For then victory would be the cause of our removing into a captured city, one that would be glorious to ourselves and our posterity; whilst now this same removal would be wretched and disgraceful to us, and glorious to the Gauls.

For we shall appear not to have left our country as conquerors, but to have lost it from having been vanquished; the flight at Allia, the capture of the city, the blockading of the Capitol, [will seem] to have imposed this necessity on us of forsaking our household gods, of having recourse to exile and flight from that place which we were unable to defend.

And have the Gauls been able to demolish Rome, which the Romans shall be deemed to have been unable to restore?
What remains, but that if they should now come with new forces, (for it is evident that their number is scarcely credible,) and should they feel disposed to dwell in this city, captured by them, and deserted by you, would you suffer them?
What, if not the Gauls, but your old enemies, the AEquans and Volscians, should form the design of removing to Rome; would you be willing that they should become Romans, you Veientians?
Would ye prefer that this should be a desert in your possession, or a city of the enemy?
For my part I can see nothing more impious.

Is it because ye are averse to building, ye are prepared to incur this guilt, this disgrace?
Even though no better, no more ample structure could be erected throughout the entire city than that cottage of our founder, is it not better to dwell in cottages, like shepherds and rustics, amid your sacred places and your household gods, than to go publicly into exile?
Our forefathers, strangers and shepherds, when there was nothing in these places but woods and marshes, erected a new city in a very short time; do we, with a Capitol and citadel safe, and the temples of the gods still standing, feel it irksome to build up what has been burnt?
and what we individually would have done, if our private residence had been burned down, shall we as a body refuse to do in the case of a public conflagration?
54.

"What, if by some evil design of accident a fire should break out at Veii, and the flames spread by the wind, as may happen, should consume a considerable portion of the city; are we then to seek Fidenae, or Gabii, or any other city to remove to?
Has our native soil so slight a hold on us, or this earth which we call mother; or does our love of country lie merely in the surface and in the timber of the houses?
For my part, I will acknowledge to you, whilst I was absent, though I am less disposed to remember this as the effect of your injustice than of my own misfortune, as often as my country came into my mind, all these circumstances occurred to me, the hills, the plains, the Tiber, the face of the country familiar to my eyes, and this sky, beneath which I had been born and educated; may these now induce you, by their endearing hold on you, to remain in your present settlement, rather than they should cause you to pine away through regret, after having left them.
Not without good reason did gods and men select this place for founding a city: these most healthful hills; a commodious river, by means of which the produce of the soil may be conveyed from the inland countries, by which maritime supplies may be obtained; close enough to the sea for all purposes of convenience, and not exposed by too much proximity to the dangers of foreign fleets; a situation in the centre of the regions of Italy, singularly adapted by nature for the increase of a city.