Chapter VI (2)

Truth, truth! well may Bacon speak of it thus--"'What is truth?' said laughing Pilate, and wouldn't wait for an answer." If there be danger in the deviation shown in the case stated, what a state are we all in? All, as we do daily in some way or other, putting our best legs foremost. Look at the whole advertising, puffing, quacking, world--the flattering, the soothing, the complimenting. Virtues and vices alike driving us more or less out of the straight line; and, blindfolded by habit, we know not that we are walking circuitously. And they are not the worst among us, perhaps, who walk so deviatingly--seeing, knowing--those that stammer out nightly ere they rest, in confession, their fears that they have been acting if not speaking the untrue thing, and praying for strength in their infirmity, and more simplicity of heart; and would in their penitence shun the concourse that besets them, and hide their heads in some retired quiet spot of peace, out of reach of this assault of temptation. And this, Eusebius, is the best prelude I can devise to the story I have to tell you. It is of a poor old woman; shall I magnify her offence? It was magnified indeed in her eyes. Smaller, therefore, shall it be--because of its very largeness to her. But it will not do to soften offences, Eusebius. I see already you are determined to do so. I will call it her crime. Yes, she lived a life of daily untruth. She wrote it, she put her name to it--"litera scripta manet." We must not mince the matter; she spoke it, she acted it hourly, she took payment for it--it was her food, her raiment. Oh! all you that love to stamp the foot at poor human nature, here is an object for your contempt, your sarcasm, your abuse, your punishment; drag her away by the hair of her head. But stay, take care you do not "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel;" examine yourselves a little first. She has confessed, perhaps you have not. Remember, no one knew it; no one guessed it. It is she herself has lifted up the lantern into the dark recesses of her own heart; or rather, it is true religion in her hath done it: and dark though it was there, you ought to see clearly enough that her heart is not now the den wherein falsehood and hypocrisy lurk; search well--you see none. She has made a "clean breast of it," and you had better do the same, and drop the stone you were about to fling so mercilessly at her dying head. Are you out of patience, Eusebius? and cry--Out with it, what did she do? You shall hear; 'tis but a simple anecdote after all. I have learned it from a parish priest. He was sent for to attend the deathbed of poor old village dame, or schoolmistress. She had a sin to confess; she could not die in peace till she had confessed it. With broken speech, she sobbed, and hesitated, and sobbed again.

"I--I--I," she stammered out, and hid her face again. "There, I must, I must tell it; and may I be forgiven! You know, sir, I have kept school forty years--yes, forty years--a poor sinful creature--I--I"----

"My good woman," said the parish priest, "take comfort; it will be pardoned if you are thus penitent. I hope it is not a very great sin."

"Oh yes!" said she, "and pray call me not _good_ woman. I am--not--good;" sobbing, "alas, alas!--there, I--will out with it! I put down that I taught grammar--and (sobbing) I, I, _did not know it myself_."

Eusebius, Eusebius, had you been there, you would have embraced the old dame. The father of lies was not near her pillow. This little sin, she had put it foremost, and, like the little figure before many nothings, she had made a million of it; and one word, nay one thought, before confession was uttered, had breathed upon and obliterated the whole amount. Where will you see so great truth? And this, you will agree with me, was a case of _Tender Conscience_.

FOOTNOTES:

{A} _Religio Medici_, a new edition, with its sequel, _Christian Morals_, and resemblant passages from Cowper's _Task_. By Mr Peace, Bristol. The text of this inestimable author is here cleared of its many errors, and the volume contains a useful verbal index.

THIERRY'S HISTORY OF THE GAULS.{A}

'Tis a pleasant thing to turn from the present, with its turmoil and its noise, its clank of engines and its pallid artizans, its political strife and its social disorganization, to the calm and quiet records of the past--to the contemplation of bygone greatness: of kingdoms which have passed away,--of cities whose site is marked only by the mouldering column and the time-worn wall--of men with whose name the world once rang, but whose very tombs are now unknown. If there is any thing calculated to enlarge the mind, it is this; for it is only by a careful study of the past that we come to know how duly to appreciate the present. Without this we magnify the present; we imagine that the future will be like unto it; we form our ideas, we base our calculations upon it alone; we forget the maxim of the Eastern sage, that "this too shall pass away." It is by the study of history that we overcome this otherwise inevitable tendency; we learn from it, that other nations have been as great as we, and that they are now forgotten--that a former civilization, a fair and costly edifice which seemed to be perfect of its kind, has crumbled before the assaults of time, and left not a trace behind. There is a still small voice issuing forth from the ruins of Babylon, which will teach more to the thinking mind than all the dogmas and theories of modern speculators.

When we turn to the study of ancient history, our attention is immediately riveted on the mighty name of Rome. Even the history of Greece cannot compare with it in interest. Greece was always great in the arts, and for long she was eminent in arms: but the arms of her citizens were too often turned against each other; and the mind gets fatigued and perplexed in attempting to follow the endless maze of politics, and the constant succession of unimportant wars. There are, indeed, many splendid episodes in her history--such as the Persian war, the retreat of the Ten Thousand, a few actions in the Peloponnesian contest, and the whole of the Theban campaigns of Epaminondas; but the intervening periods have but a faint interest to the general reader, till we come down to the period of the Macedonian monarchy. This, indeed, is the great act in the drama of Grecian history. Who can peruse without interest the accounts of the glorious reign of Alexander; of that man who, issuing from the mountains of Macedonia, riveted the fetters of despotism on Greece, which had grown unworthy of freedom, and carried his victorious arms over the fertile plains of Palestine, till he stood a conqueror amidst the palaces of Persepolis, and finally halted only on the frontiers of Hindostan, arrested in his progress not by the arms of his enemies but by the revolt of his soldiers? He flung a halo of glory around the last days of Greece, like the bright light of a meteor, whose course he resembled equally in the rapidity and brilliancy of his career. With him dies the interest of Grecian story: the intrigues and disputes of his successors, destitute of general interest, served but to pave the way for the progress of a mightier power.

