Camillus

Camillus, called now to be military tribune for the sixth time, declined the honour, being already well on in years, and fearful perhaps of the envy of men and the resentment of the gods which often follows upon such glorious successes as his. But the most manifest reason was his bodily weakness, for it chanced that in those days he was sick.

The people, however, would not relieve him of the office. He had no need, they cried, to fight in the ranks of the cavalry or the men-at-arms, but only to counsel and ordain; and so they forced him to undertake the command, and with one of his colleagues, Lucius Furius, to lead the army at once against the enemy. These were the Praenestines and Volscians, who, with a large force, were laying waste the lands of the Roman allies.

Marching forth, therefore, and encamping near the enemy, he himself thought it best to protract the war, that so, in case a battle should at last be necessary, he might be strong of body for the decisive struggle. But Lucius, his colleague, carried away by his desire for glory, would not be checked in his ardour for battle, and incited the same feelings in the inferior officers of the army. So Camillus, fearing lest it be thought that out of petty jealousy he was trying to rob younger men of the successes to which they eagerly aspired, consented, with reluctance, that Lucius should lead the forces out to battle, while he himself, on account of his sickness, was left behind in the camp with a few followers.

Lucius conducted the battle rashly and was discomfited, whereupon Camillus, perceiving the rout of the Romans, could not restrain himself, but sprang up from his couch and ran with his attendants to the gate of the camp. Through the fugitives he pushed his way to their pursuers. Those of his men who had passed him into the camp, wheeled about at once and followed him, and those who came bearing down on him from outside, halted and formed their lines about him, exhorting one another not to abandon their general.

In this way, for that day, the enemy were turned back from their pursuit. On the next day, Camillus led his forces out, joined battle with the enemy, defeated them utterly, and took their camp, actually bursting into it along with those who fled to it, and slaying most of them. After this, learning that the city of Satricum had been taken by the Tuscans, and its inhabitants, all Romans, put to the sword, he sent back to Rome the main body of his army, comprising the men-at-arms, while he himself, with the youngest and most ardent of his men, fell suddenly upon the Tuscans who held the city and mastered them, expelling some and slaying the rest.