Plutarch's Lives
Translated by Aubrey Stewart and George Long
Volume I
LIFE OF CAMILLUS
I. The strangest fact in the life of Furius Camillus is that, although he was a most successful general and won great victories, though he was five times appointed dictator, triumphed four times, and was called the second founder of Rome, yet he never once was consul. The reason of this is to be found in the political condition of Rome at that time; for the people, being at variance with the senate, refused to elect consuls, and chose military tribunes instead, who, although they had full consular powers, yet on account of their number were less offensive to the people than consuls. To have affairs managed by six men instead of two appears to have been a consolation to those who had suffered from the arbitrary rule of a few. It was during this period that Camillus reached the height of power and glory, and yet he would not become consul against the will of the people, although several occasions occurred when he might have been elected, but in his various appointments he always contrived, even when he had sole command, to share his power with others, while even when he had colleagues he kept all the glory for himself. His moderation prevented any one from grudging him power, while his successes were due to his genius, in which he confessedly surpassed all his countrymen.
II. The family of the Furii was not a very illustrious one before Camillus gained glory in the great battle with the Aequi and Volsci, where he served under the dictator Postumius Tubertus. Riding out before the rest of the army, he was struck in the thigh by a dart, but tore it out, assailed the bravest of the enemy, and put them to flight. After this, amongst other honours he was appointed censor, an office of great dignity at that time. One admirable measure is recorded of his censorship, that by arguments and threatening them with fines he persuaded the unmarried citizens to marry the widow women, whose number was very great on account of the wars. Another measure to which he was forced was that of taxing orphans, who had hitherto been exempt from taxation. This was rendered necessary by the constant campaigns which were carried on at a great expense, and more especially by the siege of Veii. Some call the inhabitants of this city Veientani. It was the bulwark of Etruria, possessing as many fighting men as Rome itself; the citizens were rich, luxurious, and extravagant in their habits, and fought bravely many times for honour and for power against the Romans. At this period, having been defeated in several great battles, the people of Veii had given up any schemes of conquest, but had built strong and high walls, filled their city with arms and provisions, and all kinds of material of war, and fearlessly endured a siege, which was long, no doubt, but which became no less irksome and difficult to the besiegers. Accustomed as the Romans had been to make short campaigns in summer weather, and to spend their winters at home, they were now for the first time compelled by their tribunes to establish forts and entrench their camp, and pass both summer and winter in the enemy's country for seven years in succession. The generals were complained of, and as they seemed to be carrying on the siege remissly, they were removed, and others appointed, among them Camillus, who was then tribune for the second time. But he effected nothing in the siege at that time, because he was sent to fight the Faliscans and Capenates, who had insulted the Roman territory throughout the war with Veii, when the Roman army was engaged elsewhere, but were now driven by Camillus with great loss to the shelter of their city walls.
III. After this, while the war was at its height, much alarm was caused by the strange phenomenon seen at the Alban lake, which could not be accounted for on ordinary physical principles. The season was autumn, and the summer had not been remarkable for rain or for moist winds, so that many of the streams and marshes in Italy were quite dried up, and others held out with difficulty, while the rivers, as is usual in summer, were very low and deeply sunk in their bed. But the Alban lake, which is self-contained, lying as it does surrounded by fertile hills, began for no reason, except it may be the will of Heaven, to increase in volume and to encroach upon the hillsides near it, until it reached their very tops, rising quietly and without disturbance. At first the portent only amazed the shepherds and herdsmen of the neighbourhood; but when the lake by the weight of its waters broke through the thin isthmus of land which restrained it, and poured down in a mighty stream through the fertile plains below to the sea, then not only the Romans, but all the people of Italy, thought it a portent of the gravest character. Much talk about it took place in the camp before Veii, so that the besieged also learned what was happening at the lake.
IV. As always happens during a long siege, where there are frequent opportunities of intercourse between the two parties, one of the Romans had become intimate with a citizen of Veii, who was learned in legendary lore, and was even thought to have supernatural sources of information. When this man heard of the overflowing of the lake, his Roman friend observed that he was overjoyed, and laughed at the idea of the siege being successful. The Roman told him that these were not the only portents which troubled the Romans at the present time, but that there were others stranger than this, about which he should like to consult him, and, if possible, save himself in the common ruin of his country. The man eagerly attended to his discourse, imagining that he was about to hear some great secrets. The Roman thus decoyed him away farther and farther from the city gate, when he suddenly seized him and lifted him from the ground. Being the stronger man, and being assisted by several soldiers from the camp, he overpowered him, and brought him before the generals. Here the man, seeing that there was no escape, and that no one can resist his destiny, told them of the ancient oracles about his city, how it could not be taken until its enemies drove back the waters of the Alban lake, and prevented its joining the sea. When the senate heard this they were at a loss what to do, and determined to send an embassy to Delphi to enquire of the God. The embassy consisted of men of mark and importance, being Licinius Cossus, Valerius Potitus, and Fabius Ambustus. After a prosperous journey they returned with a response from Apollo, pointing out certain ceremonies which had been neglected in the feast of the Latin games, and bidding them, if possible, force the waters of the Alban lake away from the sea into its ancient course, or, if this could not be done, to divide the stream by canals and watercourses, and so to expend it in the plain. When the answer was brought back, the priests took the necessary steps about the sacrifices, while the people turned their attention to the diversion of the water.
V. In the tenth year of the war, the Senate recalled all the rest of the generals, and made Camillus Dictator. He chose Cornelius Scipio to be his Master of the Knights, and made a vow to the gods, that, if he succeeded in bringing the war to a glorious close, he would celebrate a great festival, and build a shrine to the goddess whom the Romans call Mater Matuta. This goddess, from the rites with which she is worshipped, one would imagine to be the same as the Greek Leukothea. For they bring a slave girl into the temple and beat her, and then drive her out; they take their brothers' children in their arms in preference to their own, and generally their ceremonies seem to allude to the nursing of Bacchus, and to the misfortunes which befell Ino because of her husband's concubine. After this, Camillus invaded the Faliscan territory, and in a great battle overthrew that people, and the Capenates who came to their assistance. Next, he turned his attention to the siege of Veii, and, perceiving that it would be a difficult matter to take the city by assault, he ordered mines to be dug, as the ground near the walls was easily worked, and the mines could be sunk to a sufficient depth to escape the notice of the besieged. As this work succeeded to his wish, he made a demonstration above ground to call the enemy to the walls and distract their attention, while others made their way unperceived through the mine to the Temple of Juno in the citadel, the largest and most sacred edifice in the city. Here, it is said, was the King of the Veientines, engaged in sacrificing. The soothsayer inspected the entrails, and cried with a loud voice, that the goddess would give the victory to whoever offered that victim. The Romans in the mine, hearing these words, quickly tore up the floor, and burst through it with shouts and rattling arms. The enemy fled in terror, and they seized the victims and carried them to Camillus. However, this story sounds rather fabulous.
The city was stormed, and the Romans carried off an enormous mass of plunder. Camillus, who viewed them from the citadel, at first stood weeping, but when, congratulated by the bystanders, raised his hands to heaven and said, "Great Jupiter, and all ye other gods, that see all good and evil deeds alike, ye know that it is not in unrighteous conquest, but in self-defence, that the Romans have taken this city of their lawless enemies. If," he continued, "there awaits us any reverse of fortune to counterbalance this good luck, I pray that it may fall, not upon the city or army of Rome, but, as lightly as may be, upon my own head." After these words he turned round to the right, as is the Roman habit after prayer, and while turning, stumbled and fell. All those present were terrified at the omen, but he recovered himself, saying that, as he had prayed, he had received a slight hurt to temper his great good fortune.
