and also because the nation was a remote one, and therefore the less
known. And not only were the warnings of the gods disregarded, fate now
impending; but further, the only human aid which was left them, Marcus
Furius, they drove away from the city; who, on a day [of trial] being
appointed for him by Lucius Appuleius, a tribune of the people, in
reference to the Veientian spoil, he having also lost his son, a young
man, about the same time, when he summoned to his house the members of
his tribe and his dependents, (they constituted a considerable portion
of the commons,) and having sounded their sentiments, he received for
answer, "that they would contribute whatever fine he should be condemned
to pay; that to acquit him they were unable,"[168] retired into exile;
after praying to the immortal gods, "that if that outrage was done to
him without his deserving it, they would at the earliest opportunity
give cause to his ungrateful country to regret his absence." In his
absence he was fined fifteen thousand _asses_ in weight.

[Footnote 168: Niebuhr and Arnold understand these words to signify,
that these persons had already made up their minds not to acquit him, or
assist him by voting in favour of him--in fact, that they could not
conscientiously do so. It may, however, signify simply, that the people
were so incensed against him, that there existed not a rational prospect
of acquittal for him.]

33. That citizen being driven away, who being present, Rome could not be
captured, if any thing is certain regarding human affairs; the destined
ruin now approaching the city, ambassadors came from the Clusinians,
soliciting aid against the Gauls. A report is current that that nation,
allured by the delightfulness of the crops, and more especially of the
wine, an enjoyment then new to them, crossed the Alps, and took
possession of the lands formerly cultivated by the Etrurians; and that
Aruns, a native of Clusium, introduced wine into Gaul for the purpose of
enticing the nation, through resentment for his wife's having been
debauched by Lucumo, whose guardian he himself had been, a very
influential young man, and on whom vengeance could not be taken, unless
foreign aid were resorted to; that this person served as a guide to them
when crossing the Alps, and advised them to lay siege to Clusium. I
would not indeed deny that the Gauls were brought to Clusium by Aruns or
any other native of Clusium; but that those persons who laid