The city of Veii continued to remain one of the most implacable enemies of Rome. The Romans had already fought them twice, and although they were victorious in both wars, Veii was still a formidable and wealthy opponent. The first caused fear, the second - thirst in the prey. There were constant skirmishes between the Romans and the Veienti, even in times of peace. During one such skirmish, the Etruscans inflicted some damage on the Romans, and the Romans did not decide to compensate for it. Envoys were sent to Veii with this demand, but the Veii rulers arrogantly declared that they should immediately get out of the city, otherwise they would be treated as Lare Tolumnius had once treated the envoys of Rome, that is, they would be killed. When the ambassadors returned to Rome with this answer, the indignant Senate decided to declare war on the Veii.
War was declared by Rome, and the Veientes turned to other Etruscan cities for support, but they were refused, since King Vey was hated by the rest of the Etruscans. At one time, he really wanted to be elected High Priest of all Etruscans, but in the elections they preferred another candidate. The Wei king was very wounded and thirsted for revenge. One day, during the annual ceremonial games, which all the Etruscans organize together, he unexpectedly ordered his slave actors to leave the games. And since most of the actors belonged to him, the games were disrupted. The Etruscans could not forgive the Wei king for this act. Having lost their support, the Veients, despite all their arrogance, did not dare to engage in open battle and decided to sit out behind the powerful walls of their city. The Romans besieged Veii and began a siege. But the siege dragged on. Until now, the Romans fought only in the summer and returned home for the winter. Now I had to stay in a military camp under the walls of Wei during the winter.
This caused discontent in Rome. The plebeians said that the senators deliberately prolonged the siege in order to keep as many soldiers as possible outside the city. Meanwhile, the Veienti made a sortie and set fire to the embankment that the Roman soldiers were erecting next to the wall in order to attack the city walls from there. In the fire, not only did the embankment collapse, so that everything had to start all over again, but also a lot of Romans died. This first caused panic in Rome, and then a furious desire to punish the Veienti for the death of so many soldiers. Citizens were ready to make every effort to continue the war. And yet the Romans could not achieve decisive success. Moreover, two small neighboring Etruscan cities came to the aid of the Veientes, who were afraid that after the capture of Veii the Romans would turn against them, and the Faliscan tribe, which had previously been hostile to the Romans. They even managed to win a small victory over the Romans.
In those days, the Romans often elected not consuls, but military tribunes with consular power. Marcus Furius Camillus was elected one of these tribunes. He was already well known in Rome. During the next war with the Aequians and Volscians, he rode on horseback ahead of the rest of the Roman army and was wounded in the thigh, but did not leave the battlefield, but, tearing out a piece of debris from the wound, entered into battle with the enemies. Inspired by this feat, the Roman soldiers decisively rushed to the enemy and won. Rumor unanimously believed that Camille’s courage was the main reason for the victory. And now the Roman people elected him as one of the heads of state. Camillus did not go to Veii, but to fight the Falisci, and successfully fought with them.
The siege of Wei continued, causing increasing discontent among the people. They continued to say that the commanders sent by the Senate were deliberately prolonging the war. And then the gods sent a strange sign to the Romans. In fact, there were many signs during that period, but they appeared only to individual citizens, and this became known to everyone. There was very little rain in the summer, and many rivers and reservoirs were almost dry. And suddenly in the fall the lake, located in the sacred Alban grove, suddenly swelled, the water level rose sharply, the lake overflowed its banks and water poured into the surrounding fields. Panic began in Rome; no one knew what foreshadowed such an unexpected and inexplicable flood by any natural causes. Since the Romans were then at war with the Etruscans, they did not have haruspices who could interpret the divine sign. The Senate decided to send ambassadors to Delphi to the god Apollo to ask him what should be done in such a case.
At that time there lived in Veii a certain old man, a skilled interpreter of the signs of the gods. Nobody paid any attention to him anymore, considering him to be out of his mind. Once leaving the city and finding himself between its walls and the Roman camp, the old man, clearly by divine inspiration, began to sing a song that said that the Romans would not be able to capture Veii until all the water left Lake Alban. The long siege led to the fact that the warring warriors began to talk to each other. And so one Roman soldier, having learned about the strange song of the old man, asked the Veyent who this old man was. He replied that this was an old haruspex. Then the Roman, waiting for the old man to leave the city again, approached him and spoke kindly: he wanted to consult about atonement for some sign shown to him, which neither he nor his comrades could understand. When the old man agreed to help, and, while talking, they moved a considerable distance from the city walls, the Roman suddenly attacked the old man. The forces were unequal, and the Etruscan haruspex soon found himself in the Roman camp. Then he was taken to Rome, where at first he was very sad that his interpretation of what had happened would lead to the destruction of his own homeland, but then he resigned himself, because he realized that everything happened according to the will of the gods, and to hide their will is just as wicked as not to follow it. Therefore, he told everything that he knew: having performed the appropriate rituals, it is necessary to drain the water from Lake Alban, only then the gods will grant the Romans victory over Veii. At first, the senators decided that the old man was just a talker. But soon ambassadors from Delphi returned and brought the answer of Apollo, who ordered the Romans not to keep water in Lake Alban and not allow it to flow into the sea, it must be poured over the surrounding fields, thereby irrigating them, only then will the Romans defeat Veii. The message of the messengers coincided with the words of the old Etruscan haruspex, and they began to treat him with great respect. The Romans also discovered that during the election of officials they had not paid attention to the bad omens, and the elections were not carried out as they should have been, and during the Latin Games, in which not only the Romans but all the Latins participated, the sacrifices were made incorrectly. To rectify the situation, the military tribunes of this year resigned from their positions, and new elections were called, and errors in sacrifices were corrected. The Romans then set about building irrigation canals that would prevent the spilled water from returning to Lake Alban and preventing it from flowing into the sea. The siege of Wei could now be turned with renewed vigor.
