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5.1
Whilst peace prevailed elsewhere, Rome and Veii were confronting each other
in arms, animated by such fury and hatred that utter ruin clearly awaited
the vanquished. Each elected their magistrates, but on totally different
principles. The Romans increased the number of their consular tribunes
to eight-a larger number than had ever been elected before. They were Manius
Aemilius Mamercus-for the second time-L. Valerius Potitus-for the third
time- Appius Claudius Crassus, M. Quinctilius Varus, L. Julius Julus, M.
Postumius, M. Furius Camillus, and M. Postumius Albinus. The Veientines,
on the other hand, tired of the annual canvassing for office, elected a
king. This gave great offence to the Etruscan cantons, owing to their hatred
of monarchy and their personal aversion to the one who was elected. He
was already obnoxious to the nation through his pride of wealth and overbearing
temper, for he had put a violent stop to the festival of the Games, the
interruption of which is an act of impiety. His candidature for the priesthood
had been unsuccessful, another being preferred by the vote of the twelve
cantons, and in revenge he suddenly withdrew the performers, most of whom
were his own slaves, in the middle of the Games. The Etruscans as a nation
were distinguished above all others by their devotion to religious observances,
because they excelled in the knowledge and conduct of them, and they decided,
in consequence, that no assistance should be given to the Veientines as
long as they were under a king. The report of this decision was suppressed
at Veii through fear of the king; he treated those who mentioned anything
of the kind, not as authors of an idle tale, but as ringleaders of sedition.
Although the Romans had received intelligence that there was no movement
on the part of the Etruscans, still, as it was reported that the matter
was being discussed in all their councils, they so constructed their lines
as to present a double face, the one fronting Veii to prevent sorties from
the city, the other looking towards Etruria to intercept any succour from
that side.
5.2
As the Roman generals placed more reliance on a blockade than on an assault,
they began to build huts for winter quarters, a novelty to the Roman soldier.
Their plan was to keep up the war through the winter. The tribunes of the
plebs had for a long time been unable to find any pretext for creating
a revolt. When, however, news of this was brought to Rome, they dashed
off to the Assembly and produced great excitement by declaring that this
was the reason why it had been settled to pay the troops. They, the tribunes,
had not been blind to the fact that this gift from their adversaries would
prove to be tainted with poison. The liberties of the plebs had been bartered
away, their able-bodied men had been permanently sent away, banished from
the City and the State, without any regard to winter or indeed to any season
of the year, or to the possibility of their visiting their homes or looking
after their property. What did they think was the reason for this continuous
campaigning? They would most assuredly find it to be nothing else but the
fear that if a large body of these men, who formed the whole strength of
the plebs, were present, it would be possible to discuss reforms in favour
of the plebeians. Besides, they were suffering much more hardship and oppression
than the Veientines, for these passed the winter under their own roofs
in a city protected by its magnificent walls and the natural strength of
its position, whilst the Romans, amidst labour and toil, buried in frost
and snow, were roughing it patiently under their skin-covered tents, and
could not lay aside their arms even in the season of winter, when there
is a respite from all wars, whether by land or sea. This form of slavery,
making military service perpetual, was never imposed either by the kings,
or by the consuls who were so domineering before the institution of the
tribuneship, or during the stern rule of the Dictator, or by the unscrupulous
decemvirs-it was the consular tribunes who were exercising this regal despotism
over the Roman plebs. What would these men have done had they been consuls
or Dictators, seeing that they have made their proconsular authority, which
is only a shadow of the other, so outrageously cruel? But the commons had
got what they had deserved. Amongst all the eight consular tribunes not
a single plebeian had found a place. Hitherto, with their utmost efforts,
the patricians had usually filled only three places at a time; now a team
of eight were bent on maintaining their power. Even in such a crowd not
a single plebeian could get a footing, to warn his colleagues, if he could
do nothing else, that those who were serving as soldiers were free men,
their own fellow-citizens, and not slaves, and that they ought to be brought
back, at all events in the winter, to their houses and their homes, and
during some part of the year visit their parents and wives and children,
and exercise their rights as free citizens in electing the magistrates.
5.3
Whilst indulging in declamations of this sort, they found an opponent who
was quite a match for them in Appius Claudius. He had from early manhood
taken his part in the contests with the plebs, and as stated above, had
some years previously recommended the senate to break down the power of
the tribunes by securing the intervention of their colleagues. He was not
only a man of ready and versatile mind, but by this time an experienced
debater. He delivered the following speech on this occasion:-"If, Quirites,
there has ever been any doubt as to whether it was in your interest or
their own that the tribunes have always been the advocates of sedition,
I feel quite certain that this year all doubt has ceased to exist. Whilst
I rejoice that an end has at last been put to a long-standing delusion,
I congratulate you, and on your behalf the whole State, that its removal
has been effected just at the time when your circumstances are most prosperous.
Is there any one who doubts that whatever wrongs you may have at any time
suffered, they never annoyed and provoked the tribunes so much as the generous
treatment of the plebs by the senate, in establishing the system of pay
for the soldiers? What else do you suppose it was that they were afraid
of at that time, and would today gladly upset, except the harmony of the
two orders, which they look upon as most of all calculated to destroy their
power? They are, really, like so many quack doctors looking for work, always
anxious to find some diseased spot in the republic that there may be something
which you can call them in to cure." Then, turning to the tribunes, "Are
you defending or attacking the plebs? Are you trying to injure the men
on service or are you pleading their cause? Or perhaps this is what you
are saying, 'Whatever the senate does, whether in the interest of the plebs
or against them, we object to.' Just as masters forbid strangers to hold
any communication with their slaves, and think it right that they should
abstain from showing them either kindness or unkindness, so you interdict
the patricians from all dealings with the plebs, lest we should appeal
to their feelings by our graciousness and generosity and secure their loyalty
and obedience. How much more dutiful it would have been in you, if you
had had a spark-I will not say of patriotism, but-of common humanity, to
have viewed with favour, and as far as in you lay, to have fostered the
kindly feelings of the patricians and the grateful goodwill of the plebeians!
And if this harmony should prove to be lasting, who would not be bold enough
to guarantee that this empire will in a short time be the greatest among
the neighbouring States?
5.4
"I shall subsequently show not only the expediency but even the necessity
of the policy which my colleagues have adopted of refusing to withdraw
the army from Veii until their object was effected. For the present I prefer
to speak of the actual conditions under which it is serving, and if I were
speaking not before you only but in the camp as well, I think that what
I say would appear just and fair in the judgment of the soldiers themselves.
Even if no arguments presented themselves to my mind, I should find those
of my opponents quite sufficient for my purpose. They were saying lately
that pay ought not to be given to the soldiers because it never had been
given. How then can they now profess indignation at those who have gained
additional benefits being required to undergo additional exertion in proportion?
Nowhere do we find labour without its reward, nor, as a rule, reward without
some expenditure of labour. Toil and pleasure, utterly dissimilar by nature,
have been brought by nature into a kind of partnership with each other.
Formerly, the soldier felt it a grievance that he gave his services to
the State at his own cost, he had the satisfaction, however, of cultivating
his land for a part of the year, and acquiring the means of supporting
himself and his family whether he were at home or on service. Now he has
the pleasure of knowing that the State is a source of income to him, and
he is glad to receive his pay. Let him therefore take it patiently that
he is a little longer absent from his home and his property, on which no
heavy expense now falls. If the State were to call him to an exact reckoning,
would it not be justified in saying, 'You receive a year's pay, put in
a year's work. Do you think it fair to receive a whole twelve-month's pay
for six months' service?' It is with reluctance, Quirites, that I dwell
on this topic, for it is those who employ mercenaries who ought to deal
thus with them, but we want to deal with you as with fellow-citizens, and
we think it only fair that you should deal with us as with your fatherland.
"Either the war ought not to have been undertaken, or it ought to be
conducted as befits the dignity of Rome and brought to a close as soon
as possible. It will certainly be brought to a close if we press on the
siege, but not if we retire before we have fulfilled our hopes by the capture
of Veii. Why, good heavens! if there were no other reason, the very discredit
of the thing ought to inspire us with perseverance. A city was once besieged
by the whole of Greece for ten years, for the sake of one woman, and at
what a distance from home, how many lands and seas lay between! Are we
growing tired of keeping up a siege for one year, not twenty miles off,
almost within sight of the City? I suppose you think the reason for the
war is a trivial one, and we do not feel enough just resentment to urge
us to persevere. Seven times have they recommenced war against us; they
have never loyally kept to the terms of peace; they have ravaged our fields
a thousand times; they forced the Fidenates to revolt; they slew the colonists
whom we settled there; they instigated the impious murder of our ambassadors
in violation of the law of nations; they wanted to raise the whole of Etruria
against us, and they are trying to do so today; when we sent ambassadors
to demand satisfaction, they very nearly outraged them.
5.5
"Are these the men with whom war ought to be carried on in a half-hearted
and dilatory fashion? If such just reasons for resentment have no force
with us, do not the following considerations, I pray you, possess any weight?
The city is hemmed in by immense siege-works which confine the enemy within
his walls. He has not tilled his land, and what was tilled before has been
devastated by war. If we bring our army back again, has anybody the slightest
doubt that they will invade our territory not only from a thirst for revenge,
but also through the sheer necessity they are under of plundering other
people's property since they have lost their own? If we adopt your policy
we do not postpone the war, we simply carry it within our own frontiers.
Well, now, what about the soldiers in whom these worthy tribunes have suddenly
become interested after vainly endeavouring to rob them of their pay; what
about them? They have carried a rampart and a fosse-each requiring enormous
labour-over all that extent of ground; they have built forts, few at first,
but after the army was increased, very numerous; they have raised defences
not only against the city, but also as a barrier against Etruria in case
any succours came from there. What need to describe the towers, the vineae,
the testudines, and the other engines used in storming cities? Now that
so much labour has been spent and the work of investment at last completed,
do you think that they ought to be abandoned in order that by next summer
we may be again exhausted by the toil of constructing them all afresh ?
How much less trouble to defend the works already constructed, to press
on and persevere, and so bring our cares and labours to an end! For assuredly
the undertaking is not a lengthy one, if it is carried through by one continuous
effort, if we do not by our own interruptions and stoppages delay the fulfilment
of our hopes.
"I have been speaking of the work and the loss of time. Now there are
frequent meetings of the national council of Etruria to discuss the question
of sending succours to Veii. Do these allow us to forget the danger we
incur by prolonging the war? As matters now stand, they are angry, resentful,
and say that they will not send any-Veii may be captured, as far as they
are concerned. But who will guarantee that if the war is prolonged they
will continue in the same mind? For if you give the Veientines a respite
they will send a more numerous and influential embassy, and what now gives
such displeasure to the Etruscans, namely, the election of a king, may
after a time be annulled either by the unanimous act of the citizens in
order to win the sympathies of Etruria, or by voluntary abdication on the
part of the king himself, through his unwillingness to allow his crown
to endanger the safety of his people. "See how many disastrous consequences
follow from the policy you recommend- the sacrifice of works constructed
with so much trouble; the threatening devastation of our borders; a war
with the whole of Etruria instead of one with Veii alone. This, tribunes,
is what your proposals amount to; very much, upon my word, as if any one
were to tempt a sick person, who by submitting to strict treatment could
speedily recover, to indulge in eating and drinking, and so lengthen his
illness and perhaps make it incurable.
5.6
"Though it might not affect this present war, it would, you may depend
upon it, be of the utmost importance to our military training that our
soldiers should be habituated not only to enjoy a victory when they have
won one, but also, when a campaign progresses slowly, to put up with its
tediousness and await the fulfilment of their hopes though deferred. If
a war has not been finished in the summer they must learn to go through
the winter, and not, like birds of passage, look out for roofs to shelter
them the moment autumn comes. The passion and delight of hunting carries
men through frost and snow to the forests and the mountains. Pray tell
me, shall we not bring to the exigencies of war the same powers of endurance
which are generally called out by sport or pleasure? Are we to suppose
that the bodies of our soldiers are so effeminate and their spirits so
enfeebled that they cannot hold out in camp or stay away from their homes
for a single winter? Are we to believe that like those engaged in naval
warfare, who have to watch the seasons and catch the favourable weather,
so these men cannot endure times of heat and cold? They would indeed blush
if any one laid this to their charge, and would stoutly maintain that both
in mind and body they were capable of manly endurance, and could go through
a campaign in winter as well as in summer. They would tell you that they
had not commissioned their tribunes to act as protectors of the effeminate
and the indolent, nor was it in cool shade or under sheltering roofs that
their ancestors had instituted this very tribunitian power. The valour
of your soldiers, the dignity of Rome, demand that we should not limit
our view to Veii and this present war, but seek for reputation in time
to come in respect of other wars and amongst all other nations.
"Do you imagine that the opinion men form of us in this crisis is a
matter of slight importance? Is it a matter of indifference whether our
neighbours regard Rome in such a light that when any city has sustained
her first momentary attack it has nothing more to fear from her, or whether
on the other hand, the terror of our name is such that no weariness of
a protracted siege, no severity of winter, can dislodge a Roman army from
any city which it has once invested, that it knows no close to a war but
victory, and that it conducts its campaigns by perseverance as much as
by dash? Perseverance is necessary in every kind of military operation,
but especially in the conduct of sieges, for the majority of cities are
impregnable, owing to the strength of their fortifications and their position,
and time itself conquers them with hunger and thirst, and captures them
as it will capture Veii unless the tribunes of the plebs extend their protection
to the enemy and the Veientines find in Rome the support which they are
vainly seeking in Etruria. Can anything happen to the Veientines more in
accordance with their wishes than that the City of Rome should be filled
with sedition and the contagion of it spread to the camp? But amongst the
enemy there is actually so much respect for law and order that they have
not been goaded into revolution either by weariness of the siege or even
aversion to absolute monarchy, nor have they shown exasperation at the
refusal of succours by Etruria. The man who advocates sedition will be
put to death on the spot, and no one will be allowed to say the things
which are uttered amongst you with impunity. With us the man who deserts
his standard or abandons his post is liable to be cudgelled to death, but
those who urge the men to abandon the standards and desert from the camp
are listened to, not by one or two only; they have the whole army for an
audience. To such an extent have you habituated yourselves to listen calmly
to whatever a tribune of the plebs may say, even if it means the betrayal
of your country and the destruction of the republic. Captivated by the
attraction which that office has for you, you allow all sorts of mischief
to lurk under its shadow. The one thing left for them is to bring forward
in the camp, before the soldiers, the same arguments which they have so
loudly urged here, and so corrupt the army that they will not allow it
to obey its commanders. For evidently liberty in Rome simply means that
the soldiers cease to feel any reverence for either the senate, or the
magistrates, or the laws, or the traditions of their ancestors, or the
institutions of their fathers, or military discipline."
5.7
Appius was already quite a match for the tribunes even on the platform,
and now his victory over them was assured by the sudden intelligence of
a most unexpected disaster, the effect of which was to unite all classes
in an ardent resolve to prosecute the siege of Veii more vigorously. A
raised way had been carried up to the city, and the vineae had almost been
placed in contact with the walls, but more attention had been devoted to
their construction by day than to their protection by night. Suddenly the
gates were flung open and an enormous multitude, armed mostly with torches,
flung the flaming missiles on to the works, and in one short hour the flames
consumed both the raised way and the vineae, the work of so many days.
Many poor fellows who vainly tried to render assistance perished either
in the flames or by the sword. When the news of this reached Rome there
was universal mourning, and the senate were filled with apprehension lest
disturbances should break out in the City and the camp beyond their power
to repress, and the tribunes of the plebs exult over the vanquished republic.
