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gem, than to diflodge them by force. They marched with their whole infantry, left their fires burning to deceive the Romans, as well as their cavalry, who might continually harass them until they were drawn. to the place to which they wished to decoy them. The prætor fell into the faare, and was punished for his credulity by a bloody defeat. He with much difficulty retired to an eminence, and defended himfelf till the arrival of the conful Emilius, who by forced marches had paffed the Apennines. His arrival faved the prætor; and the Gauls now thought only of fecuring their booty, and making their retreat along the fea coaft. The narrative of Polybius is clear; and if Cafaubon had taken the fense of the paffage as well as Mr. Guazzesi, the text of this great hiftorian would no longer contain any geographical difficulties. He fays of the retreat of the Gauls, Ποιησαμενοι την υποχωρησιν ὡς επι πολιν φαισολάν. If we tranflate the words Fafulas tendunt we fuppofe the Gauls to perform a march almoft incredible, and to make a movement altogether abfurd, fince it implies that the Romans pursued their cavalry fixty miles without putting them to the route. Thefe difficulties are increased when we follow the Gauls to Fæfule and the foot of the Apennines; and as is impoffible to understand how they can retreat to Telamon, we adopt the opinion of Cluverius, in preferring on this occafion the authority of Orofius to that of Polybius, and fuppofing that the last battle was fought near to Arezzo. Why fhould not the words ὡς επι Φαιτολαν verfus Fefulas be tranflated in the direction of Fæfule, according to the most natural fignification and the

easiest construction? The Gauls then purfued the road from Clufium to Fæfule, but had fcarcely concealed themfelves behind the chain of hills which feparates the Duchy of Tufcany from the diftrict of Sienna, when they were obliged to come to an engagement. Thanks to the happy difcovery of Mr. Guazzefi, the whole plan of the campaign is unravelled". The Romans retired to one of thofe hills; and by dispatching couriers across the thick woods by which they were covered, communicated the news of their fituation to the conful.

Why did the Barbarians prefer the road by the coaft to that of Valdimugello, which is far fhorter? Why did they not traverse the country in a right line, in order to arrive at the mouth of the Arno, and then follow the coaft to the openings of the hills of Valdimagra? We are fure that Port Telamon is nearer than the mountains of Sienna to Rome. Mr. Guazze fi well explains thefe difficulties, by the changes which time has effected in the nature of the country, and by our ignorance whether this route was not the only one practicable for an army; by the preference given by the Gauls to the plain country, where they could avail themselves of their numerous cavalry, and by the hope of meeting with piratical veffels belonging to their own nation or the Ligurians, in which they might transport their booty without difficulty or danger. But I believe it will be necessary to penetrate into the motives by which the Barbarians were actuated, before we can fairly appreciate their conduct in paffing from fury to difmay; and in marching up to their enemies, merely that they might fly

before them, especially after they had juft tafted the fweets of victory. The Gallic army was governed by two principles extremely different. The Cifalpine nations perceived that fuch a war could only terminate in their own deftruction or that of the Romans. They fought like men, who had their dearest interests at ftake; but their allies the Gefatæ were not animated by a fimilar fpirit. These troops were not a nation, but rather an affemblage from different nations, who had paffed the Alps merely for the fake of plunder, \ and who wished to fecure their booty by a speedy retreat, without longer expofing their perfons in a war which did not concern them. Their leader Anocreftes was the firft who propofed this measure; and as the age was ignorant of the principles of geagraphy, and the Barbarians were unacquainted both with the country and the language, they could only fhape their route by the courfe of thofe rivers which, fwelled to torrents, had forced their paffage through the least obstructed vallies. They were then near the fource of the Umbro; and as that river flows from the fouth-west, they must have approached Rome, as they came to its mouth near Port Telamon. If the Cifalpine Gauls, who were better acquainted with the country, were loath to leave it; there is reafon to think that they would with pleasure avail themfelves of this circumftance.

I fay that they followed the course of the Umbro till they came to its mouth, although Port Telamon be eighteen miles nearer to Rome. But we learn from a paffage of Frontinus's Stratagems, that they entered the plain at Colonia; and that the Boii posted ten

thousand men in a wood in that neighbourhood. The conful Emilius difcovered the ambush, and cut the enemy in pieces. Critics, to whom the name of Colonia was unknown, have endeavoured in their ufual way to explain or correct it. This place, now Colonna, was called Columnata in the middle ages; it is a village in the territory of Groffetto, between the mouth of the Umbro and Lake Caftiglione, or Aprilis "; and was the fcene of the battle, which derives its name from Port Telamon, a place far better known.

and

Hiftory informs us, that the conful Æmilius continued to follow the army of the Barbarians without venturing to provoke them to a battle; and that, by a fingular chance, his colleague Atilius, who had difembarked his army at Pifa, unexpectedly fell in with their vanguard; that a battle enfued, in which that conful was flain; while Emilius, on his fide, having alfo attacked the enemy, obtained a complete victory, deftroyed the whole Barbarian army, gave the mortal wound to the liberty of the Cifalpine Gauls. Of all thofe circumftances, I find most difficulty in understanding the furprise of Atilius. He could not have left his province of Sardinia without the orders of the fenate. His inftructions must have required him to gain information, both of the motions of the enemy and of those of his colleagues, in concert with whom he was to act. This duty was easily performed in a friendly country where the confternation of the people and the flight of the peasants loudly proclaimed the approach of the Barbarians. In whatever manner this may be explain

ed, the Gallic army, attacked in front and rear by two Roman confuls, advancing in contrary directions, will always, in my opinion, wear the afpect of a well combined project, rather than of a military neglect, hardly conceivable. *

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*

Mr. Guazzefi is of opinion that Tuscany formerly abounded in forests; and that the diftricts of Cortona, Arezzo, and Fæfule were entirely covered with them. The extent of the Ciminian wood is well known. In the year of the city 444, Livy tells us, that there was a forest near Clufium. During the Punic wars, the Romans brought their timber for ship-building from Rufellæ, Perugia, and Clufium; and wood abounded in the territories of Sienna, Volaterra, and Populonium, whose inhabitants wrought the iron from the ifland of Elba. Flavius Vopifcus obferves, that in the time of Aurelian there was a great quantity of wood near the Aurelian way; and Strabo extends the remark to all Tufcany. By digging into the Valdichiana, even near the furface, the workmen ftill find trees of a prodigious fize, which are now petrified. Need we appeal to the ancient names and epithets of the country, la Farneta; Alberofo, Fraffi netto, Cereto, la Selve; or to the obligations impofed on the communities in thofe parts, as late as the eleventh century, of furnishing yearly to their lords a certain number of wild boars ?