freely. "If the lake overflow," he said, "and
its waters run out into the sea, woe unto Rome; but if it be drawn off,
and the waters reach the sea no longer, then it is woe unto Veii."

This he gave as the decree of the Fates; but the senate would not accept
his words, and preferred to wait until the messengers should return from
Delphi with the reply of the oracle.

When they did come, they confirmed what the old prophet had said. "See
that the waters be not confined within the basin of the lake," was the
message of Apollo's priestess: "see that they take not their own course
and run into the sea. Thou shalt take the water out of the lake, and
thou shalt turn it to the watering of the fields, and thou shalt make
courses for it till it be spent and come to nothing."

What all this could possibly have to do with the siege of Veii the
oracle did not say. But the people of the past were not given to ask
such inconvenient questions. The oracle was supposed to know better than
they, so workmen were sent with orders to bore through the sides of the
hills and make a passage for the water. This tunnel was made, and the
waters of the lake were drawn off, and divided into many courses, being
given the duty of watering the fields of the Romans. In this way the
water of the lake was all used up, and no drop of it flowed to the sea.
Then the Romans knew that it was the will of the gods that Veii should
be theirs.

Despite all this, the army of Rome must have met with serious
difficulties and dangers at Veii, for the senate chose a dictator to
conduct the war. This was their ablest and most famous man, Marcus
Furius Camillus, a leader among the aristocrats, and a statesman of
distinguished ability.

Under the command of Camillus the army hotly pressed the siege. So
straitened became the Veientians that they sent envoys to Rome to beg
for peace. The senate refused. In reply, one of the chief men of the
embassy, who was a skilled prophet, rebuked the Romans for their
arrogance, and predicted coming retribution.

"You heed neither the wrath of the gods nor the vengeance of men," he
said. "Yet the gods shall requite you for your pride; as you destroy our
country, so shall you shortly after lose your own."

This prediction was verified before many years in the invasion of the
Gauls and the destruction of Rome,--a tale which we have next to tell.

Camillus, finding that Veii was not to be taken by assault over its
walls, began to