C. 219), and in spite of the other wars
this brought out a sufficient force from Rome. The Illyrian sovereign
was forced to fly, and all his domain came under the Roman power.
Meantime the Romans had begun to think of the extensive tracts to the
north acquired from the Gauls, and in 232 B.C., a law was passed
dividing them among the poorer people and the veterans, in the
expectation of attracting inhabitants to that part of Italy. The
barbarians were alarmed by the prospect of the approach of Roman
civilization, and in 225, united to make a new attack upon their old
enemies. When it was rumored at Rome that the Gauls were preparing to
make a stand and probably intended to invade the territory of their
southern neighbors, the terrible days of the Allia were vividly brought
to mind and the greatest consternation reigned. The Sibylline or other
sacred books were carefully searched for counsel in the emergency, and
in obedience to instructions therein found, two Gauls and two Greeks (a
man and a woman of each nation) were buried alive in the Forum Boarium,
[Footnote: The Forum Boarium, though one of the largest and most
celebrated public places in the city, was not a regular market
surrounded with walls, but an irregular space bounded by the Tiber on
the west, and the Palatine Hill and the Circus Maximus on the east.
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