Camillus At The Siege Of Veii


We have now to tell the story of another dictator of Rome. Like

Cincinnatus, Camillus is largely a creature of legend, but he plays an

active part in old Roman annals, and the tale of his doings is well

worth repeating.



Rome was at war with the city of Veii, a large and strong city beyond

the Tiber, and not many miles away. In the year of Rome 350 (or 403

B.C.) the siege of Veii began, and was continued f
r seven years. We are

told that the Romans surrounded the city, five miles in circumference,

with a double wall, but it could not have been complete, or the

Veientians could not have held out against starvation so long. For the

end of the siege and the taking of the city we must revert to the

legendary tale.



For seven years and more, so the legend says, the Romans had been

besieging Veii. During the last year of the siege, in late summer, the

springs and rivers all ran low; but of a sudden the waters of the Lake

of Alba began to rise, and the flood continued until the banks were

overflowed and the fields and houses by its side were drowned. Still

higher and higher the waters swelled till they reached the tops of the

hills which rose like a wall around the lake. In the end they

overflowed these hills at their lowest points, and poured in a mighty

torrent into the plain beyond.



The prayers and sacrifices of the Romans had failed to check the flood,

which threatened their city and fields, and despairing of any redress

from their own gods they sent to Delphi, in Greece, and applied there to

the famous oracle of Apollo. While the messengers were on their way, it

chanced that a Roman centurion talked with an old Veientian on the walls

whom he had known in times of peace, and knew to be skilled in the

secrets of Fate. The Roman condoled with his friend, and hoped that no

harm would come to him in the fall of Veii, sure to happen soon. The old

man laughed in reply, and said,--



"You think, then, to take Veii. You shall not take it till the waters of

the Lake of Alba are all spent, and flow out into the sea no more."



This remark troubled the Roman, who knew the prophetic foresight of his

friend. The next day he talked with him again, and finally enticed him

to leave the city, saying that he wished to meet him at a certain secret

place and consult with him on a matter of his own. But on getting him in

this way out of the city, he seized and carried him off to the camp,

where he brought him before the generals. These, learning what the old

man had said, sent him to the senate at Rome.



The prisoner here spoke freely. "If the lake overflow," he said, "and

its waters run out into the sea, woe unto Rome; but if it be drawn off,

and the waters reach the sea no longer, then it is woe unto Veii."



This he gave as the decree of the Fates; but the senate would not accept

his words, and preferred to wait until the messengers should return from

Delphi with the reply of the oracle.



When they did come, they confirmed what the old prophet had said. "See

that the waters be not confined within the basin of the lake," was the

message of Apollo's priestess: "see that they take not their own course

and run into the sea. Thou shalt take the water out of the lake, and

thou shalt turn it to the watering of the fields, and thou shalt make

courses for it till it be spent and come to nothing."



What all this could possibly have to do with the siege of Veii the

oracle did not say. But the people of the past were not given to ask

such inconvenient questions. The oracle was supposed to know better than

they, so workmen were sent with orders to bore through the sides of the

hills and make a passage for the water. This tunnel was made, and the

waters of the lake were drawn off, and divided into many courses, being

given the duty of watering the fields of the Romans. In this way the

water of the lake was all used up, and no drop of it flowed to the sea.

Then the Romans knew that it was the will of the gods that Veii should

be theirs.



Despite all this, the army of Rome must have met with serious

difficulties and dangers at Veii, for the senate chose a dictator to

conduct the war. This was their ablest and most famous man, Marcus

Furius Camillus, a leader among the aristocrats, and a statesman of

distinguished ability.



Under the command of Camillus the army hotly pressed the siege. So

straitened became the Veientians that they sent envoys to Rome to beg

for peace. The senate refused. In reply, one of the chief men of the

embassy, who was a skilled prophet, rebuked the Romans for their

arrogance, and predicted coming retribution.



"You heed neither the wrath of the gods nor the vengeance of men," he

said. "Yet the gods shall requite you for your pride; as you destroy our

country, so shall you shortly after lose your own."



