Source Verification: Camilla
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Who is Camilla in the Aeneid?
Camilla is a Volscian maiden who leads Turnus's cavalry against the Trojans and their Etruscan allies. Virgil lists her in the catalogue of Italian forces, gives her a great day of battle in Book 11, and has Arruns kill her in an ambush (Aeneid 7.803-817; Aeneid 11.648-663; Aeneid 11.794-835). Diana's attendant Opis avenges her (Aeneid 11.836-867).
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 7.803-817
Who was Camilla in Roman mythology?
She is a figure of Virgil's poem, and the sources cited here know her from nowhere else. Her father Metabus, an exile from Privernum, vowed her to Diana as a child, and she grew up as a huntress who refused marriage (Aeneid 11.532-556; Aeneid 11.557-596). Virgil frames her as an Italian answer to the Amazons (Aeneid 11.648-663).
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 11.557-596
What did Camilla do?
She joined the Latin war, took command of Turnus's cavalry, and killed many Trojans and Etruscans, among them Eunaeus, Liris, Pagasus, Amastrus, Ornytus, Butes and Orsilochus (Aeneid 11.469-531; Aeneid 11.664-689; Aeneid 11.690-724). She died when Arruns speared her as she chased the priest Chloreus for his armour, and her last request was that Turnus hold the field (Aeneid 11.768-793; Aeneid 11.794-835).
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 11.664-689
Where Accounts Differ
- Camilla's parentage and name
- whether Camilla is an Amazon
- who is to blame for Camilla's death
- Diana's promise to hide Camilla's body
- what Camilla's name means
- Camilla's parentage is given only by Diana in Book 11: her father is Metabus of Privernum, and the child's name is a change of her mother's name Casmilla in the Williams translation (Aeneid 11.532-556). Book 7 gives only that she is bred of the Volscians (Aeneid 7.803-817). No other source cited here says more.
- The meaning of the name is disputed. Virgil says only that Metabus changed her mother's name Casmilla (Aeneid 11.532-556). Servius reads it as the Roman word for a young attendant of priests and cites Statius Tullianus and Callimachus for an Etruscan Camillus as attendant of the gods (Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid 11.543). Servius is a much later commentator, so this is an ancient guess, not a recorded fact.
- Whether Camilla is an Amazon is a matter of comparison, not descent. Virgil compares her to Thracian women who fight around Hippolyta and to Penthesilea (Aeneid 11.648-663), yet Diana's account makes her an Italian huntress raised in exile (Aeneid 11.557-596).
- Apollo's answer to Arruns is split. He grants Camilla's death but denies Arruns his return home, and Opis then kills Arruns (Aeneid 11.794-835; Aeneid 11.836-867). Virgil does not say whether Camilla's death is fated or is a result of her chase after spoils (Aeneid 11.768-793).
- Diana's promise to hide Camilla's body in a cloud and return it to her country is her plan at the start of the episode (Aeneid 11.557-596). The scenes that follow show Opis's arrow and the rout of the Rutulians, and the passage checked here does not show the promise carried out.
Sources
- Virgil, Aeneid 7.803-817
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.469-531
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.532-556
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.557-596
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.648-663
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.664-689
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.690-724
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.725-767
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.768-793
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.794-835
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.836-867
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.868-895
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.896-915
- Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid 11.543