Ab urbe condita

The auspices were taken before an election, and the gods deemed it an insult that the highest offices should be made common and the distinction of classes thrown into confusion. Men were awestruck not only by the dignity and rank of the candidates, but by the religious aspect of the question, and they elected all the consular tribunes from the patricians, the great majority being all men of high distinction.

Those elected were L. Valerius Potitus —for the fifth time —M. Valerius Maximus, M. Furius Camillus —for the second time —L. Furius Medullinus —for the third time —Q. Servilius Fidenates —for the second time —and Q. Sulpicius Camerinus —for the second time. During their year of office nothing of any importance was done at Veii; their whole activity was confined to raids.

Two of the commanders-in-chief carried off an enormous quantity of plunder —Potitus from Falerii and Camillus from Capenae. They left nothing behind which fire or sword could destroy.

During[*](The Rise of the Alban Lake.) this period many portents were announced, but as they rested on the testimony of single individuals, and there were no soothsayers to consult as to how to expiate them, owing to the hostile attitude of the Etruscans, these reports were generally disbelieved and disregarded. One incident, however, caused universal anxiety.

The Alban Lake rose to an unusual height, without any rainfall or other cause which could prevent the phenomenon from appearing supernatural. Envoys were sent to the oracle of Delphi to ascertain why the gods sent the portent.

But an explanation was afforded nearer at hand.

An aged Veientine was impelled by destiny to announce, amidst the jeers of the Roman and Etruscan outposts, in prophetic strain, that the Romans would never get possession of Veii until the water had been drawn off from the Alban Lake. This was at first treated as a wild utterance, but afterwards it began to be talked about.

Owing to the length of the war, there were frequent conversations between the troops on both sides, and a Roman on outpost duty asked one of the townsmen who was nearest to him who the man was who was throwing out such dark hints about the Alban Lake.

When he heard that he was a soothsayer, being himself a man not devoid of religious fears, he invited the prophet to an interview on the pretext of wishing to consult him, if he had time, about a portent which demanded his own personal expiation.

When the two had gone some distance from their respective lines, unarmed, apprehending no danger, the Roman, a young man of immense strength, seized the feeble old man in the sight of all, and in spite of the outcry of the Etruscans, carried him off to his own side.

He was brought before the commander-in-chief and then sent to the senate in Rome. In reply to inquiries as to what he wanted people to understand by his remark about the Alban Lake, he said that the gods must certainly have been wroth

with the people of Veii on the day when they inspired him with the resolve to disclose the ruin which the Fates had prepared for his native city.