A great crowd had gathered in the Forum to see what Curtius meant to do. For a moment the people stood in silence, awed by the fate of the young Roman, and full of admiration for his deed. Then, rousing themselves, they took offerings of gold and precious ornaments and flung them after the bold rider and his horse, and as they did so, slowly the gulf closed. And since that day the place where once the chasm yawned has been called the Curtian Lake. Before the plague was subdued, in 361 B.C., the Gauls once more invaded Roman lands, and a terrible battle was again fought, near the river Anio. Titus Manlius engaged in single combat with one of the barbarians, who was strong and tall as a giant. Yet so bravely did the Roman fight that the giant was slain. Then Manlius took from the neck of his foe a gold collar. As the Latin word for necklet is ‘torques,’ Manlius and his descendants were ever after called Torquati. When the Gauls saw that their champion was slain, they retreated; yet for a year and a half they continued to harass the Romans. But in 358 B.C. they were defeated so severely that those who were left after the battle were glad to escape from the neighbourhood of Rome. Ten years later, however, the Gauls were once again laying waste the plains and coasts of Latium. Furius Camillus, son of the great Camillus, was Consul, and as his colleague had died, he alone was responsible for the safety of the State. He, like his father, was a brave soldier, and his army soon scattered the Gauls. During the battle, as Valerius fought in single combat with one of the strongest of the barbarians, a strange sight was seen. A crow circled over the heads of the combatants, then suddenly it flew down and perched on the helmet of the Roman. The clashing of swords, the cries of the barbarians, did not disturb the bird. It sat on the helmet of Valerius as still as though it was perched on a tree in the forest. But by and by this strange crow began to watch what Valerius and the Gaul were doing. Seizing its chance, it darted again and again between the combatants, flapping its wings and tearing with beak and claws at the face and eyes of the barbarian. Unable to see what he was doing with his sword, as well as unable to avoid the thrusts of his foe, the Gaul tried in vain to get rid of the bird. At length, worn out with the unequal struggle, the barbarian fell, and Valerius was hailed as victor. The crow, as though content with the result of the battle, now flew away and was seen no more; but from that time Valerius was called Corvus, corvus being the Latin word for a crow. After the victory of Camillus, the Gauls left Rome undisturbed until the end of the third Samnite war, in 290 B.C. About the Samnite wars I am now going to tell you. CHAPTER XLI THE DREAM OF THE TWO CONSULS The Samnites were a rough and hardy race of warriors, whose homes were among the mountains of the Apennines.