[Illustration: ARROW MACHINE.]

The siege of Veii lasted ten years, and during the last the Alban lake
filled to an unusual height, although the summer was very dry. One of
the Veian soldiers cried out to the Romans half in jest, "You will
never take Veii till the Alban lake is dry." It turned out that there
was an old tradition that Veii should fall when the lake was drained. On
this the senate sent orders to have canals dug to carry the waters to
the sea, and these still remain. Still Veii held out, and to finish the
war a dictator was appointed, Marcus Furius Camillus, who chose for his
second in command a man of one of the most virtuous families in Rome, as
their surname testified, Publius Cornelius, called Scipio, or the Staff,
because either he or one of his forefathers had been the staff of his
father's old age. Camillus took the city by assault, with an immense
quantity of spoil, which was divided among the soldiers.

Camillus in his pride took to himself at his triumph honors that had
hitherto only been paid to the gods. He had his face painted with
vermilion and his car drawn by milk-white horses. This shocked the
people, and he gave greater offence by declaring that he had vowed a
tenth part of the spoil to Apollo, but had forgotten it in the division
of the plunder, and now must take it again. The soldiers would not
consent, but lest the god should be angry with them, it was resolved to
send a gold vase to his oracle at Delphi. All the women of Rome brought
their jewels, and the senate rewarded them by a decree that funeral
speeches might be made over their graves as over those of men, and
likewise that they might be driven in chariots to the public games.

Camillus commanded in another war with the Falisci, also an Etruscan