VI. When the city was sacked, he determined to send the statue of Juno to Rome, according to his vow. When workmen were assembled for this purpose, he offered sacrifice, and prayed to the goddess to look kindly on his efforts, and to graciously take up her abode among the gods of Rome. It is said that the statue answered that it wished to do so, and approved of his proceedings. But Livy tells us that Camillus offered his prayers while touching the statue, and that some of the bystanders said, "She consents, and is willing to come." However, those who insist on the supernatural form of the story have one great argument in their favour, in the marvellous fortune of Rome, which never could from such small beginnings have reached, such a pitch of glory and power without many direct manifestations of the favour of Heaven. Moreover, other appearances of the same kind are to be compared with it, such as that statues have often been known to sweat, have been heard to groan, and have even turned away and shut their eyes, as has been related by many historians before our own time. And I have heard of many miraculous occurrences even at the present day, resting on evidence which cannot be lightly impugned. However, the weakness of human nature makes it equally dangerous to put too much faith in such matters or to entirely disbelieve them, as the one leads to superstition and folly, and the other to neglect and contempt of the gods. Our best course is caution, and the "golden mean."
VII. Camillus, either because he was elated by the magnificence of his exploit in having taken a city as large as Rome after a ten years' siege, or else because he had been so flattered by his admirers that his pride overcame his sober judgment, conducted his triumph with great ostentation, especially in driving through Rome in a chariot, drawn by four white horses, which never was done by any general before or since, for this carriage is thought to be sacred to Jupiter, the king and father of the gods. The citizens, unaccustomed to splendour, were displeased with him for this, and their dislike was increased by his opposition to the law for a redistribution of the people. The tribunes proposed that the Senate and people should be divided into two parts, one of which should stay at Rome and the other remove to the captured city, because they would be more powerful if they possessed two great cities, instead of one, and held the land in common, still remaining one nation. The lower classes, which were numerous and poor, eagerly took up the scheme, and continually clamoured round the speakers at the rostra, demanding to have it put to the vote. But the Senate and the nobles thought that it was not a redistribution, but the absolute destruction of Rome which the tribunes were demanding, and in their anger rallied round Camillus. He, fearing to have a contest on the matter, kept putting off the people and inventing reasons for delay, so as to prevent the law being brought forward to be voted upon. This increased his unpopularity; but the greatest and most obvious reason for the dislike which the people bore him arose from his demand for the tenth part of the spoils; very naturally, though perhaps he scarcely deserved it. On his way to Veii it seems he had made a vow, that if he took the city he would dedicate the tenth part of the spoil to Apollo. But when the city was taken and plundered, he either was unwilling to interfere with his countrymen, or else forgot his vow, and allowed them to enrich themselves with the booty. Afterwards, when he had laid down his dictatorship, he brought the matter before the Senate, and the soothsayers declared that the victims for sacrifice showed, when inspected, that the gods were angry and must be propitiated.
VIII. The Senate decreed, not that the plunder should be given up, for that would have been scarcely possible to carry out, but that those who had taken any should be put on their oath, and contribute a tenth part of its value. This measure bore very hardly upon the soldiers, poor hard-working men, who were now compelled to repay so large a proportion of what they had earned and spent. Camillus was clamorously assailed by them, and, having no better excuse to put forward, made the extraordinary statement that he had forgotten his vow when the city was plundered. The people angrily said that he had vowed to offer up a tithe of the enemy's property, but that he really was taking a tithe from the citizens instead. However, all the contributions were made, and it was determined that with them a golden bowl should be made and sent to Apollo at Delphi. There was a scarcity of gold in the city, and while the government were deliberating how it was to be obtained, the matrons held a meeting among themselves, and offered their golden ornaments to make the offering, which came to eight talents' weight of gold. The Senate rewarded them by permitting them to have a funeral oration pronounced over their graves the same as men; for hitherto it had not been customary at Rome to make any speeches at the funerals of women. They also chose three of the noblest citizens to travel with the offering, and sent them in a well-manned ship of war, splendidly equipped. Both storms and calms at sea are said to be dangerous, and they chanced on this occasion to come very near destruction, and miraculously escaped, for in a calm off the Aeolian Islands they were assailed by Liparian triremes, who took them for pirates. At their earnest entreaty these people forbore to run down their vessel, but took it in tow and brought it into their harbour, where they treated it as a piratical craft, and put up the crew and the property on board for sale by public auction. With great difficulty, by the goodness and influence of one man, Timesitheos, a general, they obtained their release, and were allowed to proceed. Timesitheos even launched some ships of his own, with which he escorted them to Delphi, where he also took part in the ceremony of consecration. In return for his services, as was only just, he received special honours at Rome.
IX. The tribunes of the people again began to agitate about the redistribution of land and occupation of Veii, but a war with the Faliscans gave the leading men a seasonable opportunity to elect magistrates after their own hearts for the coming year. Camillus was appointed military tribune, with five others, as it was thought that the State required a general of tried experience. At the decree of the Senate, Camillus raised a force and invaded the Faliscan territory. He now besieged Falerii, a strong city well provided with all munitions of war, which he considered it would be a work of no small time and labour to take; but he was desirous of employing the people in a long siege, to prevent their having leisure for factious proceedings at home. This was ever the policy of the Romans, to work off the elements of internal strife in attacks on their neighbours.
X. The Faliscans thought so little of the siege, from the strength of their defences, that, except when on duty on the walls, they used to walk about their city in their ordinary dress, and their children were sent regularly to school, and used to be taken by their master to walk and take exercise outside the walls. For the Faliscans, like the Greeks, had one common school, as they wished all their children to be brought up together. The schoolmaster determined to betray these boys to the enemy, and led them outside the walls for exercise every day, and then led them back again. By this means he gradually accustomed them to going out as if there was no danger, until finally he took all the boys and handed them over to the Roman pickets, bidding them bring him to Camillus. When he was brought before him he said that he was a schoolmaster, that he preferred the favour of Camillus to his duty, and that he came to hand over to him the city of Falerii in the persons of these boys.
Camillus was very much shocked. He said that war is indeed harsh, and is carried on by savage and unrighteous means, but yet there are laws of war which are observed by good men, and one ought not so much to strive for victory, as to forego advantages gained by wicked and villainous means: thus a truly great general ought to succeed by his own warlike virtues, not by the baseness of others.
Having spoken thus, he ordered his slaves to tear the schoolmaster's clothes, tie his hands behind his back, and give the boys sticks and scourges with which to drive him back to the city. The Faliscans had just discovered the treachery of their schoolmaster, and, as may be expected, the whole city was filled with mourning at such a calamity, men and women together running in confusion to the gates and walls of the city, when the boys drove in their schoolmaster with blows and insults, calling Camillus their saviour, their father, and their god. Not only those who were parents, but all the citizens were struck with admiration at the goodness of Camillus. They at once assembled, and despatched ambassadors, putting themselves unreservedly in his hands. These men Camillus sent on to Rome, where they stated before the Senate, that the Romans, by preferring justice to conquest, had taught them to prefer submission to freedom, although they did not think that they fell short of the Romans in strength so much as in virtue. The Senate referred the ambassadors to Camillus for their first answer; and he, after receiving a contribution in money, and having made a treaty of alliance with the Faliscans, drew off his forces.
XI. But the soldiers, who had been looking forward to plundering Falerii, when they returned to Rome empty handed, abused Camillus to the other citizens, saying that he was a hater of the people, and grudged poor men a chance of enriching themselves. When the tribunes reintroduced the proposal of redistribution of the land, and removing half the city to Veii, Camillus openly, without caring how unpopular he became, opposed the measure. The people, sorely against their will, gave up the measure, but hated Camillus so fiercely that even his domestic afflictions (for he had just lost one of his two sons by sickness) could not move them to pity. Being of a kind and loving nature, he was dreadfully cast down at this misfortune, and spent all his time within doors mourning with the women of his family, while his enemies were preparing an impeachment against him.
XII. His accuser was Lucius Apuleius, and the charge brought against him was embezzlement of the spoils of Etruria. He was even said to have in his possession some brazen gates which were taken in that country. The people were much excited against him, and it was clear that, whatever the charge against him might be, they would condemn him. Consequently he assembled his friends and comrades, who were a great number in all, and begged them not to permit him to be ruined by false accusations, and made a laughing-stock to his enemies. But when his friends, after consulting together, answered that they did not think that they could prevent his being condemned, but that they would assist him to pay any fine that might be imposed, he, unable to bear such treatment, determined in a rage to leave Rome and go into exile. He embraced his wife and son, and walked from his house silently as far as the gate of the city. There he turned back, and, stretching out his hands towards the Capitol, prayed to the gods that, if he was driven out of Rome unjustly by the insolence and hatred of the people, the Romans might soon repent of their conduct to him, and appear before the world begging him to return, and longing for their Camillus back again.
XIII. Like Achilles, he thus cursed his countrymen and left them. His cause was undefended, and in his absence he was condemned to pay a fine of fifteen thousand ases, which in Greek money is fifteen hundred drachmas, for the as was the Roman coin at that time, and consequently ten copper ases were called a denarius.
Every Roman believes that the prayers of Camillus were quickly heard by Justice, and that a terrible retribution was exacted for his wrongs, which filled all men's mouths at that time; so terrible a fate befell Rome, with such destruction, danger, and disgrace, whether it arose from mere chance, or whether it be the office of some god to punish those who requite virtue with ingratitude.
XIV. The first omen of impending evil was the death of Julius the Censor; for the Romans reverence the office of censor, and account it sacred. Another omen was that, a short time before Camillus went into exile, one Marcus Caedicius, a man of no particular note, and not even a senator, but a thoroughly respectable man, communicated a matter of some importance to the tribunes of the people. He said that the night before he had been walking along what is called the New Road, when some one called him by name. He turned round and could see no one, but heard a voice louder than man's say, "Go, Marcus Caedicius, tell the government early in the morning that in a short time they may expect the Gauls." When the tribunes of the people heard this they laughed him to scorn, and shortly afterwards Camillus left the city.
XV. The Gauls are a people of the Celtic race, and are said to have become too numerous for their own country, and consequently to have left it to search for some other land to dwell in. As they consisted of a large multitude of young warriors, they started in two bodies, one of which, went towards the northern ocean, and, passing the Rhipaean mountains, settled in the most distant part of Europe. The other body established themselves between the Pyrenees and the Alps, and for a long time dwelt near the Senones and Celtorii. At last they tasted wine, which was then for the first time brought thither out of Italy. In an ecstasy of delight at the drink they wildly snatched up their arms, took their families with them, and rushed to the Alps in search of the country which produced such fruits as this, considering all other countries to be savage and uncultivated. The man who first introduced wine among them and encouraged them to proceed to Italy was said to be one Aruns, an Etruscan of some note, who, though a well-meaning man, had met with the following misfortune. He had been left guardian to an orphan named Lucumo, one of the richest and handsomest of his countrymen. This boy lived in the house of Aruns from his childhood, and when he grew up he would not leave it, but pretended to delight in his society. It was long before Aruns discovered that Lucumo had debauched his wife, and that their passion was mutual; but at length they were unable any longer to conceal their intrigue, and the youth openly attempted to carry off the woman from her husband. He went to law, but was unable to contend with the numerous friends and great wealth of Lucumo, and so left the country. Hearing about the Gauls, he went to them and incited them to invade Italy.
XVI. They immediately made themselves masters of the country, which reaches from the Alps down to the sea on both sides of Italy, which in ancient times belonged to the Etruscans, as we see by the names, for the upper sea is called the Adriatic from Adria, an Etruscan city, and the lower is called the Etruscan Sea. It is a thickly wooded country, with plenty of pasturage, and well watered. At that period it contained eighteen fair and large cities, with a thriving commercial population. The Gauls took these cities, drove out their inhabitants, and occupied them themselves. This, however, took place some time previously to our story.
XVII. The Gauls at this time marched against the Etruscan city of Clusium and besieged it. The inhabitants appealed to the Romans to send ambassadors and letters to the barbarians, and they sent three of the Fabian family, men of the first importance in Rome. They were well received, because of the name of Rome, by the Gauls, who desisted from their siege and held a conference with them. The Romans inquired what wrong the Gauls had suffered from the people of Clusium that they should attack their city. To this Brennus, the king of the Gauls, answered with a laugh, "The people of Clusium wrong us by holding a large territory, although they can only inhabit and cultivate a small one, while they will not give a share of it to us, who are numerous and poor. You Romans were wronged in just the same way in old times by the people of Alba, and Fidenae, and Ardea, and at the present day by the Veientines and Capenates, and by many of the Faliscans and Volscians. You make campaigns against these people if they will not share their good things with you, you sell them for slaves and plunder their territory, and destroy their cities; and in this you do nothing wrong, but merely obey the most ancient of all laws, that the property of the weak belongs to the strong, a law which prevails among the gods on the one hand, and even among wild beasts, amongst whom the stronger always encroach upon the weaker ones. So now cease to pity the besieged men of Clusium, for fear you should teach the Gauls to become good-natured and pitiful towards the nations that have been wronged by the Romans."
This speech showed the Romans that Brennus had no thought of coming to terms, and they in consequence went into Clusium and encouraged the inhabitants to attack the barbarians under their guidance, either because they wished to make trial of the valour of the Gauls, or to make a display of their own. The people of Clusium made a sally, and a battle took place near their wall. In this one of the Fabii, Quintus Ambustus by name, was on horseback, and rode to attack a fine powerful Gaul who was riding far in advance of the rest. At first the Roman was not recognised because the fight was sharp, and the flashing of his arms prevented his face being clearly seen. But when he slew his antagonist and jumped down from his horse to strip his body of its spoils, Brennus recognised him, and called the gods to witness his violation of the common law of all nations, in coming to them as an ambassador and fighting against them as an enemy. He immediately put a stop to the battle and took no further heed of the people of Clusium, but directed his army against Rome. However, as he did not wish it to be thought that the bad conduct of the Romans pleased the Gauls, who only wanted a pretext for hostilities, he sent and demanded that Fabius should be delivered up to him to be punished, and at the same time led his army slowly forwards.
XVIII. At Rome the Senate was called together, and many blamed Fabius, while those priests who are called Feciales urged the Senate in the name of religion to throw the whole blame of what had happened upon one guilty head, and, by delivering him up, to clear the rest of the city from sharing his guilt. These Feciales were instituted by the mildest and justest of the kings of Rome, Numa Pompilius, to be guardians of peace, and examiners of the reasons which justify a nation in going to war. However the Senate referred the matter to the people, and when the priests repeated their charges against Fabius before them, the people so despised and slighted religion as to appoint Fabius and his brothers military tribunes. The Gauls, when they heard this, were enraged, and hurried on, disregarding everything but speed. The nations through which they passed, terrified at their glancing arms and their strength and courage, thought that their land was indeed lost and that their cities would at once be taken, but to their wonder and delight the Gauls did them no hurt, and took nothing from their fields, but marched close by their cities, calling out that they were marching against Rome, and were at war with the Romans only, and held all other men to be their friends. To meet this impetuous rush, the military tribunes led out the Romans, who, in numbers indeed were quite a match for the Gauls, for they amounted to no less than forty thousand heavy-armed men, but for the most part untrained and serving for the first time.
Besides this disadvantage, they neglected the duties of religion, for they neither made the usual sacrifices nor consulted the soothsayers. Confusion also was produced by the number of commanders, though frequently before this, in much less important campaigns, they had chosen single generals, whom they called dictators, as they knew that nothing is so important at a dangerous crisis as that all should unanimously and in good order obey the commands of one irresponsible chief. And the unfair treatment which Camillus had received now bore disastrous fruits, for no man dared to use authority except to flatter and gain the favour of the people.
They proceeded about eleven miles from the city, and halted for the night on the banks of the river Allia, which joins the Tiber not far from where their camp was pitched. Here the barbarians appeared, and, after an unskilfully managed battle, the want of discipline of the Romans caused their ruin. The Gauls drove the left wing into the river and destroyed it, but the right of the army, which took refuge in the hills to avoid the enemy's charge on level ground, suffered less, and most of them reached the city safely. The rest, who survived after the enemy were weary of slaughter, took refuge at Veii, imagining that all was over with Rome.
XIX. This battle took place about the summer solstice at the time of full moon, on the very day on which in former times the great disaster befel the Fabii, when three hundred of that race were slain by the Etruscans. But this defeat wiped out the memory of the former one, and the day was always afterwards called that of the Allia, from the river of that name.