Suddenly, however, a number of men who, though assessed as knights, had
not been provided with horses, after concerting a common plan of action,
went to the Senate-house, and on permission being given to address the
senate, they engaged to serve as cavalry on their own horses. The senate
thanked them in the most complimentary terms. When the news of this incident
had circulated through the Forum and the City, the plebeians hastily assembled
at the Senate-house and declared that they were now part of the infantry
force, and though it was not their turn to serve, they promised to give
their services to the republic to march to Veii or wherever else they were
led. If, they said, they were led to Veii they would not return till the
city was taken.
On hearing this it was with difficulty that the senate restrained their
delight. They did not, as in the case of the knights, pass a resolution
of thanks to be conveyed through the presiding magistrates, nor were any
summoned into the House to receive their reply, nor did they themselves
remain within the precincts of their House. They came out on the raised
space in front and each independently signified by voice and gesture to
the people standing in the comitium the joy they all felt, and expressed
their confidence that this unanimity of feeling would make Rome a blessed
City, invincible and eternal. They applauded the knights, they applauded
the commons, they showered encomiums on the very day itself, and frankly
admitted that the senate had been outdone in courtesy and kindness. Senators
and plebeians alike shed tears of joy. At last the sitting was resumed,
and a resolution was carried that the consular tribunes should convene
a public meeting and return thanks to the infantry and the knights, and
say that the senate would never forget this proof of their affection for
their country. They further decided that pay should be reckoned from that
day for those who, though not called out, had volunteered to serve. A fixed
sum was assigned to each knight; this was the first occasion on which the
knights received military pay. The army of volunteers marched to Veii,
and not only reconstructed the works that had been lost, but constructed
new ones. More care was taken in bringing up supplies from the City, that
nothing might be wanting for the use of an army that had behaved so well.
5.8
The consular tribunes for the following year were C. Servilius Ahala-for
the third time-Q. Servilius, Lucius Verginius, Q. Sulpicius, Aulus Manlius-for
the second time-and Manius Sergius-also for the second time. During their
term of office, whilst every one was preoccupied with the Veientine war,
Anxur was lost. The garrison had become weakened through the absence of
men on furlough, and Volscian traders were admitted indiscriminately, with
the result that the guard before the gates were surprised and the fortified
post taken. The loss in men was slight, as with the exception of the sick,
they were all scattered about the fields and neighbouring towns, driving
bargains like so many camp-followers. At Veii, the chief point of interest,
things went no better. Not only were the Roman commanders opposing one
another more vigorously than they opposed the enemy, but the war was rendered
more serious by the sudden arrival of the Capenates and the Faliscans.
As these two States were nearest in point of distance, they believed that
if Veii fell they would be the next on whom Rome would make war. The Faliscans
had their own reasons for fearing hostilities, since they were mixed up
in the previous war against Fidenae. So both States, after mutually despatching
commissioners for the purpose, swore alliance with each other, and their
two armies arrived unexpectedly at Veii. It so happened that they attacked
the entrenchments on the side where Manius Sergius was in command, and
they created great alarm, for the Romans were convinced that all Etruria
had risen and was present in great force. The same conviction roused the
Veientines in the city to action, so the Roman lines of investment were
attacked from within and from without. Rushing from side to side to meet
first the one attack, then the other, they were unable to confine the Veientines
sufficiently within their fortifications or repel the assault from their
own works and defend themselves from the enemy outside. Their only hope
was if help came from the main camp so that the legions might fight back
to back, some against the Capenates and Faliscans, and others against the
sortie from the town. But Verginius was in command of that camp, and he
and Sergius mutually detested each other. When it was reported to him that
most of the forts had been attacked and the connecting lines surmounted,
and that the enemy were forcing their way in from both sides, he kept his
men halted under arms, and repeatedly declared that if his colleague needed
assistance he would send to him. This selfishness on his part was matched
by the other's obstinacy, for Sergius, to avoid the appearance of having
sought help from a personal foe, preferred defeat at the hands of the enemy
rather than owe success to a fellow-countryman. For some time the soldiers
were being slaughtered between the two attacking forces; at last a very
small number abandoned their lines and reached the main camp; Sergius himself,
with the greatest part of his force, made his way to Rome. Here he threw
all the blame on his colleague, and it was decided that Verginius should
be summoned from the camp and his lieutenants put in command during his
absence. The case was then discussed in the senate; few studied the interests
of the republic, most of the senators supported one or other of the disputants
as their party feeling or private sympathy prompted them.
5.9
The leaders of the senate gave it as their opinion that whether it was
through the fault or the misfortune of the commanders that such a disgraceful
defeat had been incurred, they ought not to wait until the regular time
for the elections, but proceed at once to appoint new consular tribunes,
to enter office on October 1. On their proceeding to vote on this proposal,
the other consular tribunes offered no opposition, but strange to say,
Sergius and Verginius-the very men on whose account obviously the senate
were dissatisfied with the magistrates for that year-after protesting against
such humiliation, vetoed the resolution. They declared that they would
not resign office before December 13, the usual day for new magistrates
to take office. On hearing this, the tribunes of the plebs, who had maintained
a reluctant silence while the State was enjoying concord and prosperity,
now made a sudden attack upon the consular tribunes, and threatened, if
they did not bow to the authority of the senate, to order them to be imprisoned.
There upon C. Servilius Ahala, the consular tribune, replied: "As for you
and your menaces, tribunes of the plebs, I should very much like to put
it to the proof how your threats possess as little legality as you possess
courage to carry them out, but it is wrong to storm against the authority
of the senate. Cease, therefore, to look for a chance of making mischief
by meddling in our disputes; either my colleagues will act upon the senate's
resolution, or if they persist in their obstinacy, I shall at once nominate
a Dictator that he may compel them to resign." This speech was received
with universal approval, and the senate were glad to find that without
bringing in the bugbear of the plebeian tribunes' power, another and a
more effectual method existed for bringing pressure to bear on the magistrates.
In deference to the universal feeling, the two recalcitrant tribunes held
an election for consular tribunes who entered office on October 1, they
themselves having previously resigned office.
5.10
The newly elected tribunes were L. Valerius Potitus-for the fourth time-M.
Furius Camillus-for the second time- Manius Aemilius Mamercus-for the third
time- Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus-for the second time- Kaeso Fabius Ambustus,
and L. Julius Julus. Their year of office was marked by many incidents
at home and abroad. There was a multiplicity of wars going on at once-at
Veii, at Capena, at Falerii, and against the Volscians for the recovery
of Anxur. In Rome the simultaneous demands of the levy and the war-tax
created distress; there was a dispute about the co-opting of tribunes of
the plebs, and the trial of two men who had recently held consular power
caused great excitement. The consular tribunes made it their first business
to raise a levy. Not only were the "juniors" enrolled, but the "seniors"
were also compelled to give in their names that they might act as City
guards. But the increase in the number of soldiers necessitated a corresponding
increase in the amount required for their pay, and those who remained at
home were unwilling to contribute their share because, in addition, they
were to be harassed by military duties in defence of the City, as servants
of the State. This was in itself a serious grievance, but it was made to
appear more so by the seditious harangues of the tribunes of the plebs,
who asserted that the reason why military pay had been established was
that one half of the plebs might be crushed by the war-tax, and the other
by military service. One single war was now dragging along into its third
year, and it was being badly managed deliberately in order that they might
have it the longer to manage. Then, again, armies had been enrolled for
four separate wars in one levy, and even boys and old men had been torn
from their homes. There was no difference made now between summer and winter,
in order that the wretched plebeians might never have any respite. And
now, to crown all, they even had to pay a war-tax, so that when they returned,
worn out by toil and wounds, and last of all by age, and found all their
land untilled through want of the owner's care, they had to meet this demand
out of their wasted property and return to the State their pay as soldiers
many times over, as though they had borrowed it on usury. What with the
levy and the war-tax and the preoccupation of men's minds with still graver
anxieties, it was found impossible to get the full number of plebeian tribunes
elected. Then a struggle began to secure the co-optation of patricians
into the vacant places. This proved to be impossible, but in order to weaken
the authority of the Trebonian Law, it was arranged, doubtless through
the influence of the patricians, that C. Lucerius and M. Acutius should
be co-opted as tribunes of the plebs.
5.11
As chance would have it, Cnaeus Trebonius was tribune of the plebs that
year, and he came forward as a champion of the Trebonian Law, as a duty
apparently to his family and the name he bore. He declared in excited tones
that the position which the senate had assailed, though they had been repulsed
in their first attack, had been at last carried by the consular tribunes.
The Trebonian Law had been set aside and the tribunes of the plebs had
not been elected by the vote of the people, but co-opted at the command
of the patricians, matters had now come to this pass, that they must have
either patricians or the hangers-on to patricians as tribunes of the plebs.
The Sacred Laws were being wrested from them, the power and authority of
their tribunes was being torn away. This, he contended, was done through
the craft and cunning of the patricians and the treacherous villainy of
his colleagues. The flame of popular indignation was now beginning to scorch
not only the senate, but even the tribunes of the plebs, co-opted and co-opters
alike, when three members of the tribunitian college -P. Curatius, M. Metilius,
and M. Minucius- trembling for their own safety, instituted proceedings
against Sergius and Verginius, the consular tribunes of the preceding year.
By fixing a day for their trial, they diverted from themselves on to these
men the rage and resentment of the plebs. They reminded the people that
those who had felt the burden of the levy, the war-tax, and the long duration
of the war, those who were distressed at the defeat sustained at Veii,
those whose homes were in mourning for the loss of children, brothers,
and relations, had every one of them the right and the power to visit upon
two guilty heads their own personal grief and that of the whole State.
The responsibility for all their misfortunes rested on Sergius and Verginius;
this was not more clearly proved by the prosecutor than admitted by the
defendants, for whilst both were guilty, each threw the blame on the other,
Verginius denouncing the flight of Sergius, and Sergius the treachery of
Verginius. They had behaved with such incredible madness that it was in
all probability a concerted plan earned out with the general connivance
of the patricians. These men had previously given the Veientines an opening
for firing the siege works, now they had betrayed the army and delivered
a Roman camp up to the Faliscans. Everything was being done to compel their
young men to grow old at Veii, and to make it impossible for their tribunes
to secure the support of a full Assembly in the City either in their resistance
to the concerted action of the senate, or for their proposals regarding
the distribution of land and other measures in the interest of the plebs.
Judgment had already been passed upon the accused by the senate, the Roman
people, and their own colleagues, for it was a vote of the senate which
removed them from office, it was their own colleagues who upon their refusal
to resign, compelled them to do so by the threat of a Dictator, whilst
it was the people who had elected consular tribunes to enter upon office,
not on the usual day, December 13, but immediately after their election,
on October 1, for the republic could no longer be safe if these men remained
in office. And yet, shattered as they were by so many adverse verdicts,
and condemned beforehand, they were presenting themselves for trial, and
fancying that they had purged their offence and suffered an adequate punishment
because they had been relegated to private life two months before the time.
They did not understand that this was not the infliction of a penalty,
but simply the depriving them of power to do further mischief, since their
colleagues also had to resign, and they, at all events, had committed no
offence. The tribunes continued. "Recall the feelings, Quirites, with which
you heard of the disaster which we sustained and watched the army staggering
through the gates, panic-stricken fugitives, covered with wounds, accusing
not Fortune or any of the gods, but these generals of theirs. We are confident
that there is not a man in this Assembly who did not on that day call down
curses on the persons and homes and fortunes of L. Verginius and Manius
Sergius. It would be utterly inconsistent for you not to use your power,
when it is your right and duty to do so, against the men on whom each of
you has called down the wrath of heaven. The gods never lay hands themselves
on the guilty it is enough when they arm the injured with the opportunity
for vengeance.
5.12
The passions of the plebs were roused by these speeches, and they sentenced
the accused to a fine of 10,000 "ases" each, in spite of Sergius' attempt
to throw the blame on Fortune and the chances of war, and Verginius' appeal
that he might not be more unfortunate at home than he had been in the field.
The turning of the popular indignation in this direction threw into the
shade the memories of the co-optation of tribunes and the evasion of the
Trebonian Law. As a reward to the plebeians for the sentence they had passed,
the victorious tribunes at once gave notice of an agrarian measure. They
also prevented contributions being paid in for the war-tax, though pay
was required for all those armies, and such successes as had been gained
only served to prevent any of the wars from being brought to a close. The
camp at Veii which had been lost was recaptured and strengthened with forts
and men to hold them. The consular tribunes, Manius Aemilius and Kaeso
Fabius, were in command. M. Furius in the Faliscan territory and Cnaeus
Cornelius in that of Capenae found no enemy outside his walls; booty was
carried off and the territories were ravaged, the farms and crops being
burnt. The towns were attacked, but not invested; Anxur, however, in the
Volscian territory, and situated on high ground, defied all assaults, and
after direct attack had proved fruitless, a regular investment by rampart
and fosse was commenced. The conduct of the Volscian campaign had fallen
to Valerius Potitus.
Whilst military affairs were in this position, internal troubles were
more difficult to manage than the foreign wars. Owing to the tribunes,
the war-tax could not be collected, nor the necessary funds remitted to
the commanders; the soldiers clamoured for their pay, and it seemed as
though the camp would be polluted by the contagion of the seditious spirit
which prevailed in the City. Taking advantage of the exasperation of the
plebs against the senate, the tribunes told them that the long wished for
time had come for securing their liberties and transferring the highest
office in the State from people like Sergius and Verginius to strong and
energetic plebeians. They did not, however, get further in the exercise
of their rights than to secure the election of one member of the plebs
as consular tribune, viz., P. Licinius Calvus -the rest were patricians-P.
Manlius, L. Titinus, P. Maelius, L. Furius Medullinus, and L. Popilius
Volscus. The plebeians were no less surprised at such a success than the
tribune-elect himself; he had not previously filled any high office of
State, and was only a senator of long standing, and now advanced in years.
Our authorities are not agreed as to the reason why he was selected first
and foremost to taste the sweets of this new dignity. Some believe that
he was thrust forward to so high a position through the popularity of his
brother, Cnaeus Cornelius, who had been consular tribune the previous year,
and had given triple pay to the "knights." Others attribute it to a well-timed
speech he delivered on the agreement of the two orders, which was welcomed
by both patricians and plebeians. In their exultation over this electoral
victory, the tribunes of the plebs gave way over the war-tax, and so removed
the greatest political difficulty. It was paid in without a murmur and
remitted to the army.
5.13
The Volscian Anxur was recaptured owing to the laxity of the guard during
a festival. The year was remarkable for such a cold and snowy winter that
the roads were blocked and the Tiber rendered unnavigable. There was no
change in the price of corn, owing to a previous accumulation of supplies.
P. Licinius had won his position without exciting any disturbance, more
to the delight of the people than to the annoyance of the senate, and he
discharged his office in such a way that there was a general desire to
choose the consular tribunes out of the plebeians at the next election.
The only patrician candidate who secured a place was M. Veturius. The rest,
who were plebeians, received the support of nearly all the centuries. Their
names were M. Pomponius, Cnaeus Duilius, Volero Publilius, and Cnaeus Genucius.
In consequence either of the unhealthy weather occasioned by the sudden
change from cold to heat, or from some other cause, the severe winter was
followed by a pestilential summer, which proved fatal to man and beast.
As neither a cause nor a cure could be found for its fatal ravages, the
senate ordered the Sibylline Books to be consulted. The priests who had
charge of them appointed for the first time in Rome a lectisternium. Apollo
and Latona, Diana and Hercules, Mercury and Neptune were for eight days
propitiated on three couches decked with the most magnificent coverlets
that could be obtained. Solemnities were conducted also in private houses.
