have conspired with Albucilla, he took his own life, even though his friends urged that the emperor, who was gravely ill, should die before Arruntius could be tried, for Arruntius knew the character of Caligula, and felt no comfort in the prospect of his accession. When, four years later, Caligula fell at the hands of an assassin, Camillus, then governor of Dalmatia, was one of those considered as a possible successor. However, before the senate could act, the praetorian guard proclaimed Claudius emperor. Camillus, who was aware of his support among the senate, began making plans to contest the succession by force of arms. Revolt In the following year, AD 42, Lucius Annius Vinicianus, who had also been considered for the throne, sought Camillus' support. Camillus agreed to rise against Claudius, and a number of legions went over to him. He promised to restore the senate to its former authority, which gave him the support of a number of the equites and many senators. Claudius considered abdicating in favour of Camillus, but was dissuaded when he sought the advice of leading men. Although Camillus' army was sizeable, it contained a large number of provincials and untested soldiers, and soon fell into disarray. Suetonius describes a superstitious dread that had come over the legions that had taken Camillus' side, when they could not obtain the customary garlands and perfumes to adorn their standards, and then found that they could not remove them from the ground, a particularly ill omen. Within five days the rebellion was over, although it is not clear whether the two sides ever engaged in battle. With his army refusing to obey his orders, Camillus fled to the island of Issa, where he perished by his own hand. Aftermath Within a few years after the failed revolt, Camillus' son was appointed an augur, and subsequently praefectus urbi. However, in AD 52, he and his mother were exiled, on a charge of having asked astrologers to predict the time of the emperor's death. The younger Camillus died not long afterward, some said by an illness, others by poison. References Bibliography Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, Historiae. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars). Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs,