Camillus

“ Camillus, however, is said to have saved Rome in still another way. The old city was in ashes. Most of the citizens were at Veii, where they had found or built new homes. They were loath to come back to rebuild a ruined city. This Camillus induced them to do. Every appeal was made to the local pride and the religious sentiments of the people. A centurion, marching with his company, and being obliged to halt in front of the senate-house, called to the standard-bearer, "Pitch your standard here, for this is the best place to stop at." ”

“ When it was beleaguered by the enemy had not he, Manlius, saved the Capitol and the Citadel? Camillus attacked the Gauls while they were off their guard, their minds pre-occupied with obtaining the gold and securing peace; he, on the other hand, had driven them off when they were armed for battle and actually capturing the Citadel. Camillus' glory was shared by every man who conquered with him, whereas no mortal man could obviously claim any part in his victory. ”

“ It was Fortune herself who led the Gauls after they left the City to Ardea, that they might have some experience of Roman courage. Camillus was living there as an exile, grieving more over his country's fortunes than his own, eating his heart out in reproaches to gods and men, asking in indignant wonder where the men were with whom he had taken Veii and Falerii; men whose valour in all their wars was greater even than their success. ”

“ In the election of consuls held by Camillus, Marcus Æmilius was chosen of the patricians, and Lucius Sextius the first of the commonalty; and this was the last of all Camillus's actions. In the year following, a pestilential sickness infected Rome, which, besides an infinite number of the common people, swept away most of the magistrates, among whom was Camillus; whose death cannot be called immature, if we consider his great age, or greater actions, yet was he more lamented than all the rest put together that then died of that distemper. ”

“ Camillus immediately offered the magistrates to undertake their defense; and getting together all the men who could bear arms, he led them out, fell upon the Gauls as they all lay asleep and unguarded in the dead of night, made a great slaughter of them, and saved Ardea. All this was heard by the many Romans who had been living dispersed since the rout of Allia; and they began to recover heart and spirit, and to think that if Camillus would be their leader, they might yet do something to redeem the honor of Rome, and save their friends in the Capitol. ”

“ The Citadel saved by the cackling of the Geese.
In the meantime the Romans at Veii had called Camillus from exile, and chosen him Dictator; for it was the opinion of the day that good use could always be made of a man after thoroughly ill-using him. Camillus arrived at Rome just as the gold was being weighed, when he [94] declared that he would deliver his country, but would not allow the delivery of the treasure. He added, that the metal with which all claims upon Rome should be met was steel; that he cared not who might draw upon him, for he was ready, at sight, with prompt acceptance. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Insomuch that it struck not only into the parents, but the rest of the citizens that saw what was done, such admiration and love of Camillus's justice, that, immediately meeting in assembly, they sent ambassadors to him, to resign whatever they had to his disposal. Camillus sent them to Rome, where, being brought into the senate, they spoke to this purpose: that the Romans, preferring justice before victory, had taught them rather to embrace submission than liberty; they did not so much confess themselves to be inferior in strength, as they must acknowledge them to be superior in virtue. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Meanwhile, the Roman soldiers who had fled from Allia and taken refuge in Veii, began to be ashamed of themselves. Surely they ought to go to the help of their comrades who were so manfully holding the Capitol. If they had but a leader they would go.
Then all at once they remembered Camillus, who was still in exile. They would ask him to come back and lead them as of old to victory.
So they sent to beg Camillus to come to Veii and take command of the soldiers. But Camillus refused to come unless the Senate recalled him and asked him to deliver Rome. ”

“ Again Camillus showed how generous a foe he could be, for he made peace with the Falerians, and demanding from them only a sum of money, he took his army back to Rome.
But the soldiers, who had hoped to gain much booty in Falerii, were angry. When they reached Rome empty-handed, they grumbled against their general, and told the people he was not their friend, for he cared for nothing save his own welfare. ”

“ Addressing Camillus, he said: "M. Furius, we cannot resist the impetuosity of the soldiers, and the enemy to whom we have given fresh courage by our hesitation are now showing intolerable contempt for us. You are one against all; yield to the universal desire and allow yourself to be overcome in argument that you may the sooner overcome in battle." In his reply, Camillus said that in all the wars he had waged down to that day, as sole commander, neither he nor the Roman people had had any reason to complain of either his generalship or his good fortune. ”

“ The water of the Alban Lake was let out into the fields, and the party that entered the subterranean passage to the citadel were led by Camillus, while, at the same time, a general assault was made upon the walls by the rest of the army. At that moment the king of Veii happened to be sacrificing in the Temple of Juno, which was in the citadel, and Camillus, with his Romans, were immediately beneath, close enough to hear what he said. It happened that the attendant priest declared that whoever should bring the goddess her share of the victim should conquer. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Camillus himself was struck with compassion, and perceiving the soldiers weeping, and commiserating their case, while the Sutrians hung about and clung to them, resolved not to defer revenge, but that very day to lead his army to Sutrium; conjecturing that the enemy, having just taken a rich and plentiful city, without an enemy left within it, nor any from without to be expected, would be found abandoned to enjoyment and unguarded. ”