It is stated that throughout the City the front gates of the houses were
thrown open and all sorts of things placed for general use in the open
courts, all comers, whether acquaintances or strangers, being brought in
to share the hospitality. Men who had been enemies held friendly and sociable
conversations with each other and abstained from all litigation, the manacles
even were removed from prisoners during this period, and afterwards it
seemed an act of impiety that men to whom the gods had brought such relief
should be put in chains again. In the meanwhile, at Veii there was increased
alarm, created by the three wars being combined in one. For the men of
Capenae and Falerii had suddenly arrived to relieve the city, and as on
the former occasion, the Romans had to fight a back to back battle round
the entrenchments against three armies. What helped them most of all was
the recollection of the condemnation of Sergius and Verginius. From the
main camp, where on the former occasion there had been inaction, forces
were rapidly brought round and attacked the Capenates in the rear while
their attention was concentrated on the Roman lines. The fighting which
ensued created panic in the Faliscan ranks also, and whilst they were wavering,
a well-timed charge from the camp routed them, and the victors, following
them up, caused immense losses amongst them. Not long afterwards the troops
who were devastating the territory of Capenae came upon them whilst straggling
in disorder as though safe from attack, and those whom the battle had spared
were annihilated. Of the Veientines also, many who were fleeing to the
city were killed in front of the gates, which were closed to prevent the
Romans from breaking in, and so the hindmost of the fugitives were shut
out.
5.14
These were the occurrences of the year. And now the time for the election
of consular tribunes was approaching. The senate was almost more anxious
about this than about the war, for they recognised that they were not simply
sharing the supreme power with the plebs, but had almost completely lost
it. An understanding was come to by which their most distinguished members
were to come forward as candidates; they believed that for very shame they
would not be passed over. Besides this, they resorted to every expedient,
just as if they were every one of them candidates, and called to their
aid not men alone, but even the gods. They made a religious question of
the last two elections. In the former year, they said, an intolerably severe
winter had occurred which seemed to be a divine warning; in the last year
they had not warnings only but the judgments themselves. The pestilence
which had visited the country districts and the City was undoubtedly a
mark of the divine displeasure, for it had been found in the Books of Fate
that to avert that scourge the gods must be appeased. The auspices were
taken before an election, and the gods deemed it an insult that the highest
offices should be made common and the distinction of classes thrown into
confusion. Men were awestruck not only by the dignity and rank of the candidates,
but by the religious aspect of the question, and they elected all the consular
tribunes from the patricians, the great majority being all men of high
distinction. Those elected were L. Valerius Potitus-for the fifth time-M.
Valerius Maximus, M. Furius Camillus-for the second time- L. Furius Medullinus-for
the third time-Q. Servilius Fidenates-for the second time-and Q. Sulpicius
Camerinus-for the second time. During their year of office nothing of any
importance was done at Veii; their whole activity was confined to raids.
Two of the commanders-in-chief carried off an enormous quantity of plunder-Potitus
from Falerii and Camillus from Capenae. They left nothing behind which
fire or sword could destroy.
5.15
During this period many portents were announced, but as they rested on
the testimony of single individuals, and there were no soothsayers to consult
as to how to expiate them, owing to the hostile attitude of the Etruscans,
these reports were generally disbelieved and disregarded. One incident,
however, caused universal anxiety. The Alban Lake rose to an unusual height,
without any rainfall or other cause which could prevent the phenomenon
from appearing supernatural. Envoys were sent to the oracle of Delphi to
ascertain why the gods sent the portent. But an explanation was afforded
nearer at hand. An aged Veientine was impelled by destiny to announce,
amidst the jeers of the Roman and Etruscan outposts, in prophetic strain,
that the Romans would never get possession of Veii until the water had
been drawn off from the Alban Lake. This was at first treated as a wild
utterance, but afterwards it began to be talked about. Owing to the length
of the war, there were frequent conversations between the troops on both
sides, and a Roman on outpost duty asked one of the townsmen who was nearest
to him who the man was who was throwing out such dark hints about the Alban
Lake. When he heard that he was a soothsayer, being himself a man not devoid
of religious fears, he invited the prophet to an interview on the pretext
of wishing to consult him, if he had time, about a portent which demanded
his own personal expiation. When the two had gone some distance from their
respective lines, unarmed, apprehending no danger, the Roman, a young man
of immense strength, seized the feeble old man in the sight of all, and
in spite of the outcry of the Etruscans, carried him off to his own side.
He was brought before the commander-in-chief and then sent to the senate
in Rome. In reply to inquiries as to what he wanted people to understand
by his remark about the Alban Lake, he said that the gods must certainly
have been wroth with the people of Veii on the day when they inspired him
with the resolve to disclose the ruin which the Fates had prepared for
his native city. What he had then predicted under divine inspiration he
could not now recall or unsay, and perhaps he would incur as much guilt
by keeping silence about things which it was the will of heaven should
be revealed as by uttering what ought to be concealed. It stood recorded
in the Books of Fate, and had been handed down by the occult science of
the Etruscans, that whenever the water of the Alban Lake overflowed and
the Romans drew it off in the appointed way, the victory over the Veientines
would be granted them; until that happened the gods would not desert the
walls of Veii. Then he explained the prescribed mode of drawing off the
water. The senate, however, did not regard their informant as sufficiently
trustworthy in a matter of such importance, and determined to wait for
the return of their embassy with the oracular reply of the Pythian god.
5.16
Previous to their return, and before any way of dealing with the Alban
portent was discovered, the new consular tribunes entered upon office.
They were L. Julius Julus, L. Furius Medullinus-for the fourth time-L.
Sergius Fidenas, A. Postumius Regillensis, P. Cornelius Maluginensis, and
A. Manlius. This year a new enemy arose. The people of Tarquinii saw that
the Romans were engaged in numerous campaigns-against the Volscians at
Anxur, where the garrison was blockaded; against the Aequi at Labici, who
were attacking the Roman colonists, and, in addition to these, at Veii,
Falerii, and Capenae, whilst, owing to the contentions between the plebs
and the senate, things were no quieter within the walls of the City. Regarding
this as a favourable opportunity for mischief, they despatched some light-armed
cohorts to harry the Roman territory, in the belief that the Romans would
either let the outrage pass unpunished to avoid having another war on their
shoulders, or would resent it with a small and weak force. The Romans felt
more indignation than anxiety at the raid, and without making any great
effort, took prompt steps to avenge it. A. Postumius and L. Julius raised
a force, not by a regular levy-for they were obstructed by the tribunes
of the plebs- but consisting mostly of volunteers whom they had induced
by strong appeals to come forward. With this they advanced by cross marches
through the territory of Caere and surprised the Tarquinians as they were
returning heavily laden with booty. They slew great numbers, stripped the
whole force of their baggage, and returned with the recovered possessions
from their farms to Rome. Two days were allowed for the owners to identify
their property; what was unclaimed on the third day, most of it belonging
to the enemy, was sold "under the spear," and the proceeds distributed
amongst the soldiers. The issues of the other wars, especially of that
against Veii, were still undecided, and the Romans were already despairing
of success through their own efforts, and were looking to the Fates and
the gods, when the embassy returned from Delphi with the sentence of the
oracle. It was in accord with the answer given by the Veientine soothsayer,
and ran as follows:-
"See to it, Roman, that the rising flood At Alba flow not o'er its banks
and shape Its channel seawards. Harmless through thy fields Shalt thou
disperse it, scattered into rills. Then fiercely press upon thy foeman's
walls, For now the Fates have given thee victory. That city which long
years thou hast besieged Shall now be thine. And when the war hath end,
Do thou, the victor, bear an ample gift Into my temple, and the ancestral
rites Now in disuse, see that thou celebrate Anew with all their wonted
pomp."
5.17
From that time the captive prophet began to be held in very high esteem,
and the consular tribunes, Cornelius and Postumius, began to make use of
him for the expiation of the Alban portent and the proper method of appeasing
the gods. At length it was discovered why the gods were visiting men for
neglected ceremonies and religious duties unperformed. It was in fact due
to nothing else but the fact that there was a flaw in the election of the
magistrates, and consequently they had not proclaimed the Festival of the
Latin League and the sacrifice on the Alban Mount with the due formalities.
There was only one possible mode of expiation, and that was that the consular
tribunes should resign office, the auspices to be taken entirely afresh,
and an interrex appointed. All these measures were earned out by a decree
of the senate. There were three interreges in succession-L. Valerius, Q.
Servilius Fidenas, and M. Furius Camillus. During all this time there were
incessant disturbances owing to the tribunes of the plebs hindering the
elections until an understanding was come to that the majority of the consular
tribunes should be elected from the plebeians. Whilst this was going on
the national council of Etruria met at the Fane of Voltumna. The Capenates
and the Faliscans demanded that all the cantons of Etruria should unite
in common action to raise the siege of Veii; they were told in reply that
assistance had been previously refused to the Veientines because they had
no right to seek help from those whose advice they had not sought in a
matter of such importance. Now, however, it was their unfortunate circumstances
and not their will that compelled them to refuse. The Gauls, a strange
and unknown race, had recently overrun the greatest part of Etruria, and
they were not on terms of either assured peace or open war with them. They
would, however, do this much for those of their blood and name, considering
the imminent danger of their kinsmen-if any of their younger men volunteered
for the war they would not prevent their going. The report spread in Rome
that a large number had reached Veii, and in the general alarm the internal
dissensions, as usual, began to calm down.
5.18
The prerogative centuries elected P. Licinius Calvus consular tribune,
though he was not a candidate. His appointment was not at all distasteful
to the senate, for when in office before he had shown himself a man of
moderate views. He was, however, advanced in years. As the voting proceeded
it became clear that all who had been formerly his colleagues in office
were being reappointed one after another. They were L. Titinius, P. Maenius,
Q. Manlius, Cnaeus Genucius, and L. Atilius. After the tribes had been
duly summoned to hear the declaration of the poll, but before it was actually
published, P. Licinius Calvus, by permission of the interrex, spoke as
follows: "I see, Quirites, that from what you remember of our former tenure
of office, you are seeking in these elections an omen of concord for the
coming year, a thing most of all helpful in the present state of affairs.
But, whilst you are re-electing my old comrades, who have become wiser
and stronger by experience, you see in me not the man I was, but only a
mere shadow and name of P. Licinius. My bodily powers are worn out, my
sight and hearing are impaired, my memory is failing, my mental vigour
is dulled. Here," he said, holding his son by the hand, "is a young man,
the image and counterpart of him whom in days gone by you elected as the
first consular tribune taken from the ranks of the plebs. This young man
whom I have trained and moulded I now hand over and dedicate to the republic
to take my place, and I beg you, Quirites, to confer this honour which
you have bestowed unsought on me, on him who is seeking it, and whose candidature
I would fain support and further by my prayers." His request was granted,
and his son P. Licinius was formally announced as consular tribune with
those above mentioned. Titinius and Genucius marched against the Faliscans
and Capenates, but they proceeded with more courage than caution and fell
into an ambuscade. Genucius atoned for his rashness by an honourable death,
and fell fighting amongst the foremost. Titinius rallied his men from the
disorder into which they had fallen and gained some rising ground where
he reformed his line, but would not come down to continue the fight on
level terms.
More disgrace was incurred than loss, but it almost resulted in a terrible
disaster, so great was the alarm it created not only in Rome, where very
exaggerated accounts were received, but also in the camp before Veii. Here
a rumour had gained ground that after the destruction of the generals and
their army, the victorious Capenates and Faliscans and the whole military
strength of Etruria had proceeded to Veii and were at no great distance;
in consequence of this the soldiers were with difficulty restrained from
taking to flight. Still more disquieting rumours were current in Rome;
at one moment they imagined that the camp before Veii had been stormed,
at another that a part of the enemies' forces was in full march to the
City. They hurried to the walls; the matrons, whom the general alarm had
drawn from their homes, made prayers and supplications in the temples;
solemn petitions were offered up to the gods that they would ward off destruction
from the houses and temples of the City and from the walls of Rome, and
divert the fears and alarms to Veii if the sacred rites had been duly restored
and the portents expiated.
5.19
By this time the Games and the Latin Festival had been celebrated afresh,
and the water drawn off from the Alban Lake on the fields, and now the
fated doom was closing over Veii. Accordingly the commander destined by
the Fates for the destruction of that city and the salvation of his country-M.
Furius Camillus-was nominated Dictator. He appointed as his Master of the
Horse P. Cornelius Scipio. With the change in the command everything else
suddenly changed; men's hopes were different, their spirits were different,
even the fortunes of the City wore a different aspect. His first measure
was to execute military justice upon those who had fled during the panic
from the camp, and he made the soldiers realise that it was not the enemy
who was most to be feared. He then appointed a day for the enrolment of
troops, and in the interim went to Veii to encourage the soldiers, after
which he returned to Rome to raise a fresh army. Not a man tried to escape
enlistment. Even foreign troops-Latins and Hernicans-came to offer assistance
for the war. The Dictator formally thanked them in the senate, and as all
the preparations for war were now sufficiently advanced, he vowed, in pursuance
of a senatorial decree, that on the capture of Veii he would celebrate
the Great Games and restore and dedicate the temple of Matuta the Mother,
which had been originally dedicated by Servius Tullius. He left the City
with his army amid a general feeling of anxious expectation rather than
of hopeful confidence on the part of the citizens, and his first engagement
was with the Faliscans and Capenates in the territory of Nepete. As usual
where everything was managed with consummate skill and prudence, success
followed. He not only defeated the enemy in the field, but he stripped
them of their camp and secured immense booty. The greater part was sold
and the proceeds paid over to the quaestor, the smaller share was given
to the soldiers. From there the army was led to Veii. The forts were constructed
more closely together. Frequent skirmishes had occurred at random in the
space between the city wall and the Roman lines, and an edict was issued
that none should fight without orders, thereby keeping the soldiers to
the construction of the siege works. By far the greatest and most difficult
of these was a mine which was commenced, and designed to lead into the
enemies' citadel. That the work might not be interrupted, or the troops
exhausted by the same men being continuously employed in underground labour,
he formed the army into six divisions. Each division was told off in rotation
to work for six hours at a time; the work went on without any intermission
until they had made a way into the citadel.
5.20
When the Dictator saw that victory was now within his grasp, that a very
wealthy city was on the point of capture, and that there would be more
booty than had been amassed in all the previous wars taken together, he
was anxious to avoid incurring the anger of the soldiers through too niggardly
a distribution of it on the one hand, and the jealousy of the senate through
too lavish a grant of it on the other. He sent a despatch to the senate
in which he stated that through the gracious favour of heaven, his own
generalship, and the persevering efforts of his soldiers, Veii would in
a very few hours be in the power of Rome, and he asked for their decision
as to the disposal of the booty. The senate were divided. It is reported
that the aged P. Licinius, who was the first to be asked his opinion by
his son, urged that the people should receive public notice that whoever
wanted to share in the spoils should go to the camp at Veii. Appius Claudius
took the opposite line. He stigmatised the proposed largesse as unprecedented,
wasteful, unfair, reckless. If, he said, they once thought it sinful for
money taken from the enemy to lie in the treasury, drained as it had been
by the wars, he would advise that the pay of the soldiers be supplied from
that source, so that the plebs might have so much less tax to pay. "The
homes of all would feel alike the benefit of a common boon, the rewards
won by brave warriors would not be filched by the hands of city loafers,
ever greedy for plunder, for it so constantly happens that those who usually
seek the foremost place in toil and danger are the least active in appropriating
the spoils." Licinius on the other hand said that "this money would always
be regarded with suspicion and aversion, and would supply material for
indictments before the plebs, and consequently bring about disturbances
and revolutionary measures. It was better, therefore, that the plebs should
be conciliated by this gift, that those who had been crushed and exhausted
by so many years of taxation should be relieved and get some enjoyment
from the spoils of a war in which they had almost become old men. When
any one brings home something he has taken from the enemy with his own
hand, it affords him more pleasure and gratification than if he were to
receive many times its value at the bidding of another. The Dictator had
referred the question to the senate because he wanted to avoid the odium
and misrepresentations which it might occasion; the senate, in its turn,
ought to entrust it to the plebs and allow each to keep what the fortune
of war has given him." This was felt to be the safer course, as it would
make the senate popular. Notice accordingly was given that those who thought
fit should go to the Dictator in camp to share in the plunder of Veii.
