Livy describes the unsettling arrival of the Celts in Rome and how the elders of the city were waiting for death while the gates of the city were left open. The entrance of the Celtic army led to chaos and the first encounter between the Romans and the northerners.
The Gauls set fire to Rome and start a siege, resulting in the famous incident where a Roman complains about doctored weights, to which the Gauls respond by throwing a sword on their side of the scale and proclaiming "woe to the vanquished."