Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
many daughters, of whom Mnesiptolema, whom he had by a second marriage,
was wife to Archeptolis, her brother by another mother; Italia was
married to Panthoides, of the island of Chios; Sybaris to Nicomedes the
Athenian. After the death of Themistocles, his nephew, Phrasicles, went
to Magnesia, and married, with her brothers' consent, another daughter,
Nicomache, and took charge of her sister Asia, the youngest of all the
children.
The Magnesians possess a splendid sepulchre of Themistocles, placed in
the middle of their market-place. It is not worthwhile taking notice
of what Andocides states in his Address to his Friends concerning his
remains, how the Athenians robbed his tomb, and threw his ashes into the
air; for he feigns this, to exasperate the oligarchical faction against
the people; and there is no man living but knows that Phylarchus simply
invents in his history, where he all but uses an actual stage machine,
and brings in Neocles and Demopolis as the sons of Themistocles, to
incite or move compassion, as if he were writing a tragedy. Diodorus
the cosmographer says, in his work on Tombs, but by conjecture rather
than of certain knowledge, that near to the haven of Piraeus, where the
land runs out like an elbow from the promontory of Alcimus, when you
have doubled the cape and passed inward where the sea is always calm,
there is a large piece of masonry, and upon this the tomb of
Themistocles, in the shape of an altar; and Plato the comedian confirms
this, he believes, in these verses,--
Thy tomb is fairly placed upon the strand,
Where merchants still shall greet it with the land;
Still in and out 'twill see them come and go,
And watch the galleys as they race below.
Various honors also and privileges were granted to the kindred of
Themistocles at Magnesia, which were observed down to our times, and
were enjoyed by another Themistocles of Athens, with whom I had an
intimate acquaintance and friendship in the house of Ammonius the
philosopher.
CAMILLUS
Among the many remarkable things that are related of Furius Camillus, it
seems singular and strange above all, that he, who continually was in
the highest commands, and obtained the greatest successes, was five
times chosen dictator, triumphed four times, and was styled a second
founder of Rome, yet never was so much as once consul. The reason of
which was the state and temper of the commonwealth at that time; for the
people, being at dissension with the senate, refused to return consuls,
but in their stead elected other magistrates, called military tribunes,
who acted, indeed, with full consular power, but were thought to
exercise a less obnoxious amount of authority, because it was divided
among a larger number; for to have the management of affairs entrusted
in the hands of six persons rather than two was some satisfaction to the
opponents of oligarchy. This was the condition of the times when
Camillus was in the height of his actions and glory, and, although the
government in the meantime had often proceeded to consular elections,
yet he could never persuade himself to be consul against the inclination
of the people. In all his other administrations, which were many and
various, he so behaved himself, that, when alone in authority, he
exercised his power as in common, but the honor of all actions redounded
entirely to himself, even when in joint commission with others; the
reason of the former was his moderation in command; of the latter, his
great judgment and wisdom, which gave him without controversy the first
place.
The house of the Furii was not, at that time of any considerable
distinction; he, by his own acts, first raised himself to honor, serving
under Postumius Tubertus, dictator, in the great battle against the
Aequians and Volscians. For riding out from the rest of the army, and
in the charge receiving a wound in his thigh, he for all that did not
quit the fight, but, letting the dart drag in the wound, and engaging
with the bravest of the enemy, put them to flight; for which action,
among other rewards bestowed on him, he was created censor, an office in
those days of great repute and authority. During his censorship one
very good act of his is recorded, that, whereas the wars had made many
widows, he obliged such as had no wives, some by fair persuasion, others
by threatening to set fines on their heads, to take them in marriage;
another necessary one, in causing orphans to be rated, who before were
exempted from taxes, the frequent wars requiring more than ordinary
expenses to maintain them. What, however, pressed them most was the
siege of Veii. Some call this people Veientani. This was the head city
of Tuscany, not inferior to Rome, either in number of arms or multitude
of soldiers, insomuch that, presuming on her wealth and luxury, and
priding herself upon her refinement and sumptuousness, she engaged in
many honorable contests with the Romans for glory and empire. But now
they had abandoned their former ambitious hopes, having been weakened by
great defeats, so that, having fortified themselves with high and strong
walls, and furnished the city with all sorts of weapons offensive and
defensive, as likewise with corn and all manner of provisions, they
cheerfully endured a siege, which, though tedious to them, was no less
troublesome and distressing to the besiegers. For the Romans, having
never been accustomed to stay away from home, except in summer, and for
no great length of time, and constantly to winter at home, were then
first compelled by the tribunes to build forts in the enemy's country,
and, raising strong works about their camp, to join winter and summer
together. And now, the seventh year of the war drawing to an end, the
commanders began to be suspected as too slow and remiss in driving on
the siege, insomuch that they were discharged and others chosen for the
war, among whom was Camillus, then second time tribune. But at present
he had no hand in the siege, the duties that fell by lot to him being to
make war upon the Faliscans and Capenates, who, taking advantage of the
Romans being occupied on all hands, had carried ravages into their
country, and, through all the Tuscan war, given them much annoyance, but
were now reduced by Camillus, and with great loss shut up within their
walls.
