victory. For though great numbers of the beasts were crushed
by the falling trees, yet as nothing was scattered by flight, every
thing else was found strewed along the whole line of the prostrate
band.

25. The news of this disaster arriving, when the state had been in so
great a panic for many days, that the shops were shut up as if the
solitude of night reigned through the city; the senate gave it in
charge to the aediles to go round the city, cause the shops to be
opened, and this appearance of public affliction to be removed. Then
Titus Sempronius, having assembled the senate, consoled and encouraged
the fathers, requesting, "that they who had sustained the defeat at
Cannae with so much magnanimity would not now be cast down with less
calamities. That if their arms should prosper, as he hoped they would,
against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, the war with the Gauls might
be suspended and deferred without hazard. The gods and the Roman
people would have it in their power to revenge the treachery of the
Gauls another time. That they should now deliberate about the
Carthaginian foe, and the forces with which the war was to be
prosecuted." He first laid before them the number of foot and horse,
as well citizens as allies, that were in the dictator's army. Then
Marcellus gave an account of the amount in his. Those who knew were
asked what troops were in Apulia with Caius Terentius Varro the
consul. But no practicable plan could be devised for raising consular
armies sufficient to support so important a war. For this reason,
notwithstanding a just resentment irritated them, they determined that
Gaul should be passed over for that year. The dictator's army was
assigned to the cons