Ab urbe condita

It looked as if the capture of that city would give more trouble, not only because the whole of it was in the hands of the enemy, but also because the surrender had been effected through the treachery of some of the townsfolk.

Camillus, however, determined to send a message to their leaders requesting them to withdraw from the Etruscans and give a practical proof of that loyalty to allies which they had implored the Roman to observe towards them.

Their reply was that they were powerless; the Etruscans were holding the walls and guarding the gates. At first it was sought to intimidate the townsmen by harrying their territory.

As, however, they persisted in adhering more faithfully to the terms of surrender than to their alliance with Rome, fascines of brushwood were collected from the surrounding country to fill up the fosse, the army advanced to the attack, the scaling ladders were placed against the walls, and at the very first attempt the town was captured.

Proclamation was then made that the Nepesines were to lay down their arms, and all who did so were ordered to be spared. The Etruscans, whether armed or not, were killed, and the Nepesines who had been the agents of the surrender were beheaded; the population who had no share in it received their property back, and the town was left with a garrison.

After thus recovering two cities in alliance with Rome from the enemy, the consular tribunes led their victorious army, covered with glory, home. During this year satisfaction was demanded from the Latins and Hernici; they were asked why they had not for these last few years furnished a contingent in accordance with the treaty.

A full representative assembly of each nation was held to discuss the terms of the reply.

This was to the effect that it was through no fault or public act of the State that some of their men had fought in the Volscian ranks; these had paid the penalty of their folly, not a single one had returned. The reason why they had supplied no troops was their incessant fear of the Volscians; this thorn in their side they had not, even after such a long succession of wars, been able to get rid of.

The senate regarded this reply as affording a justifiable ground for war, but the present time was deemed inopportune.

The[*](The Treason of M. Manlius Capitolinus.) consular tribunes who succeeded were A. Manlius, P. Cornelius, T and L. Quinctius Capitolinus, L. Papirius Cursor (for the second time>, and C. Sergius (for the second time). In this year a serious war broke out, and a still more serious disturbance at home.

The war was begun by the Volscians, aided by the revolted Latins and Hernici. The domestic trouble arose in a quarter where it was least to be apprehended, from a man of patrician birth and brilliant reputation —M. Manlius Capitolinus .

Full of pride and presumption, he looked down upon the foremost men with scorn; one in particular he regarded with envious eyes, a man conspicuous for his distinctions and his merits —M. Furius Camillus.

He bitterly resented this man's unique position amongst the magistrates and in the affections of the army, and declared that he was now such a superior person that he treated those who had been appointed under the same auspices as himself, not as his colleagues, but as his servants, and yet if any one would form a just judgment he would see that M. Furius could not possibly have rescued his country. [*](His country. —The magistrates, the senators, the fighting men —all that constituted “his country” —were shut up in the Capitol and owed their preservation to Manlius.) When it was beleaguered by the enemy had not he, Manlius, saved the

Capitol and the Citadel? Camillus attacked the Gauls while they were off their guard, their minds pre-occupied with obtaining the gold and securing peace; he, on the other hand, had driven them off when they were armed for battle and actually capturing the Citadel. Camillus' glory was shared by every man who conquered with him, whereas no mortal man could obviously claim any

part in his victory. With his head full of these notions and being unfortunately a man of headstrong and passionate nature, he found that his influence was not so powerful with the patricians as he thought it ought to be, so he went over to the plebs —the first patrician to do so —and adopted the political

methods of their magistrates. He abused the senate and courted the populace and, impelled by the breeze of popular favour more than by conviction or judgment,

preferred notoriety to respectability. Not content with the agrarian laws which had hitherto always served the tribunes of the plebs as the material for their agitation, he began to undermine the whole system of credit for he saw that the laws of debt caused more irritation than the others; they not only threatened poverty and disgrace, but they terrified the freeman with the prospect