Camillus, Marcus Furius In Roman history and legend, conqueror of the Gauls. Camillus cast them out of Rome in 387 b.c.e. He was noted for his sense of justice. One legend tells how he reprimanded a schoolteacher. When the Romans were attacking Falerii, the local schoolteacher brought the children in his
charge to Camillus and offered them as hostages. Shocked at the schoolteacher’s treachery, Camillus sent the children back but not before he had the schoolmaster whipped in front of them. Poussin’s Camillus and the Schoolmaster of Falerii depicts the legend. Both Livy’s History of Rome and Plutarch’s Parallel Lives have biographies of him with legendary material.

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Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante