This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online.
It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.
Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:
+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for personal, non-commercial purposes.
+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.
About Google Book Search
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web
at|http : //books . google . com/
m EBMU V
^iiaAS
C
lAy^l
'-('
4'
/ c^i-^n^O^.-^^^^P^^'^'^'f^
a. ColiMnm.
6. MeteSadans.
e. Arch of Cooitontlnc.
d. Arch of Titat and Telia.
e. Mount Palatine. /. EicaTaled Itvel of the
Forum.
A. Arch of ScTcrcit.
(, Temple of Vcpp^datk. .^^ ^
Jk templfc of SatufXL / t£ cJtj
L CntTuiCapliDlinni. ^
fPL^CapiioL
ROME. Bau>*t.Bra TTBW or thv fokum rBOM ibk «afitol.
HISTORY OF ROME,
TROM THS SARLIS8T TIMBB TO THK KBTABLISHMSNT or THE EMPIRE.
WITH CHAPTERS ON THE BISTORT OF LTTBRATURB AND ART.
BY HENRY G. LIDDELL, D.D.,
DXAX or OBBlfT OHUBOB, OZPOXD.
ILLU8IRATBD BT NUMEBOUS WOODOYnflL
NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS,
FBANKLIN 8QVABS. 1869.
Kf //^•2«
HARVARDA [UNIVERSITY! LIBRARY
UNIFORM WITH 'LtDDELL'8 HISTORY OF ROME.*
THE STUDENT'S GIBBON.— THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIBE. B7 Eowabd Gxbboit. Abridged. Inoorponit- ing the BaeEAioEras of Rbobht CoiiMKirTATOBa. By WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D., Editor of the Classical and Latin Dictionaries, Ac Dlostrated by 100 Engravings on Wood. 12mo^ MosUn, $1.
A SCHOOL HISTORY OP GREECE, finom the Eaeubst Tdoss to the BoxAK CoNQUBBT, wlth the HxBTOXT of LiTBKATDSS and Abt. Bj Db. WILLIAM SMITH. With 100 Woodcuts. ISma, Muslin, $1.
THE STUDENTS HUME.— THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By DAVID HUME. Abridged and continued down to the present time* Incorporating the BncASOBU of Rsokwr Hibtobxakb. With Woodcuts.
Coin of Caesar la 4th DiotatorBhiis p. 094.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
L ThymcaX Geography of Italy 1
11 Early Popolatiaii of Italy U
BOOK L
ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Chap.
L Origin of Rome: Roxntilus and Nmna
n. Tallus Hostilius and Ancus Martias^ the third and fourth kings UL Tarqainius Priactis and Servius Tollius, the fifth and sixth kings lY. Tarquinins Saperbus, and the beginnings of the Republic . . Y. Observations on the history of Rome under the kings . . . .
21 33
38 68 YO
BOOK 11.
ROME UNDER THE PATRIOIANa ■LOL Chap.
— YL Decline of Roman power after the expulsion of the
Tarquins. Geographical sketch of tiie neighbour- hood of Rome 79
— YIL The Tribunate ,^ 87
— YIIL Agrarian law. X^e election of the Tribunes trans-
ferred to the Tribes 96
486-450. IX. Wars and foreign affairs from the battle of LakeRegQ- lus to the Decemvirate 101
470-449. X Continued struggle between the Orders. The Deoem-
yirate Ill
— XI. The Code of the Twelve Tables 124
44ft-406. Xn. Sequel of the Decemvirate. ICHtary Tribunate. Gen- eral history to the war with Yeii 128
448-391. Xm. Wars smce the Decemvirate. Siege of Yen . . . . 136 S90. rrV. The Gauls 1*3
CONTENTS.
B.a Chap. Pa«b
389-367. XT. Sequel of the Gallic War. licinian Laws. Final
eqaalizatdon of the two Orders 162
— XYL Sources of early Boman history 162
BOOK III.
ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY, (aa 366—265.)
366-344. XVTL Sequel of the Licinian Laws. Civil History to the
first Samnite War .. • KT
389-344. XVnL "Wars from the burning of Rome to the first Sam- nite War 1Y2
34a-341. XrS. First Samnite War Ill
340-338. XX. Great Latin War. Subjection of Latium . . . . 194
337-326. XXI. Events leading to the Second Samnite War . . 196
326-304. XXTT. The Great Samnite War, commonly called the
Second 199
299-290. XXnL Third Samnite War 209
— XXTY. CivU History during the time of the Samnite
Wars 216
28^282. XXV. Events between the Third Samnite War and the
landing of Pyrrhus 224
280-276. XXVI. Pyrrhus in Italy • . . . 237
274*264, XXVn. Final reduction and settlemeat of Italy . . . . 248
— XiVllL 263-241. XXIX.
— XTT 218-216. XXXL
215-211. xxxn.
210-207. XXXTTT.
206-202. xixrv.
— XXXV.
— XXXVI.
— XXXVIL
BOOK IV-
ROME AND CARTHAGE.
Carthage. Events leading to First Pernio War .. 259
Rrst Punic War 267
Events between the First and Second Punio Wars 282
Second Punic War. First Period .... . . 296
Second Punic War. Second Period 321
Second Punic War. Third Period 336
Second Punic War. Fourth and last Period .. 3.60
Government and Constitutional Changes up to the
dose of the Hannibalic War 369
The Provinces and Finances 386
Social and Intellectual Condition of the People.
Uannem— Religion— Literature — ^Art .. 394
CONTENTS.
YU
BOOK V.
ROME AND THE CONQtTBST OF THE WORLD. (b.o. 201-132.)
B.C. Chaf. Paox
— XXXVin. Introductory: State of the Eastern World .. .. 412
214-194. XXXTX. First and Second Macedonian Wars: Settlement
of Greece by Flamininus 419
192-188. XL. War with Antiochna, and settlement of Eastern
Affairs 432
200-177. XLI. Wars in the West contemporaneous with the
Macedonian and Syrian Wars 441
200-169. XLIL Civil History during the Macedonian and Syrian Wars : Corruption of manners : Senatorial pre- dominance : Scipio and Cato 446
180-168. XLin. The Third Macedonian War, or War of Perseus. . 456 166-150. XLTV. General History between the War with Perseus
and the last Wars with Greece and Carthage . • 467
161-146. XLY. ^e last Wars with Macedon and Greece : Fall of
Corinth 476
150-146. XLVL Third Punic War : Fall of Carthage 481
149-133. XLYn. Spanish Wars: Fall of Numantia 491
133-131. XLYIIL First Slave-War in Sidly 497
— XLTX. The condition of Rome and her People at the close
of the Period of Conquest 602
— L. Manners and Morals: literature and Art .. .. 608
BOOK VI.
FIRST PERIOD OP CIVIL WARa
133. LI. Tiberius Gracchus 618
133-129. LII. Return and death of Sdpb the Younger . . . . 627
128-121. LUX. Caius Gracchus and his tunes 533
120-104. UY. Jugurtha and his times 546
106-101. LV. The Cimbrians and Teutons ) kk-
103-101. Second Slave-War in Italy P°^
100^1. LYI. From the Sixth Consulship of Marius to the death
of M. Livius Drusus . . 665
90, 89. L71L The Social War 575
88-86. LVra. First Civil War 582
88-^4. LIX. First Mithridatic War . 598
83, 82. LX. Return of Sylla: Second Civil War 601
82-28. LXI. Vila's Dictatorship and death 610
viii CONTBNTS.
BOOK vn.
SECOND PERIOD OP CIVIL WAR.
B.a Chap. Pass
78-70. LXII. Revolutionary attempt of Lepidus: Sertoriiu: •
Spartacus: ConsuL^p of Pompej and Crassus 620
74-61. TiXTTT. Third or Great Mithridatic War: Pompey in the
East 629
69-61. LXIY. From Consulship of Pompey and Crassus to re- turn of Pompey from the East : Caesar: Cicero: Catiline 639
62-58. LXV. Pompey's return: First Triivnvirate : Cesar's Con- sulship : Clodius ' 651
68-^0. LXVI. CsBsar in Gaul: breach between Pompey and
Csesar 661
50-48. LXVIL Second Civil War death of Pompey . . . . . . 673
4&-44 LXVm. Absolute rule of Caesar 687
44-42. T.YTY From the death of Cssar to the batUe of Philippi 703 41-^0. T.YX. From the battle of Philippi to the final establish- ment of Imperial Monarchy '719
— LXXI. State of the Empire: Literature, Art, Manners,
and Religious feeling ''Bl
Index 762
Coin of Agrlppa, with head of Augofltos on tbe reverse.
Colli of U. Antony, with head of Cnsftr on the obrerWi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Rome.— Bird's-eye View of the Formn from the Capitol
Paob Coin of Obbbbt in 4th Dictator-
■hip y
Coin of Agriiypa^ with head of
AugastoB on the Teverse . . viii Cknn of M. Antony, with head of
OsBaar on the obverse . . . . iz Oom with head of Janns . . . . x Medal commemoratiye of the
foondatian <^ Borne . . . . 1 Geological Map of Italy . . . . 4, 5 Ostia at the present day . . . . 13
Wdf of the Capitol 21
Lake of Alba 83
Cloaca Maxima 38
Map 6t Borne 62
Plan of the (Sty 54
Cloaca of Marta in Tuscany . . 6*7 Tomb of the Tarqnms . . . . 68
Bast of Nlebohr 10
View of Campagoa 79
Geological Map of Country round
Borne 86
Lake of Nemi, looking oyer the
Campagna 86
TarpeianBock .. 96
Coin bearing the Dioscuri . . . . 100 Tiyoli, looking oyer the Cam- pagna 101
Castor and Pollux Ill
Coin of P. PorduB Lescsy author
of the Law of Appeal . . . . 123 EmisBaiy of Alban Lake . . . . 136 Geese of the Capitol (?) .. ..143 As, with head of Janus •. .. 162 Beyerse of As, with Ship's
prow 161
1*
Pbontispibob.
