ὁ δὲ Κάμιλλος εἴτε μεγέθει τοῦ ἔργου, πόλιν ἀντίπαλον τῆς Ῥώμης ἔτει δεκάτῳ τῆς πολιορκίας καθῃρηκώς, εἴτε ὑπὸ τῶν εὐδαιμονιζόντων αὐτὸν εἰς ὄγκον ἐξαρθεὶς καὶ φρόνημα νομίμου καὶ πολιτικῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπαχθέστερον, τά τε ἄλλα σοβαρῶς ἐθριάμβευσε καί τέθριππον ὑποζευξάμενος λευκόπωλον ἐπέβη καὶ διεξήλασε τῆς Ῥώμης, οὐδενὸς τοῦτο ποιήσαντος ἡγεμόνος πρότερον οὐδʼ ὕστερον, ἱερὸν γὰρ ἡγοῦνται τὸ τοιοῦτον ὄχημα τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ πατρὶ τῶν θεῶν ἐπιπεφημισμένον.
Whether it was due to the magnitude of his exploit in taking a city which could vie with Rome and endure a siege of ten years, or to the congratulations showered upon him, Camillus was lifted up to vanity, cherished thoughts far from becoming to a civil magistrate subject to the law, and celebrated a triumph with great pomp: he actually had four white horses harnessed to a chariot on which he mounted and drove through Rome, a thing which no commander had ever done before or afterwards did. For they thought such a car sacred and devoted to the king and father of the gods.
ἔκ τε δὴ τούτου διεβλήθη πρὸς τοὺς πολίτας οὐκ εἰθισμένους ἐντρυφᾶσθαι, καὶ δευτέραν ἔλαβεν αἰτίαν ἐνιστάμενος νόμῳ διοικίζοντι τήν πόλιν. εἰσηγοῦντο γὰρ οἱ δήμαρχοι τόν τε δῆμον καὶ τήν σύγκλητον ἴσα μέρη δύο νεμηθῆναι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν αὐτόθι κατοικεῖν, τοὺς δὲ κλήρῳ λαχόντας εἰς τήν αἰχμάλωτον μεταστῆναι πόλιν, ὡς εὐπορωτέρων ἐσομένων καὶ δυσὶ μεγάλοις καὶ καλοῖς ἄστεσι τήν τε χώραν ὁμοῦ καὶ τήν ἄλλην εὐδαιμονίαν φυλαξόντων.
In this way he incurred the enmity of the citizens, who were not accustomed to wanton extravagance. They had also a second grievance against him in that he opposed himself to a law dividing the city. The tribunes introduced a measure dividing the people and the Senate into two parts, one to remain and dwell there, and the one on which the lot fell to remove into the city they had captured, on the ground that they would thus be more commodiously bestowed, and with two large and fair cities could better protect their territory as well as their prosperity in general.
ὁ μὲν οὖν δῆμος ἤδη πολὺς γεγονὼς καὶ ἀχρήματος ἄσμενος ἐδέξατο, καὶ συνεχὴς ἦν τοῖς περὶ τὸ βῆμα θορύβοις αἰτῶν τήν ψῆφον ἡ δὲ βουλὴ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ κράτιστοι πολιτῶν οὐ διαίρεσιν, ἀλλʼ ἀναίρεσιν ἡγούμενοι τῆς Ῥώμης πολιτεύεσθαι τοὺς δημάρχους καὶ δυσανασχετοῦντες ἐπὶ τόν Κάμιλλον κατέφυγον.
Accordingly the people, which was now become numerous and poor, welcomed the measure with delight, and was for ever thronging tumultuously about the rostra with demands that it be put to vote. But the Senate and the most influential of the other citizens considered that the measure proposed by the tribunes meant not division but destruction for Rome, and in their aversion to it went to Camillus for aid and succour.
