The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the RepublicGilman, Arthur
History
The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic
Gilman, Arthur
Rome -- History -- Republic, 510-30 B.C.
Summer and winter the Roman army camped before the doomed city, but it
did not fall. At last, to ensure success, Camillus began a mine or
tunnel under the city, which he completed to a spot just beneath the
altar in the temple of Juno. When but a single stone remained to be
taken away, he uttered a fervent prayer to the goddess, and made a vow
to Apollo consecrating a tenth part of the spoil of the city to him. He
then ordered an assault upon the walls, and at the moment when the king
was making an offering on the altar of Juno, and the augur was telling
him that victory in the contest was to fall to him who should burn the
entrails then ready, the Romans burst from their tunnel, finished the
sacrifice, and rushing to the gates, let their own army in. The city
was sacked, and as Camillus looked on, he exclaimed: "What man's
fortune was ever so great as mine?" A magnificent triumph was
celebrated in Rome. Day after day the temples were crowded, and
Camillus, hailed as a public benefactor, rode to the capitol in a
chariot drawn by four white horses. The territory of the conquered city
was divided among the patricians, but Camillus won their hatred after a
time by calling upon them to give up a tenth part of their rich booty
to found a temple to Apollo, in pursuance of his vow, which he claimed
to have forgotten meanwhile. It was not long before he was accused of
unfairness in distributing the spoils, some of which he was said to
have retained himself, and when he saw that the people were so incensed
at him that condemnation was inevitable, he went into banishment. As he
went away, he added a malediction to the prophecy of the ambassador
from Veii, and said that the republic might soon have cause to regret
his loss. He was, as he had expected, condemned, a fine of one hundred
and fifty thousand ases being laid upon him.
Thus was the territory of Rome greatly increased, after a hundred years
of war and intrigue, and thus did the warrior to whom the city owed the
most, and whom it had professed to honor, go from it with a malediction
on his lips. Let us see how the ill omens were fulfilled.
VIII.
A BLAST FROM BEYOND THE NORTH-WIND.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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