Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER I: THE CELTS IN ANCIENT HISTORY 15but there are certain touches of dramatic vividness in which thetrue character of the Celts appears distinctly recognisable. Theyapplied, we are told, to Rome for satisfaction for the treachery ofthe envoys, who were three sons of Fabius Ambustus, the chiefpontiff. The Romans refused to listen to the claim, and electedthe Fabii military tribunes for the ensuing year. Then the Celts [26]abandoned the siege of Clusium and marched straight on Rome.The army showed perfect discipline. There was no indiscriminateplundering and devastation, no city or fortress was assailed. “Weare bound for Rome” was their cry to the guards upon the walls ofthe provincial towns, who watched the host in wonder and fear asit rolled steadily to the south. At last they reached the river Allia,a few miles from Rome, where the whole available force of thecity was ranged to meet them. The battle took place on July 18,390, that ill-omened dies Alliensis which long perpetuated in theRoman calendar the memory of the deepest shame the republichad ever known. The Celts turned the flank of the Roman army,and annihilated it in one tremendous charge. Three days laterthey were in Rome, and for nearly a year they remained mastersof the city, or of its ruins, till a great fine had been exacted andfull vengeance taken for the perfidy at Clusium. For nearly acentury after the treaty thus concluded there was peace betweenthe Celts and the Romans, and the breaking of that peace whencertain Celtic tribes allied themselves with their old enemy, theEtruscans, in the third Samnite war was coincident with thebreaking up of the Celtic Empire. 14Two questions must now be considered before we can leavethe historical part of this Introduction. First of all, what are theevidences for the widespread diffusion of Celtic power in Mid-Europe during this period? Secondly, where were the Germanicpeoples, and what was their position in regard to the Celts? [27]14 Roman history tells of various conflicts with the Celts during this period,but de Jubainville has shown that these narratives are almost entirely mythical.See “Premiers Habitants,” ii. 318-323.