had been covered over), he said, and they
were his last words: "Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius; pay it,
therefore, and do not neglect it!"

"It shall be done," said Crito; "but consider whether you have anything
else to say?"

To this question he gave no reply; but shortly after he gave a
convulsive movement, and the man covered him, and his eyes were fixed;
and Crito, perceiving it, closed his mouth and eyes.

This, Echecrates, was the end of our friend, a man, as we may say, the
best of all of his time that we have known, and, moreover, the most wise
and just.

BRENNUS BURNS ROME

B.C. 388

BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR

(Julius Caesar is the first writer who gives us an authentic and
enlightening account of the Gauls, whom he divided into three groups.
The Gauls were the chief branch of the great original stock of Celts.
They were a nomadic people, and from their home in Western Europe they
spread to Britain, invaded Spain, and swarmed over the Alps into Italy,
and it is from the latter event that this tall, fair, and fighting
nation first came into the region of history.

Before the Gauls had come within the borders of Italy, Camillus, the
Dictator, had dealt the death-blow to the Etruscan League through his
capture and destruction of its stronghold, Veii. But at the very summit
of his triumph he lost the grace of his countrymen by demanding a tenth
of their spoil taken at Veii, and which he claimed to have vowed to
Apollo. It was popularly considered a ruse to increase his private
fortune. Furthermore, a counter-claim was brought against him for
appropriating bronze gates, which in Rome at that time were nothing less
than actual money--bronze being the medium of currency. Camillus went
into exile in consequence of the accusation. His parting prayer was that
his country might feel his need and call him back. His desire was
fulfilled, for soon after "the Gaul was at the gates" under the
leadership of the haughty Brennus, who had come upon the Romans at a
most opportune moment. This event of the overthrow of the Romans on the
Alia has been the occasion for the well-known tale of the cackling of
the geese in the temple of Juno, which alarmed the garrison. The episode
also gave rise to the saying of the conqueror, Brennus, who, when
reproached by his antagonists with using false weights, cast his sword
into the scale, crying, "Woe to the conquered!")

At that time no Roman foresaw the calamity which