οὕτω μὲν ἡ Ῥώμη παραλόγως ἥλω καὶ παραλογώτερον ἐσώθη, μῆνας ἑπτὰ τοὺς πάντας ὑπὸ τοῖς βαρβάροις γενομένη, παρελθόντες γὰρ εἰς αὐτὴν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ὕστερον τῶν Κυϊντιλίων εἰδῶν περὶ τὰς Φεβρουαρίας εἰδοὺς ἐξέπεσον. ὁ δὲ Κάμιλλος ἐθριάμβευσε μέν, ὡς εἰκὸς ἦν, τὸν ἀπολωλυίας σωτῆρα πατρίδος γενόμενον καὶ κατάγοντα τὴν πόλιν αὐτὴν εἰς ἑαυτήν·
So strangely was Rome taken, and more strangely still delivered, after the Barbarians had held it seven months in all. They entered it a few days after the Ides of July, and were driven out about the Ides of February. Camillus celebrated a triumph, as it was meet that a man should do who had saved a country that was lost, and who now brought the city back again to itself.
οἵ τε γὰρ ἔξωθεν ἅμα παισὶ καὶ γυναιξὶν εἰσελαύνοντος αὐτοῦ συγκατῄεσαν, οἵ τε πολιορκηθέντες ἐν τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ, μικροῦ δεήσαντες ἀπολέσθαι διὰ λιμόν, ἀπήντων περιβάλλοντες ἀλλήλους καὶ δακρύοντες ὑπὸ τῆς παρούσης ἡδονῆς, ἱερεῖς τε καὶ ζάκοροι θεῶν, ὅσα φεύγοντες αὐτόθι τῶν ἀβεβήλων ἔκρυψαν ἢ σὺν αὑτοῖς ἐξέκλεψαν, ἀνασωζόμενα κομίζοντες ἐπεδείκνυντο ποθουμένας ὄψεις τοῖς πολίταις δεχομένοις μετὰ χαρᾶς, ὥσπερ αὐτῶν τῶν θεῶν αὖθις εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην συγκατερχομένων·
For the citizens outside, with their wives and children, accompanied his triumphal chariot as it entered the city, and those who had been besieged on the Capitol, and had narrowly escaped death by starvation, came forth to meet them, all embracing one another, and weeping for the joy that was theirs. The priests and ministrants of the gods, bringing whatever sacred objects they had either buried on the spot or carried off with them when they took to flight, displayed them, thus preserved in safety, to the citizens, who caught the welcome sights with delight, believing in their hearts that the gods themselves were now coming back to Rome with them.
θύσας δὲ τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ καθάρας τὴν πόλιν ἐξηγουμένων τῶν περὶ ταῦτα δεινῶν, τὰ μὲν ὄντα τῶν ἱερῶν κατέστησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἱδρύσατο νεὼν Φήμης καὶ Κληδόνος, ἀνευρὼν ἐκεῖνον τὸν τόπον, ἐν ᾧ νύκτωρ ἡ καταγγέλλουσα τὴν τῶν βαρβάρων στρατιὰν ἐκ θεοῦ τῷ Καιδικίῳ Μάρκῳ φωνὴ προσέπεσε.
After Camillus had made sacrifices to the gods and purified the city, in the manner prescribed by those who were versed in such rites, he restored the existing temples, and erected a new one to Rumour and Voice, having sought out carefully the spot where by night the voice from Heaven, announcing the coming of the Barbarian host, had fallen upon the ears of Marcus Caedicius.
χαλεπῶς μὲν οὖν καί μόλις αἱ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀνεκαλύπτοντο χῶραι φιλοτιμίᾳ τοῦ Καμίλλου καὶ πόνῳ πολλῷ τῶν ἱεροφαντῶν ὡς δὲ καὶ τήν πόλιν ἀνοικοδομεῖν ἔδει παντάπασι διεφθαρμένην, ἀθυμία πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἐνέπιπτε τοῖς πολλοῖς καί μέλλησις ἦν ἐστερημένοις ἁπάντων καί τινος ἐν τῷ παρόντι ῥᾳστώνης καί ἀναπαύσεως ἐκ κακῶν δεομένοις μᾶλλον ἢ κάμνειν καί ἀποτρύχειν ἑαυτούς οὔτε χρήμασιν οὔτε σώμασιν ἐρρωμένους.
