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.
Camillus now proceeded to rebuild the city, and came to be honored as
the second founder of Rome. The suffering people rushed out of the
capitol weeping for very joy; the inhabitants who had gone elsewhere
came back; the priests brought the holy things from their hiding-
places; the city was purified; a temple was speedily erected to Rumor
or Voice on the spot where Cædicius had heard the voice announcing the
coming barbarians; and there was a diligent digging among the ashes to
find the sites of the other temples and streets. It was a tedious and
almost hopeless task to rebuild the broken-down city, and the people
began to look with longing to the strongly-built houses and temples
still standing at Veii, wondering why they might not go thither in a
body and live in comfort, instead of digging among ashes to rebuild a
city simply to give Camillus, of whom they quickly began to be jealous,
the honor that had been an attribute of Romulus only. Then the senate
appealed to the memories of the olden time; the stories of the sacred
places, and especially of the head that was found on the Capitoline
Hill, were retold, and by dint of entreaty and expostulation the
distressed inhabitants were led to go to work to patch up the ruins.
They brought stones from Veii, and to the poor the authorities granted
bricks, and gradually a new, but ill-built, city grew up among the
ruins, with crooked streets and lanes, and with buildings, public and
private, huddled together just as happened to be the most convenient
for the immediate occasion.
Camillus lived twenty-five years longer, and was repeatedly called to
the head of affairs, as the city found itself in danger from the
Volscians, Æquians, Etruscans and other envious enemies. Six times was
he made one of the tribunes, and five times did he hold the office of
dictator. When the Gauls came again, in the year 367, Camillus was
called upon to help his countrymen for the last time, and though he was
some fourscore years of age, he did not hesitate, nor did victory
desert him. The Gauls were defeated with great slaughter, and it was a
long time before they again ventured to trouble the Romans. The second
founder of Rome, after his long life of warfare, died of a plague that
carried away many of the prominent citizens in the year 365. His
victories had not all been of the same warlike sort, however. "Peace
hath her victories no less renowned than war," and Camillus gained his
share of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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