Paob
M. Curtius 167
Etruscan Walling 172
Coin with Samnite Bull goring
the Boman Wol^ struck in
the Social War 177
Boman soldiers 184
Terradna 195
Beneyentum in Sanmium . . . . 199 Tomb of Scipio Barbatus . . -. . 209
Appian Way 216
The Island of the Tiber .. .. 224
Coin of Epidaurus 236
Coin of Pyrrhus with head of
Dodonean Zeus 237
Brundusium 248
Coin of Carthage, with Winged
Horse 259
Com of a liyineius with head of
Begulus 267
Coin of MeteUus Scipio, referring
to Battle of Panormus . . . . 281 Temple of Janus closed, on a
Coin of Nero 282
Lake Trasunene 296
Plan illustrating the Battle of
Lake Trasimene 306
Head of Maroellus, on a Coin of
Marcellinus 321
Coin of an Adlius, with Tri- umphal Car 336
L. Cornelius Scipio Aihcanus . . 360
Lictors 369
Sella Curulis 386
Temple of Saturn 386
Bemains of Aqueduct at Bome 394 Coin of Ptolemy Philadelphus . . 412
ILLUSTRATION&
Pags Coin of Philip Y., King of Mace- don 419
Coin of the Qainctian GexiSi bear- ing the head of Flamininus ..431 Coin of Antiochus the Great . . 432 Tomb of the Scipios, as restored
hj Canina 446
Coin of Peraeus 456
Coin of Lepidua, representing Paullus triumphing over Per- scns and his Children . . . . 466
Coin of Attains I. 467
Plan of Tyrian Carthage . . . . 485 Tomb on the Appian Way . . 502 Medallion of Terence . . . . 508
Bust of Ennios 51*7
The Forum ftom the Capitol . . 518 Tomb on the Appian Way . . 527 Walls of Rome, from the inside. 533
Caius Marius 556
Coin of the Eight Italian Nations, joining in an Oath of Federa- tion, with the Legend Italia. . 575 Coin of the Two Allied Nations who last held out, with the name of Papius in Oscan Cha- racters 581
Paqb Coin of Mithridates VL .. ..593 Coin. — ^Temple of Jupiter onCi^- tol, and head of Jupiter . . 601
Tomb near Alba 610
Cn. Pompeins Magnus . . . . 629 Slab fh>ai arch of Titus, i^re- senting the Spoils of Jerusa- lem borne in triumph . . . . 638
M. Tulliua Cicero 639
C. Julius CflBsar 651
Coin of Caesar 660
Coin to commemorate Conquest
of Gaul 661
Parthian Coin 6-72
Coin to commemorate the taking
of Egypt 673
M. Junius Brutus 687
Coins struck upon the death of
Caesar ^02
Coins of the Triumvirs . . . . 703 Fine Coin of Antony, executed
atAntioch 718
Antony and Cleopatra . . . . 719 Figure Head of Roman Galley, dredged up near Actium . . 730
Octavian 731
M. Yipsanius Agrit^a . . . . 761
Colli with bMd of Juras.
HISTORY OF ROME.
INTRODUCTION.
SECTION I.
PHTSICAL QEOORAPHT OF ITALY.
§ 1. Relation of Italy to Roman History. § 2. Length of Italian Peninsola. g 3. Breadth. % 4. Extent of Sar&oe. § 5. Reasons for considering Fhjsica] Stmctni^. . § 6. Division of Italyinto two portiona § 7. Physical Structure of upper portion : The Alps, or northern limits of the valley of the Pa § 8. Upper Apennines, or soutiiem limits of this valley. § 9. Plain of the Po itself. § 10. Physical Structore of lower portion of Apennine nnge. § 11. Its Southern flank. § 12. Northern flank. § 13. Deduction of geogiaphioal features of Italy from fiiregoing description: Few prominent Headlands and laige Gulfs. § 14. Few Islands. § 15. No large Rivers, except in the valley of the Po. § 16. No laige Plains, except in same valley. § 17. No laige Lakes, except in same valley. Peculiar character of Lakes in many parts of suh- Apennine districta § 18. Marshy character of some districta Methods of redahning land in modem timea § 19. Ch- mate. § 20. Productiona § 21. Beauty of scenery.
§ 1. The History of Rome is properly the history of a City, or rather a Civic Community, which gradually extended its imperial sway, first over all Italy, then over all the countries bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea. It was, according to the common reckoning, nearly five centuries before the citizens of Rome became lords of Lower Italy ;* in little more than another cen' ♦ 753— 270B.a 1
2 HISTORY OP ROME. Iatbod.
tury they had become the sovereign power of the civilised world.* It is difficult, therefore, in attempting a geographical sketch for the purpose of elucidating Roman History, to deter- mine where we ought to begin and where to end. For during a long period we are hardly carried out of sight of the Capitol ; and at the close of that period wo are hurried with startling rapidity into the heart of every country, from the Atlantic to the mountains of Asia Minor, from the ridges of the Alps to the plains that lie beneath Mount Atlas. But since the origin and composition of the people whom we call Romans depends upon the early state and population of Italy at lai^e, and since in course of time all Italians became Romans, it will be well to follow the usual custom, and begin with a geographical sketch of the Italian Peninsula.
§ 2. This Peninsula, the central one of the three which stretch boldly forward from the southern coasts of Europe, lies nearlv between the parallels of north latitude 38^ and 46°. Its leugtu therefore, measured along a meridian arc, ought to be about 550 miles. But since, unlike the other two Mediterranean Peninsulas, it runs in a direction nearly diagonal to the lines of latitude and longitude, its real length, measured from Mont Blanc to Cape Spartivento, is somewhat more than 700 miles.
§ 3. To estin^ate the breadth of this long and singularly- shaped Peninsula, it may conveniently be divided into two parts by a line drawn across from the mouths of the Po to the northern point of Etruria. Below this line the average breadth of the leg of Italy does not much exceed 100 iniles. Above this line, both coasts trend rapidly outwards, so that the upper portion forms an irregularly-shaped figure, which lies across the top of the leg, being bounded on the north and west by the Alpine range from lUyrla to the mouth of the Var, on the south by the imaginary lino before drawn, and on the east by the head of the Adriatic Sea. The length of this figure from east to west is not lessUian 350 miles; while from north to south it measures, on the average, about 120 miles.
§ 4. T^e SURFACE of the whole Peninsula, including both the leg of Italy and the irregular figure at the top, is estimated at a1x)ut 90,000 square miles, or an area nearly equal to the surface of Great Britain and Ireland.
But a very large proportion of this surface is unproductive, and a great part even incapable of tillage.
§ 5. The reason of this difference between the actual extent of the Peninsula and its productive surface is to be found in its FHT8ICAL STRUCTURE, which is SO remarkable as to invite an ♦ 263 — 233 aa
SfeOf . L PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY. 8
attempt to describe it in the shortest and simplest manner com- patible with clearness. The Physical Geography of a country is indeed the key to a great portion of its History, and explains the very fact of its existence. For example, mountains which lift their heads above the waves and storms form th« indestructible 'core of some countries destined by Providence to play a large part in the history of the world, while others are spread out m broad and swelling plains equally indestructible. The hard lime- stone of the Apennine range has alone enabled the long and slender Italian Peninsula to be the cradle of those political, social, and ecclesiastical institutions which are inseparably attached to the name of Rome. If the masses thrown into that singular shape had been composed of soft or loose materials, they -had been swept away by the joint action of wind and water, and the names of Italy and of Rome had been unknown.
§ 6. For the purpose of description we must again divide Italy into two portions, as before, for the purpose of measure- ment.* The former portion consists of the enormous valley enclosed between "the Alps on the north and the upper range of the Apennines on the south ; a valley which may be represented as an irregular triangle, having its base upon the Adriatic, and gradually thinning off towards the Maritime Alps. The latter portion is formed by that lower part of the Apennine range which runs down the whole leg of Italy.
§ Y. In the former portion a gigantic ridge of Granite rocks has burst through the superincunibent formations, and sweeps in an irregular curve from the Tyrol to the Gulf of Genoa. On the southern flank of this Granite ridge reclines an enormous ma89 of the most Ancient Limestone, of that kind which has beon caUed the Jura Formation. Appearing first near the Lago Maggiore, it attains its greatest breadth between Verona and BeUuno, and then again thins off towards the T}to1. This Ancient Limestone dips towards the south, and disappears be- neath a thin and broken edge of the more Recent Limestone rocks, which are analogous to what is called the Chalk Formation in England and France, though in Italy the Chalk itself is nowhere found.f Thus, from the Lago Maggiore eastward, the great valley of the Po is skirted on the north by the two Limestone systems, with the Granite coming from beneath them. But westward, from the Lago Maggiore to the Maritime Alps, the Limestones disappear altogether, and the alluvial plain abuts upon the pri- mseval Granite itself.
* In the map over the leaf the division is, by the requirement of the printer, made conaiderablj lower down. ' f Oreia is not chalky but a tenaclouB white earth, much the same aa atrgxQa,
HISTORY OF ROME.
Intbod.
GEOLOGICAL MAP ITALY.
§ 8. The soutliem boundary of this great valley now remains to be examined. It is formed, as we nave said, by the upper part of the Apennine range, which strikes nearly across Italy from above Genoa to the sources of the Rubicon and the Tiber. From beneath the southern edge of the alluvial plain jSrst appears a band of the Tertiary rocks, which hardly show themselves on its northern edge. From below them again emerges in immense proportions the more Recent Limestone, which here covers the Jura formation, and forms the entire surface of that part of the Apennines. The Granite, unable to burst its way through, has contented itself with upheaving the superincumbent mass of Limestone, while the Tertiary strata have been broken up and almost swept away.
§ 9. In the vast sweeping hollow or basin embraced by the north- em and southern elevation of the Limestone mountains, that is, in the space between the Alps and Apennines, lies the great allu-
Sbct.I.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP ITALY.
vi&I plain formed by the atoms washed down through all time by the thousand streams which descend from the Alps upon the north and west, and from the Apennines on the south, all at length combining their waters in the mighty stream of the £ri- danus. These waters, charged with particles of every kind of rock through which they flow, from the Granite to the Tertiary, form a soil hardly equalled in the world for natural richness. Near the mountains, indeed, where the streams descend from the gorges, the whole surfece is often covered with barren gravel; especially on the Apennine side, where the mountains are nearer and the descent more rapid. But as we advance into the centre of the plain, the gravel becomes finer and finer, till at len^h nothing is left but that fine and impalpable garden mould, which appears probably in the greatest perfection m the fertile district between Lodi and Cremona.
g 10, We now turn to the hg of Italy, which consists of the lower rang^e of Apennines, with its manifold bmnches and ofl^shoois, Near tlio «ouTcas of the Eubicon and Tiber the more Recent Limestone has suffered ft (^iolent disruption, and falls off riglit and lefl, go tia to display a hngo 121 a^^ of the Ancient Limestone. Tlic two formntionft, the Andent iianlccd un both Mts by the more Recent, edged by narrow bands of Tertiary remains, continue their course flowing down the leg of Italy, gradually inclim'ng towards the
e HISTOEY OP ROME. Inibod.
instep,* till at tlie point where the gulf of Tarentum threatens to penetrate to the SicUian. sea, the wild country -of the Bruttii rises in primaeval Granite.
