the Capitol. They endeavored to climb up the steep ascent in the night, and would have succeeded had not the noise of the sacred geese in the Temple of Juno awoke Marcus Manlius, who immediately hastened to the spot and hurled down the rocky precipice such of the Gauls as attempted to make their way inside the walls of the Capitol.

Departure of the Gauls from Rome.-When famine began to prey upon the Romans who garrisoned the Capitol, and sickness was rapidly reducing the numbers of the Gauls, Brennus, the Gallic chief, agreed to abandon Rome and its territory on condition of receiving a thousand pounds of gold. While the gold was being weighed, the banished patrician Camillus arrived with an army for the relief of the garrison, and ordered the gold to be taken back to the Capitol, saying: "It has ever been the custom of us Romans to ransom our country, not with gold, but with iron." A battle followed, and the Gauls were driven from Rome. The Gallic leader, Brennus, was soon afterward taken prisoner by the Romans and put to death. So says the Roman legend concerning the retreat of the Gauls from Rome; but according to a more probable account, the Gauls were recalled by a sudden invasion of their own country by the Venetians. The fact of the Gallic invasion of Italy and burning of Rome cannot be disputed, but many of alleged incidents and circumstances connected with it are fables.

Death of Regulus.—It is said that after the return of Regulus to Carthage, the Carthaginians, enraged at his conduct in breaking off the negotiations for peace, cruelly tortured him to death. After cutting off his eyelids and putting him into a dark dungeon, they exposed his naked eyes to the burning sun, and then put him into a cask set all around with sharp spikes, where he died in agony. This story is believed to have been invented by the Romans to fire their soldiers with deadly hatred against the Carthaginians; and there are good reasons for believing that Regulus died a natural death.

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN LEGENDS.

William Tell and Gesler.-The best known legend of the Middle Ages is that of William Tell and Gesler. Gesler was one of the tyrannical Austrian governors expelled by the Swiss. He placed the ducal cap of Austria in the market place of Altorf, and ordered all who passed to bow to the cap, in token of submission. William Tell refused to bow to the cap, and was thereupon imprisoned. Being a good archer, Tell was promised his freedom if he would shoot an apple from his son's head. Tell hit the apple and received his freedom, saying to Gesler: "Had I killed my son, I would have killed you." Tell is said to have been at once seized by order of the enraged tyrant, and conveyed across the lake of Lucerne in a boat in which were Gesler and his attendants: but a violent storm having arisen during the passage, Tell, who was a skillful boatman, was released in order that he might conduct the boat in

safety to the shore; and no sooner had the shore been reached than Tell leaped from the boat, and soon afterward dispatched an arrow into the tyrant's heart, killing him instantly.

Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.-Captain John Smith, the old Virginia pioneer, is said to have been taken prisoner by the Indians, whose chief, Powhatan, determined to put him to death; but Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, is said to have interceded for the prisoner, and saved his life; whereupon Smith was released and permitted to return to Jamestown.