5.21
An enormous crowd went and filled the camp. After the Dictator had taken
the auspices and issued orders for the soldiers to arm for battle, he uttered
this prayer: "Pythian Apollo, guided and inspired by thy will I go forth
to destroy the city of Veii, and a tenth part of its spoils I devote to
thee. Thee too, Queen Juno, who now dwellest in Veii, I beseech, that thou
wouldst follow us, after our victory, to the City which is ours and which
will soon be shine, where a temple worthy of thy majesty will receive thee."
After this prayer, finding himself superior in numbers, he attacked the
city on all sides, to distract the enemies' attention from the impending
danger of the mine. The Veientines, all unconscious that their doom had
already been sealed by their own prophets and by oracles in foreign lands,
that some of the gods had already been invited to their share in the spoils,
whilst others, called upon in prayer to leave their city, were looking
to new abodes in the temples of their foes; all unconscious that they were
spending their last day, without the slightest suspicion that their walls
had been undermined and their citadel already filled with the enemy, hurried
with their weapons to the walls, each as best he could, wondering what
had happened to make the Romans, after never stirring from their lines
for so many days, now run recklessly up to the walls as though struck with
sudden frenzy.
At this point a tale is introduced to the effect that whilst the king
of the Veientines was offering sacrifice, the soothsayer announced that
victory would be granted to him who had cut out the sacrificial parts of
the victim, His words were heard by the soldiers in the mine, they burst
through, seized the parts and carried them to the Dictator. But in questions
of such remote antiquity I should count it sufficient if what bears the
stamp of probability be taken as true. Statements like this, which are
more fitted to adorn a stage which delights in the marvellous than to inspire
belief, it is not worth while either to affirm or deny. The mine, which
was now full of picked soldiers, suddenly discharged its armed force in
the temple of Juno, which was inside the citadel of Veii. Some attacked
the enemy on the walls from behind, others forced back the bars of the
gates, others again set fire to the houses from which stones and tiles
were being hurled by women and slaves. Everything resounded with the confused
noise of terrifying threats and shrieks of despairing anguish blended with
the wailing of women and children. In a very short time the defenders were
driven from the walls and the city gates flung open. Some rushed in in
close order, others scaled the deserted walls; the city was filled with
Romans; fighting went on everywhere. At length, after great carnage, the
fighting slackened, and the Dictator ordered the heralds to proclaim that
the unarmed were to be spared. That put a stop to the bloodshed, those
who were unarmed began to surrender, and the soldiers dispersed with the
Dictator's permission in quest of booty. This far surpassed all expectation
both in its amount and its value, and when the Dictator saw it before him
he is reported to have raised his hands to heaven and prayed that if any
of the gods deemed the good fortune which had befallen him and the Romans
to be too great, the jealousy which it caused might be allayed by such
a calamity as would be least injurious to him and to Rome. The tradition
runs that whilst he was turning round during this devotion he stumbled
and fell. To those who judged after the event it appeared as if that omen
pointed to Camillus' own condemnation and the subsequent capture of Rome
which occurred a few years later. That day was spent in the massacre of
the enemy and the sack of the city with its enormous wealth.
5.22
The following day the Dictator sold all freemen who had been spared, as
slaves. The money so realised was the only amount paid into the public
treasury, but even that proceeding roused the ire of the plebs. As for
the spoil they brought home with them, they did not acknowledge themselves
under any obligation for it either to their general, who, they thought,
had referred a matter within his own competence to the senate in the hope
of getting their authority for his niggardliness, nor did they feel any
gratitude to the senate. It was the Licinian family to whom they gave the
credit, for it was the father who had advocated the popular measure and
the son who had taken the opinion of the senate upon it. When all that
belonged to man had been carried away from Veii, they began to remove from
the temples the votive gifts that had been made to the gods, and then the
gods themselves; but this they did as worshippers rather than as plunderers.
The deportation of Queen Juno to Rome was entrusted to a body of men selected
from the whole army, who after performing their ablutions and arraying
themselves in white vestments, reverently entered the temple and in a spirit
of holy dread placed their hands on the statue, for it was as a rule only
the priest of one particular house who, by Etruscan usage, touched it.
Then one of them, either under a sudden inspiration, or in a spirit of
youthful mirth, said, "Art thou willing, Juno, to go to Rome?" The rest
exclaimed that the goddess nodded assent. An addition to the story was
made to the effect that she was heard to say, "I am willing." At all events
we have it that she was moved from her place by appliances of little power,
and proved light and easy of transport, as though she were following of
her own accord. She was brought without mishap to the Aventine, her everlasting
seat, whither the prayers of the Roman Dictator had called her, and where
this same Camillus afterwards dedicated the temple which he had vowed.
Such was the fall of Veii, the most wealthy city of the Etruscan league,
showing its greatness even in its final overthrow, since after being besieged
for ten summers and winters and inflicting more loss than it sustained,
it succumbed at last to destiny, being after all carried by a mine and
not by direct assault.
5.23
Although the portents had been averted by due expiation and the answers
given by the soothsayer and the oracle were matters of common knowledge,
and all that man could do had been done by the selection of M. Furius,
the greatest of all commanders-notwithstanding all this, when the capture
of Veii was announced in Rome, after so many years of undecided warfare
and numerous defeats, the rejoicing was as great as if there had been no
hope of success. Anticipating the order of the senate, all the temples
were filled with Roman mothers offering thanksgivings to the gods. The
senate ordered that the public thanksgivings should be continued for four
days, a longer period than for any previous war. The arrival of the Dictator,
too, whom all classes poured out to meet, was welcomed by a greater concourse
than that of any general before. His triumph went far beyond the usual
mode of celebrating the day; himself the most conspicuous object of all,
he was drawn into the City by a team of white horses, which men thought
unbecoming even for a mortal man, let alone a Roman citizen. They saw with
superstitious alarm the Dictator putting himself on a level in his equipage
with Jupiter and Sol, and this one circumstance made his triumph more brilliant
than popular. After this he signed a contract for building the temple of
Queen Juno on the Aventine and dedicated one to Matuta the Mother. After
having thus discharged his duties to gods and men he resigned his Dictatorship.
Subsequently a difficulty arose about the offering to Apollo. Camillus
stated that he had vowed a tenth of the spoils to the deity, and the college
of pontiffs decided that the people must fulfil their religious obligation.
But it was not easy to find a way of ordering the people to restore their
share of booty so that the due proportion might be set apart for sacred
purposes. At length recourse was had to what seemed the smoothest plan,
namely, that any one who wished to discharge the obligation for himself
and his household should make a valuation of his share and contribute the
value of a tenth of it to the public treasury, in order that out of the
proceeds a golden crown might be made, worthy of the grandeur of the temple
and the august divinity of the god, and such as the honour of the Roman
people demanded. This contribution still further estranged the feelings
of the plebeians from Camillus. During these occurrences envoys from the
Volscians and Aequi came to sue for peace. They succeeded in obtaining
it, not so much because they deserved it as that the commonwealth, wearied
with such a long war, might enjoy repose.
5.24
The year following the capture of Veii had for the six consular tribunes
two of the Publii Cornelii, namely, Cossus and Scipio, M. Valerius Maximus-for
the second time- Caeso Fabius Ambustus-for the third time-L. Furius Medullinus-for
the fifth time-and Q. Servilius-for the third time. The war against the
Faliscans was allotted to the Cornelii, that against Capenae to Valerius
and Servilius. They did not make any attempt to take cities either by assault
or investment, but confined themselves to ravaging the country and carrying
off the property of the agriculturists; not a single fruit tree, no produce
whatever, was left on the land. These losses broke the resistance of the
Capenates, they sued for peace and it was granted them. Amongst the Faliscans
the war went on. In Rome, meanwhile, disturbances arose on various matters.
In order to quiet them it had been decided to plant a colony on the Volscian
frontier, and the names of 3000 Roman citizens were entered for it. Triumvirs
appointed for the purpose had divided the land into lots of 3 7/12 jugera
per man. This grant began to be looked upon with contempt, they regarded
it as a sop offered to them to divert them from hoping for something better.
"Why," they asked, "were plebeians to be sent into banishment amongst the
Volscians when the splendid city of Veii and the territory of the Veientines
was within view, more fertile and more ample than the territory of Rome?"
Whether in respect of its situation or of the magnificence of its public
and private buildings and its open spaces, they gave that city the preference
over Rome. They even brought forward a proposal, which met with still more
support after the capture of Rome by the Gauls, for migrating to Veii.
They intended, however, that Veii should be inhabited by a portion of the
plebs and a part of the senate; they thought it a feasible project that
two separate cities should be inhabited by the Roman people and form one
State. In opposition to these proposals, the nobility went so far as to
declare that they would sooner die before the eyes of the Roman people
than that any of those schemes should be put to the vote. If, they argued,
there was so much dissension in one city, what would there be in two? Could
any one possibly prefer a conquered to a conquering city, and allow Veii
to enjoy a greater good fortune after its capture than while it stood safe?
It was possible that in the end they might be left behind in their native
City by their fellow-citizens, but no power on earth would compel them
to abandon their native City and their fellow-citizens in order to follow
T. Sicinius-the proposer of this measure-to Veii as its new founder, and
so abandon Romulus, a god and the son of a god, the father and creator
of the City of Rome.
5.25
This discussion was attended by disgraceful quarrels, for the senate had
drawn over a section of the tribunes of the plebs to their view, and the
only thing that restrained the plebeians from offering personal violence
was the use which the patricians made of their personal influence. Whenever
shouts were raised to get up a brawl, the leaders of the senate were the
first to go into the crowd and tell them to vent their rage on them, to
beat and kill them. The mob shrank from offering violence to men of their
age and rank and distinction, and this feeling prevented them from attacking
the other patricians. Camillus went about delivering harangues everywhere,
and saying that it was no wonder that the citizens had gone mad, for though
bound by a vow, they showed more anxiety about everything than about discharging
their religious obligations. He would say nothing about the contribution,
which was really a sacred offering rather than a tithe, and since each
individual bound himself to a tenth, the State, as such, was free from
the obligation. But his conscience would not allow him to keep silence
about the assertion that the tenth only applied to movables, and that no
mention was made of the city and its territory, which were also really
included in the vow. As the senate considered the question a difficult
one to decide, they referred it to the pontiffs, and Camillus was invited
to discuss it with them. They decided that of all that had belonged to
the Veientines before the vow was uttered and had subsequently passed into
the power of Rome, a tenth part was sacred to Apollo. Thus the city and
territory came into the estimate. The money was drawn from the treasury,
and the consular tribunes were commissioned to purchase gold with it. As
there was not a sufficient supply, the matrons, after meeting to talk the
matter over, made themselves by common consent responsible to the tribunes
for the gold, and sent all their trinkets to the treasury. The senate were
in the highest degree grateful for this, and the tradition goes that in
return for this munificence the matrons had conferred upon them the honour
of driving to sacred festivals and games in a carriage, and on holy days
and work days in a two-wheeled car. The gold received from each was appraised
in order that the proper amount of money might be paid for it, and it was
decided that a golden bowl should be made and carried to Delphi as a gift
to Apollo. When the religious question no longer claimed their attention,
the tribunes of the plebs renewed their agitation; the passions of the
populace were aroused against all the leading men, most of all against
Camillus. They said that by devoting the spoils of Veii to the State and
to the gods he had reduced them to nothing. They attacked the senators
furiously in their absence; when they were present and confronted their
rage, shame kept them silent. As soon as the plebeians saw that the matter
would be carried over into the following year, they reappointed the supporters
of the proposal as their tribunes; the patricians devoted themselves to
securing the same support for those who had vetoed the proposal. Consequently,
nearly all the same tribunes of the plebs were re-elected.
5.26
In the election of consular tribunes the patricians succeeded by the utmost
exertions in securing the return of M. Furius Camillus. They pretended
that in view of the wars they were providing themselves with a general;
their real object was to get a man who would oppose the corrupt policy
of the plebeian tribunes. His comrades in the tribuneship were L. Furius
Medullinus-for the sixth time-C. Aemilius, L. Valerius Publicola, S. Postumius,
and P. Cornelius- for the second time. At the beginning of the year the
tribunes of the plebs made no move until Camillus left for operations against
the Faliscans, the theatre of war assigned to him. This delay took the
heart out of their agitation, whilst Camillus, the adversary whom they
most dreaded, was gaining fresh glory amongst the Faliscans. At first the
enemy kept within their walls, thinking this the safest course, but by
devastating their fields and burning their farms he compelled them to come
outside their city. They were afraid to go very far, and fixed their camp
about a mile away; the only thing which gave them any sense of security
was the difficulty of approaching it, as all the country round was rough
and broken, and the roads narrow in some parts, in others steep. Camillus,
however, had gained information from a prisoner captured in the neighbourhood,
and made him act as guide. After breaking up his camp in the dead of night,
he showed himself at daybreak in a position considerably higher than the
enemy. The Romans of the third line began to entrench, the rest of the
army stood ready for battle. When the enemy attempted to hinder the work
of entrenchment, he defeated them and put them to flight, and such a panic
seized the Faliscans that in their disorderly flight they were carried
past their own camp, which was nearer to them, and made for their city.
Many were killed and wounded before they could get inside their gates.
The camp was taken, the booty sold, and the proceeds paid over to the quaestors,
to the intense indignation of the soldiers, but they were overawed by the
sternness of their general's discipline, and though they hated his firmness,
at the same time they admired it. The city was now invested and regular
siege-works were constructed. For some time the townsmen used to attack
the Roman outposts whenever they saw an opportunity, and frequent skirmishes
took place. Time went on and hope inclined to neither side; corn and other
supplies had been previously collected, and the besieged were better provisioned
than the besiegers. The task seemed likely to be as long as it had been
at Veii, had not fortune given the Roman commander an opportunity of displaying
that greatness of mind which had already been proved in deeds of war, and
so secured him an early victory.
5.27
It was the custom of the Faliscans to employ the same person as the master
and also as the attendant of their children, and several boys used to be
entrusted to one man's care; a custom which prevails in Greece at the present
time. Naturally, the man who had the highest reputation for learning was
appointed to instruct the children of the principal men. This man had started
the practice, in the time of peace, of taking the boys outside the gates
for games and exercise, and he kept up the practice after the war had begun,
taking them sometimes a shorter, sometimes a longer distance from the city
gate. Seizing a favourable opportunity, he kept up the games and the conversations
longer than usual, and went on till he was in the midst of the Roman outposts.