It is a vexed question whether we ought to consider some days unlucky, or whether Herakleitus was right in rebuking Hesiod for calling some days good and some bad, because he knew not that the nature of all days is the same. However the mention of a few remarkable instances is germane to the matter of which we are treating. It happened that on the fifth day of the Boeotian month Hippodromios, which the Athenians call Hekatombeion,[15] two signal victories were won by the Boeotians, both of which restored liberty to Greece; one, when they conquered the Spartans at Leuktra, and the other, when, more than two hundred years before this, they conquered the Thessalians under Lattamyas at Kerêssus.
Again, the Persians were beaten by the Greeks on the sixth of Boedromion at Marathon, and on the third they were beaten both at Plataea and at Mykale, and at Arbela on the twenty-fifth of the same month. The Athenians too won their naval victory under Chabrias at Naxos on the full moon of Boedromion, and that of Salamis on the twentieth of that month, as I have explained in my treatise 'On Days.'
The month of Thargelion evidently brings misfortune to the barbarians, for Alexander defeated the Persian king's generals on the Granicus in Thargelion, and the Carthaginians were defeated by Timoleon in Sicily on the twenty-seventh of Thargelion, at which same time Troy is believed to have been taken, according to Ephorus, Kallisthenes, Damastes and Phylarchus.
On the other hand, the month Metageitnion, which the Boeotians call Panemos, is unfavourable to the Greeks, for on the seventh of that month they were defeated by Antipater at Kranon and utterly ruined; and before that, were defeated during that month by Philip at Chaeronea. And on that same day and month and year Archidamus and his troops, who had crossed over into Italy, were cut to pieces by the natives. The twenty-first day of that month is also observed by the Carthaginians as that which has always brought the heaviest misfortunes upon them. And I am well aware that at the time of the celebration of the mysteries Thebes was destroyed for the second time by Alexander, and that after this Athens was garrisoned by Macedonian soldiers on the twentieth of Boedromion, on which day they bring out the mystic Iacchus in procession. And similarly the Romans, under the command of Caepio, on that same day lost their camp to the Gauls, and afterwards, under Lucullus, defeated Tigranes and the Armenians. King Attalus and Pompeius the Great died on their own birthdays. And I could mention many others, who have had both good and evil fortune on the same anniversaries. But the Romans regard that day as especially unlucky, and on account of it, two other days in every month are thought so, as superstitious feeling is increased by misfortune. This subject I have treated at greater length in my treatise on 'Roman Questions.'
XX. If, after the battle, the Gauls had at once followed up the fugitives, nothing could have prevented their taking Rome and destroying every one who was left in it; such terror did the beaten troops produce when they reached home, and such panic fear seized upon every one. However the barbarians scarcely believed in the completeness of their victory, and betook themselves to making merry over their success and to dividing the spoils taken in the Roman camp, so that they afforded those who left the city time to effect their escape, and those who remained in it time to recover their courage and make preparations for standing a siege. They abandoned all but the Capitol to the enemy, and fortified it with additional ramparts and stores of missiles. One of their first acts was to convey most of their holy things into the Capitol, while the Vestal virgins took the sacred fire and their other sacred objects and fled with them from the city. Some indeed say that nothing is entrusted to them except the eternal fire, which King Numa appointed to be worshiped as the origin of all things. For fire has the liveliest motion of anything in nature; and everything is produced by motion or with some kind of motion. All other parts of matter when heat is absent lie useless and apparently dead, requiring the power of fire as the breath of life, to call them into existence and make them capable of action.
Numa therefore, being a learned man and commonly supposed on account of his wisdom to hold communion with the Muses, consecrated fire, and ordered it to be kept unquenched for ever as an emblem of the eternal power that orders all things. Others say that, as among the Greeks, a purificatory fire burns before the temple, but that within are other holy things which no man may see, except only the virgins, who are named Vestals; and a very wide-spread notion is, that the famous Trojan Palladium, which was brought to Italy by Aeneas, is kept there. Others say that the Samothracian gods are there, whom Dardanus brought to Troy after he had founded it, and caused to be worshipped there, which, after the fall of Troy, Aeneas carried off and kept until he settled in Italy. But those who pretend to know most about such matters say that there are two jars of no great size in the temple, one open and empty, and the other full and sealed, and that these may be seen only by the holy virgins. Others think that this is a mistake, arising from the fact that, at the time of which we are treating, the Vestal virgins placed most of their sacred things in two jars and concealed them in the earth under the Temple of Quirinus, which place even to the present day is called the Doliola, or place of the jars.
XXI. However this may be, the Vestals took the most important of their holy things and betook themselves to flight along the Tiber. Here Lucius Albinus, a plebian, was journeying among the fugitives, with his wife and infant children and their few necessaries in a waggon. When he saw the Vestal virgins, without any attendants, journeying on foot and in distress, carrying in their bosoms the sacred images of the gods, he at once removed his wife, children, and property from the waggon and handed it over to them, to escape into one of the Greek cities in Italy. The piety of Albinus and his care for the duties of religion at so terrible a crisis deserve to be recorded.
The rest of the priests and the old men who had been consuls, and been honoured with triumphs, could not bear to leave the city. At the instance of Fabius, the Pontifex Maximus, they put on their sacred vestments and robes of state, and after offering prayer to the gods, as if they were consecrating themselves as victims to be offered on behalf of their country, they sat down in their ivory chairs in the Forum in full senatorial costume, and waited what fortune might befal them.
XXII. On the third day after the battle Brennus appeared, leading his army to attack the city. At first, seeing the gates open and no guards on the walls, he feared some ambuscade, as he could not believe that the Romans had so utterly despaired of themselves. When he discovered the truth, he marched through the Colline Gate, and captured Rome, a little more than three hundred and sixty years after its foundation, if we can believe that any accurate record has been kept of those periods whose confusion has produced such difficulties in the chronology of later times. However, an indistinct rumour of the fall of Rome seems at once to have reached Greece: for Herakleides of Pontus, who lived about that time, speaks in his book 'On the Spirit,' of a rumour from the west that an army had come from the Hyperboreans and had sacked a Greek colony called Rome, which stood somewhere in that direction, near the great ocean. Now, as Herakleides was fond of strange legends, I should not be surprised if he adorned the original true tale of the capture of the city with these accessories of "the Hyperboreans" and "the great ocean." Aristotle, the philosopher, had evidently heard quite accurately that the city was taken by the Gauls, but he says that it was saved by one Lucius: now Camillus's name was Marcus, not Lucius. All this, however, was pure conjecture.
Brennus, after taking possession of Rome, posted a force to watch the Capitol, and himself went down to the Forum, and wondered at the men who sat there silent, with all their ornaments, how they neither rose from their seats at the approach of the enemy, nor changed colour, but sat leaning on their staffs with fearless confidence, quietly looking at one another. The Gauls were astonished at so strange a sight, and for a long time they forbore to approach and touch them, as if they were superior beings. But when one of them ventured to draw near to Marcus Papirius and gently stroke his long beard, Papirius struck him on the head with his staff, at which the barbarian drew his sword and slew him. Upon this they fell upon the rest and killed them, with any other Romans whom they found, and spent many days in plundering the houses, after which they burned them and pulled them down in their rage at the men in the Capitol, because they would not surrender, but drove them back when they assaulted it. For this reason they wreaked their vengeance on the city, and put to death all their captives, men and women, old and young alike.
