ound of trumpet to attend the tribunes in assembly,
when recompence was to be made both to merit and to demerit; Manlius was
first of all commended for his bravery and presented with gifts, not
only by the military tribunes, but with the consent of the soldiers, for
they all carried to his house, which was in the citadel, a contribution
of half a pound of corn and half a pint of wine: a matter trifling in
the relation, but the [prevailing] scarcity had rendered it a strong
proof of esteem, when each man, depriving himself of his own food,
contributed in honour of one man a portion subtracted from his body and
from his necessary requirements. Then the guards of that place where the
enemy had climbed up unobserved, were summoned; and when Quintus
Sulpicius declared openly that he would punish all according to the
usage of military discipline, being deterred by the consentient shout of
the soldiers who threw the blame on one sentinel, he spared the rest.
The man, who was manifestly guilty of the crime, he threw down from the
rock, with the approbation of all. From this time forth the guards on
both sides became more vigilant; on the part of the Gauls, because a
rumour spread that messengers passed between Veii and Rome, and on that
of the Romans, from the recollection of the danger which occurred during
the night.

48. But beyond all the evils of siege and war, famine distressed both
armies; pestilence, moreover, [oppressed] the Gauls, both as being
encamped in a place lying between hills, as well as heated by the
burning of the houses, and full of exhalations, and sending up not only
ashes but embers also, whenever the wind rose to any degree; and as the
nation, accustomed to moisture and cold, is most intolerant of these
annoyances, and, suffering severely from the heat and suffocation, they
were dying, the diseases spreading as among cattle, now becoming weary
of burying separately, they heaped up the bodies promiscuously and
burned them; and rendered the place remarkable by the name of Gallic
piles. A truce was now made with the Romans, and conferences were held
with the permission of the commanders; in which when the Gauls
frequently alluded to the famine, and referred to the urgency of that as
a further motive for their surrendering, for the purpose of removing
that opinion, bread is said to have been thrown in many places from the
Capitol, into the advanced posts of the enemy. But the famine could
neither be dissemb