Camillus   

walls.
And now, in the very heat of the war, a strange phenomenon in the
Alban lake, which, in the absence of any known cause and explanation
by natural reasons, seemed as great a prodigy as the most incredible
that are reported, occasioned great alarm. It was the beginning of
autumn, and the summer now ending had, to all observation, been neither
rainy nor much troubled with southern winds; and many of the lakes,
brooks, and springs of all sorts with which Italy abounds, some were
wholly dried up, others drew very little water with them; all the
rivers, as is usual in summer, ran in a very low and hollow channel.
But the Alban lake, that is fed by no other waters but its own, and
is on all sides encircled with fruitful mountains, without any cause,
unless it were divine, began visibly to rise and swell, increasing
to the feet of the mountains, and by degrees reaching the level of
the very tops of them, and all this without any waves or agitation.
At first it was the wonder of shepherds and herdsmen; but when the
earth, which, like a great dam, held up the lake from falling into
the lower grounds, through the quantity and weight of water was broken
down, and in a violent stream it ran through the ploughed fields and
plantations to discharge itself in the sea, it not only struck terror
into the Romans, but was thought by all the inhabitants of Italy to
portend some extraordinary event. But the greatest talk of it was
in the camp that besieged Veii, so that in the town itself, also,
the occurrence became known.
As in long sieges it commonly happens that parties on both sides meet
often and converse with one another, so it chanced that a Roman had
gained much confidence and familiarity with one of the besieged, a
man versed in ancient prophecies, and of repute for more than ordinary
skill in divination. The Roman, observing, him to be overjoyed at
the story of the lake, and to mock at the siege, told him that this
was not the only prodigy that of late had happened to the Romans;
others more wonderful yet than this had befallen them, which he was
willing to communicate to him, that he might the better provide for
his private interests in these public distempers. The man greedily
embraced the proposal, expecting to hear some wonderful secrets; but
when, by little and little, he had led him on in conversation and
insensibly drawn him a good way from the gates of the city, he snatched
him up by the middle, being stronger than he, and, by the assistance
of others that came running from the camp, seized and delivered him
to the commanders. The man, reduced to this necessity, and sensible
now that destiny was not to be avoided, discovered to them the secret
oracles of Veii; that it was not possible the city should be taken,
until the Alban lake, which now broke forth and had found out new
passages, was drawn back from that course, and so diverted that it
could not mingle with the sea. The senate, having heard and satisfied
themselves about the matter, decreed to send to Delphi, to ask counsel
of the god. The messengers were persons of the highest repute, Licinius
Cossus, Valerius Potitus, and Fabius Ambustus; who, having made their
voyage by sea and consulted the god, returned with other answers,
particularly that there had been a neglect of some of their national
rites relating to the Latin feasts; but the Alban water the oracle
commanded, if it were possible, they should keep from the sea, and
shut it up in its ancient bounds; but if that was not to be done,
then they should carry it off by ditches and trenches into the lower
grounds, and so dry it up; which message being delivered, the priests
performed what related to the sacrifices, and the people went to work
and turned the water.
And now the senate, in the tenth year of the war, taking away all
other commands, created Camillus dictator, who chose Cornelius Scipio
for his general of horse. And in the first place he made vows unto
the gods, that, if they would grant a happy conclusion of the war,
he would celebrate to their honour the great games, and dedicate a
temple to the goddess whom the Romans call Matuta, the Mother, though,
from the ceremonies which are used, one would think she was Leucothea.