21.
The vast multitude who went filled the camp. Then the dictator, going forth after taking the auspices, having issued orders that the soldiers should take arms, says, “Under thy guidance, O Pythian Apollo, and inspired by thy divinity, I proceed to destroy the city of Veii, and I vow to thee the tenth part of the spoil.1 Thee also, queen Juno, who
[3]
inhabitest Veii, I beseech, that thou wilt accompany us, when [p. 349]victors, into our city, soon to be thine, where a temple worthy of thy majesty shall receive thee.”2 Having offered up these prayers, there being more than a sufficient number of men, he assaults the city on every quarter, in order that the perception of the danger threatening them from the mine might be diminished. The Veientians, ignorant that they had already been doomed by
[5??]
their own prophets, already by foreign oracles, that the gods had been already invited to a share in their plunder, that some, called out by vows from their city, were looking towards the temple of the enemy and new habitations, and that they were spending that the last day [of heir existence], fearing nothing less than that, their walls being undermined, the citadel was now filled with enemies, briskly run to the walls in arms, wondering what could be the reason that, when no one had stirred from the Roman posts for so many days, then, as if struck with sudden fury, they should run heedlessly to the walls. A fabulous narrative
[6]
is introduced here, that, when the king of the Veientians was offering sacrifice, the voice of the aruspex, declaring that the victory was
[7]
given to him who should cut up the entrails of that victim, having been heard in the mine, incited the Roman soldiers to burst open the mine, carry off the entrails, and bring them to the dictator. But in matters of such remote antiquity, I should deem it sufficient, if matters bearing a resemblance to truth
[8]
be admitted as true. Such stories as this, more suited to display on the stage, which delights in the marvellous, than to historic authenticity, it is not worth while either to affirm or refute. The mine, at this time full of chosen men, suddenly discharged the armed troops in the temple of Juno which was in the citadel of Veii.3 Some of them attack the rear of the enemy on the walls; some tore open the bars of the gates; some set fire to
[10]
the houses, while stones and tiles were thrown down from the roofs by the women and slaves. Clamour, consisting of the various voices of the assailants and [p. 350]the terrified, mixed with the crying of women and children, fills every place. The soldiers being in an instant beaten off from the walls, and the gates being thrown open, some entering in bodies, others scaling the deserted walls, the city become filled with enemies, fighting takes place in every quarter. Then, much slaughter being now made, the ardour of the fight abates; and the dictator commands the heralds to proclaim that the unarmed should be spared. This put an end to bloodshed. Then laying down their arms, they commenced to surrender; and, by permission of the dictator, the soldiers disperse in quest
[11]
of plunder. And when this was collected before his eyes, greater in quantity and in the value of the effects than he had hoped or expected, the dictator, raising his hands to heaven, is said
[12??]
to have prayed, “that, if his success and that of the Roman people seemed excessive to any of the gods and men, it might be permitted to the Roman people to appease that jealousy with as little detriment as possible to himself and the Roman people.”4 It is recorded that, when turning about during this prayer, he stumbled and fell; and to persons judging of the matter by subsequent events, that seemed to refer as an omen to Camillus' own condemnation, and the disaster
[17??]
of the city of Rome being akin, which happened a few years after. And that day was consumed in [p. 351]slaughtering the enemy and in the plunder of this most opulent city.
1 “This [2] vow frequently occurs in Grecian history, like that made of the Persian booty, but this is the only instance in the history of Rome.” —Niebuhr, vol. ii. 239.
2 Evocatos. When the Romans besieged a town, and thought themselves [4] sure of taking it, they used solemnly to call out of it the gods in whose protection the place was supposed to be.
3 The idea of the Romans working a mine, even through the soil of Veii, so as to be sure of reaching not only the town and the citadel, and even the temple, is considered by Niebuhr as extremely ridiculous. He deems the circumstance [9] a clear proof of the fiction that attaches to the entire story of the capture of Veii. The whole seems to be an imitation of the siege of Troy. —Gunne.
4 The passage in the original, in the generality of editions, [13??] is read as follows: ut eam invidiam lenire, quàm minimo suo private incommodo publicoque, populo Romano liceret: i. e. that both himself and the Roman people may get over the evil consequences of the jealousy of the gods with as little detriment as possible to either: populi Romani seems preferable here: i. e. “that [14??] it might be allowed to lighten that jealousy, by the least possible injury to his own private interest, and to the public interests of the Roman people.” There were certainly two persons concerned in the invidia and incommodum here, Camillus himself, and the Roman people; to whom respectively the damnatio, and clades captae urbis, afterwards mentioned, obviously refer. Some editions read, invidiam lenire suo privato incommodo, quàm minimo publico populi Romani liceret. This is the reading [15??] adopted by Crevier; i. e. “to appease the jealousy by his own private loss, rather than the least public loss.” This is more in accordance with the account given of Camillus by Plutarch, and contains a sentiment certainly more worthy both of Livy and of Camillus. Sentiments ascribed by Plutarch to Camillus, will have suo private incommodo, quam minimo publico P. R., giving him the patriotic wish to render light the odium by his own private loss, [16??] rather than the least public loss; or, by his own private loss, but if not, by as small a public loss as possible. Pop-li R-i, better than o, o, as liceret would, in the latter case, apply only to one of the parties; in the former both are understood.
Livy. History of Rome by Titus Livius, the first eight Books. literally translated, with notes and illustrations, by. D. Spillan. York Street, Covent Garden, London. Henry G. Bohn. John Child and son, printers. 1857. 1.
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