Editing Marcus Furius Camillus (section)

== Historicity ==

The traditional account of Camillus' life comes from Livy and Plutarch's eponymous ''Life''.<ref>See {{harvnb|Livy}} and {{harvnb|Plut. ''Cam.''}}.</ref> But these were based on a larger annalistic tradition which painted Camillus as the dominant figure in this period of history; Livy, for his part, organised his fifth and sixth books around Camillus' career (Camillus enters public office at the start of the fifth book and leaves it at the end of the sixth). Little evidence of this tradition survives, though fragments of [[Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius]]' work indicate that the myth of Camillus was well-established by the 80s and 70s&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=255}}

The ''name'' Camillus is attested in the Etruscan [[François Tomb]], built {{circa|300&nbsp;BC}} near [[Vulci]]. One of the paintings therein describes a "Gneve Tarchunies Rumach" (probably Gnaeus Tarquinius the Roman) being killed by a "Marce Camitlnas" (possibly Marcus Camitilius or Marcus Camillus). It is not known, however, what specific legend the tomb depicts. Some scholars have suggested that Camitlnas refers to the Camillus of this article, but such attribution is problematic.{{sfn|Lomas|2018|pp=129–30, 356}}

Scholars believe Camillus qua ''person'' probably existed: the {{em|fasti}}, if believed, record his importance and influence in Roman public life at this time.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=319}} But, in general, the quality of the sources – which interject "plenty of myth, embellishment, and fantasy" – led [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], in the book ''SPQR'', to write "Camillus is probably not much less fictional than the first Romulus".{{sfn|Beard|2015|p=138}} Mommsen, writing in ''Römisches Strafrecht'', called Camillus' legend "the most dishonest of all Roman legends".{{sfn|Münzer|1910|loc=col. 348}} Tim Cornell, writing of Camillus, calls him "the most artificially contrived of all Rome's heroes".{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=317}}

Other scholars have suggested that Camillus emerged from a popular oral tradition which linked the ''names'' Camillus, Manlius Capitolinus, and Sulpicius to inscriptions placed on the temple of [[Juno Moneta]] (erected in 345&nbsp;BC by [[Lucius Furius Camillus (consul 338 BC)|Lucius Furius Camillus]]).{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=256}}