And after the battle at Thermopylæ the Greeks buried their dead, and stripped the bodies of the barbarians. But the Galati not only asked not permission to bury their dead, but plainly did not care whether their dead obtained burial or were torn to pieces by birds and beasts. Two things in my opinion made them thus indifferent to the burial of their dead, one to strike awe in their enemies by their ferocity, the other that they do not habitually mourn for their dead. In the battle fell 40 Greeks, how many barbarians cannot be accurately ascertained, for many of them were lost in the marsh. CHAPTER XXII. On the seventh day after the battle a division of the Galati endeavoured to cross Mount Œta by Heraclea, by a narrow pass near the ruins of Trachis, not far from which was a temple of Athene, rich in votive offerings. The barbarians hoped to cross Mount Œta by this pass, and also to plunder the temple by the way. The garrison however under the command of Telesarchus defeated the barbarians, though Telesarchus fell in the action, a man zealously devoted to the Greek cause. The other commanders of the barbarians were astounded at the Greek successes, and doubted whereunto these things would grow, seeing that at present their own fortunes were desperate, but Brennus thought that, if he could force the Ætolians back into Ætolia, the war against the other Greeks would be easier. He selected therefore out of his whole army 40,000 foot and about 800 horse, all picked men, and put them under the command of Orestorius and Combutis. And they recrossed the Sperchius by the bridges, and marched through Thessaly into Ætolia. And their actions at Callion were the most atrocious of any that we have ever heard of, and quite unlike human beings. They butchered all the males, and likewise old men, and babes at their mother’s breasts: they even drank the blood, and feasted on the flesh, of babies that were fat. And high-spirited women and maidens in their flower committed suicide when the town was taken: and those that survived the barbarians submitted to every kind of outrage, being by nature incapable of pity and natural affection. And some of the women rushed upon the swords of the Galati and voluntarily courted death: to others death soon came from absence of food and sleep, as these merciless barbarians outraged them in turn, and wreaked their lusts on them whether dying or dead. And the Ætolians having learnt from messengers of the disasters that had fallen upon them, removed their forces with all speed from Thermopylæ, and pressed into Ætolia, furious at the sufferings of the people of Callion, and even still more anxious to save the towns that had not yet been captured. And the young men flocked out from all their towns to swell their army, old men also mixed with them inspirited by the crisis, and even their women volunteered their services, being more furious against the Galati than even the men. And