# CHAPTER XXIX.—_That Fortune obscures the minds of Men when she would not have them hinder her Designs._

If we note well the course of human affairs, we shall often find things
come about and accidents befall, against which it seems to be the will
of Heaven that men should not provide. And if this were the case even
in Rome, so renowned for her valour, religion, and wise ordinances, we
need not wonder if it be far more common in other cities and provinces
wherein these safeguards are wanting.

Having here a notable opportunity to show how Heaven influences men’s
actions, Titus Livius turns it to account, and treats the subject at
large and in pregnant words, where he says, that since it was Heaven’s
will, for ends of its own, that the Romans should feel its power, it
first of all caused these Fabii, who were sent as envoys to the Gauls,
to act amiss, and then by their misconduct stirred up the Gauls to make
war on Rome; and, lastly, so ordered matters that nothing worthy of
their name was done by the Romans to withstand their attack. For it was
fore-ordained by Heaven that Camillus, who alone could supply the
remedy to so mighty an evil, should be banished to Ardea; and again,
that the citizens, who had often created a dictator to meet attacks of
the Volscians and other neighbouring hostile nations, should fail to do
so when the Gauls were marching upon Rome. Moreover, the army which the
Romans got together was but a weak one, since they used no signal
effort to make it strong; nay, were so dilatory in arming that they
were barely in time to meet the enemy at the river Allia, though no
more than ten miles distant from Rome. Here, again, the Roman tribunes
pitched their camp without observing any of the usual precautions,
attending neither to the choice of ground, nor to surround themselves
with trench or Palisade, nor to avail themselves of any other aid,
human or Divine. In ordering their army for battle, moreover, disposed
it in weak columns, and these far apart: so that neither men nor
officers accomplished anything worthy of the Roman discipline. The
battle was bloodless for the Romans fled before they were attacked;
most of them retreating to Veii, the rest to Rome, where, without
turning aside to visit their homes, they made straight for the Capitol.

Meanwhile, the senate, so far from bethinking themselves how they might
defend the city, did not even attend to closing the gates; and while
some of them made their escape from Rome, others entered the Capitol
along with those who sought shelter there. It was only in the defence
of the Capitol that any method was observed, measures being taken to
prevent it being crowded with useless numbers, and all the victual
which could be got, being brought into it to enable it to stand a
siege. Of the women, the children, and the men whose years unfitted
them for service, the most part fled for refuge to the neighbouring
towns, the rest remained in Rome a prey to the invaders; so that no one
who had heard of the achievements of the Romans in past years, on being
told of what took place on this occasion, could have believed that it
was of the same people that things so contrary were related.

Wherefore, Titus Livius, after setting forth all these disorders,
concludes with the words, “_So far does Fortune darken men’s minds when
she would not have her ascendency gainsaid._” Nor could any juster
observation be made. And hence it is that those who experience the
extremes whether of good or of evil fortune, are, commonly, little
deserving either of praise or blame; since it is apparent that it is
from Heaven having afforded them, or denied them opportunities for
acting worthily, that they have been brought to their greatness or to
their undoing. Fortune, doubtless, when she seeks to effect great ends,
will often choose as her instrument a man of such sense and worth that
he can recognize the opportunities which she holds out to him; and, in
like manner, when she desires to bring about great calamities, will put
forward such men as will of themselves contribute to that result. And
all who stand in her way, she either removes by death, or deprives of
the means of effecting good. And it is well seen in the passage we are
considering, how Fortune, to aggrandize Rome, and raise her to the
height she reached, judged it necessary, as shall be more fully shown
in the following Book, to humble her; yet would not have her utterly
undone. For which reason we find her causing Camillus to be banished,
but not put to death; suffering Rome to be taken, but not the Capitol;
and bringing it to pass that, while the Romans took no wise precaution
for the defence of their city, they neglected none in defending their
citadel. That Rome might be taken, Fortune caused the mass of the army,
after the rout at the Allia, to direct its flight to Veii, thus
withdrawing the means wherewith the city might have been defended; but
while thus disposing matters, she at the same time prepared all the
needful steps for its recovery, in bringing an almost entire Roman
array to Veii, and Camillus to Ardea, so that a great force might be
assembled for the rescue of their country, under a captain in no way
compromised by previous reverses, but, on the contrary, in the
enjoyment of an untarnished renown. I might cite many modern instances
to confirm these opinions, but since enough has been said to convince
any fair mind, I pass them over. But once more I repeat what, from all
history, may be seen to be most true, that men may aid Fortune, but not
withstand her; may interweave their threads with her web, but cannot
break it But, for all that, they must never lose heart, since not
knowing what their end is to be, and moving towards it by cross-roads
and untravelled paths, they have always room for hope, and ought never
to abandon it, whatsoever befalls, and into whatsoever straits they
come.