Editing Marcus Furius Camillus (section)

== Legacy ==

By the late republic, after centuries of embellishment from the fourth to the first century&nbsp;BC, the Romans believed that Camillus had captured Veii, saved the city from the Gallic sack, saved the city from foreign threats on all sides, opened the highest magistracies to the plebeians, ensured domestic harmony, and largely settled the struggle of the orders. Through it all, they believed he had held six consular tribunates and been dictator five times. For these reasons, he was hailed as the second founder of the city.{{sfn|Boatwright|2004|p=59}} A bronze statue of Camillus also bedecked itself on the [[rostra]] in the [[Roman Forum|Forum]].{{sfn|Münzer|1910|loc=col. 347}}

His reputation by the late republic and early empire was such that Camillus was a source of {{lang|la|exempla}}: fables giving lessons for Romans on how to act in line both with morals and with Roman tradition and procedures.{{sfn|Chaplin|2015|p=103}} One of the most famous ones is during Camillus' capture of Faliscii: one of their schoolmasters defects, bringing with him to the camp his pupils who are Faliscan nobles' children. Camillus, displaying his exemplary {{lang|la|fides}}, has the schoolmaster reprimanded and punished by the pupils; the Faliscans then surrender the city before Camillus' good faith.<ref>{{harvnb|Chaplin|2015|p=102}}, citing, {{harvnb|Livy|loc=5.27.1–15}}.</ref> Camillus is similarly alleged to have resigned a dictatorship to which he was appointed merely because of faulty procedure; Livy mentions it – an event that "almost certainly never took place" – as an example of Roman legal scruples.<ref>{{harvnb|Chaplin|2015|p=103}}, citing, {{harvnb|Livy|loc=6.38.3–13}}.</ref> In all, Camillus is mentioned in Livy's ''Ab urbe condita'' as an example to be followed eight times, an "unusually high frequency", usually in relation to his alleged successes as a general, moderation in the face of hot-headed colleagues, and triumphant recall from exile.{{sfn|Chaplin|2015|pp=105 et seq, 107–8}}

The memory of Camillus became part of the public image of the first Roman emperor [[Augustus]]. The history of Livy, for example, may have been written to coincide at the beginning of a {{em|great year}} consisting of 360–365 years.{{sfn|Mineo|2015a|p=140|ps=. See also n. 1 on p. 362 in the same book.}}{{sfn|Koptev|2010|p=22}} Starting with [[Romulus]], the cycle reaches a peak under king [[Servius Tullius]] before a second founding under Camillus, completing the cycle. The next cycle has a second peak in the time of [[Scipio Africanus]] before [[Augustus]] enters as the figure to re-found Rome again and restart the great year, with Livy suggesting that Romulus, Camillus, and Augustus are coequal heroic figures.{{sfn|Mineo|2015a|pp=140–41, 147}}