§ 11. A line drawn from Ancona to Cape Argentaro gives the greatest breadth of these Limestone formations; and a little lower down, a fragment of the more Recent kind, left like an island upon the uplifted shoulders of the Ancient, presents the loftiest mountain of the Apennine range, Monte Como or the Gran Basso d'ltalia, which attains an elevation of nearly 10,000 English feet. On the southern coast, from above the lake of Bolsena in Tuscany to the beautiful bay of Salerno, the regular geological series is broken up by a large tract of comparatively recent Vol- canic country, which is interrupted between Latium and Cam- pania by Ancient Limestone hills.
§ 12. On the northern f ank of the Limestone range appears a belt of Tertiary formation, which spreads out wider, as the Lime- stone inclines towards the south, till it attains its greatest breadth along the western and northern sides of the gulf of Tarentum. But the Limestone formations, after sinking towards the Adriatic, again appear in the isolated eminence of Mount Garganus, the spur of Italy, and along the heel from Canusium to the lapygian headland.
§ 13. This description of the physical structure of the Italian Peninsula wUl enable us to comprehend, by a very brief glance, its chief GEOGRAPHICAL fcaturcs. Deep gulfs and inlets are not to be expected ; for these are only found when mountain chains jut out into the sea, and maintain themselves as headlands, while the lower land between is eaten and washed away by the cease- less action of the waves. Such phenomena are presented by Greece, and by the western coasts of Scotland, Wales, and Ire- land. But in Italy there is but one uniform mountain-chain. On the northern or Adriatic slope of the Apennines, indeed, a number of gorges open to the sea in a direction transverse to the main line of the mountains. But the projecting spurs which form these gorges are not considerable in height ; and on the southern or Mediterranean side the main range sinks towards the sea in subordinate or secondary ranges, more or less parallel to the principal chain, and therefore seldom admitting of abrupt headlands with deep embrasures between. There is, however, one exception which proves the rule. We have above shown that at the foot of Italy, the Limestone range forks off into two great branches, one running towards the toe of the Peninsula, the other
* There is, however, one complete gap or severance in the chain, which is nearly marked by a line drawn from Capna to Yenusia.
SEct. L physicau gbogkapht op italy. ^
fonning the heel. The softer. Tertiary formations between these two ranges have fallen a prey to the devouring waves. Here they have scooped out the great gulf of Tarentum, a vast expanse of sea, measuring from point to point no less than 80 miles.
But except this great gulf, the coasts of the Peninsula are indented by comparatively gentle curves. On the northern side the single i^quality is presented by the projecting mass of Mount Gaminus, which forms with the lower coast what is now called the bay of Manfredonia. On the sole of the foot, below the gulf of Tarentum, we find the bay of Squillace (Sinus Scyla- cius). After passing the straits of Messina, first occurs the bay of St Eufemia (Sinus Vibonensis), which is separated from that of Squillace by a mass of granitic rocks less than twenty miles in breadth. A little higher up we come to a wide sweep in the coast, known by the name of the bay of Policastro.
That part of the southern coast which is most irre^lar deserves particular attention from the student of Roman History. Be- tween the point where ancient Lucania borders on Campania, and that at which Latium begins, a distance of about 120 miles, the coast-line is broken into three fine bays, the bay of Psestum, or Salerno on the south, the bay of Ga^ta on the north, and be- tween them the smallest but most famous and most beautiful of the three — ^the bay of Cuma or Naples. From Cape Circello (Circeii), which forms the northern horn of the bay of Gafita, the coast-line runs onward to Genoa, unbroken save by the headlands of Aigentaro and Piombino in Tuscany. But these do not project fsLT enough to form any recess worthy to be named. Nor is the little bay of Spezzia, just north of Tuscany, deserving of mention as a geographical feature.
§ 14. The same circumstance which prevents Italy from abounding in deep bays and bdd headlands, also prevents its coasts from being studded with islands, which are but relics of projecting mountain- chains. If we omit Sicily, which is in fact a continuation of the Peninsula separated by a channel of two or three miles broad, and the Lipari islands, which are due to the volcanic action stiil at work beneath Etna and Vesuvius, the islands of Italy are insignificant. Capre® (Capri) on the one hand, Prochyta (Procida) and Ischia on the other, are but frag- ments of the two headlands that form the bay of Naples. Igilium (Giglio) and Ilva (Elba) stand in a similar relation to the head- lands of Argentaro and Piombino. Besides these may be named Pontile (Ponza), Pandataria, with a few more barren rocks off the bay of Gadta, and a few even less important on the coast of Toiscany.
8 HISTORY OF BOMB. IirTBOa
§ 15. Except in Northern Italy, which abonnds in noble rivers, as above described, the narrowness of the Peninsula forbids the existence of reallv large streams. Yet the Apennine range, which forms on its southern side long parallel valleys, enables numerous torrents and rills which descend towards the south to swell into rivers of not inconsiderable size. Such especially are the Amo and Tiber, which rise nearly at the point where the ancient limestone breaks through the more modem. Their waters ^re separated by the hills which terminate in the headlands of Argentaro and Piombino, so that the Arno flows northward, and enters the sea on the northern frontier of Tuscany, after a course of about 120 miles; while the Tiber runs in a general southerly direction, receiving the waters of the Clanis from the west, and those of the Nar ^era) and Yclinus from the east, till its course is abruptly turned by the Sabine limestone hills. The entire length of its chahnel is about 180 miles. These two well-known rivers, with their affluents, drain the whole of Etruria, the Sabine country, and the Campagna of Rome.
Similar in their course, but on a smaller scale, are the Anio, (Teverone) and the Liris. They both rise in the .£quian hills, the Anio flowing northward to swell the stream of the Tiber a little above Rome : the Liris, joined by the Trerus (Sacco) from the west, running southward so as to drain southern Latium and Northern Campania, till it turns abruptly towards the sea, and enters it about the middle of the bay of Ga^ta, after a course of about 80 miles.
The Vultumus and the Calor run down opposite valleys from the north and south of the Samnite territory, till they join their streams on the frontier of Canmania, and fall into the bay of Gac^ta only a short distance below the Liris. Each of these streams measure from their sources to their united mouth hot less than 100 miles.
The only other notable river on the southern coast is the Silarus (Sele), which descends by a channel of about 60 miles' from the central Apennines of Lucania into the bay of Pestnm or Salerno. After this comes the foot of Italy, in which the mountains come down so close to the sea that from the mouth of the Silarus down to the lower angle of the gulf of Tarentnm, the streams are but short and rapid torrents. Of these it is said that no less than eighty may be enumerated between Psdstum and the straits of Messina.
The gulf of Tarentum in its middle portion is skirted by a lower tertiary bed, and has some streams of importance. The Bradanus and Casuentus (Basento^ enter the gulf within four miles of each other, after a course or about 60 miles. The Aoiria
Sect. I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP ITALY. 9
(Agri) is to the soath of these. The Siris (Sinno) notable as the scene of the first battle between Pyrrhus and the Romans, is a mere torrent, as is the Galesus upon which Tarentum stands.
The northern or Adriatic coast is almost devoid of lateral Talleys, such as are found on the other coast, and therefore has few considerable streams. The Aufidus (Ofanto) in Apulia, re- nowned in Roman history, from the fact that the fatal battle of Cannse took place upon its banks, rises on the opposite side of the same range as the Calor, and runs a course of about 80 miles. The Sagrus (Sangro) stands in the same relation to the Vultumus, and conveys the waters of the Fucine lake from the J^uian hills through Samnium, by a nearly similar length of channel. But the largest river of this side is the Aternus, which finds its way from the Sabine hills into a short valley parallel to the main range, and thus prolongs its course. It is joined by a number of smaller streams, and attains a considerable volume of water before it reaches the sea at the point where the Marru- cinian coast abuts on that of Picenum.
The whole coast from Mount Garganus northward is ploughed by numberless torrente which descend in rapid course down steep motmtain gorges. Of these we need but name the .^is between Picenum and Umbria ; the Metaums, in TJmbria, famous for the defeat of Hasdrubal; the Rubicon, which formed the boundary of Roman Italy on l^e northern side, as did the Macra (Magra) on the opposite coast.
§ 16. The limestone mountain track that occupies the whole narrow Peninsula from the great valley of the Po downwards is often too steep, bare, and rugged, to be capable of cultivation. There ar^, however, many rich plains of limited extent, among which Campania ranks first ; and many narrow but fertile valleys, in which nature rewards the smallest labour with bountifal returns. In the continental dominions of the modern kingdom of Naples, consisting of about half the leg of Italy, it is calcu- lated that little more than one half of the land is at present under cultivation. In the Estates of the Church, and on the sea-coast of Tuscany, the proportion is even less.
§ 1 7. In speaking of Lakes, we must resume our twofold divi- sion of the Peninsula. On the Alpine slopes of the great valley of the Po, the Granitic and Ancient Limestone rocks break into vast chasms at right angles to their general direction, in which the waters of the rivers that flow downwards to join the Po accumulate and form those lakes so well known to all lovers of natural beauty. Such are the lake Benacus (Lago di Garda) formed by the waters of the Mincius, Larius (Lago di Como) by those of the Adda, Yerbanus (Lago Maggiore) by tho9e of the
1*
10 HISTOilY OF BOMB. ihtbod.
Ticino, not to mention the lakes of Lugano, Orta, and others, smaller, but hardly less beautiful, ^
But Apennine Italy, considering the great extent of its moun- tain districts, does not present many considerable lakes. Nor are these formed by the accumulated waters of rivers flowing through them, like the lakes . of northern Italy or Switzerland. For the most part, like the lakes of Greece, they have no visible outlet, but lose tiieir waters partly by evaporation, partly by underground fissures and channels. The Fucine lake in the JBquian hills feeds the Sahgro, and lake Bradanus in the south feeds the river of the same name. But the celebrated lake of Trasimene in Etruria, and the numerous lakes of the volcanic district, as the " great Volsinian Mere," the lakes of Alba, Nemi, Amsanctus, and others, have no visible outlet. These, in fact^ are the craters of extinct volcanoes. Roman history contains legends which relate to the artificial tapping of some of these caldrons ; and some of the tunnels cut throu^ their rocky basins still remain.
