CHAPTER II. 



HEARING OF BIRDS. 



THE effect of an accidental occurrence in giving 

 undue importance to things not otherwise extraor- 

 dinary, is strikingly exemplified in the instance of the 

 geese which are reported to have saved the capitol 

 of Rome. " The Gauls," says Livy, " having dis- 

 covered that the rock Carmentalis was accessible, one 

 night when it was pretty clear, sent a man to examine 

 the way, without his arms which were afterwards 

 handed to him. Others followed, lifting and assisting 

 each other, according to the difficulties they encoun- 

 tered in the ascent, till they reached the summit. 

 They proceeded with so much silence, that neither 

 the sentinels nor even the dogs, animals usually so 

 vigilant as to be roused by the slightest noise, took 

 any alarm. They did not however escape the notice 

 of the geese, which, being sacred to Juno, had been 

 fed by the Romans, notwithstanding the famine 

 caused by the siege. This saved the capitol ; for, by 

 their cackling arid beating their wings, they roused 

 Marcus Manlius, a brave soldier and formerly consul, 

 who, snatching up his arms and giving the alarm, 

 flew to the ramparts, set upon the Gauls, and by 

 precipitating one of them over the rocks terrified the 

 rest so much that they threw down their arms*." 

 Pliny accordingly infers from this circumstance (pro- 

 bably a mere legend) that ** the goose is very vigilant 

 and watchfull : witnesse the capitol of Rome, which 



* Hist, v, 47. 