Owing to the zeal of Camillus and the abundant labours of the priesthood, the sites of the temples were at last uncovered, but it proved a grievous undertaking. And since the city had also to be built up again from a state of utter destruction, the multitude were overwhelmed with despair of the task, and shrank from it. They were bereft of all things, and for the present needed some rest and repose after their sufferings, instead of toiling and wearing themselves out on a task for which they had neither means nor strength.
οὕτω δὲ ἡσυχῇ πρὸς τοὺς Οὐηΐους αὖθις ἀποστρεφόμενοι, πόλιν ἅπασι κατεσκευασμένην καί διαμένουσαν, ἀρχὰς δημαγωγιῶν ἐνέδοσαν τοῖς πρὸς χάριν εἰθισμένοις ὁμιλεῖν, καί λόγων ἠκροῶντο στασιαστικῶν πρὸς τὸν Κάμιλλον, ὡς ἐκείνου φιλοτιμίας ἕνεκα καί δόξης ἰδίας ἀποστεροῦντος αὐτοὺς πόλεως ἑτοίμης καί βιαζομένου σκηνοῦν ἐρείπια καί πυρκαϊὰν τοσαύτην ἐγείρειν, ὅπως μὴ μόνον ἡγεμὼν Ῥώμης καί στρατηγός, ἀλλὰ καί κτίστης λέγηται παρώσας Ῥωμύλον.
And so it was that insensibly their thoughts turned again to Veii, a city which remained intact and was equipped with all things needful. This gave opportunity for mischievous agitations to such as were wont to consult only the people’s will and pleasure, and ready ear was given to seditious speeches against Camillus. He had an eye, it was said, only to his own ambition and fame, when he would deprive them of a city that stood ready to receive them, and force them to pitch their tents among a mass of ruins, while they rebuilt what had become a monstrous funeral pyre. He wished not merely to be a leader and general of Rome, but to thrust Romulus to one side and be styled its founder.
ἐκ τούτου φοβηθεῖσα τὸν θόρυβον ἡ βουλὴ τὸν μὲν Κάμιλλον οὐκ εἴασε βουλόμενον ἀποθέσθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐντὸς ἐνιαυτοῦ καίπερ ἓξ μῆνας οὐδενὸς ὑπερβαλόντος ἑτέρου δικτάτορος, αὐτὴ δὲ παρεμυθεῖτο καί κατεπράυνε πείθουσα καί δεξιουμένη τὸν δῆμον, ἐπιδεικνυμένη μὲν ἠρία καί τάφους πατέρων, ὑπομιμνῄσκουσα δὲ χωρίων ἱερῶν καί τόπων ἁγίων, οὓς Ῥωμύλος ἢ Νομᾶς ἤ τις ἄλλος αὐτοῖς τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιθειάσας παρέδωκεν.
The Senate, therefore, fearful of this clamour, would not suffer Camillus, much as he wished it, to lay down his office within a year, although no other dictator had served more than six months. Meanwhile the Senators, by dint of kindly greetings and persuasive words, tried to soften and convert the people, pointing out the sepulchres and tombs of their fathers, and calling to their remembrance the shrines and holy places which Romulus, or Numa, or some other king, had consecrated and left to their care.
ἐν πρώτοις δὲ τῶν θείων τήν τε νεοσφαγῆ κεφαλὴν προὔφερον ἐν τῇ θεμελιώσει τοῦ Καπιτωλίου φανεῖσαν, ὡς τῷ τόπῳ πεπρωμένον ἐκείνῳ τῆς Ἰταλίας κεφαλῇ γενέσθαι, καί τὸ τῆς Ἑστίας πῦρ, ὃ μετὰ τὸν πόλεμον ὑπὸ τῶν παρθένων ἀναπτόμενον αὖθις ἀφανίζειν καί σβεννύναι τοὺς προλιπόντας τήν πόλιν, ὄνειδος αὐτοῖς ἐσόμενον, ἄν τε ὑπʼ ἄλλων οἰκουμένην ὁρῶσιν ἐπηλύδων καί ξένων ἄν τʼ ἔρημον οὖσαν καί μηλόβοτον.
Among other signs from Heaven, they laid chief stress on the newly severed head that was found when the foundations of the Capitol were dug, showing, as it did, that the place where it was found was fated to be the head of Italy; also on the sacred fire of Vesta, which had been kindled anew by her virgins after the war. If they should quench and extinguish this again by their abandonment of the city, it would be a disgrace to them, whether they saw that city occupied by immigrants and aliens, or abandoned to flocks and herds.
τοιαῦτα καί πρὸς ἕκαστον ἰδίᾳ καί κοινῇ πολλάκις ἐν τῷ δήμῳ σχετλιάζοντες ἐπεκλῶντο πάλιν ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν τήν παροῦσαν ὀλοφυρομένων ἀμηχανίαν, καί δεομένων μὴ σφᾶς ὥσπερ ἐκ ναυαγίου γυμνοὺς καί ἀπόρους σωθέντας προσβιάζεσθαι τὰ λείψανα τῆς διεφθαρμένης συμπηγνύναι πόλεως, ἑτέρας ἑτοίμης παρούσης.
Thus did the Senators remonstrate with the people, both individually in private, and often in the public assemblies. They, in their turn, were moved to compassion by the wailing complaints of the multitude, who lamented the helplessness to which they were come, and begged, now that they had been saved alive as it were from a shipwreck, in nakedness and destitution, that they be not forced to piece together the fragments of their ruined city, when another stood all ready to receive them.
ἔδοξεν οὖν βουλὴν προθεῖναι τῷ Καμίλλῳ· καὶ πολλὰ μὲν αὐτὸς διεξῆλθε παρακαλῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὁ βουλόμενος τέλος δὲ τὸν πρῶτον εἰωθότα λέγειν γνώμην Λεύκιον Λουκρήτιον ἀναστήσας ἐκέλευσεν ἀποφήνασθαι πρῶτον, εἶτα τοὺς ἄλλους ἐφεξῆς.
Accordingly, Camillus decided that the question should be debated and settled in council. He himself spoke at great length, in exhortation to preserve their common country, and every one else who wished did likewise. Finally, he called upon Lucius Lucretius, to whom custom gave the first vote, and bade him declare his opinion first, and then the other senators in the order due.
γενομένης δὲ σιωπῆς καὶ τοῦ Λουκρητίου μέλλοντος ἐνάρχεσθαι, κατὰ τύχην ἔξωθεν ἑκατοντάρχης ἄγων τάγμα φυλακῆς ἡμερινῆς παρεπορεύετο, καὶ τὸν φέροντα πρῶτον τὸ σημεῖον μεγάλῃ φωνῇ προσαγορεύσας ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοῦ μένειν καὶ τὸ σημεῖον τίθεσθαι· κάλλιστα γὰρ ἐνταῦθα καθεδεῖσθαι καὶ μενεῖν. ἅμα δὲ τῷ καιρῷ καὶ τῇ περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐννοίᾳ, καὶ ἀδηλότητι τῆς φωνῆς γενομένης, ὅ τε Λουκρήτιος ἔφη προσκυνήσας τῷ θεῷ προστίθεσθαι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνώμην καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστος ἐπηκολούθησε.
Silence fell, and Lucretius was on the point of beginning, when it chanced that a centurion with a squad of the day watch passed by outside, and calling with a loud voice on the man who led with the standard, bade him halt and plant his standard there, for that was the best place to settle down and stay in. The utterance fell at the crisis of their anxious thought for the uncertain future, and Lucretius said, with a devout obeisance, that he cast his vote with the god. The rest, one by one, followed his example.