XXIII. As the siege was a long one, the Gauls began to want for provisions. They divided themselves into two bodies, one of which remained with the king and carried on the siege, while the others scoured the country, plundering and destroying the villages, not going all together in a body, but scattered in small detachments in various directions, as their elation at their success caused them to have no fear about separating their forces. Their largest and best disciplined body marched towards Ardea, where Camillus, since his banishment, had lived as a private person. All his thoughts, however, were bent not upon avoiding or fleeing from the Gauls, but upon defeating them if possible. And so, seeing that the people of Ardea were sufficient in numbers, but wanting in confidence because of the want of experience and remissness of their leaders, he first began to tell the younger men that they ought not to ascribe the misfortunes of the Romans to the bravery of the Gauls, for the misconduct of the former had given them a triumph which they did not deserve. It would, he urged, be a glorious thing, even at the risk of some danger, to drive away a tribe of savage barbarians, who if they were victorious always exterminated the vanquished: while, if they only showed bravery and confidence, he could, by watching his opportunity, lead them to certain victory. As the younger men eagerly listened to these words, Camillus proceeded to confer with the chief magistrates of the Ardeates. After obtaining their consent also, he armed all those who were capable of service, but kept them within the walls, as he wished to conceal their presence from the enemy who were now close at hand. But when the Gauls after scouring the country returned laden with plunder and carelessly encamped in the plain, and when at night by the influence of wine and sleep all was quiet in their camp, Camillus, who had learned the state of the case from spies, led out the men of Ardea, and marching over the intervening ground in silence, about midnight attacked their entrenched camp with loud shouts and blasts of his trumpet, which threw the Gauls, half-drunk and heavy with sleep as they were, into great confusion. Few recovered their senses so far as to attempt to resist Camillus, and those few fell where they stood; but most of them were slain as they lay helpless with wine and sleep. Such as escaped from the camp and wandered about the fields were despatched by cavalry the next day.
XXIV. The fame of this action, when noised among the neighbouring cities, called many men to arms, especially those Romans who had escaped to Veii after the battle of the Allia. These men lamented their fate, saying, "What a general has Providence removed from Rome in Camillus, whose successes now bring glory to Ardea, while the city that produced and brought up so great a man has utterly perished. And now we, for want of a general to lead us, are sitting still inside the walls of a city not our own, and giving up Italy to the enemy. Come, let us send to the men of Ardea, and beg their general of them, or else ourselves take up our arms and march to him. He is no longer an exile, nor are we any longer his countrymen, for our country is ours no more, but is in the hands of the enemy."
This was agreed, and they sent to beg Camillus to become their general. But he refused, saying that he would not do so without a decree from the citizens in the Capitol; for they as long as they survived, represented the city of Rome, and therefore although he would gladly obey their commands, he would not be so officious as to interfere against their will. The soldiers admired the honourable scruples of Camillus, but there was a great difficulty in representing them to the garrison of the Capitol; indeed, it seemed altogether impossible for a messenger to reach the citadel while the city was in the possession of the enemy.
XXV. One of the younger Romans, Pontius Cominius, of the middle class of citizens, but with an honourable ambition to distinguish himself, undertook the adventure. He would not take any writing to the garrison, for fear that if he were taken the enemy might discover Camillus's plans. He dressed himself in poor clothes, with corks concealed under them, and performed most of the journey fearlessly by daylight, but when he came near the city he went by night. As it was impossible to cross the river by the bridge, which was held by the Gauls, he wrapped what few clothes he had round his head, and trusted to his corks to float him over to the city. After he had landed, he walked round, observing by the lights and the noise where the Gauls were most wakeful, until he reached the Carmentan Gate, where all was quiet. At this place the Capitolian Hill forms a steep and precipitous crag, up which he climbed by a hollow in the cliff, and joined the garrison. After greeting them and making known his name, he proceeded to an interview with the leading men. A meeting of the Senate was called, at which he recounted Camillus's victory, which they had not heard of, and explained the determination of the soldiers. He then begged them to confirm Camillus's appointment as general, because the citizens without the walls would obey no other.
When the Senate heard this, they deliberated, and finally appointed Camillus dictator, and sent back Pontius by the same way that he came, which he was able to accomplish as fortunately as before. He eluded the Gauls, and brought the decree of the senate to the Romans outside the walls.
XXVI. They heard the news with enthusiasm, so that Camillus when he came, found that they already numbered twenty thousand, while he drew many additional troops from the neighbouring friendly cities. Thus was Camillus a second time appointed dictator, and, proceeding to Veii, joined the soldiers there, to whom he added many others from the allies, and prepared to attack the enemy. But meanwhile at Rome, some of the Gauls happening to pass by the place where Pontius climbed up the Capitol, noticed in many places the marks of where he had clutched at the rock with his hands and feet, torn off the plants which grew upon it, and thrown down the mould. They brought the news to the king, who came and viewed the place. He said nothing at the time, but in the evening he called together those Gauls who were lightest and most accustomed to climb mountains, and thus addressed them: "The road up the rock, which we by ourselves could not discover, has been proved by our enemies not to be impassable to men, and it would be disgraceful for us after having begun so well to leave our enterprise incomplete, and to give up the place as impregnable after the enemy themselves have shown us how it may be taken. Where it is easy for one man to climb, it cannot be hard for many to climb one by one, as their numbers will give them confidence and mutual support. Suitable honours and presents will be given to those who distinguish themselves."
XXVII. After this speech of their king, the Gauls eagerly volunteered for the assault, and about midnight many of them climbed silently up the rock, which although rough and precipitous was easier of ascent than they had imagined, so that the first of them reached the top, and were on the point of preparing to attack the rampart and its sleeping garrison, for neither men nor dogs noticed them. But there were sacred geese kept in the temple of Juno, which in other times were fed without stint, but which then, as there was scarcely food enough for the men, were somewhat neglected. These birds are naturally quick of hearing and timid, and now being rendered wakeful and wild by hunger, quickly perceived the Gauls climbing up, and rushing noisily to the place woke the garrison, while the Gauls feeling that they were discovered no longer preserved silence, but violently assaulted the place. The Romans, snatching up whatever arms came first to hand, ran to repulse them: and first of all Manlius, a man of consular rank, strong of body and full of courage, fell in with two of the enemy. As one of them lifted up his battleaxe, Manlius cut off his right hand with his sword, while he dashed his shield into the other's face, and threw him backwards down the cliff. After this he stood upon the wall, and with the help of those who assembled round him, beat off the rest, for not many had reached the top, or effected anything commensurate with the boldness of the attempt. Having thus escaped the danger, the Romans threw their sentinel down the rock; while on Manlius they conferred by vote a reward for his bravery, intended more for honour than advantage; for each man gave him a day's rations, which consisted of half a Roman pound of meal, and the fourth part of a Greek cotyle of wine.
XXVIII. This affair disheartened the Gauls, who were also in want of provisions, for they could not forage as before for fear of Camillus, while disease also crept in among them, encamped as they were in the ruins of Rome among heaps of dead bodies, while the deep layer of ashes became blown by the wind into the air, making it dry and harsh, and the vapours of the conflagrations were injurious to breathe. They were especially distressed by the change from a cloudy country where there are plenty of shady retreats, to the flat burning plains of Rome in autumn, and their siege of the Capitol became wearisome, for they had now beleaguered it for seven months; so that there was much sickness in their camp, and so many died that they no longer buried the dead. Yet for all this the besieged fared no better. Hunger pressed them, and their ignorance of what Camillus was doing disheartened them; for no one could reach them with news, because the city was strictly watched by Gauls. As both parties were in these straits, proposals for a capitulation took place; at first among the outposts on both sides; afterwards the chief men on each side. Brennus, the Gaulish king, and Sulpicius the Roman tribune, met, and it was agreed that the Romans should pay a thousand pounds of gold, and that the Gauls should, on receiving it, at once leave the country. Both parties swore to observe these conditions, but when the gold was being weighed, the Gauls at first tampered with the scales unperceived, and then openly pulled the beam, so that the Romans became angry. But at this Brennus insolently took off his sword and belt, and flung them into the scale; and when Sulpicius asked, "What is this?" "What should it be," replied the Gaul; "but woe to the vanquished!" At this some of the Romans were angry and thought that they ought to take back their gold into the Capitol, and again endure the siege; while others said that they must put up with insults, provided they were not too outrageous, and not think that there was any additional disgrace in paying more than they had agreed, because in paying any ransom at all, they were acting from sheer necessity rather than feelings of honour.
