The Fall of Veii- Part 1
Page 27
As Ahala spoke again Narcius nudged Marcus’s elbow and nodded his head towards a small slave who was pushing his way through the crowd, the light blue tunic signifying him as a member of the Furii household. Marcus’s heart skipped a beat as the man caught his eye and waved, a smile coming to his face as he puffed and panted and pushed his way through the crowd.
“Master, you must return home, your son has arrived” he beamed.
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**THE END**
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Historical notes
This second book of the series brings Marcus to the time when Rome declared war with Veii, its neighbour and possibly the largest of its future enemies within the Latin Delta. The book is mostly crafted around the period 419 – 406 BC and most of the main characters are real people who lived and served Rome during the period. Rome had been steadily extending its influence in the area, with a twenty year peace with Veii finally coming to an end in approximately 406 BC. However, when writing the book I had two considerations to make as a backdrop to this story. Firstly I was interested in the story of Postumius and how he drew his own soldiers to murder him by stoning as very little data exists of the rationale for the actions of the soldiers against their commander. It struck me that it would have taken a lot for men to murder their former general in public and so I decided to make the story central to the initial rise of Marcus Furius Camillus. Little is known of Marcus’s role within the Republic at the time but he would certainly have known Postumius and so it made sense to have him pitted against his nemesis from the first book but to ultimately attempt to come to his aide as Marcus was driven by the laws and rules of ancient Rome.
Secondly, the time lines were too long to keep a sense of order without squeezing the actions of ten or more years into one or two. Hopefully I have crafted the order of action to support a number of the key developments in politics in Rome and in Marcus’s life well enough to make the story flow. I needed to shift the timelines to enable Marcus to be qualified enough to be a military tribune by the time he achieves this in the 390’s BC, and with his successes at Ferentium and in supporting the return from Bolae I hope to have set his career in motion.
Postumius was a real character and did die under a hail of stones by his own soldiers as he presided over the crushing of men who had opposed his withholding of spoils from Bolae and from his denial of the soldiers requests to resettle in the town. Whilst I have fabricated the exact details to fit into the story the thread of the action has a base in history. The main perpetrators of the murder escaped and were tried by Marcus’s brother, Lucius, in-absentia before they committed suicide some days after the death of Postumius. It was cleaner for me to have them die on the same day to keep the action flowing and to finish the Postumius link within the story, although Megellus will return in a later book. As an aside the son of Postumius was named Marcus, though with both Marcus Furius and Marcus Manlius I had to change the name to avoid the already overcrowded use of the name.
The attack on Ferentium also occurred, though it is unclear who led the attack at the time. The use of the siege towers is my own creation to continue to show that Marcus Furius Camillus, as with the development of the short sword, was the man to change the fighting style of Rome into that which we know and understand today. Of course all of this is supposition on my part. Scipio is another real character and is Master of the Horse against Veii, so has a strong part to play in this book and the next. The punishment given to the guards is as accurate as I could make it whilst keeping a level of hostility between Manlius and Marcus for later books. Such punishments in the early Republican army are not as well documented as in the later period so I have used some creative licence to fit what is known from later texts to this period.
The main thrust of part one of the Fall of Veii is to explore the development of political and military thinking in Rome during the period. It is obvious that the plebeian party and patricians continued to have a love-hate relationship and I wanted to show just how deep feelings were running between the two. I also needed to give Marcus Manlius a key role at this time period in support of the plebeians, something he continued to develop later, before and after the sack of Rome by Brennus. Manlius and Marcus will cross swords in a later volume when Rome falls, as the prophecy predicts.
Calvus was to become the first plebeian military tribune and to rule well during his tenure in office, almost too well as many historians have written. Placing Marcus and Calvus together allowed me to build this relationship and fit the changes which Marcus makes during his years as a Tribune and Dictator into context as he almost certainly fought alongside Calvus at some stage of his military career and they would have discussed politics together. The use of Bassano, Tolero and the other plebeian Centurionate fitted the plot-line and allowed me to give a vent for Postumius’s anger at the plebeians, almost mirroring the ideals that Calvus and the plebeian council have for a stronger Republic based on shared decision making and control. Sergius and Virginius will also play a part in the next story, their hatred for each other leading to disaster for Rome as they, too, are historical figures with a part to play in the fall of Veii and the rise of Camillus.
Marcus Furius Camillus is described as the architect of securing pay for the soldiers at Veii by some writers, but this is also dismissed by others. It seems that the true decision maker will never be known, but it certainly started in this period. The year is also disputed, so I simply added this as final action for book one of this two-parter to give Marcus more credibility to strengthen his case for Dictator for the next book as he was clearly a very able politician as well as a military genius. In 403 BC Marcus was made a Censor, along with his friend Regillensis, and went on to introduce some very unpopular (with the Patricians) taxes as well as rebuild the Pons Sublicius which had been destroyed by a particularly bad winter of heavy rain which had followed a period of pestilence in the City. I will skip both of these facts in the next episode of the life of Marcus Furius Camillus as we are now entering the period of history in which facts and (to a degree) dates are known of the man and his actions. To this point the factual details have been sketchy at best and I have filled the gaps with my own creative endeavours. It is now time to return to the military man who won a series of great battles before sacking the town of Veii in circa 396 BC. There are many twists and turns in the story of Camillus to come, and some of the minor characters in this book will continue to play leading parts in the next and beyond into the fall of Rome itself.
The next book will see Camillus sack Veii, but not before he proves himself worthy to become Dictator of Rome in a number of epic battles. Join Marcus as he completes the Fall of Veii, part two, in the next volume and join Marcus on facebook to keep up to date with developments, simply search for Marcus Furius Camillus and send a friend request.
I offer my apologies to any other spirits of the Romans I have used in this text should I have used their names in an unfavourable light.
As a final note I apologise to any reader who had awaited this volume for the past month or two. Unfortunately, I had a nasty accident and was unable to use my arm for several weeks, consequently I was only able to type with one finger – a skill at which I now hold a black belt! As I am now able to use all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs I am certain book 3 of the series will be available very soon. Please do leave feedback for me on Amazon as it will help me to become a better writer of Camillus’s story.
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