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A lake, which was enclosed by the hills surrounding it and had no outlet, at the time of the siege of the Veientians overflowed to such an extent that it poured over even the mountains and went down towards the sea. The Romans, judging that this surely signified something divine, sent to Delphi to consult the oracle about this. And there was also among the Veientians a Tyrrhenian man who was a seer. So the Pythia and his prophecy converged on the same point; for both said that the city would be captured when the floodwater did not fall into the sea, but was used up elsewhere, and they ordered certain sacred rites to be performed for this reason. But the Pythian clarified neither to which gods nor how they should perform them, while the Tyrrhenian seemed to know, but revealed nothing. So the Romans stationed around the wall, from where he used to speak, feigning friendship toward him, both encouraged him to be confident in other matters and fearlessly allowed him to come out; and so, having seized him, they forced him to tell all that was required. And according to his instruction they both made the sacrifices and bored through the hill and diverted the excess water into the plain with a hidden channel, so that all of it was used up in it and none flowed down to the sea. Now as soon as this was done, Marcus Furius Camillus was chosen dictator. 2.148 Who, having attacked the city and since he was accomplishing nothing, dug an underground passage, beginning from afar and leading to the acropolis. When the tunnel was already prepared, since many volunteers from Rome had also joined him, taking them with him he attacked the city and surrounded the wall from all sides; and while those inside were scattered around the entire circuit, others got inside unnoticed through the tunnels. When the city was captured and the Romans were plundering its contents, Camillus, seeing what was being done from the acropolis, groaned and wept and said, "O gods, if any retribution is owed to the Romans in return for this success, I pray that it may end upon myself." And taking a tenth of the spoils against the will of the soldiers, he dedicated it to Apollo, having previously made a vow to do this. He also dedicated a golden mixing bowl made from the women's jewelry; in return for which an honor was immediately decreed for them; and this was for them to travel to the festivals on carriages, whereas before they went to them on foot. But the people were offended by Camillus and felt indignation, on the one hand because he set apart the tenth of the spoils for the god not while they were being plundered, but after time had passed, and on the other hand because he celebrated his triumph arrogantly in other respects and was the first of the Romans to hold his victory procession with a white four-horse chariot. The victory procession, which they also called a triumph, was something like this. When some great deed worthy of a victory procession was accomplished, the general 2.149 was immediately named Imperator by the soldiers, and he would bind laurel branches to his rods and give them to the swift heralds who announce the victory to the city to carry. And having come home he would assemble the senate and ask it to vote him the victory rites. And if he obtained a vote from both the council and the people, the title of Imperator was also confirmed for him. And if he was still in the office in which he happened to be victorious, he used this also for the celebration, but if the term of his office had passed, he took some other name suitable for it; for it was forbidden for a private citizen to hold a victory procession. And having dressed in the triumphal attire, and having taken armlets and bound on a laurel crown and holding a branch in his right hand, he would call the people together; and having praised those who had campaigned with him, both as a group and some individually, he would gift them money, and also honor them with decorations, providing some with armlets and ironless spears, and gave crowns, some golden, others silver, bearing the name of each and the image of his deed of valor. For if someone was the first to mount a wall, the crown also bore the form of a wall; or if he had taken a city by storm, both this and that were depicted. someone won a sea-battle, the crown was adorned with ships;

