the Appian Way was the southern.

[Illustration: THE WOUNDED GAUL.]

The great hero of the war was Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had already
made himself known for his dauntless courage. As consul, he fought a
desperate battle on the banks of the Po with the Gauls of both sides the
Alps, and himself killed their king or chief, Viridomar. He brought the
spoils to Rome, and hung them in the Temple of Jupiter. It was only the
third time in the history of Rome that such a thing had been done.
Cisalpine Gaul was thus subdued, and another road was made to secure
it; while in the short peace that followed the gates of the Temple of
Janus were shut, having stood open ever since the reign of Numa.

The Romans were beginning to make their worship the same with that of
the Greeks. They sent offerings to Greek temples, said that their old
gods were the same as those of the Greeks, only under different names,
and sent an embassy to Epidaurus to ask for a statue of Esculapius, the
god of medicine and son of Phoebus Apollo. The emblem of Esculapius was
a serpent, and tame serpents were kept about his temple at Epidaurus.
One of these glided into the Roman galley that had come for the statue,
and it was treated with great respect by all the crew until they sailed
up the Tiber, when it made its way out of the vessel and swam to the
island which had been formed by the settling of the mud round the heap
of corn that had been thrown into the river when Porsena wasted the
country. This was supposed to mean that the god himself took possession
of the place, and a splendid temple there rose in his honor.

Another imitation of the Greeks which came into fashion at this time had
a sad effect on the Romans. The old funerals in Greek poems had ended
by games and struggles between swordsmen. Two brothers of the Brutus
family first showed off such a game at their father's funeral, and it
became a regular custom, not only at funerals, but whenever there was
need to entertain the people, to show off fights of swordsmen. The
soldier captives from conquered nations were used in this way; and some
persons kept schools of slaves, who were trained for these fights and
called gladiators. The battle was a real one, with sharp weapons, for
life or death; and when a man was struck down, he was allowed to live or
sentenced to death according as the spectators turned down or turned up
their thumbs. The Romans fancied that the sight trained them to be
brav