Camillus, Marcus Furius (401-c. 365 BC)

Roman general and statesman of the early Republic, allegedly five times dictator. Following early successes against the Etruscans, he rallied the Romans after the Gallic invasion 387 BC. Camillus was an important leader of the patrician cause in the political crises that followed, and was later victorious in campaigns against the Aequi.

Camillus was censor 403 BC and is said to have been military tribune with consular power six times. In his first dictatorship 396 he captured the Etruscan city of Veii, but in 391 was accused of an unfair distribution of its spoils and went into exile at Ardea. Recalled as dictator in the following year, he routed the Gauls under Brennus. During subsequent campaigns he defeated the Aequi, the Volsci, and the Etrusci, and finally, in his last dictatorship 367, the Gauls again, near Alba.

Accounts of Camillus's career were continuously embellished from the 4th century BC onwards and the number of his magistracies was probably exaggerated.