XXXI. With great difficulty the sites of the temples were cleared of
rubbish by the zeal of Camillus and the labour of the priests; but as
the city was utterly destroyed, and required to be entirely rebuilt, the
people became disheartened at so great an undertaking. Men who had lost
their all were inclined to wait, and indeed required rest after their
misfortunes, rather than labours and toils, which neither their bodies
nor their purses were able to endure. And thus it came to pass that they
turned their thoughts a second time towards Veii, a city which stood
quite ready to be inhabited. This gave opportunities to their mob
orators to make speeches, as usual, which they knew would be pleasing to
the people, in which Camillus was disrespectfully spoken of as depriving
them of a city which stood ready to receive them, for his own prviate
ambition, and was said to be compelling them to live encamped in the
midst of ruins, and re-erect their houses in that vast heap of ashes,
all in order that he might be called, not merely the leader and general
of Rome, but might usurp the place of Romulus and be called her founder.
Fearing disturbances, the Senate would not permit Camillus to lay down
his dictatorship for a year, although he wished to do so, and although
no dictator before this had ever remained in office for more than six
months. In the meantime the senators themselves encouraged and consoled
the people by personal appeals, pointing to the tombs and monuments of
their ancestors, and recalling to their minds the temples and holy
places which Romulus and Numa and the other kings had consecrated and
left in charge to them.
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