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ουσα λίμνη, ὑπὸ τῶν πέριξ αὐτῆς περικλειομένη λόφων καὶ μὴ εχουσα ἐκροήν, κατὰ τὸν τῆς πολιορκίας τῶν Οὐιεντῶν καιρὸν ἐς τοσοῦτον ἐπλήμμυρεν ὡς ὑπερεκχεῖσθαι καὶ τῶν ὀρῶν καὶ κατιέναι πρὸς θάλασσαν. κρίναντες δ' οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι πάντως τι διὰ τούτου θεῖον σημαίνεσθαι, επεμψαν εἰς ∆ελφοὺς περὶ τούτου χρησόμενοι. ην δέ τις καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Οὐιένταις Τυρσηνὸς ἀνὴρ μαντικός. ἐς ταὐτὸν ουν η τε Πυθία καὶ ἡ ἐκείνου μαντεία συνέδραμον· καὶ αμφω γὰρ ἁλώσεσθαι τὴν πόλιν ειπον οταν τὸ υδωρ τὸ πλημμυρῆσαν μὴ ἐς θάλασσαν ἐκπέσῃ, ἀλλ' ἀναλωθείη ἑτέρωθι, καί τινας ἱερουργίας διὰ τοῦτο γενέσθαι ἐκέλευσαν. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Πύθιος ουτε τίσι θεῶν ουθ' οπως αὐτὰς ποιήσουσι διεσάφησεν, ὁ δὲ Τυρσηνὸς ἐῴκει μὲν εἰδέναι, οὐδὲν δὲ ἐδήλου. οἱ γοῦν περὶ τὸ τεῖχος, οθεν ἐκεῖνος ὡμίλει, τεταγμένοι ̔Ρωμαῖοι, φιλίαν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ὑποκριθέντες, τά τε αλλα θαρρεῖν αὐτῷ ἐνεδίδουν καὶ ἀδεῶς ἐπέτρεπον ἐκφοιτᾶν· καὶ ουτω συλλαβόντες αὐτὸν πάντα τὰ καθήκοντα ἠνάγκασαν ἐξειπεῖν. καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὑποθήκην ἐκείνου τάς τε θυσίας ἐποίησαν καὶ τὸν λόφον διέτρησαν καὶ τὸ πλεονάζον υδωρ εἰς τὸ πεδίον κρυπτῇ διώρυχι μετωχέτευσαν, ωσθ' απαν ἐν αὐτῷ ἀναλίσκεσθαι καὶ μή τι καταρρέειν εἰς θάλασσαν. Αρτι μὲν ουν τοῦτο ἐγένετο καὶ δικτάτωρ ᾑρέθη 2.148 Μάρκιος Φούριος Κάμιλλος. ος προσβαλὼν τῇ πόλει ἐπεὶ οὐδὲν ηνυεν, ὑπόγειον ὠρύξατο δίοδον πόρρωθεν ἀρξάμενος ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν φέρουσαν. παρεσκευασμένου δὲ ηδη τοῦ ὑπονόμου, ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ̔Ρώμης αὐτῷ προσεχώρησαν ἐθελονταί, παραλαβὼν κἀκείνους προσέβαλε τῇ πόλει καὶ πανταχόθεν τὸ τεῖχος ἐκύκλωσε· τῶν δ' ἐντὸς περὶ πάντα τὸν περίβολον σκεδασθέντων, ελαθον ετεροι διὰ τῶν ὑπονόμων γεγονότες ἐντός. ἁλούσης δὲ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων διαρπαζόντων τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, ὁρῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ακρας ὁ Κάμιλλος τὰ πραττόμενα ἐστέναξε καὶ ἐδάκρυσε καί "ω θεοί," εφη, "ει τις ̔Ρωμαίοις ὀφείλεται νέμεσις τῆσδε τῆς εὐπραγίας ἀντίστροφος, ευχομαι ταύτην εἰς ἐμαυτὸν τελευτῆσαι." τὴν δὲ τῆς λείας δεκάτην ἐξελὼν ἀκόντων τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀνέθετο τῷ ̓Απόλλωνι, εὐχὴν τοῦτο πρὶν ποιησάμενος. ἀνέθετο δὲ καὶ κρατῆρα χρυσοῦν ἐκ τοῦ τῶν γυναικῶν κόσμου πεποιημένον· ἀνθ' ου τιμὴ αὐταῖς παραχρῆμα ἐψήφιστο· ἡ δὲ ην τὸ ἐπ' ὀχημάτων αὐτὰς ἐς τὰς πανηγύρεις φοιτᾶν, αὐτοποδίᾳ βαδιζούσαις πρότερον ἐς αὐτάς. τῷ δὲ Καμίλλῳ προσώχθισεν ὁ δῆμος καὶ ἐνεμέσησε, τὸ μὲν οτι τὴν δεκάτην τῶν λαφύρων οὐκ ἐν τῷ διαρπάζεσθαι ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ καιροῦ παρελθόντος ἐξείλετο τῷ θεῷ, τὸ δ' οτι τά τε αλλα σοβαρῶς ἐθριάμβευσε καὶ πρῶτος ̔Ρωμαίων λευκῷ τεθρίππῳ τὰ ἐπινίκια επεμψεν. ̔Η δὲ τῶν ἐπινικίων πομπή, ην καὶ θρίαμβον ἐκάλουν, τοιάδε τις ἐγίνετο. οτε τι κατωρθώθη μέγα καὶ ἐπινικίων ἐπάξιον, αὐτοκράτωρ αὐτίκα ὁ στρα2.149 τηγὸς ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ὠνομάζετο, καὶ κλῶνας δάφνης περιέδει ταῖς ῥάβδοις καὶ τοῖς δρομοκήρυξι τοῖς τὴν νίκην καταγγέλλουσι τῇ πόλει κομίζειν ἐδίδου. ἐλθὼν δὲ οικαδε τὴν γερουσίαν συνήθροιζε καὶ ῃτει ψηφίσασθαί οἱ τὰ ἐπινίκια. καὶ εἰ ετυχε ψήφου παρά τε τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τοῦ δήμου, ἐβεβαιοῦτο αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ ἐπωνυμία τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ ην ετι, ἐν ῃ τυγχάνων ἐνίκησε, ταύτῃ καὶ πανηγυρίζων ἐκέχρητο, εἰ δ' ὁ χρόνος παρελήλυθε τῆς ἀρχῆς, αλλο τι πρόσφορον αὐτῇ ἐλάμβανεν ονομα· ἰδιώτῃ γὰρ νικητήρια πέμψαι ἀπείρητο. ἐνσκευασάμενος δὲ τῇ ἐπινικίῳ σκευῇ, καὶ περιβραχιόνια λαβὼν στέφανόν τε δάφνης ἀναδησάμενος καὶ κλάδον κρατῶν ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ, τὸν δῆμον συνεκάλει· καὶ ἐπαινέσας τοὺς συστρατευσαμένους αὐτῷ καὶ κοινῇ καὶ ἰδίᾳ τινάς, ἐδωρεῖτο μὲν σφίσι χρήματα, ἐτίμα δὲ καὶ κόσμῳ, περιβραχιόνιά τέ τισι καὶ δόρατα ἀσίδηρα παρεῖχε, καὶ στεφάνους τοῖς μὲν χρυσοῦς, τοῖς δὲ ἀργυροῦς ἐδίδου, τουνομά τε ἑκάστου καὶ τῆς ἀριστείας φέροντας τὸ ἐκτύπωμα. εἰ γὰρ τείχους τις πρῶτος ἐπέβη, καὶ τείχους ὁ στέφανος ειδος εφερεν· η καὶ ἐξεπολιόρκησέ τι, καὶ τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο εἰκόνιστο. ἐναυκράτησέ τις, ναυσὶν ὁ στέφανος ἐκεκόσμητο·