Brennus (4th century BC)

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For other persons of the same name, see Brennus.

A sculpture, depicting this Brennus that adorned an 18th or 19th century French naval vessel

Brennus (or Brennos) was a chieftain of the Senones, a Gallic tribe originating from the modern areas of France known as Seine-et-Marne, Loiret, and Yonne.^[1], respectively, who in 387 BC, in the Battle of the Allia, led an army of Cisalpine Gauls in their attack on Rome. It has been theorized that Brennus is actually a title rather than a name.

The Senones captured the entire city of Rome except for the Capitoline Hill, which was successfully held against them. However, seeing their city devastated, the Romans attempted to buy their salvation from Brennus. The Romans agreed to pay one thousand pounds weight of gold. According to legend, during a dispute over the accuracy of the weights used to measure the ransom of gold Brennus demanded, he threw his sword upon the scales and uttered the famous quote "Vae victis!", which translates to "Woe to the conquered!".

The argument over the weights had delayed Brennus, so that the exiled dictator Marcus Furius Camillus appeared with an army and refused to allow him to take the gold. In an initial battle through Rome's streets, the Gauls were ejected from the city and in a second battle away from the city, Camillus defeated the invaders, earning the title of the 'Second Founder of Rome' and 'Pater Patriae' for saving the city.

Some historical accounts say that Senones besieging the Capitoline Hill were afflicted with an illness and thus were in a weakened state when they took the ransom for Rome. This is plausible as dysentery and other sanitation issues have incapacitated/killed large numbers of combat soldiers up until and including modern times.

It has been theorized that Brennus was working in concert with Dionysius of Syracuse, who sought to control all of Sicily. Rome had strong allegencies with Messana, a small city state in north west Sicily, which Dionysius wanted to control. With Rome's army pinned down by Brennus' efforts Dionysius led a campaign which ultimately failed. Brennus may have been paid twice to sack Rome.

A famous depiction is the academic painting Le Brenn et sa part de butin (1893) by Paul Jamin that shows the Brennus viewing his share of spoils after the looting of Rome.