XXIX. While the Romans were thus disputing with the Gauls, and with one another, Camillus with his army was at the gates. Learning what was being done, he ordered the mass of his soldiers to follow him quietly and in good order, and himself pushed on with the picked troops to join the Romans, who all made way for him, and received him as dictator with silence and respect. He then took the gold from the scales and gave it to his victors, and ordered the Gauls to take the scales and the beam, and depart, "for," said he, "it is the custom of the Romans to defend their country not with gold but with iron." At this Brennus became angry, and said that he was being wronged by the treaty being broken; and Camillus answered that the negotiations were illegal, because when they began he was already dictator, and therefore, as no one else had any authority, the treaty had been made by the Gauls with persons who were not authorized to treat. But now, if they wished, they might make fresh proposals, for he was come with full legal powers to pardon such as made their submission, and to punish unrepentant evil-doers. Enraged at this, Brennus began to skirmish, and the two parties, mixed up as they were, in houses and lands where no military formation was possible, did go so far as to draw their swords and push one another about; but Brennus soon recovered his temper, and drew off the Gauls, with but little loss, in their camp.
During the night he got them all under arms, left the city, and, after a march of about eight miles, encamped by the side of the Gabinian Road. But at daybreak, Camillus was upon him, in glittering armour, leading on the Romans who had now recovered their courage. After a long and fiercely contested battle they routed the Gauls and took their camp. Some of the fugitives were at once pursued and slain, but most of them straggled about the country, and were put to death by the people of the neighbouring towns and villages who sallied out upon them.
XXX. Thus was Rome strangely taken, and yet more strangely preserved, after having been for seven months in the possession of the Gauls, for they entered it a few days after the Ides of Quintilis, and left it about the Ides of February. Camillus, as we may easily imagine, entered the city in a triumph, as the saviour of his lost country, and the restorer of Rome to itself; for as he drove into the city he was accompanied by those who had before left it, with their wives and children, while those who had been besieged in the Capitol, and all but starved there, came out to meet him embracing one another, weeping, and scarcely believing in their present happiness. The priests and servants of the gods also appeared with such of the sacred things as they had saved, either by burying them on the spot, or by carrying them away, and now displayed these images, which had not been seen for so long a time, to the citizens, who greeted them with joy, as if the gods themselves were again returning to Rome. Camillus performed a sacrifice to the gods, and purified the city in the manner recommended by experts, and then proceeded to restore all the previously existing temples, while he himself added another to Aius Loquutius, or Rumour, having carefully sought out the place at which the voice in the night miraculously foretold the coming of the Gaulish host to Marcus Caedicius.
XXXI. With great difficulty the sites of the temples were cleared of rubbish by the zeal of Camillus and the labour of the priests; but as the city was utterly destroyed, and required to be entirely rebuilt, the people became disheartened at so great an undertaking. Men who had lost their all were inclined to wait, and indeed required rest after their misfortunes, rather than labours and toils, which neither their bodies nor their purses were able to endure. And thus it came to pass that they turned their thoughts a second time towards Veii, a city which stood quite ready to be inhabited. This gave opportunities to their mob orators to make speeches, as usual, which they knew would be pleasing to the people, in which Camillus was disrespectfully spoken of as depriving them of a city which stood ready to receive them, for his own prviate ambition, and was said to be compelling them to live encamped in the midst of ruins, and re-erect their houses in that vast heap of ashes, all in order that he might be called, not merely the leader and general of Rome, but might usurp the place of Romulus and be called her founder. Fearing disturbances, the Senate would not permit Camillus to lay down his dictatorship for a year, although he wished to do so, and although no dictator before this had ever remained in office for more than six months. In the meantime the senators themselves encouraged and consoled the people by personal appeals, pointing to the tombs and monuments of their ancestors, and recalling to their minds the temples and holy places which Romulus and Numa and the other kings had consecrated and left in charge to them. More especially they dwelt upon the omen of the newly severed head which had been found when the foundations of the Capitol were dug, by which it was proved that that spot was fated to become the head of Italy, and the fire of Vesta which the virgins had relighted after the war, and which it would be a disgrace for them to extinguish, and to abandon the city, whether they were to see it inhabited by foreigners or turned into fields for cattle to feed in. While persistently urging these considerations both in public speeches and in private interviews with the people, they were much affected by the lamentations of the poor over their helpless condition. The people begged that, as they had, like people after a shipwreck, saved their lives and nothing else, they might not, in addition to this misfortune, be compelled to put together the ruins of a city which had been utterly destroyed, while another was standing ready to receive them.
XXXII. Under these circumstances, Camillus determined to debate the question publicly. He himself made a long appeal on behalf of his native place, and many other speeches were delivered. Finally he rose, and bade Lucius Lucretius, whose privilege it was, to vote first, and then after him the rest in order. Silence was enforced, and Lucretius was just on the point of voting when a centurion in command of a detachment of the guard of the day marched by, and in a loud voice called to the standard-bearer: "Pitch the standard here: here it is best for us to stay." When these words were heard so opportunely in the midst of their deliberations about the future, Lucretius reverently said that he accepted the omen, and gave his vote in accordance with it, and his example was followed by all the rest. The people now showed a strange revulsion of feeling, for they encouraged one another to begin the work of rebuilding, not on any regular plan, but just as each man happened to find a convenient place for his work. Consequently they quickly rebuilt the city, for within a year it is said that both the city walls and the private houses were completed; but it was full of intricate, narrow lanes and inconveniently placed houses.
The priests, who had been ordered by Camillus to mark out the boundaries where the temples had stood among the general wreck, when in their circuit of the Palatine Hill they came upon the chapel of Mars, found it, like every other building, destroyed and levelled to the ground by the Gauls, but while thoroughly examining the place they found the augur's staff of Romulus hidden under a deep heap of ashes. This staff is curved at one end, and is called lituus. They use it to divide the heavens into squares when taking the auspices, just as Romulus himself did, as he was deeply skilled in divination. When he vanished from among mankind, the priests kept his staff just like any other sacred object. That at such a time, when all the other holy things perished, this should have been preserved, gave them good hopes of Rome, which that omen seemed to presage would be eternal.
XXXIII. Before they had finished rebuilding the city they became involved in a war, for the Aequians, Volscians, and Latins combined their forces and invaded the country, while the Etruscans besieged Sutrium, a city in alliance with Rome. The tribunes in command of the Roman forces encamped near the Marcian heights, and were there besieged by the Latins and in danger of having their camp taken. They sent to Rome for assistance, and the Romans appointed Camillus dictator for the third time. About this war there are two different accounts, of which I will mention the legendary one first:—It is said that the Latins, either merely as a pretext, or really wishing to amalgamate the two races as before, sent a demand to Rome for free unmarried women to be delivered up for them to marry. As the Romans were at their wits' ends what to do, because they feared to go to war, being scarcely recovered from their late mishap, while they suspected that the women would be used as hostages if they gave them up, and that the proposal of intermarriage was merely a feint, a slave girl named Tutula, or, as some say, Philotis, advised the magistrates to send her and the best-looking of the female slaves, dressed like brides of noble birth, and that she would manage the rest. The magistrates approved of her proposal, chose such girls as she thought suitable, and having dressed them in fine clothes and jewellery, handed them over to the Latins, who were encamped at no great distance from the city. At night the girls stole the daggers of the enemies, and Tutula or Philotis climbed up a wild fig-tree, stretched out her cloak behind her, and raised a torch as a signal, which had been agreed upon between her and the magistrates, though no other citizen knew of it. Wherefore, the soldiers rushed out of the gates with a great clamour and disturbance, calling to one another and scarcely able to keep their ranks as their chiefs hurried them along. When they reached the enemy's camp, they found them asleep and not expecting an attack, so that they took their camp and slew most of them. This took place on the nones of the month Quintilis, now called July, and the festival which then takes place is in memory of the events of that day. First they march out of the gates in a mass, calling out the common names of the country, such as Caius, Marcus, or Lucius, in imitation of their hurried calling for each other on that occasion. Next, female slaves splendidly dressed walk round laughing and romping with all whom they meet. These girls also perform a sort of fight among themselves, like those who on that day took their share in the fight with the Latins: and afterwards they sit down to a feast, under the shade of fig-tree boughs. They call this day the nonae caprotinae, probably from the wild fig-tree from which the slave girl waved the torch; for in Latin a wild fig-tree is called caprificus. Others say that most of these things were said and done when Romulus disappeared, for on this very day he was snatched away, outside the city gates, in a sudden storm and darkness, or as some think during an eclipse of the sun: and they say that the day is called nonae caprotiae from the place, because Romulus was carried off while holding a meeting of the entire people at the place called the Goat's Marsh, as is written in his life.
