Brennus places his sword on the scales

Brennus and the Romans agreed to end the siege of the Gauls if the Romans paid a thousand pounds of gold. A large scale was placed on which the Gauls put weights. Brennus became angry when the Romans suggested that the Gauls were using false weights. He then threw his own sword onto the weights as an additional penalty and spoke the words: Vae victis! (Woe to the vanquished!).