Camillus

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.

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.