θαυμαστὴ δὲ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος ἔσχε μεταβολὴ τῆς ὁρμῆς, ἀλλήλους παρακαλούντων καὶ προτρεπομένων πρὸς τὸ ἔργον, οὐκ ἐκ διανομῆς τινος ἢ τάξεως, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἕκαστος ἑτοιμότητος ἢ βουλήσεως εἶχε τῶν χωρίων καταλαμβανομένων. διὸ καὶ τεταραγμένην τοῖς στενωποῖς καὶ συμπεφυρμένην ταῖς οἰκήσεσιν ἀνήγαγον τὴν πόλιν ὑπὸ σπουδῆς καὶ τάχους, ἐντὸς γὰρ ἐνιαυτοῦ λέγεται καὶ τοῖς τείχεσι καινὴ καὶ ταῖς ἰδιωτικαῖς οἰκοδομαῖς ἀναστῆναι πάλιν.
Then the inclinations of the multitude were marvellously changed. They exhorted and incited one another to the work, and pitched upon their several sites, not by any orderly assignment, but as each man found it convenient and desirable. Therefore the city was rebuilt with confused and narrow streets and a maze of houses, owing to their haste and speed. Within a year’s time, it is said, a new city had arisen, with walls to guard it and homes in which to dwell.
οἱ δὲ τοὺς ἱεροὺς τόπους ἀναλαβεῖν καὶ ὁρίσαι ταχθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Καμίλλου, συγκεχυμένων ἁπάντων, ὡς ἧκον ἐπὶ τὴν καλιάδα τοῦ Ἄρεως περιοδεύοντες τὸ Παλάτιον, αὐτὴν μὲν, ὡς τὰ ἄλλα, διεφθαρμένην καὶ κατακεκαυμένην εὗρον ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων, σκευωρούμενοι δὲ καὶ καθαίροντες τὸ χωρίον ἐντυγχάνουσι τῷ μαντικῷ ξύλῳ τοῦ Ῥωμύλου κατὰ τέφρας πολλῆς καὶ βαθείας καταδεδυκότι.
Those who had been deputed by Camillus to recover and mark out anew the sacred places, found them all in utter confusion. When they came to the shrine of Mars, in their circuit of the Palatium, they found that it had been demolished and burnt by the Barbarians, like the rest, but as they were clearing away and renovating the place, they came upon the augural staff of Romulus, buried deep in a great heap of ashes.
τοῦτο δʼ ἔστι μὲν ἐπικαμπὲς ἐκ θατέρου πέρατος, καλεῖται δὲ λίτυον χρῶνται δʼ αὐτῷ πρὸς τὰς τῶν πλινθίων ὑπογραφάς ὅταν ἐπʼ ὄρνισι διαμαντευόμενοι καθέζωνται, ὡς κἀκεῖνος ἐχρῆτο μαντικώτατος ὤν. ἐπειδὴ δʼ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἠφανίσθη, παραλαβόντες οἱ ἱερεῖς τὸ ξύλον ὥσπερ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἱερῶν ἄψαυστον ἐφύλαττον. τοῦτο δὴ τότε τῶν ἄλλων ἀπολωλότων ἀνευρόντες διαπεφευγὸς τὴν φθοράν ἡδίους ἐγένοντο ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς Ῥώμης, ὡς ἀίδιον αὐτῇ τὴν σωτηρίαν τοῦ σημείου βεβαιοῦντος.
The augural staff is curved at one end, and is called lituus. It is used to mark off the different quarters of the heavens, in the ceremonies of divination by the flight of birds, and so Romulus had used this one, for he was a great diviner. But when he vanished from among men, the priests took this staff and kept it inviolate, like any other sacred object. Their finding this at that time unscathed, when all the rest had perished, gave them more pleasing hopes for Rome. They thought it a token that assured her of everlasting safety.
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