o the citadel whilst the enemy was in full possession of
the city. But among the young men there was one Pontius Cominius, of
ordinary birth, but ambitious of honor, who proffered himself to run the
hazard, and took no letters with him to those in the Capitol, lest, if
he were intercepted, the enemy might learn the intentions of Camillus;
but, putting on a poor dress and carrying corks under, he boldly
traveled the greatest part of the way by day, and came to the city when
it was dark; the bridge he could not pass, as it was guarded by the
barbarians; so that taking his clothes, which were neither many nor
heavy, and binding them about his head, he laid his body upon the
corks, and, swimming with them, got over to the city. And avoiding those
quarters where he perceived the enemy was awake, which he guessed at
by the lights and noise, he went to the Carmental gate, where there was
greatest silence, and where the hill of the Capitol is steepest, and
rises with craggy and broken rock. By this way he got up, though with
much difficulty, by the hollow of the cliff, and presented himself to
the guards, saluting them, and telling them his name; he was taken in,
and carried to the commanders. And a senate being immediately called,
he related to them in order the victory of Camillus, which they had not
heard of before, and the proceedings of the soldiers, urging them
to confirm Camillus in the command, as on him alone all their
fellow-countrymen outside the city would rely. Having heard and
consulted of the matter, the senate declared Camillus dictator, and sent
back Pontius the same way that he came, who, with the same success as
before, got through the enemy without being discovered, and delivered to
the Romans outside the decision of the senate, who joyfully received it.
Camillus, on his arrival, found twenty thousand of them ready in arms;
with which forces, and those confederates he brought along with him, he
prepared to set upon the enemy.

But at Rome some of the barbarians passing by chance near the place at
which Pontius by night had got into the Capitol, spied in several places
marks of feet and hands, where he had laid hold and clambered, and
places where the plants that grew to the rock had been rubbed off, and
the earth had slipped, and went accordingly and reported it to the king,
who, coming in person, and viewing it, for the present said nothing, but
in the evening, picking out such of the Gauls as were nimblest