XII. His accuser was Lucius Apuleius, and the charge brought against him
was embezzlement of the spoils of Etruria. He was even said to have in
his possession some brazen gates which were taken in that country. The
people were much excited against him, and it was clear that, whatever
the charge against him might be, they would condemn him. Consequently he
assembled his friends and comrades, who were a great number in all, and
begged them not to permit him to be ruined by false accusations, and
made a laughing-stock to his enemies. But when his friends, after
consulting together, answered that they did not think that they could
prevent his being condemned, but that they would assist him to pay any
fine that might be imposed, he, unable to bear such treatment,
determined in a rage to leave Rome and go into exile. He embraced his
wife and son, and walked from his house silently as far as the gate of
the city. There he turned back, and, stretching out his hands towards
the Capitol, prayed to the gods that, if he was driven out of Rome
unjustly by the insolence and hatred of the people, the Romans might
soon repent of their conduct to him, and appear before the world begging
him to return, and longing for their Camillus back again.
XIII. Like Achilles, he thus cursed his countrymen and left them. His
cause was undefended, and in his absence he was condemned to pay a fine
of fifteen thousand _ases_, which in Greek money is fifteen hundred
_drachmas_, for the _as_ was the Roman coin at that time, and
consequently ten copper _ases_ were called a _denarius_.
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