§ 18. The abundance of water which is poured over the hills, has a great disposition to accumulate in marshy swamps in the low districts towards the sea. Such is the case along the lower course of the Po, on the coast-lands of Tuscany, and in the lower part of the Campagna of Rome. Mantua, which stands a little above the junction of the Mincio with the Po, is surrounded by marshes ; and the whole coast between Venice and Ravenna is a swamp.
To keep the Po and its tributaries within their channel, the Lombards of the Middle Ages raised embankments on either side of the stream. But the rivers being charged with mud are obliged by these embankments to deposit the whole within their chan- nels, and the quantity thus deposited is so great that it is neces- sary to raise these embankments continually; and thus in the course of centuries the bottoms of the rivers have been elevated considerably above the plains ; so that the streams of Lombardy in their lower course are in fact carried along huge earthen aque- ducts. In time, human industry will not be equal to raise these embankments in sufiicient strength, and a deluge will ensue more fearful than those which the poet of Mantua seems to have wit- nessed in his own time.*
* "Non sic aggeribus rupti*j qaum spumeus amnis Eziit, oppositasque evidt gurgite moles, Fertur in curvajurens cumvlo^ camposque per omnes Cum stabulis armenta tulit/^
ViEG., Am. iL 496 ; cC Qeorg. i. 322, aq. While this unskUM mode of preventing the overflowing of the Pd wm
Saor. L PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY. n
§ 19. The Climate of Italy, like its physical stractare, is ex- tremely different in the northern and in the southern part of the PeniDBula. In the valley of the Po the winters are often extremely severe, so that towards the close of the last century all the olive- trees in that district were killed by the frost. On the south of the Apennines the climate is mnch milder in the winter, though in spring the winds are often very cold. Snow is rarely seen in the Campagna di Roma, or in the neighbourhood of Naples at the present day; though in the times of the ancients it seems to have been not unctmimon.
Italy is in general a healthy country. The men are active, vigorous, and well-gro^n ; the women, in their youth, handsome. Some parts, however, are afflicted by pestilential air (malaria), especially the lower part of Tuscany, and the Campagna di Roma, of which countries a more particular account will be found in a later page. Parts of Calabria also are extremely unhealthy, and all the southern side of the Apennines suffers from tlie south windf called the Sirocco, which comes charged with suffocating heat from the plains of Africa.
§ 20. The productions are those of the temperate zone in their highest perfection. Wherever there is a sufficiency of soil and water, as m the valleys leading to the plain of Lombardy, or descending to the sea from either side of the Apennines, grain of all kinds is produced in great abundance. In ancient days, the plain of Lombardy, now so highly cultivated, was thickly covered with oak forests, that furnished food to countless herds of swine. Many parts of the Apennines are still well clothed with chestnut trees, and the inhabitants of the upland valleys live 'on their fruit during the winter. But modem ingenuity and industry have reclaimed many of these districts by the help of artificial irrigation.* On the southern slopes of
followed in the north, a moat ingenious method has been pursued in redeeming from the Amo those marshes in which Hannibal was attacked by ophthaknia, and lost part of his army. The philosopher Torricelli (about 1650 a.d.) Bogsested that the stream should be allowed freelj to flood the sur&ce witliin certain limits, and to deposit within these limits its fertilizing mud. This experiment has been tried with signal success. Strong embankments are formed, with sluioesand flood-gates, to admit the river at will over a confined smftceL Here all its deposit is spread; and after a number of years the pestilent marshes of the Upper Amo (the Yal Chiana) have been raised by a depth of not less than eight feet of fertile alluvial soil. When one district had been raised, the same process was repeated with that next adjoining, and 80 the whofe surfiiee of the marshes has been raised. The same phm is now being pursued with the marshes formed by the Ombrone in the Maremma of Tosomy.
* ** Ilie woods have been cleared, and a skilful system of irrigation imparts fertility to the district Not less than one-fiftli of the whole productive area
12 HISTORY OF ROME. Introd.
the Apennines olives flourish; and the vine is cultivated largely • in all parts of the Peninsula. For this last purpose the sunny terraces of the limestone mountains are especially suited. But want of care in the treatment of the plant, or rather in the manufacture of the wine, makes the wines of ItaXy very inferior in quality to those of France or the Spanish Peninsula, though in ancient times the vineyards of northern Campania enjoyed a high reputation. Every schoolboy knows the names of the Massic and Falemian hills, of the Calene and Formian vineyards. In the southern parts the date-palm is found in gardens, though this and other tropical plants are not natural to the climate, as they are in the south of the Spanish Peninsula, which lies about two . degrees nearer to the region of the vertical sun. The plains of Apulia, where the tertiary strata sink to- wards tte gulf of Tarentum, were chiefly given up to pasturage — a custom which continues to the present day. This is connected with historical facts, to which we shall have to call attention hereafter.
§ 21. The natural beauty of Italy is too well known to need many words here. The lovers of the sublime will find no more magnificent mountain-passes than those which descend through the Alps to the plains of Lombardy. In the valley of the Dora Bialtea, fi*om* its source under Mont Blanc to Aosta and Ivrea, all the grandeur of Switzerland is to be found, enriched by the colours and warmth of a southern sky; the cold green and gray of the central chain here passes into gold and purple. In the same district is found the most charming lake scenery in the world, where the sunny hills and warm hues of Italy are backed by the snowy range of the towering Alps. Those who prefer rich culture may gratify their utmost desires in the lower vale of the
of Lombardy is irrigated at the present day. But nearer the mountains, nearly all the land is watered ; between the Ticino and the Adda not less than 9-10^; between the Adda and the Oglio, about 2-lOths; between the Oglio and the Adige, about l-7th pr l-8th." — Oapt Baird Sioth's Irrig, of Italy, i. p. 206.
This irrigation is almost entirely modem. The practice was known to antiquity, as appears from Yirgil^s well-known line (EcL iii. 11): —
"Olaudite jam rivos, pueri, sat prata biberunt." But that it was rude appears from the beautifril description in C^rg. L 106, sqq. ;—
" Deinde satis fluvium inducit, rivosque sequentes;
|:t quum exustus ager morientibus seatuat herbis,
Ecce Bupercilio cUvosi tramitis undam
EUcit : ilia cadens raucum per levia murmur
Saxa ciet| scatebrisque arentia temperat arva." It may, indeed, be observed, that this description is partly borrowed from Iliad ♦. 25Y, sqq.
Skot. L
PHYSICAL. GEOGRAPHY OP ITALY.
13
Po about Lodi and Cremona, or across the Apennines in the valley of the *Amo and in Campania. If we follow the soathem coast, probably the world presents no lovelier passages than meet the traveller's eye as he skirts the Maritime Alps where they overhang the sea cornice-like, between Nice and Genoa; or below Campania, where the limestone of the Apennines, broken by volcanic eruptions, strikes out into the sea between the bays of Naples and Salerno. The Romans, who became lords of all Italy and of the civilised world, sprung up in one of the least enviable portions of the whole Peninsula. The attractions of Modem Rome are less of nature than of associa- tion. The traveller would little care to linger on the banks of the Tiber, if it were stripped of its buildings and its history.
OatU *t the preaent dftf .
SECTION n
BAELT POPULATIOK OF ITALY.
§ 1. Constapt invasions of Italy, notwithstanding Alpine bsorier. § 2. Its subdivision among numerous tribes. § 3. Signification of the name Italt in Roman times. § 4. Roman Italy occupied by at least six distinct races. § 5. Pelasgians. § 6. Opicans or Oscans. § 7. Umbriana § 8. Sabel- liana § 9. EUniscana § 10. Greeks. § 11. Romans a oompound race. § 1 2. Evidence of Tradition. § 1 3. Evidence of Language : — ^Roman language akm to the Greek in structure, being probably Pelagian, mixed with Oscan, with Sabine vocabulary added. §14. Comparison between Romans and English in respect to origin. § 15. Sources of early Roman History.
§ 1. It is a common remark, that mountains are the chief boundaries of countries, and that races of men are found in their purest state when they are separated by these barriers from ad- mixture with other tribes. Italy forms an exception to this rule. It was not so much the '* fatal gift of beauty," of which the poet speaks,* as the richness of its northern plain, that attracted suc- cessive tribes of invaders over the Alps, From the earliest dawn of historic knowledge, we hear of one tribe after another sweep- ing like waves over the Peninsula, each forcing its predecessor on- ward, till there arose a power strong enough to drive back the current, and bar aggression for many an age. This power was the Roman Empire, which forced the Gauls to remain on the northern side of the Apennines, and preserved Italy untouched by the foot of the foreigner for centuries. No sooner was this power weakened, than the incursions again began; and at the present day the fairest provinces of the Peninsula are subject to foreign rale.
§ 2. But if the northern barriers of the Peninsula failed to check the lust of invaders, its long straggling shape intersected by mountains from top to bottom, materially assisted in break- ing it up into a number of different nations. Except during the strength of the Roman Empire Italy has always been parcelled out into a number of small states. In the earliest times it was shared among a number of tribes differing in race and language. Great pains have been taken to investigate the origin and character of these primaeval nations. But the success has not been great, and it is not our purpose to dwell on intricate ques-
* The stanzas of Filicaja are well known from their version in (^Ude Hcvrold^ "Italia^ oh Italia 1 would thou wert less lovely, or more powerfiil,*' &o.
gwr. n. EAMiT POPTJLA.TION OF ITALY. 15
tions of this kind. We will here only give results so far as they seem to be established.
§ 3. It is well known that it was not till the clitae of the Ee- pnblicy or rather the beginning of the Empire, that the name of Italy was employed^ as we now employ it, to desi^ate the whole Peninsula, from the Alps to the straits of Messina. The term Italia, borrowed from the name of a primeval tribe who occupied the southern portion of the land, was gradually adopted as a generic title in the same obscure manner in which most of the countries of Europe, or (we might say) the Continents of the world have received their appellations. In the remotest times the name only included Lower Calabria :* from these narrow limits it grad- ually spread upwards, till about the time of the Punic Wars, its northern boundary ascended the little river Rubicon (between Umbria and Cisalpine Gaul), then followed the ridge of the Apen- nines westward to the source of the Macra, and was carried down the bed of that small stream to the Gulf of Genoa.
When we speak of Italy, therefore, in the Roman sense of the word, we must dismiss from our thoughts all that fertile country which was at Rome entitled the provmcial district of Gallia Cis- alpina and Liguria, and which was nearly equivalent to the terri- tory BOW subject to the crowns of Sardinia and Austria, with the Duchies of Parma and Modena, and the tipper portion of the States of the Church. It will be seen that this political division nearly coincides with the physical divisions noticed in the fore- going chapter.
§ 4. But under Roman rule even this narrower Italy wanted that unity of race and language which, in spite of politicel sever- ance, we are accustomed to attribute to the name. Within the boundaries just indicated there were at least six distinct races, some no doubt more widely separated, but all marked by strong national characteristics.- Iliese were the Pelasgians, the Oscans, the Sabellians, the Umbrians, the Etrurians, and the Greeks.
§ 5. It is certain that in primitive times the coasts and lower valleys of Italy were peopled by tribes that had crossed over from the opposite shores of Greece and Epirus. These tribes belonged to that ancient stock called the Pelasgian, of which so much has been written and so little is known. The names that remained in Southern Italy were all of a Pelasgian or half-Hellenic character. Such were, in the heel of Italy, the Daunians and {^eucetians (reputed to be of Arcadian origin), the Messapians and Sallentines ; to the south of the Gulf of luirentum, the Chaonians (who are also found in Epirus) ; and in the toe the (Enotrians, who
* Properly only the toe of -Italy, from the Bay of Squillace to that of S. Eofemia (the Sinius Scylacius to the S. LameticusX Arist PoliL viL 10.
16 HISTORT OP EOMK Ihtbod.
once gave name to all Southern Italy.* Such also were the Siculians and other tribes along the coast from Etruria to Cam- pania, who were driven out by the invading Oscan and Sabellian nations.!
§ 6. The Oscan or Opican race was at one time very 'v^idely spread over the south. The Auruncans of Lower Latium belonged to this race, as also the Ausonians, who once gave name to Cen- tral Italy, J and probably also the Volscians and the .^uians. In Campania the Oscan language was preserved to a late period in Roman History, and inscriptions still remain which can oe inter- preted by those familiar with Latin.
§ 7. The Umbrians at one time possessed dominion over great part of Central Italy. Inscriptions in their language also remain, and manifestly show that they spoke a tongue not alien to the Latin. The irruption of the Sabellian and of the Etruscan nations was probably the cause which broke the power of the Umbrians, and drove them back to a scanty territory between the -^Esia, the Bubicon, and the Tiber.
§ 8. The greatest of the Italian nations was the Sabellian. Un- der this name we include the Sabines, who are said by tradition to have been the progenitors of the whole race, the Samnites, the Picenians, Yestinians, Marsians, Marrucinians, Pelignians, and Frentanians, This race seems to have been naturally given to a pastoral life, and therefore fixed their early settlements in the upland valleys of the Apennines. Pushing gradually along this central range, they penetrated downwards towards the Gulf of Tarentum ; and as their population became too dense to find support in their native hills, bands of warrior youths issued forth to settle in the richer plains below. Thus they mingled with the Opican and Pelasgian races of the south, and formed new tribes, known by the names of Apulians, Lucanians, and Campanians. These more recent tribes, in turn, threatened the great Greek colonies on the coast, of which we shall speak presently.
§ 9. We now come to the Etruscans, the most singular people of the Peninsula. This people called themselves Rasena, or Rasenna — a name that reminds us of the Etruscan surnames Porsen^ia, Vibenna, Sisenna. At one time they possessed not
* " Terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glebss ;
CBnotri ooludre viri : nunc &ma minores ItalUm dixifise duels de nomine gentem." — ^Yma., Aen. i. 632. * f For a dear and intelligible account of the Pelasgians, see Dr. Smithes Hist of Greece^ p. 14.
X Virgil, Ac. Aristotle {Pdmic, viL 10) says that the Opicaos were for- merly caUed Ausones.
Sbct. II. EARLY POPULATION OF ITALY. 17
only the country known to the Romans as Etruria (that is, the country bounded by ^e Macra, the central Apennine ridge, and the Tiber), but also occupied a large portion of Liguria and Cis- alpine Gaul ;* and perhaps they had settlements in Campania.f In early times they possessed a powerful navy, and in the primi- tive Greek legends they are represented as infesting the Mediter- ranean with their piratical galleys.^ They seem to have been driven out of their Trans-Apennine possession by early invasions of the Gauls ; and their naval power never recovered the blow which it received in the year 480 b.c., when Gelo King of Syra- cuse defeated their navy, combined with that of Carthage, on the same day on which the battle of Salamis crippled the power of Persia.
But who this people were, or whence they came, baffles con- jecture. It may be assumed as certain, that the Pelasgic settlers came in by sea from the western coasts of Epirus, which are distant from Italy less than fifty miles ; and that the Opican, Um- brian, and Sabellian races came in from the north by land. But with respect to the Etruscans all is doubtful. One well-known legend represents them as Lydians, who fled by sea from Asia l£nor to avoid the terrible presence of famine. Another indi- cates that they came down over the Alps, and the origin of their name Rasena is traced in Rsetia. On the former supposition, Etruria was their earliest settlement, and, pushing northward, they conquered the plain of the Po ; on the latter, they first took possession of this fertile plain, and then spread southward over the Apennines.
Their language, if it could be interpreted, might help to solve the riddle. But though we have numerous ins<^riptions in their tombs, though the characters in which these inscriptions are writ- ten bear close affinity to the letters of the Greek and Roman alpha- bets, the tongue of this remarkable people has as yet baffled the deftest efforts of philology.
§ 10. Of the Greek settlements that studded the coast of Lower Italy, and gave to that district the name of Magna
* ABuaioii 18 made to this in Yii^ {Aen, z. 198-206) where the Etruscaa ehief Ocnus, the son of MarUo^ is said to have founded Mantua ('^maros ma- trisque dedit tibi, MaTtiua, nomen**), and to have brought his troopa fit>m the lAgo di Garda ;— :
" Quo8 patre Benaco velatus arundine glauca Mincius infesta ducebat in sequora pinu.'^
f Cf^ma, according to tradition, was named ftotn Oapya, an Etruscan diieC
X See the pretty Hymn to Dionysoa, attributed to Homer, In which Etruscan piralee take th^ god prisoner, and are punished in a strange foshion for their aodadty.
18 * EQSTORT OF B()MB. Irtbod.
Graecia, little need Here be said. They were not planted till after the foundation of Rome. Many of them, indeed, attained to great power and splendour ; and the native Osco-Pelasgian popu- lation of the soutk became their subjects or their serfe Sybaris alone, in the course of two centuries, is said to have become mis- tress of four nations and twenty-five towns, and to have been able to raise a civic force of 300,000 men. Croton, her rival, was even larger.* Greek cities appear as far north as Campania, where Naples still preserves in a corrupt form her Hellenic name, Neapolis. TheL Greek remains discovered at Canusium (Canosi) in tne heart of Apulia, attest the extent of Hellenic dominion. But the Greeks seem to have held aloof from mixture with the native Italians, whom they considered as barbarians. Rome is not mentioned by any Greek writer before the time of Aristotle (about 340 B.C.)
§ 11. From the foregoing sketch it will appear that Latinm formed a kind of focus, in which all the different races that in past centuries had been thronging into Italy converged. Tlie Etrus* cans bordered on Latium to the west ; the Sabincs, with the Um- brians behind them, to the north ; the .^uiana and Yolscians, Oscan tribes, to the north-east and east ; while Pelasgian com- munities are to be traced upon the coast-lands. We should then expect beforehand to meet with a people formed by a commixture of divers tribes ; and this expectation is confirmed both by ancient Tradition and by the investigations of modern scholars into the construction of the Latin Language.
§ 12. Tradition tells us that the Aborigines of Latium mingled in early times with a people calling themselves Siculians ; that these Siculians, being conquered and partly expelled from Italy, took refuge in the island, which was afterwards called Sicily from them, but was at that time peopled by a tribe named Sicanians ; that the conquering people were named Sacranians, and had them- selves been forced down from the Sabine valleys in the neighbour- hood of Reate by Sabellian invaders ; and that from this mixture of Aborigines, Siculians, and Sacranians arose the people known afterwards by the name of Latins.
Where all is uncertain, conjecture is easy. It might be alleged that the Aborigines and Siculians, both of them, or at least the latter, were Pelasgians, and that the Sacranians were Oscan. All such conjectures must remain unproved. But they all bear wit- ness to the compound nature of the Latin nation.
§ 13. An examination of Language leads us a little further.
(1.) The Latin language contains a very large number of words
♦ See more in Dr. Smith's History of Greece^ pp. 120-123.
Skt. n. EABLY POPULATION OP ITALY. 19
closely resembling the Greek ; and, what is particularly ta be obBorved, the grammatical inflexion of the nouns and verbs, with all that may be called the framework of the language,, closely resembles that ancient diidect of the Hellenic called u£olic. But it is not to be supposed that these roots and forms were borrowed from the Greek ; for these same roots and forms are found in Sanscrit, the ancient language of India. In many of its f(Mins, indeed, Latin more nearly resembles Sanscrit than Greek. It must be inferred, then, that these languages all branched off from one stock. And it may be affirmed that the form under which this original language first appeared in Latiuin was Pelas^an or half-Hellenic.
(2.) Though the framework and a large portion of the vocabu^ lary resembles the Greek, there is also a large portion which is totally foreign to the Greek. This foreign element was certainly not Etruscan ; for , if so, we should find many words in the Etruscan inscriptions agreeing with words in Latin ; whereas, in fiict, we find hutlly any. But in the Oscan inscriptions we find words much resembling the Greek ; and it may be inferred that the Oscan races had so largely blended with the Pelasgian, that the original Latin tongue was a mixture of the two.
(3.) It is certain that the nation we call Roman was more than half Sabellian. Traditional history, as we shall see, attributes the conquest of Home to a Sabine tribe. Some of her kings were Sabine ; the name borne by her citizens was Sabine ; her religion was Sabine; most of her institutions in war and peace were Sabine ; and therefore it may be concluded that the language of the Roman people differed from that of Latium Proper by its Sabine elements, though this difference died out again as the Latin conmiunities were gradually absorbed into the territory of Rome.