And now, in the very heat of the war, a strange phenomenon in the Alban
lake, which, in the absence of any known cause and explanation by
natural reasons, seemed as great a prodigy as the most incredible that
are reported, occasioned great alarm. It was the beginning of autumn,
and the summer now ending had, to all observation, been neither rainy
nor much troubled with southern winds; and of the many lakes, brooks,
and springs of all sorts with which Italy abounds, some were wholly
dried up, others drew very little water with them; all the rivers, as is
usual in summer, ran in a very low and hollow channel. But the Alban
lake, that is fed by no other waters but its own, and is on all sides
encircled with fruitful mountains, without any cause, unless it were
divine, began visibly to rise and swell, increasing to the feet of the
mountains, and by degrees reaching the level of the very tops of them,
and all this without any waves or agitation. At first it was the wonder
of shepherds and herdsmen; but when the earth, which, like a great dam,
held up the lake from falling into the lower grounds, through the
quantity and weight of water was broken down, and in a violent stream it
ran through the plowed fields and plantations to discharge itself in the
sea, it not only struck terror into the Romans, but was thought by all
the inhabitants of Italy to portend some extraordinary event. But the
greatest talk of it was in the camp that besieged Veii, so that in the
town itself, also, the occurrence became known.
As in long sieges it commonly happens that parties on both sides meet
often and converse with one another, so it chanced that a Roman had
gained much confidence and familiarity with one of the besieged, a man
versed in ancient prophecies, and of repute for more than ordinary skill
in divination. The Roman, observing him to be overjoyed at the story of
the lake, and to mock at the siege, told him that this was not the only
prodigy that of late had happened to the Romans; others more wonderful
yet than this had befallen them, which he was willing to communicate to
him, that he might the better provide for his private interests in these
public distempers. The man greedily embraced the proposal, expecting to
hear some wonderful secrets; but when, by little and little, he had led
him on in conversation, and insensibly drawn him a good way from the
gates of the city, he snatched him up by the middle, being stronger than
he, and, by the assistance of others that came running from the camp,
seized and delivered him to the commanders. The man, reduced to this
necessity, and sensible now that destiny was not to be avoided,
discovered to them the secret oracles of Veii; that it was not possible
the city should be taken, until the Alban lake, which now broke forth
and had found out new passages, was drawn back from that course, and so
diverted that it could not mingle with the sea. The senate, having
heard and satisfied themselves about the matter, decreed to send to
Delphi, to ask counsel of the god. The messengers were persons of the
highest repute, Licinius Cossus, Valerius Potitus, and Fabius Ambustus;
who, having made their voyage by sea and consulted the god, returned
with other answers, particularly that there had been a neglect of some
of their national rites relating to the Latin feasts; but the Alban
water the oracle commanded, if it were possible, they should keep from
the sea, and shut it up in its ancient bounds; but if that was not to be
done, then they should carry it off by ditches and trenches into the
lower grounds, and so dry it up; which message being delivered, the
priests performed what related to the sacrifices, and the people went to
work and turned the water.
And now the senate, in the tenth year of the war, taking away all other
commands, created Camillus dictator, who chose Cornelius Scipio for his
general of horse. And in the first place he made vows unto the gods,
that, if they would grant a happy conclusion of the war, he would
celebrate to their honor the great games, and dedicate a temple to the
goddess whom the Romans call Matuta the Mother, though, from the
ceremonies which are used, one would think she was Leucothea. For they
take a servant-maid into the secret part of the temple, and there cuff
her, and drive her out again, and they embrace their brothers' children
in place of their own; and, in general, the ceremonies of the sacrifice
remind one of the nursing of Bacchus by Ino, and the calamities
occasioned by her husband's concubine. Camillus, having made these
vows, marched into the country of the Faliscans, and in a great battle
overthrew them and the Capenates, their confederates; afterwards he
turned to the siege of Veii, and, finding that to take it by assault
would prove a difficult and hazardous attempt, proceeded to cut mines
under ground, the earth about the city being easy to break up, and
allowing such depth for the works as would prevent their being
discovered by the enemy. This design going on in a hopeful way, he
openly gave assaults to the enemy, to keep them to the walls, whilst
they that worked underground in the mines were, without being perceived,
arrived within the citadel, close to the temple of Juno, which was the
greatest and most honored in all the city. It is said that the prince
of the Tuscans was at that very time at sacrifice, and that the priest,
after he had looked into the entrails of the beast, cried out with a