e 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 a