He then took them into the camp and up to Camillus in the headquarters
tent. There he aggravated his villainous act by a still more villainous
utterance. He had, he said, given Falerii into the hands of the Romans,
since those boys, whose fathers were at the head of affairs in the city,
were now placed in their power. On hearing this Camillus replied, "You,
villain, have not come with your villainous offer to a nation or a commander
like yourself. Between us and the Faliscans there is no fellowship based
on a formal compact as between man and man, but the fellowship which is
based on natural instincts exists between us, and will continue to do so.
There are rights of war as there are rights of peace, and we have learnt
to wage our wars with justice no less than with courage. We do not use
our weapons against those of an age which is spared even in the capture
of cities, but against those who are armed as we are, and who without any
injury or provocation from us attacked the Roman camp at Veii. These men
you, as far as you could, have vanquished by an unprecedented act of villainy;
I shall vanquish them as I vanquished Veii, by Roman arts, by courage and
strategy and force of arms." He then ordered him to be stripped and his
hands tied behind his back, and delivered him up to the boys to be taken
back to Falerii, and gave them rods with which to scourge the traitor into
the city. The people came in crowds to see the sight, the magistrates thereupon
convened the senate to discuss the extraordinary incident, and in the end
such a revulsion of feeling took place that the very people who in the
madness of their rage and hatred would almost sooner have shared the fate
of Veii than obtained the peace which Capena enjoyed, now found themselves
in company with the whole city asking for peace. The Roman sense of honour,
the commander's love of justice, were in all men's mouths in the forum
and in the senate, and in accordance with the universal wish, ambassadors
were despatched to Camillus in the camp, and with his sanction to the senate
in Rome, to make the surrender of Falerii.
On being introduced to the senate, they are reported to have made the
following speech: "Senators! vanquished by you and your general through
a victory which none, whether god or man, can censure, we surrender ourselves
to you, for we think it better to live under your sway than under our own
laws, and this is the greatest glory that a conqueror can attain. Through
the issue of this war two salutary precedents have been set for mankind.
You have preferred the honour of a soldier to a victory which was in your
hands; we, challenged by your good faith, have voluntarily given you that
victory. We are at your disposal; send men to receive our arms, to receive
the hostages, to receive the city whose gates stand open to you. Never
shall you have cause to complain of our loyalty, nor we of your rule."
Thanks were accorded to Camillus both by the enemy and by his own countrymen.
The Faliscans were ordered to supply the pay of the troops for that year,
in order that the Roman people might be free from the war-tax. After the
peace was granted, the army was marched back to Rome.
5.28
After thus subduing the enemy by his justice and good faith, Camillus returned
to the City invested with a much nobler glory than when white horses drew
him through it in his triumph. The senate could not withstand the delicate
reproof of his silence, but at once proceeded to free him from his vow.
L. Valerius, L. Sergius, and A. Manlius were appointed as a deputation
to carry the golden bowl, made as a gift to Apollo, to Delphi, but the
solitary warship in which they were sailing was captured by Liparean pirates
not far from the Straits of Sicily, and taken to the islands of Liparae.
Piracy was regarded as a kind of State institution, and it was the custom
for the government to distribute the plunder thus acquired. That year the
supreme magistracy was held by Timasitheus, a man more akin to the Romans
in character than to his own countrymen. As he himself reverenced the name
and office of the ambassadors, the gift they had in charge and the god
to whom it was being sent, so he inspired the multitude, who generally
share the views of their ruler, with a proper religious sense of their
duty. The deputation were conducted to the State guest-house, and from
there sent on their way to Delphi with a protecting escort of ships, he
then brought them back safe to Rome. Friendly relations were established
with him on the part of the State, and presents bestowed upon him.
During this year there was war with the Aequi of so undecided a character
that it was a matter of uncertainty, both in the armies themselves and
in Rome, whether they were victorious or vanquished. The two consular tribunes,
C. Aemilius and Spurius Postumius, were in command of the Roman army. At
first they carried on joint operations; after the enemy had been routed
in the field, they arranged that Aemilius should hold Verrugo whilst Postumius
devastated their. territory. Whilst he was marching somewhat carelessly
after his success, with his men out of order, he was attacked by the Aequi,
and such a panic ensued that his troops were driven to the nearest hills,
and the alarm spread even to the other army at Verrugo. After they had
retreated to a safe position, Postumius summoned his men to assembly and
severely rebuked them for their panic and flight, and for having been routed
by such a cowardly and easily defeated foe. With one voice the army exclaimed
that his reproaches were deserved; they had, they confessed behaved disgracefully,
but they would themselves repair their fault, the enemy would not long
have cause for rejoicing. They asked him to lead them at once against the
enemy's camp- it was in full view down in the plain-and no punishment would
be too severe if they failed to take it before nightfall. He commended
their eagerness, and ordered them to refresh themselves and to be ready
by the fourth watch. The enemy, expecting the Romans to attempt a nocturnal
flight from their hill, were posted to cut them off from the road leading
to Verrugo. The action commenced before dawn, but as there was a moon all
night, the battle was as clearly visible as if it had been fought by day.
The shouting reached Verrugo, and they believed that the Roman camp was
being attacked. This created such a panic that in spite of all the appeals
of Aemilius in his efforts to restrain them, the garrison broke away and
fled in scattered groups to Tusculum. Thence the rumour was carried to
Rome that Postumius and his army were slain. As soon as the rising dawn
had removed all apprehensions of a surprise in case the pursuit was carried
too far, Postumius rode down the ranks demanding the fulfilment of their
promise. The enthusiasm of the troops was so roused that the Aequi no longer
withstood the attack. Then followed a slaughter of the fugitives, such
as might be expected where men are actuated by rage even more than by courage;
the army was destroyed. The doleful report from Tusculum and the groundless
fears of the City were followed by a laurelled despatch from Postumius
announcing the victory of Rome and the annihilation of the Aequian army.
5.29
As the agitation of the tribunes of the plebs had so far been without result,
the plebeians exerted themselves to secure the continuance in office of
the proposers of the land measure, whilst the patricians strove for the
re-election of those who had vetoed it. The plebeians, however, carried
the election, and the senate in revenge for this mortification passed a
resolution for the appointment of consuls, the magistracy which the plebs
detested. After fifteen years, consuls were once more elected in the persons
of L. Lucretius Flavus and Servius Sulpicius Camerinus. At the beginning
of the year, as none of their college was disposed to interpose his veto,
the tribunes were combined in a determined effort to carry their measure,
while the consuls, for the same reason, offered a no less strenuous resistance.
Whilst all the citizens were preoccupied with this struggle, the Aequi
successfully attacked the Roman colony at Vitellia, which was situated
in their territory. Most of the colonists were uninjured, for the fact
of its treacherous capture taking place in the night gave them the chance
of escaping in the opposite direction from the enemy and reaching Rome.
That field of operations fell to L. Lucretius. He advanced against the
enemy and defeated them in a regular engagement, and then came back victorious
to Rome, where a still more serious contest awaited him.
A day had been fixed for the prosecution of A. Verginius and Q. Pomponius,
who had been tribunes of the plebs two years previously. The senate unanimously
agreed that their honour was concerned in defending them, for no one brought
any charge against them touching their private life or their public action;
the only ground of indictment was that it was to please the senate that
they had exercised their veto. The influence of the senate, however, was
overborne by the angry temper of the plebeians, and a most vicious precedent
was set by the condemnation of those innocent men to a fine of 10,000 "ases"
each. The senate were extremely distressed. Camillus openly accused the
plebeians of treason in turning against their own magistrates because they
did not see that through this iniquitous judgment they had taken from their
tribunes the power of veto, and in depriving them of that had overthrown
their power. They were deceived if they expected the senate to put up with
the absence of any restraint upon the licence of that magistracy. If the
violence of tribunes could not be met by the veto of tribunes, the senate
would find another weapon. He poured blame on the consuls also for having
silently allowed the honour of the State to be compromised in the case
of tribunes who had followed the instructions of the senate. By openly
repeating these charges he embittered the feeling of the populace more
every day.
5.30
The senate, on the other hand, he was perpetually inciting to oppose the
measure. They must not, he said, go down to the Forum, when the day came
for voting on it, in any other temper than that of men who realised that
they would have to fight for their hearths and altars, for the temples
of the gods, and even for the soil on which they had been born. As for
himself, if he dared to think of his own reputation when his country's
existence was at stake, it would be indeed an honour to him that the city
which he had taken should become a popular resort, that that memorial of
his glory should give him daily delight, that he should have before his
eyes the city which had been carried in his triumphal procession, and that
all should tread in the track of his renown. But he considered it an offence
against heaven for a city to be repeopled after it had been deserted and
abandoned by the gods, or for the Roman people to dwell on a soil enslaved
and change the conquering country for a conquered one. Roused by these
appeals of their leader, the senators, old and young, came down in a body
to the Forum when the proposal was being put to the vote. They dispersed
among the tribes, and each taking his fellow-tribesmen by the hand, implored
them with tears not to desert the fatherland, for which they and their
fathers had fought so bravely and so successfully. They pointed to the
Capitol, the temple of Vesta, and the other divine temples round them,
and besought them not to drive the Roman people, as homeless exiles, from
their ancestral soil and their household gods into the city of their foes.
They even went so far as to say that it were better that Veii had never
been taken than that Rome should be deserted. As they were having recourse
not to violence but to entreaties, and were interspersing their entreaties
with frequent mention of the gods, it became for the majority of voters
a religious question and the measure was defeated by a majority of one
tribe. The senate were so delighted at their victory that on the following
day a resolution was passed, at the instance of the consuls, that seven
jugera of the Veientine territory should be allotted to each plebeian,
and not to the heads of families only, account was taken of all the children
in the house, that men might be willing to bring up children in the hope
that they would receive their share.
5.31
This bounty soothed the feelings of the plebs, and no opposition was offered
to the election of consuls. The two elected were L. Valerius Potitus and
M. Manlius, who afterwards received the title of Capitolinus. They celebrated
the "Great Games" which M. Furius had vowed when Dictator in the Veientine
war. In the same year the temple of Queen Juno, which he had also vowed
at the same time, was dedicated, and the tradition runs that this dedication
excited great interest amongst the matrons, who were present in large numbers.
An unimportant campaign was conducted against the Aequi on Algidus; the
enemy were routed almost before they came to close quarters. Valerius had
shown greater energy in following up the fugitives; he was accordingly
decreed a triumph; Manlius an ovation. In the same year a new enemy appeared
in the Volsinians. Owing to famine and pestilence in the district round
Rome, in consequence of excessive heat and drought, it was impossible for
an army to march. This emboldened the Volsinians in conjunction with the
Salpinates to make inroads upon Roman territory. Thereupon war was declared
against the two States. C. Julius, the censor, died, and M. Cornelius was
appointed in his place. This proceeding was afterwards regarded as an offence
against religion because it was during that lustrum that Rome was taken,
and no one has ever since been appointed as censor in the room of one deceased.
The consuls were attacked by the epidemic, so it was decided that the auspices
should be taken afresh by an interrex. The consuls accordingly resigned
office in compliance with a resolution of the senate, and M. Furius Camillus
was appointed interrex. He appointed P. Cornelius Scipio as his successor,
and Scipio appointed L. Valerius Potitus. The last named appointed six
consular tribunes, so that if any of them became incapacitated through
illness there might still be a sufficiency of magistrates to administer
the republic.
5.32
These were L. Lucretius, Servius Sulpicius, M. Aemilius, L. Furius Medullinus
-for the seventh time-Agrippa Furius, and C. Aemilius-for the second time.
They entered upon office on the 1st of July. L. Lucretius and C. Aemilius
were charged with the campaign against the Volsinians; Agrippa Furius and
Servius Sulpicius with the one against the Salpinates. The first action
took place with the Volsinians; an immense number of the enemy were engaged,
but the fighting was by no means severe. Their line was scattered at the
first shock; 8000 who were surrounded by the cavalry laid down their arms
and surrendered. On hearing of this battle the Salpinates would not trust
themselves to a regular engagement in the field, but sought the protection
of their walls. The Romans carried off plunder in all directions from both
the Salpinate and Volsinian territories without meeting any resistance.
At last the Volsinians, tired of the war, obtained a truce for twenty years
on condition that they paid an indemnity for their previous raid and supplied
the year's pay for the army. It was in this year that Marcus Caedicius,
a member of the plebs, reported to the tribunes that whilst he was in the
Via Nova where the chapel now stands, above the temple of Vesta, he heard
in the silence of the night a voice more powerful than any human voice
bidding the magistrates be told that the Gauls were approaching. No notice
was taken of this, partly owing to the humble rank of the informant, and
partly because the Gauls were a distant and therefore an unknown nation.
It was not the monitions of the gods only that were set at nought in face
of the coming doom. The one human aid which they had against it, M. Furius
Camillus, was removed from the City. He was impeached by the plebeian tribune
L. Apuleius for his action with reference to the spoils of Veii, and at
the time had just been bereaved of his son. He invited the members of his
tribe and his clients, who formed a considerable part of the plebs, to
his house and sounded their feelings towards him. They told him that they
would pay whatever fine was imposed, but it was impossible for them to
acquit him. Thereupon he went into exile, after offering up a prayer to
the immortal gods that if he were suffering wrongfully as an innocent man,
they would make his ungrateful citizens very soon feel the need of him.
He was condemned in his absence to pay a fine of 15,000 "ases."
5.33
After the expulsion of that citizen whose presence, if there is anything
certain in human affairs, would have made the capture of Rome impossible,
the doom of the fated City swiftly approached. Ambassadors came from Clusium
begging for assistance against the Gauls. The tradition is that this nation,
attracted by the report of the delicious fruits and especially of the wine-a
novel pleasure to them-crossed the Alps and occupied the lands formerly
cultivated by the Etruscans, and that Arruns of Clusium imported wine into
Gaul in order to allure them into Italy. His wife had been seduced by a
Lucumo, to whom he was guardian, and from whom, being a young man of considerable
influence, it was impossible to get redress without getting help from abroad.
In revenge, Arruns led the Gauls across the Alps and prompted them to attack
Clusium. I would not deny that the Gauls were conducted to Clusium by Arruns
or some one else living there, but it is quite clear that those who attacked
that city were not the first who crossed the Alps. As a matter of fact,
Gauls crossed into Italy two centuries before they attacked Clusium and
took Rome. Nor were the Clusines the first Etruscans with whom the Gaulish
armies came into conflict; long before that they had fought many battles
with the Etruscans who dwelt between the Apennines and the Alps. Before
the Roman supremacy, the power of the Tuscans was widely extended both
by sea and land. How far it extended over the two seas by which Italy is
surrounded like an island is proved by the names, for the nations of Italy
call the one the "Tuscan Sea," from the general designation of the people,
and the other the "Atriatic," from Atria, a Tuscan colony. The Greeks also
call them the "Tyrrhene" and the "Adriatic." The districts stretching towards
either sea were inhabited by them. They first settled on this side the
Apennines by the western sea in twelve cities, afterwards they founded
twelve colonies beyond the Apennines, corresponding to the number of the
mother cities. These colonies held the whole of the country beyond the
Po as far as the Alps, with the exception of the corner inhabited by the
Veneti, who dwelt round an arm of the sea. The Alpine tribes are undoubtedly
of the same stock, especially the Raetii, who had through the nature of
their country become so uncivilised that they retained no trace of their
original condition except their language, and even this was not free from
corruption.
5.34
About the passage of the Gauls into Italy we have received the following
account. Whilst Tarquinius Priscus was king of Rome, the supreme power
amongst the Celts, who formed a third part of the whole of Gaul, was in
the hands of the Bituriges; they used to furnish the king for the whole
Celtic race. Ambigatus was king at that time, a man eminent for his own
personal courage and prosperity as much as for those of his dominions.
