[11] These were the footsteps of Pon'tius Comin'ius, who, with great
prudence and bravery, found means to carry a message from Camil'lus to
the Romans in the Capi'tol, and to return with the appointment of
dictator for Camil'lus.
[12] As a reward for this essential service, every soldier gave
Man'lius a small quantity of corn and a little measure of wine, out of
his scanty allowance; a present of no mean value in their then
distressed situation. On the other hand, the captain of the guard, who
ought to have kept the sentinels to their duty, was thrown headlong
from the Capitol. In memory of this event, a goose was annually
carried in triumph on a soft litter, finely adorned; whilst dogs were
held in abhorrence, and were impaled every year on a branch of elder.
[13] As the Gauls suffered the bodies of the Romans, who were slain in
their frequent encounters, to lie unburied, the stench of their
putrefaction occasioned a plague to break out, which carried off great
numbers of the army of Brennus.
[14] The authenticity of this narrative is more than suspicious.
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