§ 14. This, then, is the summary of what we ki)ow.. Tradition represents Italy as peopled by a- number of different races, and Rome as partaking more or less of the peculiarities of each race. Philology confirms this representation, and attempts to establish some definite relations between these races. The result is meagre, because the materials for a judgment are meagre. But it is at least certain, that the Roman people and its language were formed by a composition almost as manifold and heterogeneous as the people and language of England. The original Celtic population of our island gave way before the mixed Saxon, Anglian, and Danish tribes, which poured into it from the north. Anglo^axon, not without a dash of Celtic, became the common lancruage of the people. Norman conquerors, Danes by origin, and Frenchmen by habit, gradually adopted the language of the con-
20 'HISTORY OP ROME. Iotbod.
quered people, iiifbsing into it a large vocabulary of French or rather Latin terms ; bat still the grammatical structure, the bone and sinew of the language, remamed and remains Anglo-Saxon^ So in Latium, it may l)e assumed, that the original inhabitants, a mixture of Pelasgians and Oscans, spoke a tongue which was Uie parent of the later Latin ; that the Sabine conquerors of Rome gradually adopted this Latin language, infusing into it a large vocabulary of their own. Other infusions may have occurred, both before and after ; but the organic structure still remained the same, and is identified with the structure of the Greek and its kindred tongues.
§ 15. We will now pass on to the Legends, in which is preserved the early History of Kome, reserving for a later page all attempts to estimate how far these Legends are mere fictions, and how far they may be regarded as actual events. It may be observed that no people is so rich in l^endary history as the Romans. Their patriotic pride preserved the stories of tiieir ancestors from gene- ration to generation, till they were, so to say, embalmed by poets who lived in the times of the Punic wars. These poems, indeed, have, with the exception of a few fi*agments, penshed ; but we learn from Cicero how highly they were esteemed in his day, and in the epic poem of Virgil, with the scarcely less poetic prose of Livy's early history, they still live. From these great writers chiefly are derived those famous Legends, which are now to be recounted for the hundredth time.
Wolf of the CapitoU BOOK I.
ROME UNDER THE KINGS.
CHAPTER I.
X--
ORIGIN OF ROHB: ROMULUS AND NUMA.
1 1. Belief of the Romans that they were spmng from the East § 2. Legend of ^neas. § 3. Legend of Ascanius. §. i. Legend of Rea Silvia, and birth of the Twins. § 5. Legend of recognition of Twins by Nnmitor. % 6. Legend of the quarrel of Romulus and Remus. Yariations in Legends. § 7. Romulus founds Roma Uncertainty of dates. ^ § 8. Asylum. Rape of Seines. § 9. War with Sabines. Legends of Tarpeia> of Janus, of Sabine women. § 10. Peace between Romans and Sabines. Romulus AKD Titus Tatius joint King& § 11. Legend of Cseles Yibenna and Etruscan settlers at Rome. Four of Seven Hills now occupied. § 12. Death of Titus Tatius. Reign and death of Romulua § 13. Institutions attributed to Romnlus: (1) Social; (2) Political; (3) Military. § 14. Interregnum : Nuic^ Pohpilius, a Sabine, second king of Rome. § 15. Religious institutions attributed to Numa. § 16. His love of agriculture. § 17. Other institutions.
1. It was the pride of the Romans to believe that thev were iescended from the ancient nations to tiie East of the Mediter-
22 ROME UNDER TH^ KINGS. Boo( t
ranean Sea. All their early legends point to Greece and Troy.^ How far the Felasgian origin of the nation may account for this belief may be conjectured, but cannot be determined. It may, however, be assumed that the Arcadian Evander and his followers, whom the legends represent as the first settlers on the Palatine Hill, were Pelasgians ; and it is more than probable that the Trojan ^neas and ' his followers, who are believed to have
. coalesced with the Arcadians of the Palatine, were likewise Pelasgians. With this preface we proceed to the Legends themselves.
§ 2. Yirgil has told the tale of the flight of -^neas, and every one knows how he escaped from the flames of Troy bearing his father Anchises on his shoulders, and leading his boy Ascanius by the hand to seek a new home in Hesperia, the Land of Promise in the West. His piety or reverential affection* was not confined to his own family. He rescued also the gods of his father^s house- hold from the flames, and he was rewarded by the favour of Hea- ven. Mercury of Hermes guided his steps from the burning city ; the star of his mother Venus led him safely to the shores of the western land.
. Nor did the protection of the gods desert him when he had reached the long-sought shores of Italy. Omens and signs told him that he had reached the promised land, and that Latium was to be the cradle of the new people which was to spring from the loins of the Trojan settlers. A white sow farrowed on the coast, and gave birth to the prodigious number of thirty young.
But before the Trojans could obtain a fixed settlement, it was needfril tp come to terms with the people of the countiy. These were the Aborigines or children of the soiLf Their King's name was Latinus, and their chief city Laurentum. They treated the new comers kindly, and Latinus gave his daughter Lavinia in marriage to ^neas, who therefore gave to the town which he built on the spot where the white sow had farrowed the name of Lavinium.
This agreement, however, had not come to pass without blood- shed. Lavinia had been betrothed to Tumus, the young chief of the Rutulians of Ardea. He, wrathful with disappointment, made war upon the strangers. JBneas sought the aid of Evander the Arcadian, who had founded a city on the Palatine Hill, which afterwards became Rome ; he was also befriended by the Etruscans of Csare, who had revolted against their barbarous chief Mezen- tius, " the despiser of the gods." The Trojans prevailed, and
* Lat pidas, a feeling of roverenoe and love towards parents and gods, t Some authors spell the word Abemgines, as if fiom aberrOf to womdar away.
Chap. I. SOMULUS. 28
Tumus felL But tLree years after a new war arose ;* and i£neas disappeared amid the waters of the Numicius, a sznall river be* tween Lavinium and Ardea. It was said that the gods had taken him, and a temple was raised to him on the spot, in which he was worshipped nnder the name of Jupiter Indiges, or the ** God of the country/'f
§ 3. Ascanins, who was also called lulus, from the youthful down t upon his cheeks, was warned by signs from Heaven that Lavinram was not to be the abiding place of the new people. After thirty years, therefore, as foretokened by the sign of the thirty young swine, he removed to the ridge of a hill about fifteen miles to the south-east of Rome, and here he built a new city, which was afterwards famous under the name of Alba Longa, or "• the Long White City .'^ I In time this city became the capital of Latium, and all the Latin tribes came up to worship at the Tem- ple of Jupiter Latiaris on the top of the Alban Mount. Their chie& also used to meet for the discussion of matters of state in the sacred grove by the spring of Ferentina on the side of the same mount
Ascanins was succeeded by a son of ^neas and Lavinia, named Silvius,^ and the eleven Kings of Alba who succeeded all bore the surname of Silvius.
§ 4. The last of these Kings, named Procas, left two sons, Nu- mitor and Amulius. Amulius, the younger, seized the inheritance of his elder brother Numitor, who coveted not the crown. But he had a son and a daughter, who might hereaft;er be troublesome to the usurper. The son was put to death by Amulius; the daughter, Rea Silvia by name,** was dedicated to the service of
* " Bellum ingens geret Italia^ populosque ferooes
Contmidet, moresque viris et mcema ponet, TerUa dam Latio regnantem viderit sestas,
Jkmaqae transieriDt Rutulis hibema subactis." — ^Vma., Aetu L 263. ^ Hence TirgO (Aen, vii 242^ speaks of vada sacra Kumicij although he ondfl his poem with thcr death or Turous.
t iovTbOf. Here, as in many other of the Roman legends^ Greek influenoe ia discernible. I *' At puer Aacaniaa, cui nunc oc^omen lulo, THffinia magnos volvendis mensibus orbes Xpiperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavinl Tnmsferet, et Longam multa vi muniet Albam/^ — Ymo., Aefk I 271.
T " Primus ad auras
^therias IkUo ecmmixtus sanguine surgit
Silvius, Albanum nomen, tnapostuma proles."— uien. vi *IBI.
* * Slie is commonly confounded with Ilia. But Ilia was a dau^ter of Mneata ; and here we recognise a doable legend, — one in which the vestal priestess was sister of lulus, one in which she was twelve generations in deeoent fix>m him*
24 ROME UNDER THE KIKG& Book I.
Yissta, which compelled her to live and die nuwedded. But destiny is stronger than the will of man. The sacred Virgin of Vesta was found to be with child by the god Mars, and she bore two boys at a birth. The punishment of a vestal virgin for incon- tinence was dreadful : the law ordained that she should be buried alive. Amulius spared not his niece. The Twins he ordered to ' be thrown into the Tiber. It chanced that at that time the river had overflowed his banks, and spread shallow pools over the ground af)»rwards famous as the Roman Forum. The shoal water shrank before the fated founder of Rome, and the Twins were left on dry ground near a wild fig-tree, which was long preserved with care- mi reverence * under the name of the Ficus Ruminalis. Here they grew to boyhood, being suckled by a wolf and fed by th^ care of a woodpecker, creatures held sacred among the Latins.* Thus marvellously preserved, they were found by Faustulus, the herdsman of Amulius, who took them home to his wife Aoca Laurentia. So the Twins grew up with the herdsman's children in his cot upon the Palatine, and were known by the names of Romulus and Remus.
