own their arms, they
commenced to surrender; and, by permission of the dictator, the soldiers
disperse in quest of plunder. And when this was collected before his
eyes, greater in quantity and in the value of the effects than he had
hoped or expected, the dictator, raising his hands to heaven, is said to
have prayed, "that, if his success and that of the Roman people seemed
excessive to any of the gods and men, it might be permitted to the Roman
people to appease that jealousy with as little detriment as possible to
himself and the Roman people."[166] It is recorded that, when turning
about during this prayer, he stumbled and fell; and to persons judging
of the matter by subsequent events, that seemed to refer as an omen to
Camillus' own condemnation, and the disaster of the city of Rome being
akin, which happened a few years after. And that day was consumed in
slaughtering the enemy and in the plunder of this most opulent city.

[Footnote 163: "This vow frequently occurs in Grecian history, like that
made of the Persian booty, but this is the only instance in the history
of Rome."--_Niebuhr_, vol. ii. 239.]

[Footnote 164: _Evocatos_. When the Romans besieged a town, and thought
themselves sure of taking it, they used solemnly to call out of it the
gods in whose protection the place was supposed to be.]

[Footnote 165: The idea of the Romans working a mine, even through the
soil of Veii, so as to be sure of reaching not only the town and the
citadel, and even the temple, is considered by Niebuhr as extremely
ridiculous. He deems the circumstance a clear proof of the fiction that
attaches to the entire story of the capture of Veii. The whole seems to
be an imitation of the siege of Troy.--_Gunne._]

[Footnote 166: The passage in the original, in the generality of
editions, is read as follows: _ut eam invidium lenire, quam minimo suo
privato incommodo publicoque, populo Romano liceret_: i. e. that both
himself and the Roman people may get over the evil consequences of the
jealousy of the gods with as little detriment as possible to either:
_populi Romani_ seems preferable here: i. e. "that it might be allowed
to lighten that jealousy, by the least possible injury to his own
private interest, and to the public interests of the Roman people."
There were certainly two persons concerned in the _invidia_ and
_incommodum_ here, Camillus himself, and the Roman people; to whom
respectively the _damnatio_, and _elades captae u