A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Philotis

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PHILOTIS,

A servant-maid at Rome, saved her countrymen from destruction. After the siege of Rome by the Gauls, about 381 B.C., the Fidenates marched with an army against the capital, demanding all the wives and daughters in the city, as the only conditions of peace. Philotis advised the senators to send the female slaves, disguised in matrons' clothes; she offered to march herself at their head. The advice was followed, and when the Fidenates, having feasted late, had fallen asleep intoxicated, Philotis lighted a torch, as a signal for her countrymen to attack the enemy. The Fidenates were conquered; and the senate, to reward the fidelity of the slaves, allowed them to appear in the dress of the Roman matrons.