§ 5. The Twins were distinguished among the young shepherds by their nobler form and bolder spirit. It chanc^ that the herdsmen- of Amulius, who dwelt on the Palatine Hill, were at feud with the herdsmen of Numitor, who fed their flocks upon the Aventine. The latter topk Remus prisoner by an ambush, and brought him before Numitor, their master, who adnured the stately &ure of the youth, and recognised in his festores that which called back to his mind the memory of his unhappy daughter. Soon ieifter Romulus came up to ransom his brother, and his appearance confirmed Numitor in his suspicions. The accounts given of them by their foster-father Faustulus revealed to the youths their true descent. With prompt eneigy they attacked Amulius in his palace at Alba and slew him there. Numitor, their good grandsire, was restored to the throne of the Silvii, his fathers. •
§ 6. Three hundred years had now passed since the foundation of Alba ; and the Twins, led by omens and auguries, determined to <}uit the city of Ascanius and build a new town on the bank of the Tiber where they had been bred.f Now as they knew
* " Lftcte quia Infaates nescit crevisse Ferino,
Et Picum ezpoaitis seepe tulisse cibum?" Ovid, IhsHf iil Si. — Picus (the Woodpecker) was a Latin god, being &ther of Tumufl, and grandsire of Latinus, Viig., Aen, vil 46-49. f " Hie jam tercenium totos regnabitur annos
Gente sub Hectorea, donee regina sacerdos Marte gravis geminam partu dabit Ilia prolem. >■
X
Ghaf. I. BOMULUa 26
not which of the two was the elder, a dispute arose with r^pect to the place and name of the projected city. Romulus wished to build upon the Palatine, Remus on the Aventine. To settle this question, they resolved to appeal to the ^ods. They were to watch, each on their chosen hiO, from snnnse to sunset^ and from sunset again to sunrise, and whoerer was favoured by an ominous flight of birds was to be the founder. Remus first j»w six vultures on his left But at the moment that his mes- senger announced this success to Romulus, there appeared to Romuhis a flight of twelve. Which, then, had the advantage,-*- Remus who saw first, or Romulus who saw most ? The auarrel was renewed, and in the fray Remus- was slain by a chance blow. ' Another legend says that Romulus began to build the city on the Palatine, when Remus scornfully leapt over the narrow trench, and Romulus in wrath slew him. Another attributes the fatal act not to the brother, but to Celer, the friend of Romulus. And lastly, according to another legend still, there were two cities, — ^Rome, built by Romulus on the Palatine, and Remnria by Remus, not on the Aventine, but on a hill three miles south of Rome.*
§ 7. Young Romulus was now left alone to build his city on the Palatine. He carried a wall along the edge of the hill all round, and ordained that a space should be left inside and out- side the walls clear of all buildings. This space was accounted holy ground, and was called the Fomoerium ; and the beginning of the great city of the Tiber, was called Roma Quadrata, or Square Some, ti^ distinguish it from that which inclosed all the seven hills within the circuit of its walls.f *— The coDunon date. for the foundation of Rome is 153 before the Christian era.|
Inde lapn ftdvo nutricis tegmlne laetus Bomalos ezdpiet gentem, et Mavortia oondet MceDia^ BcJmaiioflqae SQO de nomine dicet" — YiBQ., Aen. I 2f 2. JSneaa fhereftNre Teigned 3 years ; Asoanius 3 X 10 = 30 ; the Silvii 3X100=300. See above, §§ 2 ancl 3. The number 3 was also the number -wiadti guided Bomulus in ftaming his institatioDs. See b^ow, note on Chapt iii§3.
* Remus himself is often caUed the founder of Borne. — ^Propert, ii. 1, 23 ; iv. 1, 9, Aa It Will be obeerved that all these I^egends aro ignorant of the Legend of Evander's city upon the PlUatine, which is adopted by VirgiL
f There was, however, aooonling to ancient aathors, a Sqptimardiwn even in tills primseval Rome.
X This is the date of Yarro^ which is followed by most authors. Cato placed it 333 yeazs after the fiUl of Troy, t. e. in 752 B.a Folybius and others in T50 B.a Cincius Alimentos, a Roman annalist oontemporaiy with Hannibal, as late as 729 B.C.
2
26 ROME UNDER THE KINGa Book I.
§ 8. The walls were built and the city ready, but men were wanting to people it. To supply this want Romulus set apart a place within the walls as a sanctuary or refuge for those who had shed blood, for slaves who had run away from their maistters, and the like. Hence the city of Romulus was called by the Greek name of the Asylum.
But though by this means men were supplied in plenty, they lacked wives, and the neighbouring cities held them unworthy to receive their daughters m marriage. Romulus therefore deter- mined to compass by foul means what he could not obtain by fair. He invited the people of the Sabines and neighbouring Latin towns to witness the Consualia, or games to be celebrated in honour of the god Consus ; and when they were intent upon the show, a number of Roman youths rushed in and seized all the marriageable maidens on whom they could lay hands. This was the famous Rape 6f the Sabine Women.
§ 9. The kindness of their Roman husbands soon reconciled the women thus strangely wedded to their lot : but their parents and kinsfolk took up arms to avenge the insult they had received. First came the men of Cffiuina^ Crustumerium, and AntemnsB ; but Romulus defeated them ail, and slew Acron, chief of the men of Csenina, in single combat, and offered up his arms as a trophy to Jupiter Feretrius. Trophies thus won by the leader of one army from the leader of another were called spolia opitna^ and were only gained on two other occasions in the whole course of Roman history.
The war with the Sabines of Cures was more serious. They came with a large force under their chief, flftis Tatius by name, and advanced to the toot of what was. then called the Satumian Hill, the same that afterwards became famous under ike name of the Capitoline. The southern portion of this hill was called the Tarpeian,* and here Romulus had made a cita- del, which he committed to the care of his faithful follower Tarpeius. But Tarpeius had a daughter, the fair Tarpeia, less faithful than her sire, and she promised to admit the Sabines into the citadel " if they would give her what they wore upon their left arms," by which she meant their golden armlets. She opened the gates; but the Sabine soldiers threw upon her the heavy shields which they also *^ wore upon their left arms," and was crushed to death, — a meet reward for treachery.
The Romans and Sabines now lay over against each other, the former on the Palatine, the latter on the Saturnian Hill, with a
* Tlie lower part was the Tarpeian Hill or Capitol, and the upper was the Arz. The depression between these two eminences was called Inter- montiom.
Ch^. I. EOMUIiUai 27
Bwampy valley between tbem, the same in wliich the Twins had been exposed, the same which afterwards became so famous as the Forum of Rome. Here they fought many battles. Once the Sabines had forced their way up to the very PomoBrium of the Palatine, when, behold ! the gates burst open, and the god Janus poured forth a flood of water and swept away the foe.
Another time, Mettus Curtius, a brave Sabine, forced his horse through the swamp and pressed the Romans hard. Romulus invoked the aid of Jupiter Stator, or the Stayer of Flight, and rallied his Romans. Still the battle raged fiercely, when the Sabine women, who were the cause of the war, rushed down from the Palatine with dishevelled hair and threw themselves between their Roman husbands and their Sabine kinsmen. Then a peace was made ; and in memory of the service done by the Sabine matrons, a festival called the Matronalia was celebrated on the Calends of March, which was at that time the first day of the new year.* )f — § 10. By the peace then made it was agreed that the people of Rome and Cures should be united into one community. Ro- mulus and his Romans were to continue in the possession of the Palatine Hill, while Titus and his Sabines were to occupy the Quirinal.f The Satumian Hill or Citadel was left in possession of the Sabines. The two kings were to retain joint authority, and to debate on matters concerning the whole CQmmunity, the Burgesses of both nations were to assemble at the upper end of the valley which afterwards became the Forum, whence this place wassailed the Comitium or Meeting-place. More- over it is to be noted that Romulus assumed the Sabine name of Quirinus,! and all the Burgesses or Citizens were called by the Sabine title of Quirities or Men of the Spear,) &cts which
* Therefore Horace amuses himself with the wonder which his friends would feel at seeing him, a bachelor^ preparing for festivities on the day of the mctiron^a feast : —
" MartiiB axUiw quid agam Kalendis," Ac— Od iiL 8, 1. Compare Ovid, Ibsti^ iiL 170, sqq. t " Hnnc igitur .... yeteres don&runt fldde Sabini,
Inquo QmrinaU oonstitufire jugo."— Ovm, Fasti, vL 217.
t " narravit Tatium fortemque Quirinum,
Binaque cum populis regna coiaae suis." — ^Ibid. 93. I From Quiria^ Sabine for a spear. Others derived these names from the town of Cures, Ovid {JFbsti, ii. 475) notee both derivations : — " Sivo quod hasta Quiris priscis est dicta Sabinis, Sea quia Romanis junxerat ille Cures" See below, Cbi^ It. § 8.
28 BOKE UNDER THE KINGa Book L
plainly proved that in the union the Sabines had the lion's share of the spoil.
X' § 11. At this time the Etmscans were powerful by land and sea. They had, as the legend relates, taken part in the wars be- tween w^neas and the Rutulians ; and another legend mentions that Cffiles Yibenna^ one of their chiefs, had settled on the hill which lies to the south-east of the Palatine, and that from him this hill received the name of Cffilian. This Cffile^ is said to have assisted Romulus in his war againt the Sabines, and when peace was made, his followers were allowed to become members of the new community. Thus four of the seven hills were com- bined into one city, tiie Palatine, Quirinal, and Cselian, with the Satumian for the Citadel.
§12. Not long after the union, Titus Tatius, the Sabine king, was killed while sacrificing at Lavinium by the Latins, in revenge for some injuries which they had received from some of his Sa- bine compatriots. Romulus now resumed the sole sovereignty, and ruled without a colleague. He is said to have reigned in all seven and thirty years, when he came to a sudden and unexpected end. It chanced, says the Legend, that he was reviewing his army on the Field of Mars by t£e Goafs Pool, when there arose a fearful storm, and the darkness was so thick that no man could see his neighbour. When it cleared off, the king had disap- peared. But it was revealed that he had been carried away in the chariot of his father Mars ;* and shortly after one Julius Proculns related that as he was returning from Alba, Romulus the King had appeared to him in celestial form, and told him that hereafter the people of Rome were to regard him as their guard- ian god jointly with Mars, and were to worship him by his Sabine name of Quirinus.
But in later days this Legend seemed too marvellous, and a new one was adopted. It was said that the chief men — the Sabine nobles we may presume — had murdered him in the con- fusion of the storm, had carried away his body piecemeal under their gowns, and then had invented the miraculous story to eonceal their crime.
^-^ § 13. To Romulus are attributed all the early institutions of . Rome, Social, Political, and Military.
(1.) To begin with the Social regulations. The whole popular tion were divided into two classes, the Burgesses or citizens on the one hand, and on the other their Clients or dependents.!
"Quirinus Martis eqais Acheronta fUg^t'^— Hobat., Od. f The common derivation of dient is fh>m jcAvetv, to hear or obey, with which is oompared the Latin old eiuere, to h€ coXkd [so and so].
Chap. I. BOMULTTS. 29
The Bai^eases i^erc called Patrons in relation to their Clients. These Patrons were expected, by law or custom, to defend their Clients from all wrong or oppression on the part of others, while the Clients were bound to render certain services to their Patarons ; so that the relation of Patron and Client in some de- gree resembled that of Lord and Vassal in the feudal times, or that of Chief and Clansman in the highlands of Scotland, or per- haps even that of Proprietor and Serf in Russia. The Burgesses alone engrossed all political ri^ts, and they alone made up what was at ^is time the Populus Komanus or Body Politic <^ Rome. The Clients were at the mercy of their Patrons, and had as yet no place in the State.