During his sway the harvests were so abundant and the population increased
so rapidly in Gaul that the government of such vast numbers seemed almost
impossible. He was now an old man, and anxious to relieve his realm from
the burden of over-population. With this view he signified his intention
of sending his sister's sons Bellovesus and Segovesus, both enterprising
young men, to settle in whatever locality the gods should by augury assign
to them. They were to invite as many as wished to accompany them, sufficient
to prevent any nation from repelling their approach. When the auspices
were taken, the Hercynian forest was assigned to Segovesus; to Bellovesus
the gods gave the far pleasanter way into Italy. He invited the surplus
population of six tribes-the Bituriges, the Averni, the Senones, the Aedui,
the Ambarri, the Carnutes, and the Aulerci. Starting with an enormous force
of horse and foot, he came to the Tricastini. Beyond stretched the barrier
of the Alps, and I am not at all surprised that they appeared insurmountable,
for they had never yet been surmounted by any route, as far at least as
unbroken memory reaches, unless you choose to believe the fables about
Hercules. Whilst the mountain heights kept the Gauls fenced in as it were
there, and they were looking everywhere to see by what path they could
cross the peaks which reached to heaven and so enter a new world, they
were also prevented from advancing by a sense of religious obligation,
for news came that some strangers in quest of territory were being attacked
by the Salyi. These were Massilians who had sailed from Phocaea. The Gauls,
looking upon this as an omen of their own fortunes, went to their assistance
and enabled them to fortify the spot where they had first landed, without
any interference from the Salyi. After crossing the Alps by the passes
of the Taurini and the valley of the Douro, they defeated the Tuscans in
battle not far from the Ticinus, and when they learnt that the country
in which they had settled belonged to the Insubres, a name also borne by
a canton of the Haedui, they accepted the omen of the place and built a
city which they called Mediolanum.
5.35
Subsequently another body, consisting of the Cenomani, under the leadership
of Elitovius, followed the track of the former and crossed the Alps by
the same pass, with the goodwill of Bellovesus. They had their settlements
where the cities of Brixia and Verona now stand. The Libui came next and
the Saluvii; they settled near the ancient tribe of the Ligurian Laevi,
who lived about the Ticinus. Then the Boii and Lingones crossed the Pennine
Alps, and as all the country between the Po and the Alps was occupied,
they crossed the Po on rafts and expelled not only the Etruscans but the
Umbrians as well. They remained, however, north of the Apennines. Then
the Senones, the last to come, occupied the country from the Utis to the
Aesis. It was this last tribe, I find, that came to Clusium, and from there
to Rome; but it is uncertain whether they came alone or helped by contingents
from all the Cisalpine peoples. The people of Clusium were appalled by
this strange war, when they saw the numbers, the extraordinary appearance
of the men, and the kind of weapons they used, and heard that the legions
of Etruria had been often routed by them on both sides of the Po. Although
they had no claim on Rome, either on the ground of alliance or friendly
relations, unless it was that they had not defended their kinsmen at Veii
against the Romans, they nevertheless sent ambassadors to ask the senate
for assistance. Active assistance they did not obtain. The three sons of
M. Fabius Ambustus were sent as ambassadors to negotiate with the Gauls
and warn them not to attack those from whom they had suffered no injury,
who were allies and friends of Rome, and who, if circumstances compelled
them, must be defended by the armed force of Rome. They preferred that
actual war should be avoided, and that they should make acquaintance with
the Gauls, who were strangers to them, in peace rather than in arms.
5.36
A peaceable enough mission, had it not contained envoys of a violent temper,
more like Gauls than Romans. After they had delivered their instructions
in the council of the Gauls, the following reply was given: "Although we
are hearing the name of Romans for the first time, we believe nevertheless
that you are brave men, since the Clusines are imploring your assistance
in their time of danger. Since you prefer to protect your allies against
us by negotiation rather than by armed force, we on our side do not reject
the peace you offer, on condition that the Clusines cede to us Gauls, who
are in need of land, a portion of that territory which they possess to
a greater extent than they can cultivate. On any other conditions peace
cannot be granted. We wish to receive their reply in your presence, and
if territory is refused us we shall fight, whilst you are still here, that
you may report to those at home how far the Gauls surpass all other men
in courage." The Romans asked them what right they had to demand, under
threat of war, territory from those who were its owners, and what business
the Gauls had in Etruria. The haughty answer was returned that they carried
their right in their weapons, and that everything belonged to the brave.
Passions were kindled on both sides; they flew to arms and joined battle.
Thereupon, contrary to the law of nations, the envoys seized their weapons,
for the Fates were already urging Rome to its ruin. The fact of three of
the noblest and bravest Romans fighting in the front line of the Etruscan
army could not be concealed, so conspicuous was the valour of the strangers.
And what was more, Q. Fabius rode forward at a Gaulish chieftain, who was
impetuously charging right at the Etruscan standards, ran his spear through
his side and slew him. Whilst he was in the act of despoiling the body
the Gauls recognised him, and the word was passed through the whole army
that it was a Roman ambassador. Forgetting their rage against the Clusines,
and breathing threats against the Romans, they sounded the retreat.
Some were for an instant advance on Rome. The older men thought that
ambassadors should first be sent to Rome to make a formal complaint and
demand the surrender of the Fabii as satisfaction for the violation of
the law of nations. After the ambassadors had stated their case, the senate,
whilst disapproving of the conduct of the Fabii, and recognising the justice
of the demand which the barbarians made, were prevented by political interests
from placing their convictions on record in the form of a decree in the
case of men of such high rank. In order, therefore, that the blame for
any defeat which might be incurred in a war with the Gauls might not rest
on them alone, they referred the consideration of the Gauls' demands to
the people. Here personal popularity and influence had so much more weight
that the very men whose punishment was under discussion were elected consular
tribunes for the next year. The Gauls regarded this procedure as it deserved
to be regarded, namely, as an act of hostility, and after openly threatening
war, returned to their people. The other consular tribunes elected with
the Fabii were Q. Sulpicius Longus, Q. Servilius-for the fourth time-and
P. Cornelius Maluginensis.
5.37
To such an extent does Fortune blind men's eyes when she will not have
her threatened blows parried, that though such a weight of disaster was
hanging over the State, no special steps were taken to avert it. In the
wars against Fidenae and Veii and other neighbouring States, a Dictator
had on many occasions been nominated as a last resource. But now when an
enemy, never seen or even heard of before, was rousing up war from ocean
and the furthest corners of the world, no recourse was had to a Dictator,
no extraordinary efforts were made. Those men through whose recklessness
the war had been brought about were in supreme commands as tribunes, and
the levy they raised was not larger than had been usual in ordinary campaigns,
they even made light of the resorts as to the seriousness of the war. Meantime
the Gauls learnt that their embassy had been treated with contempt, and
that honours had actually been conferred upon men who had violated the
law of nations. Burning with rage-as a nation they cannot control their
passions-they seized their standards and hurriedly set out on their march.
At the sound of their tumult as they swept by, the affrighted cities flew
to arms and the country folk took to flight. Horses and men, spread far
and wide, covered an immense tract of country; wherever they went they
made it understood by loud shouts that they were going to Rome. But though
they were preceded by rumours and by messages from Clusium, and then from
one town after another, it was the swiftness of their approach that created
most alarm in Rome. An army hastily raised by a levy en masse marched out
to meet them. The two forces met hardly eleven miles from Rome, at a spot
where the Alia, flowing in a very deep channel from the Crustuminian mountains,
joins the river Tiber a little below the road to Crustumerium. The whole
country in front and around was now swarming with the enemy, who, being
as a nation given to wild outbreaks, had by their hideous howls and discordant
clamour filled everything with dreadful noise.
5.38
The consular tribunes had secured no position for their camp, had constructed
no entrenchments behind which to retire, and had shown as much disregard
of the gods as of the enemy, for they formed their order of battle without
having obtained favourable auspices. They extended their line on either
wing to prevent their being outflanked, but even so they could not make
their front equal to the enemy's, whilst by thus thinning their line they
weakened the centre so that it could hardly keep in touch. On their right
was a small eminence which they decided to hold with reserves, and this
disposition, though it was the beginning of the panic and flight, proved
to be the only means of safety to the fugitives. For Bennus, the Gaulish
chieftain, fearing some ruse in the scanty numbers of the enemy, and thinking
that the rising ground was occupied in order that the reserves might attack
the flank and rear of the Gauls while their front was engaged with the
legions, directed his attack upon the reserves, feeling quite certain that
if he drove them from their position, his overwhelming numbers would give
him an easy victory on the level ground. So not only Fortune but tactics
also were on the side of the barbarians. In the other army there was nothing
to remind one of Romans either amongst the generals or the private soldiers.
They were terrified, and all they thought about was flight, and so utterly
had they lost their heads that a far greater number fled to Veii, a hostile
city, though the Tiber lay in their way, than by the direct road to Rome,
to their wives and children. For a short time the reserves were protected
by their position. In the rest of the army, no sooner was the battle-shout
heard on their flank by those nearest to the reserves, and then by those
at the other end of the line heard in their rear, than they fled, whole
and unhurt, almost before they had seen their untried foe, without any
attempt to fight or even to give back the battle-shout. None were slain
while actually fighting; they were cut down from behind whilst hindering
one another's flight in a confused, struggling mass. Along the bank of
the Tiber, whither the whole of the left wing had fled, after throwing
away their arms, there was great slaughter. Many who were unable to swim
or were hampered by the weight of their cuirasses and other armour were
sucked down by the current. The greater number, however, reached Veii in
safety, yet not only were no troops sent from there to defend the City,
but not even was a messenger despatched to report the defeat to Rome. All
the men on the right wing, which had been stationed some distance from
the river, and nearer to the foot of the hill, made for Rome and took refuge
in the Citadel without even closing the City gates.
5.39
The Gauls for their part were almost dumb with astonishment at so sudden
and extraordinary a victory. At first they did not dare to move from the
spot, as though puzzled by what had happened, then they began to fear a
surprise, at last they began to despoil the dead, and, as their custom
is, to pile up the arms in heaps. Finally, as no hostile movement was anywhere
visible, they commenced their march and reached Rome shortly before sunset.
The cavalry, who had ridden on in front, reported that the gates were not
shut, there were no pickets on guard in front of them, no troops on the
walls. This second surprise, as extraordinary as the previous one, held
them back, and fearing a nocturnal conflict in the streets of an unknown
City, they halted and bivouacked between Rome and the Anio. Reconnoitring
parties were sent out to examine the circuit of the walls and the other
gates, and to ascertain what plans their enemies were forming in their
desperate plight. As for the Romans, since the greater number had fled
from the field in the direction of Veii instead of Rome, it was universally
believed that the only survivors were those who had found refuge in Rome,
and the mourning for all who were lost, whether living or dead, filled
the whole City with the cries of lamentation. But the sounds of private
grief were stifled by the general terror when it was announced that the
enemy were at hand. Presently the yells and wild war-whoops of the squadrons
were heard as they rode round the walls. All the time until the next day's
dawn the citizens were in such a state of suspense that they expected from
moment to moment an attack on the City. They expected it first when the
enemy approached the walls, for they would have remained at the Alia had
not this been their object; then just before sunset they thought the enemy
would attack because there was not much daylight left; and then when night
was fallen they imagined that the attack was delayed till then to create
all the greater terror. Finally, the approach of the next day deprived
them of their senses; the entrance of the enemy's standards within the
gates was the dreadful climax to fears that had known no respite.
But all through that night and the following day the citizens afforded
an utter contrast to those who had fled in such terror at the Alia. Realising
the hopelessness of attempting any defence of the City with the small numbers
that were left, they decided that the men of military age and the able-bodied
amongst the senators should, with their wives and children, withdraw into
the Citadel and the Capitol, and after getting in stores of arms and provisions,
should from that fortified position defend their gods, themselves, and
the great name of Rome. The Flamen and priestesses of Vesta were to carry
the sacred things of the State far away from the bloodshed and the fire,
and their sacred cult should not be abandoned as long as a single person
survived to observe it. If only the Citadel and the Capitol, the abode
of gods; if only the senate, the guiding mind of the national policy; if
only the men of military age survived the impending ruin of the City, then
the loss of the crowd of old men left behind in the City could be easily
borne; in any case, they were certain to perish. To reconcile the aged
plebeians to their fate, the men who had been consuls and enjoyed triumphs
gave out that they would meet their fate side by side with them, and not
burden the scanty force of fighting men with bodies too weak to carry arms
or defend their country.
5.40
Thus they sought to comfort one another-these aged men doomed to death.
Then they turned with words of encouragement to the younger men on their
way to the Citadel and Capitol, and solemnly commended to their strength
and courage all that was left of the fortunes of a City which for 360 years
had been victorious in all its wars. As those who were carrying with them
all hope and succour finally separated from those who had resolved not
to survive the fall of the City the misery of the scene was heightened
by the distress of the women. Their tears, their distracted running about
as they followed first their husbands then their sons, their imploring
appeals to them not to leave them to their fate, made up a picture in which
no element of human misery was wanting. A great many of them actually followed
their sons into the Capitol, none forbidding or inviting them, for though
to diminish the number of non-combatants would have helped the besieged,
it was too inhuman a step to take. Another crowd, mainly of plebeians,
for whom there was not room on so small a hill or food enough in the scanty
store of corn, poured out of the City in one continuous line and made for
the Janiculum. From there they dispersed, some over the country, others
towards the neighbouring cities, without any leader or concerted action,
each following his own aims, his own ideas. and all despairing of the public
safety. While all this was going on, the Flamen of Quirinus and the Vestal
virgins, without giving a thought to their own property, were deliberating
as to which of the sacred things they ought to take with them, and which
to leave behind, since they had not strength enough to carry all, and also
what place would be the safest for their custody. They thought best to
conceal what they could not take in earthen jars and bury them under the
chapel next to the Flamen's house, where spitting is now forbidden. The
rest they divided amongst them and carried off, taking the road which leads
by the Pons Sublicius to the Janiculum. Whilst ascending that hill they
were seen by L. Albinius, a Roman plebeian who with the rest of the crowd
who were unfit for war was leaving the City. Even in that critical hour
the distinction between sacred and profane was not forgotten. He had his
wife and children with him in a wagon, and it seemed to him an act of impiety
for him and his family to be seen in a vehicle whilst the national priests
should be trudging along on foot, bearing the sacred vessels of Rome. He
ordered his wife and children to get down, put the virgins and their sacred
burden in the wagon, and drove them to Caere, their destination.
5.41
After all the arrangements that circumstances permitted had been made for
the defence of the Capitol, the old men returned to their respective homes
and, fully prepared to die, awaited the coming of the enemy. Those who
had filled curule offices resolved to meet their fate wearing the insignia
of their former rank and honour and distinctions. They put on the splendid
dress which they wore when conducting the chariots of the gods or riding
in triumph through the City, and thus arrayed, they seated themselves in
their ivory chairs in front of their houses. Some writers record that,
led by M. Fabius, the Pontifex Maximus, they recited the solemn formula
in which they devoted themselves to death for their country and the Quirites.