XXXIV. The other story is approved by most writers, who relate it as follows:—Camillus, after being appointed dictator for the third time, and learning that the army under the command of the military tribunes was being besieged by the Latins and Volscians, was compelled to arm even those citizens who were past the age for service in the field. He marched by a long circuit to the Marcian heights unnoticed by the enemy, and established his army behind them. By lighting fires he announced his arrival to the Romans in the camp, who took courage, and began to meditate sallying out of their camp and attacking the enemy. But the Latins and Volscians kept close within the rampart of their camp, which they fortified with many additional palisades, on all sides, for they now were between two hostile armies, and intended to await succour from home, while they also expected a force from Etruria to come to their aid. Camillus, perceiving this, and fearing that he might be surrounded in his turn, vigorously used his opportunity. The rampart of the allies was formed of wood, and as a strong wind blew down from the mountains at daybreak, he prepared combustibles, and early in the morning got his forces under arms. One division he sent to attack the enemy's camp with darts, and missile weapons, and loud shouts, while he himself, with those who were in charge of the fire, waited for his opportunity on that side towards which the wind usually blew. When the other troops were engaged with the enemy, the sun rose, and a strong wind got up. At this Camillus gave the signal for attack, and at once enveloped the palisades with lighted missiles. As the flames quickly spread in the thick wooden palisades, the Latins, finding their camp girt with flames, were driven into a small compass, and finally obliged to sally out of their entrenchments, outside of which the Romans stood ready to receive them. Few of those who broke out escaped, while all who remained in the camp perished in the flames, until the Romans extinguished them and began to plunder.
XXXV. After this exploit, Camillus left his son Lucius in charge of the camp, to guard the prisoners and the booty, and himself invaded the enemy's country. He took the capital of the Aequi, reduced the Volsci to subjection, and marched at once upon Sutrium to relieve that city, whose inhabitants had not heard of his successes, but were still besieged by the Etruscans. The Sutrians had just surrendered, and had been turned out of their city by the enemy with nothing but the clothes they had on. Camillus met them on the road with their wives and children, weeping over their misfortune. He was greatly moved at so piteous a sight, and, perceiving that the Romans were touched by the despairing entreaties of the people of Sutrium, who clung to them with tears in their eyes, determined that he would at once avenge their wrongs, and march upon Sutrium that very day, arguing that men who were merry with success, having just captured a wealthy city, with no enemy either left within its walls or expected from without, would be found in careless disorder. In this conjecture he was right; for he not only marched through the country, but even obtained possession of the walls and gates unperceived by the enemy, who had posted no guards, but were carousing in the various private houses. Indeed when they learned that the Romans were in possession of the town, they were in such a condition of intoxication that most of them could not even attempt to escape, but shamefully waited in the houses where they were until they were either killed or taken prisoners. Thus was the city of Sutrium twice taken in one day, and thus did the victors lose their prize, and the dispossessed inhabitants regain their homes by Camillus's means.
XXXVI. The triumph which he enjoyed after these campaigns added to his popularity and glory as much as either of the former; for even those who disliked him most, and who had insisted that all his successes were due to good fortune more than to skill, were now forced to admit the brilliancy of his generalship, and to give his genius its due. The chief of his enemies and detractors was Marcus Manlius, he who had been the first man to fling the Gauls down the cliff in the night attack on the Capitol, and who in remembrance of this was surnamed Capitolinus. This man, endeavouring to make himself the first man in Rome, and not being able to surpass the fame of Camillus by fair means, made the accusation against him usual in such cases, that he was intending to make himself king. This falsehood he repeated in his addresses to the people, with whom he was making himself popular, especially with those who were in debt; some of whom he defended, and assisted in coming to terms with their creditors, while others he forcibly rescued from the officers of the law, so that many needy persons were attracted to him, and became the terror of all respectable citizens by their riotous disturbances in the Forum. To put an end to these disorders, Quintus Capitolinus was created dictator, and he put Manlius in prison; but the people upon this went into mourning, a thing only done on the occasion of some great public disaster, and the Senate, terrified at this, ordered Manlius to be acquitted. Manlius was not improved by his captivity, but was more turbulent and disorderly in his conduct than he had been before. Camillus was now again elected military tribune, and Manlius was impeached: but the place in which he was tried told greatly against his accusers. For the very spot on the Capitol on which Manlius fought with the Gauls on that night was visible from the Forum, and the sight of it raised a strong feeling in his favour; while he himself pointed to it, and, with tears in his eyes, reminded them of how he had fought for them, so that his judges were at their wits' end, and often adjourned the trial, for they could not acquit him of a crime which was clearly proved against him, and yet they could not bring themselves to let the law take its course, when the scene before them reminded them constantly of his great exploit. Camillus, perceiving this, removed the court to the Petelian Grove outside the city gates, where, as the Capitol was not visible, the prosecutor was able to press home his charges against Manlius, while the judges were not prevented from punishing him for his recent crimes by their remembrance of what he had done in former times. He was convicted, led to the Capitol, and thrown down the cliff, which thus witnessed both the most glorious deed of his life, and his miserable end. The Romans destroyed his house, on the site of which they built the Temple of Juno Moneta, and decreed that for the future no patrician might dwell upon the Capitol.
XXXVII. Camillus, when appointed military tribune for the sixth time, begged to be excused, as he was growing old, and perhaps feared that such unbroken success and glory would call down upon him the wrath of the gods.[16] His most obvious reason for declining the appointment was the state of his health, for at this time he was sick. However, the people would not permit him to retire, but loudly urged that they did not want him to ride on horseback or fight in the ranks, but merely to advise and superintend. Thus they compelled him to accept the office, and with one of his colleagues, Lucius Furius, at once to lead an army against the enemy. He left the city and encamped near the enemy, where he wished to remain inactive, in order that, if a battle should be necessary, he might recover his health sufficiently to take part in it. But as his colleague Lucius, who longed to distinguish himself, was so eager for action that he could not be restrained, and excited the subordinate officers, Camillus, fearing that it might be supposed that he grudged younger men an opportunity of gaining laurels, agreed, sorely against his will, to allow his colleague to lead out the army and offer battle, while he with a few troops remained behind in the camp. But when he heard that Lucius had rashly engaged and that the Romans were defeated, he could not restrain himself, but leaping from his couch met them with his followers at the gate of the camp. Here he forced his way through the fugitives and attacked the pursuing force, so that those Romans whom he had passed at once turned and followed him, while those who were still outside the camp rallied round him, calling upon one another not to desert their general. The enemy's pursuit was thus checked, and on the following day Camillus marched out with his entire force, entirely defeated them, and entering their camp together with the fugitives, put most of them to the sword. After this, hearing that Satria had been captured by the Etruscans, and all the Roman colonists there put to death, he sent the greater part of his force back to Rome, reserving only the youngest and most vigorous of the soldiers, with whom he assaulted the Etruscans who held the city, and conquered them, killing many, and putting the rest to flight.
XXXVIII. By his return to Rome with great spoils, he proved that those men were right who had not feared that weakness or old age would impair the faculties of a general of daring and experience, but who had chosen him, ill and unwilling to act as he was, rather than men in the prime of life, who were eager to hold military commands. For this reason, when the people of Tusculum were reported to be in insurrection, they bade Camillus take one of the other five tribunes as his colleague, and march against them. Camillus, in spite of all that the rest of the tribunes could urge, for they all wished to be taken, chose Lucius Furius, whom no one could have supposed he would have chosen; for he it was who had been so eager to fight, against the better judgment of Camillus, and so had brought about the defeat in the late war; however, Camillus chose him rather than any other, wishing, it would appear, to conceal his misfortune and wipe out his disgrace.
