In 395 BC Marcus Furius Camillus finally subdued Rome’s northerly neighbours the Falisci after ten long years, and awarded himself a triumphal procession in Rome which alienated public opinion. Soon afterwards the Falisci revolted. Camillus returned to find that a schoolmaster had kidnapped the children of the most prominent townspeople, and was obligingly offering them as hostages to Rome.

Instead of seizing the opportunity given to him, Camillus publicly denounced the treacherous schoolmaster, and arranged for the kidnapped children to thrash him all the way back to town. In Rome, however, Camillus was still under a cloud, and some trumped up charges were enough to secure his banishment — vowing as he went that the Senate would regret their decision.

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