Camilla

• a Volscian heroine, who perished in the war between Aeneas and Turnus, Verg. A. 7, 803; 11, 535.

a daughter of king Metabus of the Volscian town of Privernum. When her father, expelled by his subjects, came in his flight to the river Amasenus, he tied his infant daughter, whom he had previously devoted to the service of Diana, to a spear, and hurled it across the river. He himself then swam after it, and on reaching the opposite bank he found his child uninjured. He took her with him, and had her suckled by a mare. He brought her up in pure maidenhood, and she became one of the swift-footed servants of Diana, accustomed to the chase and to war. In the war between Aeneas and Turnus she assisted the latter, and was slain by Aruns. Diana avenged her death by sending Opis to kill Aruns, and to rescue the body of Camilla. (Verg. A. 7.803, &c., 11.432, &c., 648, &c.; Hyg. Fab. 252.) Servius (Serv. ad Aen. 11.543 and 558) remarks, that she was called Camilla because she was engaged in the service of Diana, since all youthful priestesses were called Camilla by the Etruscans. That there were such Camillae as well as Camilli at Rome is expressly stated by Dionysius. (2.21, &c.; Fest. s. v. Camillus.) [L.S]

A queen of the Volsci, and daughter of Metabus and Casmilla. Her father, who reigned at Privernum, having by his tyranny rendered himself odious to his subjects, was by them expelled from his dominions, and forced to take refuge from their fury in the lonely woods. Here he bred up the infant Camilla, the sole companion of his flight; and, having dedicated her to the service of Diana, he instructed her in the use of the bow and arrow, and accustomed her to the practice of martial and sylvan exercises. She was so remarkable for her swiftness that she is described by the poets as flying over the corn without bending the stalks, and skimming over the surface of the water without wetting her feet. Attended by a train of warriors, she led the Volscians to battle against Aeneas. Many brave chiefs fell by her hand; but she was at length herself killed by a soldier of the name of Aruns, who, from a place of concealment, aimed a javelin at her. Diana, however, who had foreseen this fatal event, had commissioned Opis, one of her nymphs, to avenge the death of Camilla, and Aruns was slain in his flight from the combat by the arrows of the goddess (Verg. Aen. vii. 803 foll.; xi. 532 foll.).