In addition to the above factors that give further reasons to doubt the figures given about the size of the Roman forces at the Battle of the Allia, it has to be noted that the Romans did not have much time to prepare for the battle properly since after their embassy was rebuffed by the Romans, the Gauls immediately marched on Rome, only a few days’ march away. The Roman army was then a part-time militia of peasant farmers levied for the military campaigning season and then returning to their farms. Not all men of military age were drafted every year. Some of the soldiers would have lived some distance from Rome and so needed time to walk there, the main means of travel for peasants.