This prediction was verified before many years in the invasion of the

Gauls and the destruction of Rome,--a tale which we have next to tell.



Camillus, finding that Veii was not to be taken by assault over its

walls, began to approach it from below. Men were set to dig an

underground tunnel, which should pass beneath the walls, and come to the

surface again in the Temple of Juno, which stood in the citadel of Veii.

Night and day they worked, and the tunnel was in course of time

completed, though the ground was not opened at its inner extremity.



Then many Romans came to the camp through desire to have a share in the

spoil of Veii. A tenth part of this spoil was vowed by Camillus to

Apollo, in reward for his oracle; and the dictator also prayed to Juno,

the goddess of Veii, begging her to desert this city and follow the

Romans home, where a temple worthy of her dignity should be built.



All being ready, a fierce assault was made on the city from every side.

The defenders ran to the walls to repel their foes, and the fight went

vigorously on. While it continued the king of Veii repaired to the

Temple of Juno, where he offered a sacrifice for the deliverance of the

city. The prophet who stood by, on seeing the sacrifice, said, "This is

an accepted offering. There is victory for him who offers the entrails

of this victim upon the altar."



The Romans who were in the secret passage below heard these words.

Instantly the earth was heaved up above them, and they sprang, arms in

hand, from the tunnel. The entrails were snatched from the hands of

those who were sacrificing, and Camillus, the Roman dictator, not the

Veientian king, offered them upon the altar. While he did so his

followers rushed from the citadel into the streets, flung open the city

gates, and let in their comrades. Thus both from within and without the

army broke into the town, and Veii was taken and sacked.



From the height of the citadel Camillus looked down upon the havoc in

the city streets, and said in pride of heart, "What man's fortune was

ever so great as mine?" But instantly the thought came to him how little

a thing can bring the highest fortune down to the lowest, and he prayed

that if some evil should befall him or his country it might be light.



As he prayed he veiled his head, according to the Roman custom, and

turned toward the right. In doing so his foot slipped, and he fell upon

his back on the ground. "The gods have heard my prayer," he said. "For

the great fortune of my victory over Veii they have sent me only this

little evil."



He then bade some young men, chosen from the whole army, to wash

themselves in pure water, and clothe themselves in white, so that there

would be about them no stain or sign of blood. This done, they entered

the Temple of Juno, bowing low, and taking care not to touch the statue

of the goddess, which only the priest could touch. They asked the

goddess whether it was her pleasure to go with them to Rome.



Then a wonder happened; from the mouth of the image came the words "I

will go." And when they now touched it, it moved of its own accord. It

was carried to Rome, where a temple was built and consecrated to Juno on

the Aventine Hill.



On his return to Rome Camillus entered the city in triumph, and rode to

the Capitol in a chariot drawn by four white horses, like the horses of

Jupiter or those of the sun. Such was his ostentation that wise men

shook their heads. "Marcus Camillus makes himself equal to the blessed

gods," they said. "See if vengeance come not on him, and he be not made

lower than other men."



There is one further legend about Camillus. After the fall of Veii he

besieged Falerii. During this siege a school-master, who had charge of

the sons of the principal citizens, while walking with his boys outside

the walls, played the traitor and led them into the Roman camp.



But the villain received an unexpected reward. Camillus, justly

indignant at the act, put thongs in the boys' hands and bade them flog

their master back into the town, saying that the Romans did not war on

children. On this the people of Falerii, overcome by his magnanimity,

surrendered themselves, their city, and their country into the hands of

this generous foe, assured of just treatment from so noble a man.



But trouble came upon Camillus, as the wise men had predicted. He was an

enemy of the commons and was to feel their power. It was claimed that he

had kept for himself part of the plunder of Veii, and on this charge he

was banished from Rome. But the time was near at hand when his foes

would have to pray for his return. The next year the Gauls were to come,



and Camillus was to be revenged upon his ungrateful country. This story

we have next to tell.



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