Plutarch's Lives: Camillius

Camillius was a Roman general and politician who lived through a turbulent period of Roman history that saw Rome driven nearly to extinction by invasion from without and sedition from within. While not a particularly beloved figure, Camillius was the indispensable man of his era; the one to whom the Romans turned to again and again during their hours of peril. For his achievements in the battlefield and in the Forum, Camillius was known as the "second founder of Rome."

Camillius came from a Roman family of no distinction. He joined the army and gained early fame through displays of personal bravery on the battlefield during Rome's frequent wars. What set him apart from other soldiers early on, however, was his skill at securing peace after the turbulence at war. In one of his first initiatives as a politician, he vigorously worked to marry off war widows to new hsubands, and secured the financial care of war orphans.

What made Camillius' career, however, was his role in ending the siege of Veii, a Tuscan city that the Romans had been besieging for 7 years, and which was the equal of Rome in size and magnificence. While the Romans were at Veii, they were also beset by invasions from the Faliscans and Capetans. Camillius was first tasked with the job of ending those invasions, which he did. He was then given command of the army besieging Veii in the 10th year of the siege. Using a combination of frontal assaults and underground sapping operations, Camillius finally broke down the walls of Veii, and entered the city. While watching his men plunder the wealth of the Tuscans, Plutarch reports that Camillius wept and prayed that, should the visissitudes of fortune cause Rome to have to suffer for this triumph, that the weight of such a change in fortune would fall on his shoulders, rather than on that of Rome. Camillius' prayer would soon be answered.

Having conquered Veii., Camillius returned to Rome in triumph, and at the height of his personal power. He would soon lose that power in the tumult of Rome's dysfunctional politics. Camillius made a number of politically maladroit moves. He entered the city in a chariot drawn by four white horses, an honor reserved only for gods, and which no man before or after him claimed. Camillius then attempted to extract 10% of the plunder of Veii from each of the soldiers under his command, a demand he rescinded in the face of a near-mutiny, but not after losing the support of his own army.

Most important was his role in an odd controversy that dogged Camillius throughout his career: Rome's plebian class, which saw Rome as becoming increasingly crowded as its wealth and population grew, proposed to divide the population in half and send one-half to live in the now-abandoned city of Veii. Rome's patricians, including Camillius, hated this idea, as they did not like the idea of dividing Rome in two when Italy was still full of kingdoms that never ceased invading and ravaging Roman territory. The controvery was never fully resolved, but would flare up when the Roman people became restive. Camillius took the lead role in arguing against the proposal. He did so in such a vehement manner that he finally lost his political offices, and was formally exiled from Rome.

Almost as soon as Camillius went into exile, the Romans faced an invasion from a nwe enemy who would prove to be one of the recurring forces in Roman hisory: the Gauls. The Gauls invaded Italy for the first time, looking for plunder and land. They quickly headed towards Rome. The Romans organized an army to meet the Gauls, whom the Romans regarded as a barbaric rabble. Without Camillius' skills as a general, however, the Romans were as disorganized as the Gauls. The Roman army was defeated in battle and nearly destroyed, and Rome lay helpless before the Gauls. The Romans abandoned the city in a panic, taking even the vestal flame with them. Some priests and elderly patricians remained in the forum, seated on ivory chairs, where they were slaughtered by the Gauls. A few hardy souls fortified themselves at the top of the Capitoline Hill. The Gauls looted what was left behind, burned the city down, and then laid siege on the Capitoline hold-outs.

The fleeing Romans took up residence in Veii, and then sent for Camillius, whom they persuaded to return as their leader. Camillius led an army back to Rome where they found that the Gauls were in disarray. They had failed to take the Capitoline, but had been turned back by the small band of soldiers there, led by a man named Manlius. The Gauls had exhausted themselves plundering the surrounding countryside, and had been made sick by months of living among the ashes of Rome's burnt-out buildings. Camillius' army swept into Rome, and defeated the Gauls in a great slaughter.

Camillius then turned towards rebuilding Rome. He led the effort in relocating and rebuilding Rome's streets, while also making sure that the old Roman tombs and temples were placed properly. He ensured that the vestal flame was re-lit. He also tamped down the recurring controversy over moving back to Veii. For these efforts, Camillius became known as the second founder of Rome, as he had not only resuced Rome from the Gauls, but also rebuilt from the ashes to which it had been reduced.

Although these days saw Camillius in his glory, he never had a moment of repose. Rome continued to be subjected to repeated invasions, including one in which the Romans had to fend off three armies at once. The Gauls also invaded again. But this time, Camillius led the army against them and defeated the Gauls in a great slaughter. Pltarch states that, after this victory, the Romans developed a kind of fearlessness that lasted for generations, as they came to see themselves as able to defeat any foe in battle, even one that had previously conquered them.

While Camillius' military career was one triumph after another, his political career saw equal amounts of tumult arising from the simmering tensions between the patrician class and the plebian class. Camillius faced a seemingly endless array of rabble rousers who attempted to curtail or even overthrow the patricians and Camillius. The greatest threat came from Manlius, the hero from the siege of Capitoline, who ingratiated himself with the poor by promising to pay their debts should he be granted power. Manlius' sedition grew so dangerous that he was put on trial for treason, but it proved difficult to convict a man whom everyone agreed was a hero because the courts were located within sight of the Capitoline. Camillius solved this problem by relocating the trial to a place out of sight of the Hill, and Manlius was promptly convicted and sentenced to death. The Romans were masters of the ironic execution, so they executed Manlius by pitching him off of the Capitoline, the scene of both his greatest triumph and greatest shame.

Camillius never retired from public life, as the Romans always had an invasion or political controversy to contend with that only he could lead them out of. In one of his last political acts he faced a political rebellion led by Stolo, who demanded that one of the consuls be elected from the common people. At this time, Camillius was an old man with no desire to be exiled again. He laid down his offices, and Stolo was triumphant with one consul henceforth elected from the patricians and one from the commoners. In the short term, the patrician class was beset with laws intended to redistribute wealth, and prevent any oe person from owning more than 500 acres of land. However, Stolo himself was found to have violated this rule, was punished accordingly, and the era of radical egalitarianism came to an end.

Camillius was returned to office one last time. Again the issue of commoners being elected consul was raised. This time, however, Camillius led the effort to create a grand bargain between the commoners and the patricians to make permanent system of electing one patrician consul and one plebian consul. This finally created peace between the two factions who had fought throughout Camillius' career. Camillius led the construction of a temple of Concord to mark this occasion, which turned out to be Camillius' last public act. A year later he died in office from a plague that swept through Rome.