Heu, Veii veteres, et vos tum regna fuistis,
Et vestro posita est aurea sella foro:
Nunc intra muros pastoris bucina lenti
Cantat, et in vestris ossibus arva metunt. 30
PROPERTIUS, IV. (V.) x. 27-30.
[Linenotes:
27. +Veii+ (Isola Farnese) on R. Cremera, about 12 miles N.W. of
Rome.
28. +aurea sella+, i.e. the official seat of the King. Cf. the Sella
Curulis at Rome, introduced from Etruria.
29. +bucina+ = _horn_.
30. +et ... metunt+ = _and reapers gather the harvests from fields_
(+metunt arva+) _enriched by the bones of your buried heroes_ (+in
ossibus vestris+).]
B. _The Rise of the Alban Lake._
Quid, quod in annalibus habemus, Veienti {5} bello, cum lacus Albanus
praeter modum crevisset, Veientem quemdam ad nos hominem nobilem
profugisse, eumque dixisse, ex fatis, quae Veientes scripta haberent,
Veios capi non posse, dum lacus is redundaret: et, si lacus emissus
lapsu et cursu suo ad {10} mare profluxisset, perniciosum populo Romano:
sin autem ita esset eductus, ut ad mare pervenire non posset, tum
salutare nostris fore? Ex quo illa admirabilis a maioribus Albanae aquae
facta deductio est. Cum autem Veientes bello fessi legatos ad {15}
senatum misissent, tum ex his quidam dixisse dicitur, non omnia illum
transfugam ausum esse senatu dicere: in iisdem enim fatis scriptum
Veientes habere, ‘Fore ut brevi a Gallis Roma caperetur:’ quod quidem
sexennio post Veios captos esse factum {20} videmus.
CICERO, _de Divinatione_, I. xliv. 100.
[Linenotes:
5. +in annalibus+, e.g. in Livy, v. 15.
6. +crevisset+, perh. partly due to the excessive snows of the
preceding winter, 397 B.C.
7. +profugisse.+ Livy says he was treacherously made prisoner.
8-9. +ex fatis ... haberent+, i.e. the Etruscan +Libri fatales+,
_Books of fate_, cf. the +Libri Sibyllini+ = the Roman Books of
fate.
10. +lapsu et cursu suo+ = _in its natural course and stream_.
14. +deductio+ = _draining_ (lit. _a leading off_). The tunnel then
cut still carries off the superfluous waters of the lake.
20. +sexennio post+ = _six years after_, i.e. 390 B.C. For the 10
years’ siege of Veii, cf. the Trojan War.]
+Reference.+ Plutarch, _Camillus_, iii.-v. Livy, v. 15.
D21
THE WAR WITH VEII, 405-396 B.C. (3)
_The Conquest of Veii._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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