Читать книгу Yale Classics - Roman Classical Literature - Луций Анней Сенека - Страница 472

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Cicero, on the night fixed for the departure of the deputies, from whom he had learned all, ordered the prætors, V. Flaccus, and C. Pomptinus, to lie in wait for the Allobroges at the Milvian bridge, and to secure them. He acquainted them at the same time with the reason of thus employing them, and left them to act as they should see occasion. According to orders, they posted their guards quietly, and silently beset the bridge. When the deputies and Volturcius arrived, a shout was set up on both sides, and the Gauls, soon understanding their design, immediately surrendered themselves to the prætors. Volturcius at first, encouraging his companions, defended himself with his sword against the numbers who surrounded him; but seeing himself forsaken by the deputies, he began earnestly to beseech Pomptinus, as his acquaintance, to spare his life. At last, full of dread and despair, he surrendered himself to the prætors, as if they had been foreign enemies.