Camilla (mythology)
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In Roman mythology, Camilla of the Volsci was the daughter of King Metabus and Casmilla. Driven from his throne, Metabus was chased into the wilderness by armed Volsci, his infant daughter in his hands. The river Amasenus blocked his path, and, fearing for the child's welfare, Metabus bound her to a spear. He promised Diana that Camilla would be her servant, a warrior virgin. He then safely threw her to the other side, and swam across to retrieve her.
In the Aeneid, she helped her ally, King Turnus of the Rutuli, fight Aeneas and the Trojans in the war sparked by the courting of Princess Lavinia. Arruns stalked Camilla on the battlefield, and, when she was opportunely distracted by her pursuit of Chloreus, kills her. Diana's attendant, Opis, at her mistress' behest, avenged Camilla's death by slaying Arruns. Virgil claimed she was so fast she could run across the sea without getting her feet wet and run across a field of grain without bending any of the plants.
Camilla is similar to Penthesilea of Greek mythology.
References
- Virgil, The Aeneid: Translated by John Dryden, Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (October 1, 1997). ISBN 0140446273.
Coleridge, Samuel T. The Rime of The Ancient Mariner. Ed. Virginia W. Kennedy. Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959.