Of greater interest even than this is the history of Rome. Her conquests were not merely the glorious and dazzling achievements of one man, which owed their existence to his talents, and crumbled to pieces at his death; they were slow and gradual in their progress--the effects of a deep and firm policy: they were not made in a day, but they endured for a thousand years. No country presents such interest to the politician and the soldier. To the one, the rise and progress of her constitution; her internal struggles; the balance of political power in the state; her policy, her principles of government; the administration and treatment of the many nations which composed her vast empire, must ever be the subject of deep and careful study: while to the other, the campaigns of Hannibal, the wars of Caesar, and the long line of her military annals, present a wide field for investigation and instruction--an inexhaustible topic for philosophic reflection.

But there is one subject connected with the progress of the Roman empire which has been unduly neglected, and without a perfect understanding of which we cannot justly appreciate either the civil or military policy of that state. We mean the history of the nations who came in contact with her--viz. the Carthaginians, the Gauls, the Spaniards. The ancient historians belonged exclusively to Greece or Rome: they looked upon all other nations except themselves as barbarous; and they never related their history except incidentally, and in so far as it was connected with that of those two countries. Modern historians, following in their track, and attracted by the splendour of their names, deviated not from the beaten path; and a thick veil still hung over the semi-barbarous neighbours and enemies of Rome. The history of no one of those nations was more interesting, or in many points involved in greater obscurity, than that of the GAULS.

Nowhere amongst the ancient writers could any connected account of the origin or progress of this nation be found; scattered notices of them alone could be discovered interspersed incidentally amongst other matter, and these notices were frequently inconsistent. This is particularly the case as regards their early history: in later times, when they came into more immediate contact with the Romans, a more connected and minute account of them has been preserved. In the lively pages of Livy, and in the more accurate narrative of Polybius, a considerable mass of information on this subject maybe found; while a clear light has been thrown on many parts of their latter history by the narrative of Appian, the Lives of Plutarch, and, above all, by the Commentaries of Caesar. But all this information, scattered over a multiplicity of authors, could give us no conception of their history as a people. An author was still wanting to collect all these together, so as to present us with something like a continuous history. But to do this was no easy task: the materials were scanty and often contradictory; they were all written in a spirit hostile to the Gauls; a deep vein of prejudice and national partiality ran through and tarnished them all; the motives of that people were misrepresented, their actions falsified, the historians often understood little of their institutions and their character. From such materials it required no common man to be able to deduce a clear and impartial narrative; it required great talent and deep research--the accuracy of the scholar and the spirit of the philosopher, the acuteness of the critic joined to the eye of the painter. Such a man has been found in Amadee Thierry. His _History of the Gauls_ is a work of rare merit--a work which must ever be in the hand of every one who would understand the history of antiquity. It is little to the credit of the literature of this country, that his work has not yet appeared in an English translation.

He has traced the progress of the Gauls, from their earliest appearance on the stage of the world till their final subjection to the Roman power, in a manner worthy of a scholar and a philosopher. His narrative is clear, animated, and distinct; he possesses in an eminent degree the power of giving breadth to his pictures; of drawing the attention of his readers to the important events, whilst the remainder are thrown into shade. His mode of treating his authorities is perhaps the best that can be imagined; he neither clogs his pages with long extracts, nor does he leave them unsupported by a reference to the original authors. At the end of each paragraph a reference is given to the authorities followed, to whom the reader may at once turn if he wish to verify the conclusions arrived at; and where the points are involved in obscurity, the passages founded on are quoted generally in a note, and never in the text, except when their importance really justified such an interruption of the narrative. His style is always animated and graphic, occasionally rising to elevated flights of eloquence, while his subject is one of a deep and varied interest; for in following the checkered fortunes of the Gauls, he is brought in contact with almost every nation of the earth. To whatever country of the ancient world we turn, we find that the Gaul has preceded us, either as the savage conqueror or the little less savage mercenary. Issuing originally from the East, that boundless cradle of the human race, we soon find him contending with the German for his morass, with the Spaniard for his gold--traversing the sands of Africa, and pillaging the plains of Greece--founding a kingdom in the midst of Asiatic luxury, and bearing his conquering lance beneath the Capitol of Rome. But a mightier spirit soon rose to rule the storm. In vain the courage of the Gaul, allied with the power of Carthage, and directed by the genius of Hannibal, maintained for years a desperate and doubtful contest in the heart of Italy. The power of Rome kept steadily advancing: Greece soon fell beneath her conquering arm; and the fleets of Carthage no longer ruled the wave. The Spaniard, after many a hard-fought field, at last sank into sullen submission; and the Galatians, degenerating under the influence of Asiatic manners, proved unequal to the contest; the Gaul, instead of inundating the land of the foreigner, could with difficulty maintain his own; and soon the eagle of the Capitol spread its wings over a Transalpine province. But the free spirit of the Gaul now made a mighty effort to rend asunder the bonds which encircled it; and a countless multitude, after ravaging Spain, poured down into Italy: the Roman empire rocked to its foundation, when Marius, hastening over from his African conquests, saved his country by the glorious and bloody victory of Aquae Sextiae. Yet a little while and the legions of Rome, under the orders of Caesar, traversing with fire and sword their country, retaliated on the Gaul the calamities he had often inflicted on others, subdued his proud spirit, and forged for him, amidst seas of blood, those fetters which were finally riveted by the policy of Augustus. Such is a brief outline of the heart-stirring story of this singular and interesting race.

One of the most interesting parts of Thierry's work is the Introduction. He there gives a brief view of the character of the Gaulish race; its division into two great branches, the Gaul and the Kimry, and the periods into which the history of this people naturally divides itself. A considerable part of it is taken up in proving that this people do in reality consist of two great branches, the Gaul and the Kimry. This, we think, he has clearly and satisfactorily shown, by evidence drawn both from the language and from the historical accounts which have been preserved to us regarding them. His character of the Gauls as a people is ably and well given; but here we must let him speak for himself:--

"The salient characteristics of the Gaulish family--those which
distinguish it the most, in my opinion, from the other races of
men--may be thus summed up:--A personal bravery unequaled amongst
the people of antiquity; a spirit frank, impetuous, open to every
impression, eminently intelligent; but joined to that an extreme
frivolity, want of constancy, a marked repugnance to the ideas of
discipline and order so strong in the German race, much
ostentation--in fine, a perpetual disunion, the consequence of
excessive vanity. If we wish to compare, in a few words, the
Gaulish family with that German family to whom we have just
alluded, we may say that the personal sentiment, the individual I,
is too much developed amongst the former, and that amongst the
latter it is not sufficiently so. Thus we find, in every page of
Gaulish story, original characters who strongly excite and
concentrate upon themselves our sympathy, causing us to forget the
masses; whilst, in the history of the Germans, it is generally the
masses who produce the effect. Such is the general character of the
people of the Gaulish blood; but in that character itself, an
observation of facts leads us to recognise two distinct shades
corresponding to two distinct branches of the family, or to use the
expression consecrated by history, to two distinct races. One of
those races--that which I designate by the name of the
Gauls--presents in the most marked manner all the natural
dispositions, all the faults and all the virtues, of the family; to
it belong, in their purest state, the individual types of the Gaul.
The other, the Kimry, less active, less spiritual perhaps,
possesses in return more weight and stability: it is in its bosom
principally that we remark the institutions of classification and
order; it is there that the ideas of theocracy and monarchy longest
maintain their sway."--(I. iv. vi.)

How important and how little attended to is this character of the different races of men! How perfectly is it preserved under all situations and under all circumstances! No lapse of time can change, no distance can efface it. Nowhere do we see this more distinctly than in America: there how marked is the difference of the Spanish race in the south and the Anglo-Saxon in the north! And from this we may draw a deeply important practical lesson; viz. the danger of attempting to force on one race institutions fitted to another. Under a free government, the Anglo-Saxon in the north flourished and increased, and became a mighty people. Under a despotic sway, the Spaniard in the south was slowly but surely treading that path which would ultimately have led to national greatness, when a revolution, nourished by English gold, and rendered victorious by English arms, inflicted what was to him the curse of free institutions. Under their influence, commerce has fled from the shores of New Spain; the gold-mines of Peru lie unworked; population has retrograded; the fertile land has returned to a state of nature; and anarchy, usurping the place of government, has involved the country in ruin and desolation. Nor is this the only instance of the effect of free institutions on the Spanish race. In Old Spain the same experiment has been tried, and has produced the same result. Under their withering effect, the empire of Spain and the Indies has passed away; the mother country, torn by internal dissensions, has fallen from her proud estate, and can with difficulty drag on a precarious existence amidst all the tumult and blood of incessant revolutions. How long will it be ere we learn that free institutions are the Amreeta cup of nations--the greatest of all blessings or the greatest of all curses, according to the race on which it is conferred!

The history of the Gauls, in Thierry's opinion, divides itself naturally into four great periods: his brief _resume_ of the state of the nation, during each of those periods, is so animated that we cannot refrain from quoting his own words:--

"The first period contains the adventures of the Gaulish nations in
the nomad state. No race of the West has accomplished a more
agitated and brilliant career. Its wanderings embrace Europe, Asia,
and Africa: its name is inscribed with terror in the annals of
almost every people. It burned Rome: it conquered Macedonia from
the veteran phalanxes of Alexander, forced Thermopylae, and pillaged
Delphi: afterwards it planted its tents on the ruins of ancient
Troy, in the public places of Miletus, on the banks of the
Sangarius, and on those of the Nile: it besieged Carthage,
threatened Memphis, reckoned among its tributaries the most
powerful monarchs of the East: on two occasions it founded in Upper
Italy a mighty dominion, and it raised up in the bosom of Phrygia
that other empire of the Galatians which so long ruled Asia Minor.

"In the second period--that of the sedentary state--we observe the
same race every where developing itself, or permanently settled,
with social, religious, and political institutions, suited to its
particular character--original institutions, and civilization full
of life and movement, of which Transalpine Gaul offers a model the
purest and the most complete. One would say, to follow the animated
scenes of that picture, that the theocracy of India, the feudality
of the Middle Ages, and the Athenian democracy, had resorted to the
same soil, there to combat and rule over one and other in turn.
Soon that civilization mixes and alters: foreign elements introduce
themselves, imported by commerce, by the relations of vicinity, by
the reaction of the conquered population. Hence various and other
strange combinations: in Italy it is the Roman influence which
makes itself felt in the manners of the Cisalpines: in the south of
Transalpine Gaul it is at first the influence of the Greeks of
Massalia, afterwards that of the Italian colonies: and in Galatia
there springs up the most singular combination of Gaulish, Phrygian
and Greek civilization.

"Next follows the period of national strife and of conquest. By a
chance worthy of notice, it is always under the sword of the Roman
that the power of the Gaulish nations falls: in proportion as the
Roman dominion extends, the Gaulish dominion, up to that time
firmly established, recoils and declines: one would say that the
conquerors and the conquered from the Allia followed one and other
to all points of the earth to decide the old quarrel of the
Capitol. In Italy the Cisalpines are subjugated, but only after two
centuries of the most determined resistance: when the rest of Asia
accepted the yoke, the Galatians defended still, against Rome, the
independence of the East. Gaul yields, but only from exhaustion,
after a century of partial contests, and nine years of a general
war under Caesar: in fine, the names of Caractac and Galgac render
illustrious the last and fruitless efforts of British liberty. It
is every where the unequal combat of a military spirit, ardent and
heroic, but simple and unskilful, against the same spirit
disciplined and persevering. Few nations show in their annals so
beautiful a page as that last Gaulish war, written nevertheless by
an enemy. Every effort of heroism, every prodigy of valour, which
the love of liberty and of country ever produced, there displayed
themselves in spite of a thousand contrary and fatal passions:
discords between the cities, discords in the cities, enterprises of
the nobles against the people, licentiousness of democracy,
hereditary enmities of race. What men were those Bitunyes who in
one day burned twenty of their towns! What men were those Camutes,
fugitives, pursued by the sword, by famine, by winter, and whom
nothing could conquer! What variety of character is there amongst
their chiefs--from the druid Divitiac, the good and honest
enthusiast of the Roman civilization, to the savage Ambio-rix,
crafty, vindictive, implacable, who admired and imitated nothing
save the savageness of the German: from Dumno-rix, that ambitious
but fierce agitator, who wished to make the conqueror of the Gauls
an instrument, but not a master, to that Vercingeto-rix, so pure,
so eloquent, so true, so magnanimous in misfortune, and who wanted
nothing to take a place amongst the greatest men, but to have had
another enemy, above all another historian, than Caesar!

"The fourth period comprises the organization of Gaul into a Roman
province, and the slow and successive assimilation of Transalpine
manners to the manners and institutions of Italy--a labour
commenced by Augustus, continued with success by Claudius,
completed in latter times. That transference from one civilization
to another was not made without violence and without checks:
numerous revolts are suppressed by Augustus--a great insurrection
fails against Tiberius. The distractions and the impending ruin of
Rome during the civil wars of Galba, of Otho, of Vitellius, and of
Vespasian, gave room for a sudden explosion of the spirit of
independence to the north of the Alps. The Gaulish nations again
took up arms, the senates reformed themselves, the proscribed
druids reappeared, the Roman legions cantoned on the Rhine are
defeated or gained over, an empire of the Gauls is constructed in
haste: but soon Gaul perceives that it is already at bottom
entirely Roman, and that a return to the ancient order of things is
no longer either desirable for its happiness, or even possible; it
resigns itself therefore to its irrevocable destiny, and reunites
without a murmur into the community of the Roman empire."--(I.
6-10)

Here indeed is a noble field for history--many such exist not in the world; it joins the colours of romance to the truth of narrative--it embraces within its range all countries, from the snow-clad mountains of the north to the waterless deserts of the south.

When the first light of history dawns upon the Gallic race, we find them settled in that territory which is bounded by the Rhine, the Alps, the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees, and the ocean, and in the British isles. There they lived, leading a pastoral life, wandering about from place to place, and ready to descend with their flocks and herds wherever cupidity might lead, or fancy direct them. They first turned their footsteps towards Spain; tribe after tribe crossed the Pyrenees, and either expelled or amalgamated with the aboriginal inhabitants. Their efforts were principally directed towards the centre and west; in consequence of which, the native Spaniards, displaced and driven back upon the Mediterranean coast, soon opened a way for themselves across the eastern passes of the mountains, and, traversing the shores of southern Gaul, entered Italy. There they took the name of the Ligures, and established themselves along the whole line of sea-coast from the Pyrenees to the mouth of the Arno. The road to Italy being thus laid bare by the Spaniards, the Gauls soon followed on their footsteps, and, crossing the Alps, poured down into the fertile plains and vine-clad hills of the smiling south: but they were encountered and overcome by the Etruscans. Internal convulsions in the centre of Gaul, however, hurled new hordes across the Alps. The Kimry, from the Palus Moeotis, entered the north-eastern portion of Gaul, and expelled from their territory many of the tribes who were settled there: these, uniting in large hordes, precipitated themselves upon Italy. The Kimry, too, joined in the incursion; race followed race, and the whole of northern Italy was soon peopled by the Gaulish race, who long threatened the nations of the south with entire subjugation and destruction. The empire of the Gauls in Italy, known by the name of Cisalpine Gaul, was productive of the greatest calamities to that unhappy country; every year there issued forth from it bands of adventurers, who wasted the fields and stormed the cities of Etruria, of Campania, and of Magna Graecia. But an expedition on a larger scale was at last undertaken. Pressed by the increasing population in their rear, a large band determined to abandon their present homes, and seek new conquests, and acquire new booty. They first directed their march to Clusium; but soon the torrent rolled with resistless force upon the walls of Rome. Defeated at the Allia, the Romans abandoned their city, leaving, however, a garrison in the Capitol; this garrison, reduced to the last extremities by famine, was obliged to capitulate, and to purchase the departure of their foes by an enormous ransom. The Gauls, crowned with success and loaded with plunder, departed; and the Romans, taking courage at their retreat, harassed their rear and cut off their supplies.

Such is the truth regarding this famous invasion, which has been the subject of a falsification probably without a parallel in the annals of history; by it defeat was transformed into victory, and the day when Rome suffered her greatest humiliation by the ransom of her capital, was turned into almost the most famous day of her existence, when her most successful enemy was humbled to the dust. In the pages of a Greek historian the truth has been preserved; while the annals of the state are filled with a very different tale, embellished with all the eloquence and genius of the national historian. Such a sacrifice of historical veracity, in order to appease the insatiable cravings of national vanity, naturally casts a shade of doubt and suspicion on all the early records of her victories and triumphs. Freed from her enemies, Rome revived and emerged unconquered from the strife; she had been forced to bend before misfortune, but she was not broken by adversity: a new city sprung up on the ruins of the old, and the legions once more issued from the ramparts to carry her victorious banners to the capitals of a conquered world. We have not space to trace the various fortunes of Cisalpine Gaul during the early struggles which it carried on with the now increasing power of Rome. Suffice it to say, that when the Latins united in a league against her, the Cisalpines joined them; an engagement took place at Sentinum, where victory crowned the efforts of the Romans; but though defeated, the Gauls maintained their high character for valour during that fatal day. This success was followed up by a vigorous attack on the powerful Gaulish tribe of the Senones, who were almost exterminated, and on their territory was established a Roman colony: this was the first permanent settlement made by that people amongst the Gaulish tribes of Italy.

We must refer the reader to M. Thierry's work for the account of the causes which led the Gauls and Kimry to press upon, and finally invade northern Greece, and the relation of the defeat of their first attack under the Brenn. We shall dwell somewhat longer on their second invasion, which forms one of the most interesting episodes of their history:--

"In the year 280 B.C., the Gauls, under a celebrated chief whose
title was the Brenn, prepared to invade Greece. Their army,
composed of various tribes of Gauls and Kimry, amounted to 152,000
infantry and 61,000 cavalry. When this immense array reached the
frontiers of Macedonia, a division broke out amongst their chiefs,
and 20,000 men, detaching themselves from the main army, advanced
into Thrace. The remainder, under the Brenn, precipitated
themselves on Macedonia, routed the army which endeavoured to
arrest their progress, and forced the remnant of the regular forces
who survived, to take refuge in the fortified cities. During six
months they ravaged with fire and sword the open country, and
destroyed the unfortified towns of Macedonia and Thessaly. At the
approach of winter, the Brenn collected his forces and established
his camp in Thessaly, at a position near Mount Olympus. Thessaly is
separated from Epirus and AEtolia by the chain of Pindus; and on the
south, the almost impenetrable range of Mount Oeta divides it
from the provinces of Hellas. The only pass by which an army can
march into Greece is that of Thermopylae, which is a long narrow
defile, overhung on the right by the rocks of Mount Oeta, and
flanked on the left by impassable morasses, which finally lose
themselves in the waters of the gulf of Mulia. A few narrow and
difficult tracts traverse the ridge of Oeta; but these, though
passable to a small body of infantry, present insurmountable
obstacles to the advance of an army. To the pass of Thermopylae, in
the spring of the year 280 B.C., the Brenn directed his march.
Aware of its vital importance, the Athenians, Boeotians,
Locrians, Phocians, and Megarians, who had formed a league against
the northern invaders, collected a force of about 26,000 men, who,
under the orders of Calippus, advanced to and occupied the strait,
whilst 305 Athenian galleys, anchored in the bay of Mulia, were
ready to operate upon the flank of the enemy. In his approach to
this position, the Brenn had to pass the river Sperchius, to defend
which Calippus had detached a small force: the Brenn, by a
stratagem, directed their attention from the real point of attack,
and crossed the river without loss. He then advanced to Heraclea,
and laid waste the surrounding country. The day after his arrival
at this place, he marched upon Thermopylae. Hardly had the Gauls
begun to involve themselves in the pass, when they were encountered
by the Greeks in its classic defile. With loud cries, and in one
enormous mass, the Gauls rushed impetuously on; in silence, and in
perfect order, the Greeks advanced to the charge. The phalanx of
the south proved impenetrable to the sabre of the north; the pass
was soon covered with their dead bodies; the Gallic standards were
unable to advance. Meanwhile the Athenian galleys, forcing their
way through the marshes, poured in an incessant volley of arrows
and darts on the long and unprotected flank of the invaders. Unable
to withstand this double attack, the Gauls were forced to retreat.
This they did in the utmost confusion; large numbers perished,
trodden to death by their companions--still more were drowned in
the morasses. Seven days after this severe check, a small party
having attempted to cross Mount Oeta, they were attacked when
involved in a narrow and difficult pass, and cut to pieces. To
raise the drooping spirits of his men, and to separate the forces
of his adversaries, the Brenn detached a corps of 40,000 men, under
the command of Comlutis, with orders to force their way into
AEtolia. This diversion proved eminently successful. Comlutis,
finding the passes of Mount Pindus unguarded, traversed that range,
and entered AEtolia, the whole of which he laid waste with fire and
sword without opposition, as the whole military force of that
country had marched to the defence of Thermopylae. On hearing of
this invasion, the AEtolians immediately separated from the allied
army, and hastened to the defence of their country. On their
approach Comlutis retreated; but whilst involved in the mountain
passes, his rear was overtaken by the regulars, and his flanks were
assailed by the enraged peasantry; so severe was his loss, that
hardly one-half of his force rallied at the camp of Heraclea. The
day after the departure of the AEtolians, the Brenn led on the main
body of his troops to attack the pass of Thermopylae; whilst a
strong detachment received orders to force one of the mountain
paths, the knowledge of which had been betrayed to him by the
inhabitants; being guided by one of whom, and their movements being
concealed from view by a thick mist, which enveloped them, this
detachment succeeded in surprising the troops who were entrusted
with its defence, and, moving rapidly on, they fell on the rear of
the main body of the allies, who were engaged at Thermopylae.
Assaulted both in front and rear, the Greeks would have been
totally destroyed, had it not been for the presence of the Athenian
fleet, who afforded a safe refuge to their shattered ranks. Freed
from the presence of his opponents, the Brenn immediately pushed on
to Elatia at the head of 65,000 men, from whence he directed his
march on Delphi. The town of Delphi was built on the slope of one
of the peaks of Parnassus, in the midst of a natural excavation,
and being almost entirely surrounded with precipices, it was left
unprotected by any artificial fortifications: above the town, on
the north, was situated the magnificent temple of Apollo, filled
with native offerings of the Greeks. The possession of this
treasure was the main object of the Brenn. The Gaulish army, on
their arrival before Delphi, dispersed over, and pillaged the
surrounding country for the remainder of the day; thus losing the
most favourable opportunity of assaulting the town."

The _denouement_ of the tragedy we shall give in Thierry's own words:--

"During the night, Delphi received from all sides, by the mountain
paths, numerous reinforcements from the neighbouring people. There
arrived successively 1200 well-armed AEtolians, 400 heavy-armed men
from Amplussa, and a detachment of Phocians, who, with the citizens
of Delphi, formed a body of 4000 men. At the same time, they
learned that the brave AEtolian army, after having defeated
Comlutis, had retaken the road to Elatia, and, increased by bands
of the Phocians and Boeotians, laboured to prevent the junction
of the Gaulish army of Heraclea with the division which besieged
Delphi.

"During the same night, the camp of the Gauls was the theatre of
the greatest debauchery; and when day dawned, the greater portion
of them were still intoxicated: nevertheless, it was necessary to
make the assault without loss of time, for the Brenn already
perceived how much the delay of a few hours had cost him. He drew
out his troops then in battle array, enumerating to them anew all
the treasures which they had before their eyes, and those which
awaited them in the temple: he then gave the signal for the
escalade. The attack was vigorous, and was sustained by the Greeks
with firmness. From the summit of the narrow and steep slope by
which the assailants had to ascend in order to approach the town,
the besieged poured down a multitude of arrows and stones, not one
of which fell harmless. Several times the Gauls covered the ascent
with their dead; but every time they returned to the charge with
courage, and at last forced the passage. The besieged, obliged to
beat a retreat, withdrew to the nearest streets of the town,
leaving the approach which conducted to the temple free: the
Gaulish race rushed on: soon the whole multitude was occupied in
pillaging the oratories which adjoined the temple, and, in fine,
the temple itself.

"It was then autumn, and during the combat one of those sudden
storms so frequent in the lofty chains of Hellas had gathered;
suddenly it burst, discharging on the mountain torrents of rain and
hail. The priests attached to the temple of Apollo, seized upon an
incident so fitted to strike the superstitious spirit of the
Greeks. With haggard eyes, with disheveled locks, with frenzied
minds, they spread out through the town, and through the ranks of
the army, crying that the god had arrived. 'He is here!' said they;
'we have seen him pass across the vault of the temple, which is
cloven beneath his feet; two armed virgins, Minerva and Diana,
accompany him. We have heard the whistling of their bows, and the
clang of their lances. Hasten, O Greeks! upon the steps of your
gods, if you wish to partake of their victory!' That spectacle,
those exhortations pronounced amidst the rolling of the thunder,
and by the glare of the lightning, filled the Hellenes with a
supernatural enthusiasm; they reformed in battle array, and
precipitated themselves sword in hand upon the enemy. The same
circumstances operated not less strongly, but in a contrary way,
upon the victorious bands; the Gauls believed that they recognised
the power of a divinity, but of an enraged divinity. The
thunderbolts had frequently struck their battalions, and its
reports, repeated by the echoes, produced around them such a
reverberation, that they no longer heard the commands of their
chiefs. Those who penetrated into the interior of the temple, had
felt the pavement tremble under their steps; they had been seized
by a thick and mephitic vapour, which overpowered them, and threw
them into a violent delirium. The historians relate, that amidst
this tumult they beheld three warriors of a sinister aspect, of
more than human stature, covered with old armour, and who
slaughtered the Gauls with their lances, appear. The Delphians
recognised, say they, the shades of three heroes, Hyperochus and
Zorodocus, whose tombs adjoined the temple, and Pyrrhus the son of
Achilles. As to the Gauls, a wild panic hurried them in disorder to
their camp, which they attained only with great difficulty,
overwhelmed by the arrows of the Greeks, and by the fall of
enormous rocks, which rolled over upon them from the summit of
Parnassus. In the ranks of the besiegers, the loss was doubtless
considerable.

"To that disastrous day succeeded, for the Kimry-Gauls, a night not
less terrible; the cold was excessive, and snow fell in abundance;
besides, fragments of rock falling incessantly in their camp, which
was situated too near the mountain, crushed the soldiers not by one
or two at a time, but by bodies of thirty and forty, as often as
they assembled to maintain guard or to seek repose. The sun no
sooner rose, than the Greeks who were within the town made a
vigorous sally, whilst those who were in the country fell upon the
rear of the enemy. At the same time, the Phocians, crossing the
snow by paths known but to themselves, took them in flank, and
assailed them with arrows and stones, without exposing themselves
to the slightest danger. Hemmed in on all sides, discouraged, and,
moreover, extremely incommoded by the cold, which had cut off many
of their number during the night, the Gauls began to yield. They
were sustained for some time by the intrepidity of the chosen band
who combated around the Brenn, and acted as his guard. The
strength, the stature, the courage of that guard, struck the Greeks
with astonishment. In the end, the Brenn having been dangerously
wounded, those brave men dreamed only of making a rampart of their
bodies for him, and of carrying him from the field. The chiefs then
gave the signal of retreat, and to prevent the wounded from falling
into the hands of the enemy, they caused those who were not in a
condition to follow, to be put to death. The army halted when the
night overtook it.

"The first watch of that second night had hardly commenced, when
the soldiers who were on guard imagined that they heard the tumult
of a night march, and the distant tramp of horses. The darkness,
already profound, did not permit them to discover their mistake;
they gave the alarm, and cried out that they were surprised--that
the enemy was upon them. The famine, the dangers, and the
extraordinary occurrences which had befallen them during the last
two days, had much shattered all their imaginations. At that cry,
'The enemy is at hand!' the Gauls, suddenly aroused, seized their
arms, and believing the camp already entered, they threw themselves
upon, and mutually slaughtered, each other. Their consternation was
so great, that they believed that each word which struck their ears
was uttered in Greek; as if they had forgotten their own proper
tongue. Besides, the darkness of the night did not permit them
either to recognise each other, or to distinguish the shape of
their bucklers. Day put an end to that frightful _melee_; but
during the night the Phocian shepherds, who remained in the fields
to watch their flocks, ran to inform the Greeks of the disorder
which was evident in the Gaulish camp. They attributed so
unexpected an event to the intervention of the god Pan, from whom,
according to the religious faith of the Greeks, alarms without any
real cause proceeded; full of ardour and of confidence, they
attacked the rearguard of the enemy. The Gauls had already resumed
their march, but with languor, as men discouraged, worn out by
diseases, famine, and fatigue. On their line of march the
population carried off the cattle and provisions, so that they
could not procure any subsistence without the utmost difficulty,
and at the point of the sword. The historians reckon at 10,000 the
number of those who sank under these misfortunes; the cold and the
nocturnal combat had cut off as many more, and 6000 had perished at
the assault of Delphi: there remained then to the Brenn no more
than 35,000 men when he rejoined the main body of his army, in the
plains watered by the Cephisus, on the day after his departure from
Thermopylae."--(I. 171-178.)

The Brenn, overwhelmed with grief at his misfortune, no sooner saw his army free from immediate danger than he put himself to death. His successor, following his dying advice, slaughtered 10,000 of the wounded, and continued his retreat:--

"As he approached Thermopylae, the Greeks, issuing forth from an
ambuscade, threw themselves on his rearguard, which they cut to
pieces. It was in this miserable state that the Gauls gained the
camp of Heraclea. They remained there for a few days before setting
out on their northward route. All the bridges of the Sperchius had
been broken down, and the left bank of the river was occupied by
the Thessalians, who had collected _en masse_; nevertheless, the
Gaulish army forced a passage. It was in the midst of a population
all armed, and thirsting for vengeance, that they traversed, from
one extremity to the other, Thessaly and Macedonia, exposed to
perils, to sufferings, to privations, daily increasing, combating
without intermission during the day, and at night having no other
shelter than a cold and watery sky. They gained at last the
northern frontier of Macedonia. There the distribution of the body
took place: afterwards the Kimry-Gauls divided into many bands;
some returned to their country, others sought in different
directions new food for their turbulent activity."--(I. 180.)

A band of Tectosages joined to the Tolistoboies, and a horde of Gauls, united, and traversing Thrace with fire and sword, passed over into Asia Minor. They found it distracted by the quarrels of Alexander's successors. Summoned in an evil hour by Nicomedes to aid him and the Greek states of Asia Minor in their struggle against the Seleucidae, they soon established him on the throne of Bithynia. But they now turned their victorious arms against the nations of that unhappy country. Their armies, increased by reinforcements drawn from Thrace, had divided themselves into three hordes: the Tectosages, the Tolistoboies, and the Trocmes. To avoid dispute, they distributed the whole of Asia Minor into three parts: of these the Trocmes possessed the Hellespont and Troas; the Tolistoboies, AEolida and Ionia; the Tectosages, the coast of the Mediterranean from the west of Mount Taurus. They now overran and subdued all Asia Minor; every country, every town, was obliged to pay them tribute; or soon the fertile land was reduced to an arid desert, watered only by the blood of its inhabitants, and the costly city, stormed by the fierce warriors of the north, became a heap of smoking ruins. At last the Tectosages came in contact with Antiochus, king of Syria, and were totally defeated at the battle of the Taurus; the Syrian king, following up his victory, compelled them to resign their conquests, and to establish themselves on the banks of the Halys, near the town of Ancyra, in Upper Phrygia, where they dwelt, too weak again to enter on the career of conquest. Internal war prevented the Asiatics for some time from pursuing their successes, and the Trocmes and Tolistoboies continued still to pillage and oppress all the maritime provinces. Nay, their power was actually increased by those wars, as each of the contending parties purchased the mercenary services of large bands of those brave, though turbulent warriors. But the end of the Gaulish rule in Asia Minor was at hand. The small state of Pergamus, under the able rule of Eumenes, emerged from its obscurity, and inflicted a severe wound upon the Gauls by the defeat of Antiochus, king of Syria, with whom a great number of them served as mercenaries. His son Attalus, on his accession to the throne, immediately marched against and defeated the Tolistoboies. Ionia, which had long groaned under their oppression, seizing the opportunity, rose up against them; the Tolistoboies, beaten in several engagements, were driven beyond Mount Taurus; and the Trocmes, after a vain attempt to maintain themselves in Troas, were forced to retreat and unite with their defeated countrymen. Attacked now by the whole population of Asia Minor, the two hordes were driven by degrees into Upper Phrygia, where the Tectosages had formerly settled. Here the three hordes united, and here they founded the empire of Galatia.

"Thus ended in Asia Minor the dominion of this people in their
character of nomad conquerors; another period of existence now
commenced for them. Abandoning their wandering life, they mixed
with the indigenous population, who were themselves a mixture of
Greek colonists and Asiatics. That blending together of three
races, unequal in power and in civilization, produced a mixed
nation, that of the Gallo-Greeks, whose civil, political, and
religious institutions, carry the triple stamp of Gaulish, Greek,
and Phrygian manners. The regular influence which the Gauls are
destined to act in Asia Minor, as an Asiatic power, will prove not
to be inferior to that of which they have been deprived; and we
shall see them defend, almost to the last, the liberty of the East
against the Roman arms."--(I. 203-204.)

We have not space to follow M. Thierry in his very interesting account of the exploits of the Gaulish mercenaries in Greece--in particular of those who served in the army of Pyrrhus; or who, acting in the pay of Carthage, contributed so much to the victories of that powerful and wealthy people, and who took that lead in the famous insurrection of the mercenaries, which so nearly brought about their ruin. We must pass over too, unnoticed, the desperate struggle between the Romans and Gauls in Cisalpine Gaul, which ended in the defeat of the Boian confederacy at the battle of the Telama, and their submission, and the subjugation of the Insubrians by Marcellus. The whole of Cisalpine Gaul thus seemed to be finally subdued, when a new enemy suddenly appeared in the field, and again led the Gaulish standards into the heart of southern Italy.

Hardly had the Cisalpines laid down their arms, when there arrived amongst them emissaries sent by Hannibal to excite them to a renewal of the war, and to engage them in an alliance with Carthage, by promising to guarantee to them the liberty of their country, and by exciting their cupidity with the prospect of the spoils of Rome and southern Italy. They were well received, and secret armaments soon began to take place, especially amongst the Boian confederacy. But what immediately caused the outbreak was an attempt of the Romans to found two colonies, one at Cremona, and the other at Placentia. Enraged at this, the Boians took up arms, and attacking the colonists of Placentia, dispersed them, whilst the Insubrians expelled those who had advanced to Cremona. The Boians and Insubrians now uniting their forces, laid siege to Mutina, but in vain. This check, however, was more than counterbalanced by the defeat of a Roman army under the orders of Manlius. While affairs were in this state, the columns of Hannibal, descending from the Alps, arrived on the Insubrian territory. The result of the late successes of the Gauls in their disposition towards Hannibal, is well explained by Thierry:--

"Two factions then divided all Cisalpine Gaul. The one composed of
the Venetes, the Cremonas, and the Ligures of the Alps, gained over
to the Roman cause, opposed with vigour every movement in favour of
Hannibal. The other, which included the Ligures of the Apennines,
the Insubrians, and the people of the Boian confederation, had
embraced the Carthaginian side, but without much ardour. The
affairs of Gaul had undergone a great change. At the time when the
propositions of Hannibal were received with enthusiasm, Gaul was
humiliated and conquered; Roman troops occupied her
territory--Roman colonies assembled in her towns. But since the
dispersion of the colonies of Cremona and Placentia--since the
defeat of L. Manlius in the forest of Mutina, the Boians and
Insubrians, satisfied at having recovered their independence with
their own forces, cared little to compromise themselves for the
advantage of strangers, whose appearance and numbers inspired them
with but slight confidence."--(I. 284-285.)

Hannibal felt all the importance of deciding the wavering sentiments of this people; on them his future success or defeat depended; to do this nothing but victory was requisite. He accordingly advanced rapidly against the Romans, and first engaged them in a cavalry action at the Ticinus. Victory declared for the Carthaginians. The horse of Numidia routed the cavalry of Rome. This success, unimportant as it was, revealed Hannibal to the eyes of the Gauls; influenced by it, the Insubrian chiefs hastened to supply him with provisions and troops. Hardly had the Carthaginians arrived in sight of the Roman camp at Placentia, when a large body of the Gaulish contingent revolted from Scipio, and contrived, though much reduced in numbers, to cut their way through in spite of all opposition, and join Hannibal. The famous battle of the Trebia--the first of those great victories which have rendered immortal the genius of the Carthaginian chief--soon followed; it at once decided the course of Cisalpine Gaul. Its immediate and ultimate effects on the power and operations of Hannibal are well developed by our author:--