Camillus Restores Rome After the Gallic Sack
The Gallic sack of 390 BCE had been catastrophic. Brennus's Senones had annihilated a Roman army at the Allia River, entered Rome, and sacked everything except the Capitoline Hill. Camillus had been Rome's greatest general before the sack, the conqueror of the Etruscan city of Veii after a ten-year siege. He had been exiled in a political dispute. When Rome needed him most, the Senate recalled him — appointing him dictator in absentia. He raised an army from Roman refugees scattered across Latium and intercepted the Gauls as they withdrew with their ransom. He defeated them, recovered the gold, and returned to Rome. The moment that transformed Camillus into a mythological figure came after the victory. The Senate began debating whether to abandon the devastated site and relocate the entire population to Veii. Camillus's speech against this plan was preserved by Livy as one of the great rhetorical moments of Roman history. The city's sacred sites, he argued, were bound to specific places. To move was not to save Rome but to destroy it spiritually. The soldiers ratified his speech, the plan was abandoned, and Rome was rebuilt. Camillus oversaw the reconstruction. For this he received the title 'Second Founder of Rome' — second only to Romulus himself.
- Year: 386 BCE
- Category: Political
