The Avian Heroes of Rome
Alex Morgan, LJCL Editor
Salve! Today I’m going to tell you the tale of how the
history of Rome and indeed the entire ancient world was changed by
the noblest birds in existence: geese.
In July of the year 390, Rome was in dire straits. A Gallic tribe
known as the Senones was besieging Capitoline Hill in Rome in the
hopes of defeating the last of the two Roman legions at the time and of
putting an end to the Roman Senate, effectively ending Rome’s power
in Italy. One night, during the siege, the Gallic brutes snuck up to the
walls and scaled them. These barbarians moved with such incredible
stealth that neither men nor dogs could hear them, but one flock of
animals foiled their plan… the sacred geese of Juno.
These feathered friends of the Romans had been
starving under the siege. With a scarcity of food, the
senses of the naturally alert geese had been heightened. Thus,
when the Senones snuck toward the wall, those brave birds
charged them in hopes of getting a meal. The warning cries
of the geese ultimately awakened the former consul, Marcus
Manlius Capitolinus, who repelled the Gallic ladders, saving
both the Roman troops and the Senate house. So next time you
hear the waning cries of geese from outside your Latin class, give
thanks. For in the earliest days of the Republic, it was neither
wolves nor human heroes that saved Rome and the Latin language,
but instead the brave honks of geese.
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