κἀκεῖνος ὀρρωδῶν τόν ἀγῶνα προφάσεις ἐνέβαλλε τῷ δήμῳ καὶ ἀσχολίας, διʼ ὧν ἀεὶ τόν νόμον ἐξέκρουεν. ἦν μὲν οὖν διὰ ταῦτα λυπηρός. ἡ δε φανερωτάτη καὶ μεγίστη τῶν ἀπεχθειῶν αὐτῷ πρὸς τόν δῆμον ἐκ τῆς δεκάτης τῶν λαφύρων ὑπῆρξεν, οὐκ ἄλογον, εἰ καὶ μὴ πάνυ δικαίαν ἀρχὴν τῶν πολλῶν λαβόντων.
He, dreading the struggle, always contrived to keep the people busy with other matters, and so staved off the passage of the bill. For this reason, then, they were vexed with him. But the strongest and most apparent reason why the multitude hated him was based on the matter of the tenth of the spoil of Veii, and herein they had a plausible, though not a very just ground of complaint.
εὔξατο μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τοὺς Οὐηΐους, ὡς ἔοικε, βαδίζων, εἰ τήν πόλιν ἕλοι, τῷ θεῷ τούτων τήν δεκάτην καθιερώσειν, ἁλούσης δὲ τῆς πόλεως καὶ διαρπασθείσης, εἴτʼ ὀκνήσας ἐνοχλῆσαι τοῖς πολίταις, εἴτε λήθη τις αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν παρόντων πραγμάτων ἔλαβε τῆς εὐχῆς, περιεῖδεν ὠφεληθέντας. ὕστερον δὲ χρόνῳ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκείνης ἤδη πεπαυμένος ἀνήνεγκε περὶ τούτων εἰς τήν σύγκλητον, οἵ τε μάντεις ἤγγελλον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἱεροῖς προφαίνεσθαι θεῶν μῆνιν ἱλασμοῦ καὶ χαριστηρίων δεομένην.
He had vowed, as it seems, on setting out against Veii, that if he should take the city, he would consecrate the tenth of its booty to the Delphian god. But after the city had been taken and sacked, he allowed his soldiers full enjoyment of their plunder, either because he shrank from annoying them, or because, in the multitude of his activities, he as good as forgot his vow. At a later time, when he had laid down his command, he referred the matter to the Senate, and the seers announced tokens in their sacrifices that the gods were angry, and must be propitiated with due offerings.
ψηφισαμένης δὲ τῆς βουλῆς τὴν μὲν ὠφέλειαν χαλεπὸν γὰρ ἦν ἀνάδαστον μὴ γενέσθαι, τοὺς δὲ λαβόντας αὐτοὺς σὺν ὅρκῳ τὴν δεκάτην παραφέρειν εἰς μέσον, ἐγίνετο πολλὰ λυπηρὰ καὶ βίαια περὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας, ἀνθρώπους πένητας καὶ πολλὰ πεπονηκότας, ἀναγκαζομένους ὧν ἐκέκτηντο καὶ κατεκέχρηντο μέρος εἰσφέρειν τοσοῦτον.
The Senate voted, not that the booty should be redistributed, for that would have been a difficult matter, but that those who had got it should, in person and under oath, bring the tenth thereof to the public treasury. This subjected the soldiers to many vexations and constraints. They were poor men, who had toiled hard, and yet were now forced to contribute a large share of what they had gained, yes, and spent already.
θορυβουμένῳ δʼ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν τῷ Καμίλλῳ καὶ προφάσεως ἀποροῦντι βελτίονος εἰς τὸν ἀτοπώτατον τῶν λόγων συνέβαινε καταφεύγειν, ὁμολογοῦντι ἐπιλαθέσθαι τῆς εὐχῆς, οἱ δʼ ἐχαλέπαινον, εἰ τὰ τῶν πολεμίων δεκατεύσειν εὐξάμενος τότε νῦν δεκατεύει τὰ τῶν πολιτῶν, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πάντων ὅσον ἔδει μέρος εἰσενεγκόντων ἔδοξε κρατῆρα χρυσοῦν κατασκευάσαντας εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀποστεῖλαι.
Beset by their tumultuous complaints, and at loss for a better excuse, Camillus had recourse to the absurdest of all explanations, and admitted that he had forgotten his vow. The soldiers were filled with indignation at the thought that it was the goods of the enemy of which he had once vowed a tithe, but the goods of his fellow citizens from which he was now paying the tithe. However, all of them brought in the necessary portion, and it was decided to make a bowl of massive gold and send it to Delphi.
