Vae victis

[4] According to tradition, in 390 BC, an army of Gauls led by Brennus attacked Rome, capturing all of the city except for the Capitoline Hill.

Brennus besieged the hill, and finally the Romans asked to ransom their city.

[5] According to Plutarch's Life of Camillus and Livy's Ab Urbe Condita (Book 5 Sections 34–49),[6][7] the Gauls provided steelyard balances and weights, which were used to measure the amount of gold.

The Romans brought the gold, but claimed that the provided weights were rigged in the Gauls' favor.

The Romans complained to Brennus, who took his sword, threw it onto the weights, and exclaimed, "Vae victis!"

"Vae victis!" Brennus throws his sword onto the scales. Illustration by Paul Lehugeur, 1886.