As the Gauls were refreshed by a night's rest after a battle which had
at no point been seriously contested, and as they were not now taking the
City by assault or storm, their entrance the next day was not marked by
any signs of excitement or anger. Passing the Colline gate, which was standing
open, they came to the Forum and gazed round at the temples and at the
Citadel, which alone wore any appearance of war. They left there a small
body to guard against any attack from the Citadel or Capitol whilst they
were scattered, and then they dispersed in quest of plunder through streets
in which they did not meet a soul. Some poured in a body into all the houses
near, others made for the most distant ones, expecting to find them untouched
and full of spoils. Appalled by the very desolation of the place and dreading
lest some stratagem should surprise the stragglers, they returned to the
neighbourhood of the Forum in close order. The houses of the plebeians
were barricaded, the halls of the patricians stood open, but they felt
greater hesitation about entering the open houses than those which were
closed. They gazed with feelings of real veneration upon the men who were
seated in the porticoes of their mansions, not only because of the superhuman
magnificence of their apparel and their whole bearing and demeanour, but
also because of the majestic expression of their countenances, wearing
the very aspect of gods. So they stood, gazing at them as if they were
statues, till, as it is asserted, one of the patricians, M. Papirius, roused
the passion of a Gaul, who began to stroke his beard -which in those days
was universally worn long-by smiting him on the head with his ivory staff.
He was the first to be killed, the others were butchered in their chairs.
After this slaughter of the magnates, no living being was thenceforth spared;
the houses were rifled, and then set on fire.
5.42
Now-whether it was that the Gauls were not all animated by a passion for
the destruction of the City, or whether their chiefs had decided on the
one hand to present the spectacle of a few fires as a means of intimidating
the besieged into surrender from a desire to save their homes, and on the
other, by abstaining from a universal conflagration, hold what remained
of the City as a pledge by which to weaken their enemies' determination-certain
it is that the fires were far from being so indiscriminate or so extensive
as might be expected on the first day of a captured city. As the Romans
beheld from the Citadel the City filled with the enemy who were running
about in all the streets, while some new disaster was constantly occurring,
first in one quarter then in another, they could no longer control their
eyes and ears, let alone their thoughts and feelings. In whatever direction
their attention was drawn by the shouts of the enemy, the shrieks of the
women and boys, the roar of the flames, and the crash of houses falling
in, thither they turned their eyes and minds as though set by Fortune to
be spectators of their country's fall, powerless to protect anything left
of all they possessed beyond their lives. Above all others who have ever
stood a siege were they to be pitied, cut off as they were from the land
of their birth and seeing all that had been theirs in the possession of
the enemy. The day which had been spent in such misery was succeeded by
a night not one whit more restful, this again by a day of anguish, there
was not a single hour free from the sight of some ever fresh calamity.
And yet, though, weighed down and overwhelmed with so many misfortunes,
they had watched everything laid low in flame and ruin, they did not for
a moment relax their determination to defend by their courage the one spot
still left to freedom, the hill which they held, however small and poor
it might be. At length, as this state of things went on day by day, they
became as it were hardened to misery, and turned their thoughts from the
circumstances round them to their arms and the sword in their right hand,
which they gazed upon as the only things left to give them hope.
5.43
For some days the Gauls had been making useless war merely upon the houses
of the City. Now that they saw nothing surviving amidst the ashes and ruin
of the captured City except an armed foe whom all these disasters had failed
to appal, and who would entertain no thought of surrender unless force
were employed, they determined as a last resort to make an assault on the
Citadel. At daybreak the signal was given and the whole of their number
formed up in the Forum. Raising their battle-shout and locking their shields
together over their heads, they advanced. The Romans awaited the attack
without excitement or fear, the detachments were strengthened to guard
all the approaches, and in whatever direction they saw the enemy advancing,
there they posted a picked body of men and allowed the enemy to climb up,
for the steeper the ground they got on to, the easier they thought it would
be to fling them down the slope. About midway up the hill the Gauls halted;
then from the higher ground, which of itself almost hurled them against
the enemy, the Romans charged, and routed the Gauls with such loss and
overthrow that they never again attempted that mode of fighting either
with detachments or in full strength. All hope, therefore, of forcing a
passage by direct assault being laid aside, they made preparations for
a blockade. Up to that time they had never thought of one; all the corn
in the City had been destroyed in the conflagrations, whilst that in the
fields around had been hastily carried off to Veii since the occupation
of the City. So the Gauls decided to divide their forces; one division
was to invest the Citadel, the other to forage amongst the neighbouring
States so that they could supply corn to those who were keeping up the
investment. 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. Suddenly he heard that the Gaulish army was approaching, and that
the Ardeates were engaged in anxious deliberation about it. He had generally
avoided the council meetings, but now, seized with an inspiration nothing
short of divine, he hastened to the assembled councillors and addressed
them as follows:
5.44
"Men of Ardea! friends of old, and now my fellow-citizens-for this your
kindness has granted, this my fortunes have compelled-let none of you imagine
that I have come here in forgetfulness of my position. The force of circumstances
and the common danger constrain every man to contribute what help he can
to meet the crisis. When shall I ever be able to show my gratitude for
all the obligations you have conferred if I fail in my duty now? When shall
I ever be of any use to you if not in war? It was by that that I held my
position in my native City as having never known defeat; in times of peace
my ungrateful countrymen banished me. Now the chance is offered to you,
men of Ardea, of proving your gratitude for all the kindness that Rome
has shown you-you have not forgotten how great it is, nor need I bring
it up against those who so well remember it-the chance of winning for your
city a vast reputation for war at the expense of our common foe. Those
who are coming here in loose and disorderly fashion are a race to whom
nature has given bodies and minds distinguished by bulk rather than by
resolution and endurance. It is for this reason that they bring into every
battle a terrifying appearance rather than real force. Take the disaster
of Rome as a proof. They captured the City because it lay open to them;
a small force repelled them from the Citadel and Capitol. Already the irksomeness
of an investment has proved too much for them, they are giving it up and
wandering through the fields in straggling parties. When they are gorged
with food and the wine they drink so greedily, they throw themselves down
like wild beasts, on the approach of night, in all directions by the streams,
without entrenching themselves, or setting any outposts or pickets on guard.
And now after their success they are more careless than ever. If it is
your intention to defend your walls and not to allow all this country to
become a second Gaul, seize your arms and muster in force by the first
watch and follow me to what will be a massacre, not a battle. If I do not
deliver them, whilst enchained by sleep, into your hands to be slaughtered
like cattle, I am ready to accept the same fate in Ardea which I met with
in Rome."
5.45
Friends and foes were alike persuaded that nowhere else was there at that
time so great a master of war. After the council broke up they refreshed
themselves and waited eagerly for the signal to be given. When it was given
in the silence of the night they were at the gates ready for Camillus.
After marching no great distance from the city they came upon the camp
of the Gauls, unprotected, as he had said, and carelessly open on every
side. They raised a tremendous shout and rushed in; there was no battle,
it was everywhere sheer massacre; the Gauls, defenceless and dissolved
in sleep, were butchered as they lay. Those in the furthest part of the
camp, however, startled from their lairs, and not knowing whence or what
the attack was, fled in terror, and some actually rushed, unawares, amongst
their assailants. A considerable number were carried into the neighbourhood
of Antium, where they were surrounded by the townsmen. A similar slaughter
of Etruscans took place in the district of Veii. So far were these people
from feeling sympathy with a City which for almost four centuries had been
their neighbour, and was now crushed by an enemy never seen or heard of
before, that they chose that time for making forays into Roman territory,
and after loading themselves with plunder, intended to attack Veii, the
bulwark and only surviving hope of the Roman name. The Roman soldiers at
Veii had seen them dispersed through the fields, and afterwards, with their
forces collected, driving their booty in front of them. Their first feelings
were those of despair, then indignation and rage took possession of them.
"Are even the Etruscans," they exclaimed, "from whom we have diverted the
arms of Gaul on to ourselves, to find amusement in our disasters?" With
difficulty they restrained themselves from attacking them. Caedicius, a
centurion whom they had placed in command, induced them to defer operations
till nightfall. The only thing lacking was a commander like Camillus, in
all other respects the ordering of the attack and the success achieved
were the same as if he had been present. Not content with this, they made
some prisoners who had survived the night's massacre act as guides, and,
led by them, surprised another body of Tuscans at the salt works and inflicted
a still greater loss upon them. Exultant at this double victory they returned
to Veii.
5.46
During these days there was little going on in Rome; the investment was
maintained for the most part with great slackness; both sides were keeping
quiet, the Gauls being mainly intent on preventing any of the enemy from
slipping through their lines. Suddenly a Roman warrior drew upon himself
the admiration of foes and friends alike. The Fabian house had an annual
sacrifice on the Quirinal, and C. Fabius Dorsuo, wearing his toga in the
"Gabine cincture," and bearing in his hands the sacred vessels, came down
from the Capitol, passed through the middle of the hostile pickets, unmoved
by either challenge or threat, and reached the Quirinal. There he duly
performed all the solemn rites and returned with the same composed expression
and gait, feeling sure of the divine blessing, since not even the fear
of death had made him neglect the worship of the gods; finally he re-entered
the Capitol and rejoined his comrades. Either the Gauls were stupefied
at his extraordinary boldness, or else they were restrained by religious
feelings, for as a nation they are by no means inattentive to the claims
of religion. At Veii there was a steady accession of strength as well as
courage. Not only were the Romans who had been dispersed by the defeat
and the capture of the City gathering there, but volunteers from Latium
also flocked to the place that they might be in for a share of the booty.
The time now seemed ripe for the recovery of their native City out of the
hands of the enemy. But though the body was strong it lacked a head. The
very place reminded men of Camillus, the majority of the soldiers had fought
successfully under his auspices and leadership, and Caedicius declared
that he would give neither gods nor men any pretext for terminating his
command; he would rather himself, remembering his subordinate rank, ask
for a commander-in-chief. It was decided by general consent that Camillus
should be invited from Ardea, but the senate was to be consulted first;
to such an extent was everything regulated by reverence for law; the proper
distinctions of things were observed, even though the things themselves
were almost lost.
Frightful risk would have to be incurred in passing through the enemies'
outposts. Pontius Cominius, a fine soldier, offered himself for the task.
Supporting himself on a cork float, he was carried down the Tiber to the
City. Selecting the nearest way from the bank of the river, he scaled a
precipitous rock which, owing to its steepness, the enemy had left unguarded,
and found his way into the Capitol. On being brought before the supreme
magistrates he delivered his instructions from the army. After receiving
the decree of the senate, which was to the effect that after being recalled
from exile by the comitia curiata, Camillus should be forthwith nominated
Dictator by order of the people, and the soldiers should have the commander
they wanted, the messenger returned by the same route and made the best
of his way to Veii. A deputation was sent to Ardea to conduct Camillus
to Veii. The law was passed in the comitia curiata annulling his banishment
and nominating him Dictator, and it is, I think, more likely that he did
not start from Ardea until he learnt that this law had been passed, because
he could not change his domicile without the sanction of the people, nor
could he take the auspices in the name of the army until he had been duly
nominated Dictator.
5.47
While these proceedings were taking place at Veii, the Citadel and Capitol
of Rome were in imminent danger. The Gauls had either noticed the footprints
left by the messenger from Veii, or had themselves discovered a comparatively
easy ascent up the cliff to the temple of Carmentis. Choosing a night when
there was a faint glimmer of light, they sent an unarmed man in advance
to try the road; then handing one another their arms where the path was
difficult, and supporting each other or dragging each other up as the ground
required, they finally reached the summit. So silent had their movements
been that not only were they unnoticed by the sentinels, but they did not
even wake the dogs, an animal peculiarly sensitive to nocturnal sounds.
But they did not escape the notice of the geese, which were sacred to Juno
and had been left untouched in spite of the extremely scanty supply of
food. This proved the safety of the garrison, for their clamour and the
noise of their wings aroused M. Manlius, the distinguished soldier, who
had been consul three years before. He snatched up his weapons and ran
to call the rest to arms, and while the rest hung back he struck with the
boss of his shield a Gaul who had got a foothold on the summit and knocked
him down. He fell on those behind and upset them, and Manlius slew others
who had laid aside their weapons and were clinging to the rocks with their
hands. By this time others had joined him, and they began to dislodge the
enemy with volleys of stones and javelins till the whole body fell helplessly
down to the bottom. When the uproar had died away, the remainder of the
night was given to sleep, as far as was possible under such disturbing
circumstances, whilst their peril, though past, still made them anxious.
At daybreak the soldiers were summoned by sound of trumpet to a council
in the presence of the tribunes, when the due rewards for good conduct
and for bad would be awarded. First, Manlius was commended for his bravery,
and rewarded not by the tribunes alone but by the soldiers as a body, for
every man brought to him at his quarters, which were in the Citadel, half
a pound of meal and a quarter of a pint of wine. This does not sound much,
but the scarcity made it an overwhelming proof of the affection felt for
him, since each stinted himself of food and contributed in honour of that
one man what had to be taken from his necessaries of life. Next, the sentinels
who had been on duty at the spot where the enemy had climbed up without
their noticing it were called forward. Q. Sulpicius, the consular tribune,
declared that he should punish them all by martial law. He was, however,
deterred from this course by the shouts of the soldiers, who all agreed
in throwing the blame upon one man. As there was no doubt of his guilt,
he was amidst general approval flung from the top of the cliff. A stricter
watch was now kept on both sides; by the Gauls because it had become known
that messengers were passing between Rome and Veii; by the Romans, who
had not forgotten the danger they were in that night.
5.48
But the greatest of all the evils arising from the siege and the war was
the famine which began to afflict both armies, whilst the Gauls were also
visited with pestilence. They had their camp on low-lying ground between
the hills, which had been scorched by the fires and was full of malaria,
and the least breath of wind raised not dust only but ashes. Accustomed
as a nation to wet and cold, they could not stand this at all, and tortured
as they were by heat and suffocation, disease became rife among them, and
they died off like sheep. They soon grew weary of burying their dead singly,
so they piled the bodies into heaps and burned them indiscriminately, and
made the locality notorious; it was afterwards known as the Busta Gallica.
Subsequently a truce was made with the Romans, and with the sanction of
the commanders, the soldiers held conversations with each other. The Gauls
were continually bringing up the famine and calling upon them to yield
to necessity and surrender. To remove this impression it is said that bread
was thrown in many places from the Capitol into the enemies' pickets. But
soon the famine could neither be concealed nor endured any longer. So,
at the very time that the Dictator was raising his own levy at Ardea, and
ordering his Master of the Horse, L. Valerius, to withdraw his army from
Veii, and making preparations for a sufficient force with which to attack
the enemy on equal terms, the army of the Capitol, worn out with incessant
duty, but still superior to all human ills, had nature not made famine
alone insuperable by them, were day by day eagerly watching for signs of
any help from the Dictator. At last not only food but hope failed them.
Whenever the sentinels went on duty, their feeble frames almost crushed
by the weight of their armour, the army insisted that they should either
surrender or purchase their ransom on the best terms they could, for the
Gauls were throwing out unmistakable hints that they could be induced to
abandon the siege for a moderate consideration. A meeting of the senate
was now held, and the consular tribunes were empowered to make terms. A
conference took place between Q. Sulpicius, the consular tribune, and Brennus,
the Gaulish chieftain, and an agreement was arrived at by which 1000 lbs.
of gold was fixed as the ransom of a people destined ere long to rule the
world. This humiliation was great enough as it was, but it was aggravated
by the despicable meanness of the Gauls, who produced unjust weights, and
when the tribune protested, the insolent Gaul threw his sword into the
scale, with an exclamation intolerable to Roman ears, "Woe to the vanquished!"
5.49
But gods and men alike prevented the Romans from living as a ransomed people.
