of Heaven that men should not provide. And if this were the case even in
Rome, so renowned for her valour, religion, and wise ordinances, we
need not wonder if it be far more common in other cities and provinces
wherein these safeguards are wanting.

Having here a notable opportunity to show how Heaven influences men's
actions, Titus Livius turns it to account, and treats the subject at
large and in pregnant words, where he says, that since it was Heaven's
will, for ends of its own, that the Romans should feel its power, it
first of all caused these Fabii, who were sent as envoys to the Gauls,
to act amiss, and then by their misconduct stirred up the Gauls to make
war on Rome; and, lastly, so ordered matters that nothing worthy of
their name was done by the Romans to withstand their attack. For it was
fore-ordained by Heaven that Camillus, who alone could supply the remedy
to so mighty an evil, should be banished to Ardea; and again, that
the citizens, who had often created a dictator to meet attacks of the
Volscians and other neighbouring hostile nations, should fail to do so
when the Gauls were marching upon Rome. Moreover, the army which the
Romans got together was but a weak one, since they used no signal effort
to make it strong; nay, were so dilatory in arming that they were barely
in time to meet the enemy at the river Allia, though no more than ten
miles distant from Rome. Here, again, the Roman tribunes pitched their
camp without observing any of the usual precautions, attending neither
to the choice of ground, nor to surround themselves with trench or
Palisade, nor to avail themselves of any other aid, human or Divine. In
ordering their army for battle, moreover, disposed it in weak columns,
and these far apart: so that neither men nor officers accomplished
anything worthy of the Roman discipline. The battle was bloodless for
the Romans fled before they were attacked; most of them retreating to
Veii, the rest to Rome, where, without turning aside to visit their