...Fortune, to aggrandize Rome, and raise her to the
height she reached, judged it necessary…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. ...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.

Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius
Translated by Ninian Hill Thomson, M.A.