χρυσίου δʼ ἦν σπάνις ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων ὅθεν ἂν πορισθείη σκοπούντων, αἱ γυναῖκες αὐταὶ καθʼ αὑτὰς βουλευσάμεναι τὸν ὄντα χρυσοῦν ἑκάστῃ περὶ τὸ σῶμα κόσμον ἐπέδωκαν εἰς τὸ ἀνάθημα, σταθμῷ χρυσίου γενόμενον ὀκτὼ ταλάντων, καὶ ταύταις μὲν ἡ σύγκλητος ἀποδιδοῦσα τιμὴν πρέπουσαν ἐψηφίσατο μετὰ θάνατον ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνδράσι καὶ ταῖς γυναιξὶ λέγεσθαι τὸν ἄξιον ἔπαινον οὐ γὰρ ἦν εἰθισμένον πρότερον ἐγκωμιάζεσθαι γυναῖκα δημοσίᾳ τελευτήσασαν·
Now there was a scarcity of gold in the city, and the magistrates knew not whence it could be had. So the women, of their own accord, determined to give the gold ornaments which they wore upon their persons for the offering, and these amounted to eight talents weight. The women were fittingly rewarded by the Senate, which voted that thereafter, when women died, a suitable eulogy should be spoken over them, as over men. For it was not customary before that time, when a woman died, that a public encomium should be pronounced.
ἑλόμενοι δὲ τρεῖς ἄνδρας ἐκ τῶν ἀρίστων θεωρούς καὶ ναῦν μακρὰν εὐανδροῦντι πληρώματι καὶ κόσμῳ πανηγυρικῷ κατασκευάσαντες ἐξέπεμψαν. ἦν δʼ ἄρα καὶ χειμὼν καὶ γαλήνη θαλάσσης ἀργαλέον, ὡς ἐκείνοις συνέτυχε τότε παρʼ οὐδὲν ἐλθόντας ἀπολέσθαι διαφυγεῖν αὖθις ἀπροσδοκήτως τὸν κίνδυνον. ἐπέπλευσαν γὰρ αὐτοῖς Λιπαρέων τριήρεις περὶ τὰς Αἰόλου νήσους τοῦ πνεύματος ἐκλιπόντος ὡς λῃσταῖς.
Then they chose three of the noblest citizens as envoys, manned with its full complement of their best sailors a ship of war decked out in festal array, and sent them on their way. Calm at sea has its perils as well as storm, it would seem, at least so it proved in this case. Envoys and crew came within an ace of destruction, and found escape from their peril when they least expected it. Off the Aeolian isles, as the wind died down, some Liparian galleys put out against them, taking them for pirates.
δεομένων δὲ καὶ προϊσχομένων χεῖρας ἐμβολῆς μὲν ἔσχοντο, τὴν δὲ ναῦν ἀναψάμενοι καὶ καταγαγόντες ἀπεκήρυττον, ἅμα καὶ τὰ χρήματα καὶ τὰ σώματα, πειρατικὰ κρίναντες εἶναι. μόλις δʼ ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀρετῇ καὶ δυνάμει Τιμησιθέου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ πεισθέντες μεθῆκαν. ὁ δὲ καὶ προσκαθελκύσας ἰδίᾳ πλοῖα παρέπεμψε καὶ συγκαθιέρωσε τὸ ἀνάθημα· διʼ ὃ καὶ τιμὰς ἔσχεν, ἃς εἰκὸς ἦν, ἐν Ῥώμῃ.
The enemy had sufficient regard to their prayers and supplications not to run their vessel down, but they took it in tow, brought it to land, and proclaimed their goods and persons for sale, adjudging them piratical. At last, and with much ado, through the brave intercession of a single man, Timesitheus, their general, the Liparians were persuaded to let the captives go. This man then launched boats of his own, convoyed the suppliants on their way, and assisted them in the dedication of their offering. For this he received suitable honours at Rome.
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