By a dispensation of Fortune it came about that before the infamous ransom
was completed and all the gold weighed out, whilst the dispute was still
going on, the Dictator appeared on the scene and ordered the gold to be
carried away and the Gauls to move off. As they declined to do so, and
protested that a definite compact had been made, he informed them that
when he was once appointed Dictator no compact was valid which was made
by an inferior magistrate without his sanction. He then warned the Gauls
to prepare for battle, and ordered his men to pile their baggage into a
heap, get their weapons ready, and win their country back by steel, not
by gold. They must keep before their eyes the temples of the gods, their
wives and children, and their country's soil, disfigured by the ravages
of war-everything, in a word, which it was their duty to defend, to recover
or to avenge. He then drew up his men in the best formation that the nature
of the ground, naturally uneven and now half burnt, admitted, and made
every provision that his military skill suggested for securing the advantage
of position and movement for his men. The Gauls, alarmed at the turn things
had taken, seized their weapons and rushed upon the Romans with more rage
than method. Fortune had now turned, divine aid and human skill were on
the side of Rome. At the very first encounter the Gauls were routed as
easily as they had conquered at the Alia. In a second and more sustained
battle at the eighth milestone on the road to Gabii, where they had rallied
from their flight, they were again defeated under the generalship and auspices
of Camillus. Here the carnage was complete; the camp was taken, and not
a single man was left to carry tidings of the disaster. After thus recovering
his country from the enemy, the Dictator returned in triumph to the City,
and amongst the homely jests which soldiers are wont to bandy, he was called
in no idle words of praise, "A Romulus," "The Father of his country," "The
Second Founder of the City." He had saved his country in war, and now that
peace was restored, he proved, beyond all doubt, to be its saviour again,
when he prevented the migration to Veii. The tribunes of the plebs were
urging this course more strongly than ever now that the City was burnt,
and the plebs were themselves more in favour of it. This movement and the
pressing appeal which the senate made to him not to abandon the republic
while the position of affairs was so doubtful, determined him not to lay
down his dictatorship after his triumph.
5.50
As he was most scrupulous in discharging religious obligations, the very
first measures he introduced into the senate were those relating to the
immortal gods. He got the senate to pass a resolution containing the following
provisions: All the temples, so far as they had been in possession of the
enemy, were to be restored and purified, and their boundaries marked out
afresh; the ceremonies of purification were to be ascertained from the
sacred books by the duumvirs. Friendly relations as between State and State
were to be established with the people of Caere, because they had sheltered
the sacred treasures of Rome and her priests, and by this kindly act had
prevented any interruption to the divine worship. Capitoline Games were
to be instituted, because Jupiter Optimus Maximus had protected his dwelling-place
and the Citadel of Rome in the time of danger, and the Dictator was to
form a college of priests for that object from amongst those who were living
on the Capitol and in the Citadel. Mention was also made of offering propitiation
for the neglect of the nocturnal Voice which was heard announcing disaster
before the war began, and orders were given for a temple to be built in
the Nova Via to AIUS LOCUTIUS. The gold which had been rescued from the
Gauls and that which during the confusion had been brought from the other
temples, had been collected in the temple of Jupiter. As no one remembered
what proportion ought to be returned to the other temples, the whole was
declared sacred, and ordered to be deposited under the throne of Jupiter.
The religious feeling of the citizens had already been shown in the fact
that when there was not sufficient gold in the treasury to make up the
sum agreed upon with the Gauls, they accepted the contribution of the matrons,
to avoid touching that which was sacred. The matrons received public thanks,
and the distinction was conferred upon them of having funeral orations
pronounced over them as in the case of men. It was not till after those
matters were disposed of which concerned the gods, and which therefore
were within the province of the senate, that Camillus' attention was drawn
to the tribunes, who were making incessant harangues to persuade the plebs
to leave the ruins and migrate to Veii, which was ready for them. At last
he went up to the Assembly, followed by the whole of the senate, and delivered
the following speech:-
5.51
"So painful to me, Quirites, are controversies with the tribunes of the
plebs, that all the time I lived at Ardea my one consolation in my bitter
exile was that I was far removed from these conflicts. As far as they are
concerned I would never have returned even if you recalled me by a thousand
senatorial decrees and popular votes. And now that I am returned, it was
not change of mind on my part but change of fortune on yours that compelled
me. The question at stake was whether my country was to remain unshaken
in her seat, not whether I was to be in my country at any cost. Even now
I would gladly remain quiet and hold my peace, if I were not fighting another
battle for my country. To be wanting to her, as long as life shall last,
would be for other men a disgrace, for Camillus a downright sin. Why did
we win her back, why did we, when she was beset by foes, deliver her from
their hands, if, now that she is recovered, we desert her? Whilst the Gauls
were victorious and the whole of the City in their power, the gods and
men of Rome still held, still dwelt in, the Capitol and the Citadel. And
now that the Romans are victorious and the City recovered, are the Citadel
and Capitol to be abandoned? Shall our good fortune inflict greater desolation
on this City than our evil fortune wrought? Even had there been no religious
institutions established when the City was founded and passed down from
hand to hand, still, so clearly has Providence been working in the affairs
of Rome at this time, that I for one would suppose that all neglect of
divine worship has been banished from human life. Look at the alternations
of prosperity and adversity during these late years; you will find that
all went well with us when we followed the divine guidance, and all was
disastrous when we neglected it. Take first of all the war with Veii. For
what a number of years and with what immense exertions it was carried on!
It did not come to an end before the water was drawn off from the Alban
Lake at the bidding of the gods. What, again, of this unparalleled disaster
to our City? Did it burst upon us before the Voice sent from heaven announcing
the approach of the Gauls was treated with contempt, before the law of
nations had been outraged by our ambassadors, before we had, in the same
irreligious spirit, condoned that outrage when we ought to have punished
it? And so it was that, defeated, captured, ransomed, we received such
punishment at the hands of gods and men that we were a lesson to the whole
world. Then, in our adversity, we bethought us of our religious duties.
We fled to the gods in the Capitol, to the seat of Jupiter Optimus Maximus;
amidst the ruin of all that we possessed we concealed some of the sacred
treasures in the earth, the rest we carried out of the enemies' sight to
neighbouring cities; abandoned as we were by gods and men, we still did
not intermit the divine worship. It is because we acted thus that they
have restored to us our native City, and victory and the renown in war
which we had lost; but against the enemy, who, blinded by avarice, broke
treaty and troth in the weighing of the gold, they have launched terror
and rout and death.
5.52
"When you see such momentous consequences for human affairs flowing from
the worship or the neglect of the gods, do you not realise, Quirites, how
great a sin we are meditating whilst hardly yet emerging from the shipwreck
caused by our former guilt and fall? We possess a City which was founded
with the divine approval as revealed in auguries and auspices; in it there
is not a spot which is not full of religious associations and the presence
of a god; the regular sacrifices have their appointed places no less than
they have their appointed days. Are you, Quirites, going to desert all
these gods-those whom the State honours, those whom you worship, each at
your own altars? How far does your action come up to that of the glorious
youth C. Fabius, during the siege, which was watched by the enemy with
no less admiration than by you, when he went down from the Citadel through
the missiles of the Gauls and celebrated the appointed sacrifice of his
house on the Quirinal? Whilst the sacred rites of the patrician houses
are not interrupted even in time of war, are you content to see the State
offices of religion and the gods of Rome abandoned in a time of peace?
Are the Pontiffs and Flamens to be more neglectful of their public functions
than a private individual is of the religious obligations of his house?
"Some one may possibly reply that we can either discharge these duties
at Veii or send priests to discharge them here. But neither of these things
can be done if the rites are to be duly performed. Not to mention all the
ceremonies or all the deities individually, where else, I would ask, but
in the Capitol can the couch of Jupiter be prepared on the day of his festal
banquet? What need is there for me to speak about the perpetual fire of
Vesta, and the Image-the pledge of our dominion- which is in the safe keeping
of her temple? And you, Mars Gradivus, and you, Father Quirinus, what need
to speak of your sacred shields? Is it your wish that all these holy things,
coeval with the City, some of even greater antiquity, should be abandoned
and left on unhallowed soil? See, too, how great the difference between
us and our ancestors. They left to us certain rites and ceremonies which
we can only duly perform on the Alban Mount or at Lavinium. If it was a
matter of religion that these rites should not be transferred from cities
which belonged to an enemy to us at Rome, shall we transfer them from here
to the enemies' city, Veii, without offending heaven? Call to mind, I pray
you, how often ceremonies are repeated, because through negligence or accident
some detail of the ancestral ritual has been omitted. What remedy was there
for the republic, when crippled by the war with Veii after the portent
of the Alban Lake, except the revival of sacred rites and the taking of
fresh auspices? And more than that, as though after all we reverenced the
ancient faiths, we have transferred foreign deities to Rome, and have established
new ones. Queen Juno was lately carried from Veii and dedicated on the
Aventine, and how splendidly that day was celebrated through the grand
enthusiasm of our matrons! We ordered a temple to be built to Aius Locutius
because of the divine Voice which was heard in the Via Nova. We have added
to our annual festivals the Capitoline Games, and on the authority of the
senate we have founded a college of priests to superintend them. What necessity
was there for all these undertakings if we intended to leave the City of
Rome at the same time as the Gauls, if it was not of our own free will
that we remained in the Capitol through all those months, but the fear
of the enemy which shut us up there?
"We are speaking about the temples and the sacred rites and ceremonies.
But what, pray, about the priests? Do you not realise what a heinous sin
will be committed? For the Vestals surely there is only that one abode,
from which nothing has ever removed them but the capture of the City. The
Flamen of Jupiter is forbidden by divine law to stay a single night outside
the City. Are you going to make these functionaries priests of Veii instead
of priests of Rome? Will thy Vestals desert thee, Vesta ? Is the Flamen
to bring fresh guilt upon himself and the State for every night he sojourns
abroad? Think of the other proceedings which, after the auspices have been
duly taken, we conduct almost entirely within the City boundaries-to what
oblivion, to what neglect are we consigning them! The Assembly of the Curies,
which confers the supreme command, the Assembly of the Centuries, in which
you elect the consuls and consular tribunes- where can they be held and
the auspices taken except where they are wont to be held? Shall we transfer
these to Veii, or are the people, when an Assembly is to be held, to meet
at vast inconvenience in this City after it has been deserted by gods and
men?
5.53
"But, you may say, it is obvious that the whole City is polluted, and no
expiatory sacrifices can purify it; circumstances themselves compel us
to quit a City devastated by fire, and all in ruins, and migrate to Veii
where everything is untouched. We must not distress the poverty-stricken
plebs by building here. I fancy, however, Quirites, that it is evident
to you, without my telling you, that this suggestion is a plausible excuse
rather than a true reason. You remember how this same question of migrating
to Veii was mooted before the Gauls came, whilst public and private buildings
were still safe and the City stood secure. And mark you, tribunes, how
widely my view differs from yours. Even supposing it ought not to have
been done then, you think that at any rate it ought to be done now, whereas-do
not express surprise at what I say before you have grasped its purport-I
am of opinion that even had it been right to migrate then when the City
was wholly unhurt, we ought not to abandon these ruins now. For at that
time the reason for our migrating to a captured city would have been a
victory glorious for us and for our posterity, but now this migration would
be glorious for the Gauls, but for us shame and bitterness. For we shall
be thought not to have left our native City as victors, but to have lost
it because we were vanquished; it will look as though it was the flight
at the Alia, the capture of the City, the beleaguering of the Capitol,
which had laid upon us the necessity of deserting our household gods and
dooming ourselves to banishment from a place which we were powerless to
defend. Was it possible for Gauls to overthrow Rome and shall it be deemed
impossible for Romans to restore it?
"What more remains except for them to come again with fresh forces-we
all know that their numbers surpass belief-and elect to live in this City
which they captured, and you abandoned, and for you to allow them to do
so? Why, if it were not Gauls who were doing this, but your old enemies,
the Aequi and Volscians, who migrated to Rome, would you wish them to be
Romans and you Veientines? Or would you rather that this were a desert
of your own than the city of your foes? I do not see what could be more
infamous. Are you prepared to allow this crime and endure this disgrace
because of the trouble of building? If no better or more spacious dwelling
could be put up in the whole City of Rome than that hut of our Founder,
would it not be better to live in huts after the manner of herdsmen and
peasants, surrounded by our temples and our gods, than to go forth as a
nation of exiles? Our ancestors, shepherds and refugees, built a new City
in a few years, when there was nothing in these parts but forests and swamps;
are we shirking the labour of rebuilding what has been burnt, though the
Citadel and Capitol are intact, and the temples of the gods still stand?
What we would each have done in our own case, had our houses caught fire,
are we as a community refusing to do now that the City has been burnt?
5.54
"Well now, suppose that either through crime or accident a fire broke out
in Veii, and the flames, as is quite possible, fanned by the wind, consumed
a great part of the city, are we going to look out for Fidenae or Gabii,
or any other city you please, as a place to which to migrate? Has our native
soil, this land we call our motherland, so slight a hold upon us? Does
our love for our country cling only to its buildings? Unpleasant as it
is to recall my sufferings, still more your injustice, I will nevertheless
confess to you that whenever I thought of my native City all these things
came into my mind-the hills, the plains, the Tiber, this landscape so familiar
to me, this sky beneath which I was born and bred-and I pray that they
may now move you by the affection they inspire to remain in your City,
rather than that, after you have abandoned it, they should make you pine
with home-sickness. Not without good reason did gods and men choose this
spot as the site of a City, with its bracing hills, its commodious river,
by means of which the produce of inland countries may be brought down and
over-sea supplies obtained; a sea near enough for all useful purposes,
but not so near as to be exposed to danger from foreign fleets; a district
in the very centre of Italy-in a word, a position singularly adapted by
nature for the expansion of a city. The mere size of so young a City is
a proof of this. This is the 365th year of the City, Quirites, yet in all
the wars you have for so long been carrying on amongst all those ancient
nations-not to mention the separate cities-the Volscians in conjunction
with the Aequi and all their strongly fortified towns, the whole of Etruria,
so powerful by land and sea, and stretching across Italy from sea to sea-none
have proved a match for you in war. This has hitherto been your Fortune;
what sense can there be-perish the thought!-in making trial of another
Fortune? Even granting that your valour can pass over to another spot,
certainly the good Fortune of this place cannot be transferred. Here is
the Capitol where in the old days a human head was found, and this was
declared to be an omen, for in that place would be fixed the head and supreme
sovereign power of the world. Here it was that whilst the Capitol was being
cleared with augural rites, Juventas and Terminus, to the great delight
of your fathers, would not allow themselves to be moved. Here is the Fire
of Vesta; here are the Shields sent down from heaven; here are all the
gods, who, if you remain, will be gracious to you."
5.55
It is stated that this speech of Camillus made a profound impression, particularly
that part of it which appealed to the religious feelings. But whilst the
issue was still uncertain, a sentence, opportunely uttered, decided the
matter. The senate, shortly afterwards, were discussing the question in
the Curia Hostilia, and some cohorts returning from guard happened to be
marching through the Forum. They had just entered the Comitium, when the
centurion shouted, "Halt, standard-bearer! Plant the standard; it will
be best for us to stop here." On hearing these words, the senators rushed
out of the Senate-house, exclaiming that they welcomed the omen, and the
people crowding round them gave an emphatic approval. The proposed measure
for migration was dropped, and they began to rebuild the City in a haphazard
way. Tiling was provided at the public expense; every one was given the
right to cut stone and timber where he pleased, after giving security that
the building should be completed within the year. In their haste, they
took no trouble to plan out straight streets; as all distinctions of ownership
in the soil were lost, they built on any ground that happened to be vacant.
That is the reason why the old sewers, which originally were carried under
public ground, now run everywhere under private houses, and why the conformation
of the City resembles one casually built upon by settlers rather than one
regularly planned out.
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