“ Then with yet greater speed ran the Romans to his help; and there was a great fight about the dead body. And Camillus seeing that the men were confident by reason not only of the valour of Valerius, but also of the manifest favour of the Gods, he cried aloud, "Soldiers, do as Valerius hath done, and slay multitudes of Gauls as he hath slain their champion." Thus was there won a great victory over the Gauls, for though some of them fought valiantly, the greater part fled before even the Romans had come within a spear's cast of them. ”

“ THE STATUE OF THE GODDESS When Veii had fallen into his hands, Camillus allowed not only the soldiers, but the citizens of Rome to plunder the city, for he had agreed with the Senate that all the people should share in the spoil. ”

“ When Camillus heard this, he says, "Wicked as thou art, thou hast come with thy villanous offering neither to a people nor a commander like thyself. Between us and the Faliscians there exists not that form of society which is established by human compact; but between both there does exist, and ever will exist, that which nature has implanted. ”

“ Marcus Furius Camillus is the hero who now comes to the rescue. He was chosen dictator in order that he might push the war with the utmost vigor. The people of Veii sent messengers to him to sue for peace, but their appeal was in vain. Steadily the siege went on. We must not picture to ourselves the army of Camillus using the various engines of war that the Romans became acquainted with in later times through intercourse with the Greeks, but trusting more to their strong arms and their simple means of undermining the walls or breaking down the gates. ”

“ And, indeed, this fear had been formerly so great, that they made a law, that priests should be excused from service in war, unless in an invasion from the Gauls.
This was the last military action that ever Camillus performed; for the voluntary surrender of the city of the Velitrani was but a mere accessory to it. But the greatest of all civil contests, and the hardest to be managed, was still to be fought out against the people; who, returning home full of victory and success, insisted, contrary to established law, to have one of the consuls chosen out of their own body. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Camillus, which stand out prominently in the twilight of Roman history, may have been preserved in the fama vulgaris, or among the family traditions of the great houses, till they were gathered into the poem of Ennius and the prose narratives of the early annalists [25] . In so far as they are shaped or coloured by imagination, they do not bear traces of the conscious art of a poet, but rather of an unconscious conformity to the national ideal of character. ”

“ This consideration moved Camillus to make it the chief end of his new establishment, to afford or procure the sick all spiritual succor, discreetly to suggest to them short pathetic acts of compunction and other virtues, to read by them, and to pray for them. For this end he furnished his priests with proper books of devotion, especially on penance and on the sufferings of Christ; and he taught them to have always at hand the most suitable ejaculations extracted from the psalms and other devotions.156 But dying persons were the principal object of our saint’s pious zeal and charity. ”

“ The life of Camillus, the death of Regulus; the expectation of the senators, in their godlike state, of the victorious Gauls; the refusal of the republic to make peace with Hannibal, after the battle of Cannæ, were not the consequences of a refined calculation of the probable personal advantage to result from such a rhythm and order in the shows of life, to those who were at once the poets and the actors of these immortal dramas. The imagination beholding the beauty of this order, created it out of itself according to its own idea; the consequence was empire, and the reward everlasting fame. ”

“ Camillus had both sufficient share of life as well as of glory. What use was it to suffer the strength of a state which ought to be immortal, to sink into old age along with one mortal body." By such observations, he had attracted to himself the attention of the entire camp; and when in every quarter battle was called for, "We cannot," he says, "Marcus Furius, withstand the violence of the soldiers; and the enemy, whose spirits we have increased by delaying, insults us by insolence by no means to be borne. ”

“ Unfortunately, the sentiment's dead Radical. It wouldn't so much matter if we were certain to do Camillus as well; because one would act as a counterpoise to the other, you know. Well, follow your own fancy. Camillus is strictly classical. I treat opera there as Alfieri conceived tragedy. Clelia is modern style. Cast the die for Camillus, and let's take horse. Only, we lose the love-business—exactly where I show my strength. ”

“ It is believed to be an Etruscan word, and the youth of both sexes were termed Camilli and Camillæ when employed in any solemn office; and thus Camillus became a name in the gens of Furius, and was noted in him who saved the capitol. Nymphs always had an attraction for the French, and a Camille figures in Florian’s romance of Numa Pompilius, while Camilla was adopted in the rage for classical names which actuated the English after the Reformation, and in some few families it has been handed on to the present day. ”