At this time, the Gaul tribes attacked the Etruscans living in the Padus River valley. This forced the Etruscan leaders to reconsider their attitude towards the Veii. Not wanting to directly get involved in a war with Rome, they allowed all the young men who wanted to come to the aid of the Veientes. Rumors about this quickly reached Rome and there, as usually happens, they were exaggerated; they began to say that almost all of Etruria had risen against the Romans. Just in case, the Romans decided to appoint a dictator. He became Marcus Furius Camillus.
The appointment of Camillus immediately changed the mood of the besiegers. Camillus' fame was so great that young men from the Latins and Hernics also came under his command, and the dictator especially thanked them for their help. With a new army, Camillus arrived under the walls of Wei and united with the troops stationed there. First of all, the dictator strengthened discipline, which had been thoroughly shaken over the long years of siege, including prohibiting all unauthorized clashes with the Etruscans. Having carefully examined the walls of the city, he realized that it would be extremely difficult to simply take the city by storm. Then Camill decided to make a tunnel. He divided the soldiers into six teams, and in six shifts, without interrupting their work for a single minute, they began to dig an underground passage under the walls of Wei.
When the tunnel was ready, Camill sent a large detachment into it, and ordered the rest to storm. Before this, he offered a prayer to Apollo and Juno, promising the first to dedicate a tenth of the spoils, and the second - a temple in Rome. Seeing the attackers, the Veyents rushed to the walls to repel the attack. And at this time, the Romans, walking through the tunnel, reached the floor of the temple of Juno and came so close to it that they heard everything that was happening in the temple. And in it the Wei king was preparing to make a sacrifice to the goddess. A soothsayer standing nearby said that victory would go to the one who sacrificed this particular animal to Juno. And the Romans from the tunnel heard him. They instantly broke open the floor and burst into the temple. This happened so unexpectedly that no one was able to offer any resistance. The warriors grabbed parts of an animal that had already been killed but not yet sacrificed. One group of warriors climbed out through the same passage, brought them to Camille and told them about what they had heard. Camillus gratefully offered the sacrifice to the goddess.
Another group of warriors attacked the Veyents from the rear. The besieged did not expect this at all; they were already amazed by the fact that the Romans jumped out of the temple, where no one except the priests and the king was allowed to enter. The inhabitants of Vei found themselves squeezed by the Romans on both sides, but stubbornly resisted. Even women and slaves climbed onto the roofs of houses and threw tiles at the Roman soldiers. Then the Romans began to set fire to the roofs. A fire started. The enraged Romans killed everyone who got in their way. Only when it became clear that the enemy’s resistance had been completely broken did Camillus give the signal to stop the battle. After this, the surviving defenders of the city surrendered.
Seeing the burning city, which had recently been famous for its wealth and strength, and seeing the booty captured by the Romans, Camillus was afraid that not only people, but also the gods would envy such great happiness, and turned to the gods with a prayer that possible misfortune as a punishment for too much luck would fall only on him alone, and not on all of Rome. While praying, he suddenly stumbled and fell. Those around him were alarmed by such an unfavorable sign, but Camillus, getting up, said that he was very glad about this, because in this way misfortune had already fallen on him.
Then it was decided, as Camillus had promised, to transport Juno from the destroyed Wei to Rome. Several young men were selected from the warriors, who, having previously washed and put on clean clothes, entered the temple of Juno and respectfully raised their hands to her. Then one of them asked if the goddess wanted to go to Rome. And Juno nodded slightly in agreement. Immediately a thunderous voice was heard expressing agreement. After this, the statue was carefully removed from its pedestal. Despite the enormous weight of the statue, it was easily lifted and sent to Rome; it even seemed as if it was willingly moving into the city. The statue was placed on the Aventine, and later the Temple of Juno was erected on this site. So Juno, the main goddess of Wei, handed over herself and her city to the Romans. Camillus staged a brilliant triumph in Rome, and he was perhaps the first to ride on horseback during his victorious procession. Many Romans were unhappy with this, because they believed that in this way mortal man became like Jupiter. And one captive Veiente even said that their books of destinies say that a few years after the capture of Wei, Rome itself will be captured by the Gauls.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru