Philōtis

, a servant-maid at Rome, who saved her countrymen from destruction. After the siege of Rome by the Gauls, the Fidenates a embled an army, under the command of Lucius Post hum i us, and marched against the capital, demanding all the wives and daughters in the city, as the conditions of peace. This extraordinary demand astonished the senators, and when they refused to comply, Philotis advised them to send all their female slaves disguised in matron’s clothes, and she offered to march herself at the head. Her advice was followed, and when the Fidenates had feasted late in the evening, and were quite intoxicated, and fallen asleep, Philotis lighted a torch as a signal for her countrymen to attack the enemy. The whole was succe ful, the Fidenates were conquered, and the senate, to reward the fidelity of the female slaves, permitted them to appear in the dre of the Roman matrons. Plutarch , Romulus .— Varro , de Lingua Latina , bk. 5 .— Ovid , de Ars Am at or i a , bk. 2 .