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We carry arms not against that age which is spared even when towns are taken, but against men who are themselves armed, and who, not having been injured or provoked by us, attacked the Roman camp at Veii. Those thou hast surpassed, as far as lay in you, by an unprecedented act of villany: I shall conquer them, as I did Veii, by Roman arts, by bravery, labour, and by arms."
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.
When Veii fell, the commons of Rome took up the notion that it would be to the advantage of their city were half their number to go and dwell there. For they argued that as Veii lay in a fertile country and was a well-built city, a moiety of the Roman people might in this way be enriched; while, by reason of its vicinity to Rome, the management of civil affairs would in no degree be affected.
The Romans were supported by the Latins and Hernici, to whom the overthrow of their dreaded neighbour was productive of scarcely less satisfaction and advantage than to the Romans themselves; whereas Veii was abandoned by its own nation, and only the adjacent towns of Capena and Falerii, along with Tarquinii, furnished contingents to its help.
Thee also, queen Juno, who inhabitest Veii, I beseech, that thou wilt accompany us, when victors, into our city, soon to be thine, where a temple worthy of thy majesty shall receive thee."
For when the ambassadors came from Rome making the same demand for restitution as before, the men of Veii made answer to them in these words: "Make haste and depart from the land, else we will give you such answer as Lars Tolumnius gave to your fellows." Now the story of Lars Tolumnius is this.
For there was both a complex war at the same time, at Veii, at Capena, at Falerii, and among the Volscians, that Anxur might be recovered from the enemy; and at the same time there was some difficulty experienced both in consequence of the levy, and of the contribution of the tax: there was also a contention about the appointment of plebeian tribunes; and the two trials of those, who a little before had been invested with consular authority, excited no trifling commotion.
Know therefore that in the books of fate and in the lore of the Etrurians it is written that if ever the water of the lake of Alba shall increase, the Romans, draining it off in due manner, shall prevail over the men of Veii, but that before that shall have been done, the Gods will not desert the walls of the city."
During this tribunate, nothing very memorable was performed at Veii. All their force was employed in depopulating the country. Two consummate commanders, Potitus from Falerii, Camillus from Capena, carried off great booty, nothing being left undestroyed which could be injured by sword or by fire.
We have already noticed the fact that the territory between the Ciminian range and the Tiber with the towns of Sutrium, Nepete, Falerii, Veii, and Caere appears not to have been taken possession of by the Etruscans till a period considerably later than the more northern districts, possibly not earlier than in the second century of Rome, and that the original Italian population must have maintained its ground in this region, especially in Falerii, although in a relation of dependence.
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