The people of Tusculum cleverly repaired their fault. When Camillus marched to attack them they filled the country with men working in the fields and tending cattle just as in time of peace; the city gates were open, the boys at school, the lower classes plying various trades, and the richer citizens walking in the market-place in peaceful dress. The magistrates bustled about the city, pointing out where the Romans were to be quartered, as if the thought of treachery had never entered their minds. Camillus, though this conduct did not shake his belief in their guilt, was moved to pity by their repentance. He ordered them to go to Rome and beg the Senate to pardon them; and when they appeared, he himself used his influence to procure their forgiveness, and the admission of Tusculum to the Roman franchise. These were the most remarkable events of his sixth tribuneship.
XXXIX. After this, Licinius Stolo put himself at the head of the plebeians in their great quarrel with the Senate. They demanded that consuls should be re-established, one of whom should always be a plebeian, and that they should never both be patricians. Tribunes of the people were appointed, but the people would not suffer any election of consuls to be held. As this want of chief magistrates seemed likely to lead to still greater disorders, the Senate, much against the will of the people, appointed Camillus dictator for the fourth time. He himself did not wish for the post, for he was loth to oppose men who had been his comrades in many hard-fought campaigns, as indeed he had spent much more of his life in the camp with his soldiers than with the patrician party in political intrigues, by one of which he was now appointed, as that party hoped that if successful he would crush the power of the plebeians, while in case of failure he would be ruined. However, he made an effort to deal with the present difficulty. Knowing the day on which the tribunes intended to bring forward their law, he published a muster-roll of men for military service, and charged the people to leave the Forum and meet him on the Field of Mars, threatening those who disobeyed with a heavy fine. But when the tribunes answered his threats by vowing that they would fine him fifty thousand drachmas unless he ceased his interference with the people's right of voting, he retired to his own house, and after a few days laid down his office on pretence of sickness. This he did, either because he feared a second condemnation and banishment, which would be a disgrace to an old man and one who had done such great deeds, or else because he saw that the people were too strong to be overpowered, and he did not wish to make the attempt.
The Senate appointed another dictator, but he made that very Licinius Stolo, the leader of the popular party, his master of the horse, and thus enabled him to pass a law which was especially distasteful to the patricians, for it forbade any one to possess more than five hundred jugera of land. Stolo, after this success, became an important personage; but, a short time afterwards, he was convicted of possessing more land than his own law permitted, and was punished according to its provisions.
XL. There still remained the difficulty about the consular elections, the most important point at issue between the two parties, and the Senate was greatly disturbed at it, when news arrived that the Gauls, starting from the Adriatic Sea, were a second time marching in great force upon Rome. At the same time evident traces of their approach could be seen, as the country was being plundered, and such of the inhabitants as could not easily reach Rome were taking refuge in the mountains.
This terrible tidings put an end to all internal disputes. The Senate and people formed themselves into one assembly, and with one voice appointed Camillus dictator for the fifth time. He was now a very old man, being near his eightieth year; but at this pressing crisis he made none of his former excuses, but at once took the chief command and levied an army for the war. As he knew that the chief power of the Gauls lay in their swords, with which they dealt heavy blows on the heads and shoulders of their enemy, without any skill in fence, he prepared for most of his soldiers helmets made entirely of smooth iron, so that the swords would either break or glance off them, while he also had brass rims fitted to their shields, because the wood by itself could not endure a blow. He also instructed the soldiers to use long pikes, and to thrust them forward to receive the sword-cuts of the enemy.
XLI. When the Gauls were encamped on the banks of the Anio, near the city, loaded with masses of plunder, Camillus led out his troops and posted them in a glen from which many valleys branched out, so that the greater part of the force was concealed, and that which was seen appeared to be clinging in terror to the hilly ground. Camillus, wishing to confirm the enemy in this idea, would not move to prevent the country being plundered before his eyes, but palisaded his camp and remained quiet within it, until he saw that the foraging parties of the Gauls straggled in careless disorder, while those in the camp did nothing but eat and drink. Then, sending forward his light troops before daybreak to be ready to harass the Gauls and prevent their forming their ranks properly as they came out of their camp, he marched the heavy-armed men down into the plain at sunrise, a numerous and confident body, and not, as the Gauls fancied, a few disheartened men.
The very fact of his commencing the attack dashed the courage of the Gauls; next, the attacks of the light troops, before they had got into their wonted array and divided themselves into regiments, produced disorder. When at last Camillus led on the heavy-armed troops, the Gauls ran to meet them brandishing their swords, but the Romans with their pikes advanced and met them, receiving their sword-cuts on their armour, which soon made the Gaulish swords bend double, as they were made of soft iron hammered out thin, while the shields of the Gauls were pierced and weighed down by the pikes that stuck in them. They therefore dropped their own arms, and endeavoured to seize the pikes and turn them against their enemies. But the Romans, seeing them now defenceless, began to use their swords, and slew many of the first ranks, while the rest took to flight all over the flat country; for Camillus had taken care to guard the hills and rough ground, while the Gauls knew that they, in their over-confidence, had been at no pains to fortify their camp, and that the Romans could easily take it.
This battle is said to have been fought thirteen years after the capture of Rome, and in consequence of it the Romans conceived a contempt for these barbarians, whom they had before greatly dreaded, and even believed that their former victories over the Gauls were due to their being weakened by pestilence, and to fortunate circumstances, rather than to their own valour. This raised so great a terror of them, that a law was passed which relieved the priests from military service except in case of a Gaulish invasion.
XLII. This was the last of Camillus's military exploits, though during this campaign he took the city of Velitrae, which yielded to him without a battle. But his greatest political struggle was yet to come, for it was harder to deal with the people now that they were elated with victory. They insisted that the existing constitution should be annulled, and that one of the two consuls should be chosen from among them. They were opposed by the Senate, which would not permit Camillus to lay down his office, as the patricians imagined that with the help of his great power they could more easily defend their privileges. One day, however, as Camillus was sitting publicly doing business in the Forum, a viator or servant sent by the tribunes of the people bade him follow him, and even laid his hand upon him as if to arrest him. At this such a disturbance arose as had never been known before, as Camillus's party endeavoured to push the officer down from the tribunal, while the people clamoured to him to drag the dictator from his seat. Camillus himself, not knowing what to do, would not lay down his office, but called the Senate to meet. Before entering the Senate house, he turned round to the Capitol and prayed that the gods would bring affairs to a happy termination, vowing that when the present disorders were at an end he would build a Temple of Concord. After a violent debate, the Senate agreed to adopt the milder course of yielding to the popular demand, and permitting one of the two consuls to be chosen from the people. When the dictator announced this decision of the Senate to the people, they at once, as was natural, were delighted with the Senate, and escorted Camillus home with applause and shouts. On the next day they met and decreed that the Temple of Concord which Camillus had vowed should be erected on a spot facing the Forum, where these events had taken place; moreover, that the Latin games should continue for four days instead of three, and that all citizens of Rome should at once offer sacrifice and crown themselves with garlands.
In the assembly for the election of consuls, over which Camillus presided there were elected Marcus Aemilius, a patrician, and Lucius Sextius, the first plebeian ever elected consul. This was the result of Camillus's administration.
XLIII. In the following year a pestilence broke out in Rome which destroyed enormous numbers of people, and among them most of the leading men. And in this year died Camillus, at a ripe old age, full of years and honours, more regretted by the Romans than all those who died of the plague.
[15] Plutarch himself was a Boeotian.
[16] The punishment of excessive and unbroken prosperity was assigned by the Greeks to the goddess Nemesis. The idea of too great a career of success exciting the anger of the gods is common throughout the whole of ancient literature. A well-known instance is the story of Polykrates of Samos, as told by Herodotus. Amasis the king of Egypt, observing the unbroken good fortune of Polykrates, advised him voluntarily to sacrifice some of his treasures. Polykrates, following his friend's advice, cast his signet-ring into the sea. But the ring was swallowed by a fish, and the fish was caught and presented to the king, who thus recovered his ring. When Amasis heard of this, he refused to ally himself with Polykrates, thinking that such good fortune presaged a terrible disaster. Polykrates was put to death shortly afterwards by the Persians, who conquered his kingdom.