28^2] THERE IS NO MORTAL CREATURE EITHER BETTER OR STRONGER THAN MAN. FOR, IF ONE MAY SPEAK SOMEWHAT BOLDLY, MAN IS NAUGHT ELSE THAN A GOD WITH MORTAL BODY, AND A GOD NAUGHT ELSE THAN A MAN WITHOUT BODY AND THEREFORE IMMORTAL, and we are not far sundered from divine Power. This, to my mind, is the matter and I urge you also to adhere to this view. May no one think that I shall have recourse to the lot or bid maiden or lad lose a life. I myself willingly bestow myself upon you, that you may send me this very day as herald and envoy to the cthonian gods, to be your representative and helper forever." At the close of these words Curtius proceeded to put on his armor and then mounted his horse. The rest grew mad with grief and mad with joy; they came flocking with adornments, and some adorned the man himself with them as a hero, and others threw some of them into the chasm. Scarcely had Curtius sprung into it fully mounted, when the earth-fissure was closed and no one ever again beheld either the chasm or Curtius. This is the way the story is related by the Romans. Should any person judge it fabulous and not to be credited, he has the right to pay no attention to it. And again wars were waged against the Romans both by Gauls and by other nations, but they repelled all invaders, voting now for consuls, now for dictators. Whereupon somewhat of the following nature took place. Lucius Camillus was named dictator, as the Gauls were overrunning the environs of Rome. He proceeded against the barbarians with the intention of using up time and not risking the issue in conflict with men animated by desperation: he expected to exhaust them more easily and securely by the failure of provisions. And a Gaul challenged the Romans to furnish a champion for a duel. His opponent, accordingly, was Marcus Valerius, a military tribune, a grandson of the famous Maximus. The course of the battle was brilliant on both sides: the Roman excelled in cleverness and an unusual mastery of his art, and the Gaul in strength and daring. It was regarded as still more marvelous that a crow lighted on the helmet of Valerius and cawing all the time made dashes at the barbarian, confusing his sight and impeding his onset until he finally received a finishing blow. The Gauls, consequently, indignant at being beaten by a bird, in a rage closed at once with the Romans and suffered a severe defeat. From the incident of the crow's assistance Valerius obtained the further name of Corvinus. Thereafter, as the armies began to grow insubordinate and a civil war threatened to break out, the insurgents were brought to terms by the enactment of laws that no one's name should be erased from the lists against his will, that any person who had served as tribune of the soldiers should not be centurion, that both of the consuls might belong to and be appointed from the people, and that the same man should not hold two offices at the same time nor hold the same office twice within ten years.