(2^ The Political institutions of Romulus could only affect the Burgessess qr Patrons. Among these the old national dis- tinctions gave the rule of division. They were formed into three Tribes* or nations, — ^the' Ramnes or Romans of Romulus, the Titiea or Sabines of Titus, the Luceres or Etruscans of Caeles, who was a Lucumo or nobleman in his own Etruscan city.
Then he subdivided each Tribe into ten Curiae, and each Curia had a chief officer called its Curio. In all, therefore, there were Hiirty Cnri», and ihey received named after thirty of the Sabine women who had brought about the union of the nations. The Borgesses used to meet according to their Cnri» in the Comitium to vote on all matters of state, which the King was bound to lay before them, and their assembly was called the Comitia Curiata, or Assembly of the Curies, and all matters were decided by the majority of Curi» that voted for or against it. No law could be made except with their consents Nor was the sovereign power of the king considered legally established till it had been con- ferred by a curiate law. By the sovereign power (Imperium) so conferred the King held chief command in war, and was supreme judge in all matters of life and death, and in token thereof he was attended by twelve lictors bearing bundles of rods with sharp axes projecting from the middle of them (fasces).
Besides this large assembly, in which all Burgesses were enti- tled to vote, each in his own curif^ there was a select body for advising the King, called the Senate or Council of Elders. This consist^ at first of 100 members; but when the Sabines were joined to the Romans, 100 Inore were added, so that the whole number consisted of 200, being 10 from each of the 20 Ramnian and l^tian Curies : for the Luceres or Third Tribe, though they also had 10 Curiso^ were not as yet allowed to send any members to the Senate.
* Tlie word iribue itself originally meant a ihirdpart. See § 6^ Kot&
30 ROME tJNDBR THE KINOa Book t
(3.) For military purposes each Tribe ws^s ordered to furnish 1000 men on foot and 100 on horseback,, so that the army of the united burgesses consisted of 3000 foot an^ 300 horse, and was called by the name of Legion. The 300 horsemen were the no- blest youn^ men of the military age, and also served as a body- guard to the king. The horsemen of each Tribe were called a Century, and the three Centuries were known by the same name as their Tribes — Bamnes, Tities, and Luceres. The whole squadron was called by the joint name of Celeres, and the Cap- tain or Prefect of the Celeres bore the first rank in the state after the King.*
g 14. Romulus had left the earth, and there was no King at Rome. The Senators took the government into their own hands. For this purpose the whole Scuate was divided into tens : each ten was called a Decuria, and the chief of each Decuria a Decu- rion. Every Decurion with his nine compeers held the sovereign power for five days. The Decurions therefore were called Inter- reges or Between-kings, and tho time during which they ruled was an Interregnum.
When this state of things had continued for a. year, the Bur- gesses imperiously demand^ that they should have a King. The Senate yielded, and a Sabine named Numa Pomfilius was chosen, known as a just and holy man, fsunous for his wisdom in all mat- ters of right and religion. He was elected by the Curies in their assembly, and himself proposed the law whereby he was invested with sovereign power. His peaceful reign lasted for nine and thirty years, after which he was buried with the books of his laws on Mount Janiculnm. X*** § 16. As Romulus the Roman was held to bo the framer of all regulations Social, Political, and Military, so Numa the Sabine is the reputed author of all the Religious and Ecclesiastical institutions of Rome.
According to the Legend, he was instructed i^ all these things by Egeria, a Muse or {as the Latins called her) a Caraena. To her sacred grove he was admitted, and even became her spouse. By her counsel he surprised the gods Picus and Faunus in their retreat under the Aventine, and kept them in duress till they had taught him how to draw forth Jupiter, the Father of the gods, from heaven. Jupiter appeared in the form of lightning, and promised him a public sign of his favour. Accordingly, next day, in the presence of the assembled Burgesses, the ancile
* It will be remembered that aooording to one form of the legend, it was Oder who killed Remus, § G.
CHikP.L NUMA. 31
or sacred shield of Mars GradiTOs, the father of Qairinns, fell from heaven amid lightning and thunder. To prevent this pre- cious gift from being stolen, Numa ordered eleven others to be made of exactly the same substance, size, and shape, so that no man might know which was the true ancile : and to take charge of Chese shields, twelve Salii, or dancing priests of Mars, were app<Mnted, who also officiated at the public thanksgiving which in after times the Romans used to offer after great victories.*
Further, for the regulation of the worship of the. gods, and to decide all questions of religion, he created four pontiffs, with a superior named the Pontifex Mazimus. These acted as a kind of ecclesiastical council ; and the offices were usually held by the most distinguished men at Rome, for there were no clergy or class set apart from other classes for religious purposes. For the special service of the two guardian gods of Rome, Mars Gra- divus and Quirinua, he appomted two Flamens, called respec- tively the Flamens of Gradivus and Quirinus. With these was associated a third, devoted to the service of supreme Jupiter, who bore the name of the Flamen Dialis.
To consult the will of the gods by auguries and divinations he created four Augurs.
And to keep alive the sacred fire of Vesta, which had been brought from the shrine of the goddess at Alba, the mother city of Rome, he ordained that there should be four Vestal Virgins., In honour of Vesta he built a temple on the north side of the Palatine, abutting on the Forum, and . adjoining it a dwelling for the vestals. His own palace also, the Regia, he placed next to the temple of the goddess.
To distinguish time of war from time of peace, he is said to have built a temple to the god Janus, or the Double God, whose two faces looked different way8.f During the whole of his reign the door of the temple was closed in sign of peace ; but from his time to the time of the Emperor Augustus it remained open in sign of war, except during a brief period after the first Punic war.
^^ Hence Horace (Od. I 38), on receiving the news of the victoiy of Augustus at Actium, breaks out: —
" Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero Pulsunda tellus ; nunc SaUaribua Omaro pulvinar Deorum Tempus erat dapibus, aodides.** Such thanksgivings were called suppUcaiumes,
f His name Janua (». e. Djanus), corresponding to the feminine Diana (UjaoaX is derived from the root dis (()cf) or bis, implying doulfU, It may here be observed that the divinities of ancient Latium went in pairs^ as, besides Janus and Dianas Satumus and Ops, Yulcanus and Yesta.
32 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I.
§ 1^. Yet Numa willed not that the Romans should offer costly sacrifices to the gods, but ordained that they should . present corn and the fruits of the earth, and not any living thing ; for he was a lover of husbandry, and was anxious that this peaceful art should flourish. Therefore he took pains to secure each niai^ in possession of his land, and fixed the bounds of each farm hy landmarks or termini, which it was sacrilege to remove, for they were under the protection of the god Terminuis ; and in honoiur of this god he established the yearly festival of the Torminalia. Moreover he distributed all the lands of Rome into pagi or dis- tricts, and ordered the memory of this act to be kept alive by the feast of the Paganalia.* X^ %11* Some other matters are attributed to Numa which might here be mentioned. Ee is said to have divided the people into guilds or companies, according to their trades and professions. He built a temple to Good Faith ; he determined the dies fasti and nefasti, or common days and holidays ; and lastly, he is said, to have added to the year of Romulus (which consisted of 10 months only, some of them but 20 days long) the months of January and February, and to have ordained that the year should consist of twelve lunar months and one day over, or in all of 365 days.t
* The city land was similarly ^t is not said by whom) divided Into vici or wards, with a corresponding testival called Gompitali& This festival is attributed to aervius TuUiua.
f The Romans contluued to reckon by this short year till the calendar was reformed by the dictator Ceesar; and in order to make the Imiar year of 355 days square to some extent with the solar year of 365^ days, Numa is said to have ordained that a supplementary month should be intercalated eveiy third year between the 23rd and the 26Ui of Februaiy, which was considered to be tlie last month of the year. This business of intercalatioD, however, was left to the Pontiffs, who executed it in a very arbitrary and unoertain manner. When, therefore, we hear of events taking place in any Boman month, it seldom happens that this month coincides with our own month of the same name : and this makes it extremely difficult to dedde the exact tame of most events in Boman History before the Julian era.
Lake of Alba.
CHAPTER II.
TULLUS HOSTILIUS AND ANCU8 MAETIU8, THE THIRD AND FOURTH
KINGS.
§ 1. Increase of Rome in next two reigns. § 2. Choice of Tullus HosTiLins. § 3. War with Alba. Legend of Horatii and CuriatiL § 4. War with Etmscans. Punishment of Mettus Fufifetius. § 5. Forced migration of Albans to Boma g 6. War with Sabmes. g 7. Coria Hostilia. § 8. Death of TuUus. g 9, 10. Election of Angus Martius: his institutions. g 11. Subjugation of Southern Latium: increase of Roman citizens, g 12. Pons SubUcius : Janiculum: Ostia. g 13. Death of Ancus.
X — § 1. From the reigns of Romulus and Numa, the reputed foun- ders of Rome and all her early institutions, we pass to that of two Kings, also a Roman and a Sabine, who swelled the numbers of the Roman people by the addition of large bodies of Latins, many of whom were transferred from their own cities by force or persuasion. These Kings prepared the way for the more ex- tensive political changes attributed to their successors.
jf • § 2. An Interregnum again ensued after l^e death of Numa.
^ 2*
34 ROME UNDBB THE KINGa Book L
But in no long time the Burgesses met, and chose to be their king TuLLUs IIostilius, a Roman, whose grandsire had been a captain in the «rmy of Romulus. His reign of two-and-thirty years was as bloody and warlike as that of Numa had been calm and pea(!eful. The acts attributed to him are, first, the esta-
r blishment of the Latins of Alba in Rome, and secondly, the crea- tion . of judges to try matters of life and death in place of the king, called Qutestores Parricidii. The famous Legends whicli follow give the ^reasons for both these matters.
§ 8. The chief war of TuHus was against the Albans. It broke out thus. The lands of Rome and Alba marched together, that is, they bordered one upon the other, and the borderers of both nations had frequent quarrels and plundered 6ne another. King TuUus took up the cause of his people, and demanded restitu- tion of the booty taken by the Albans from Cluilius, the" Dictator of Alba, who replied that his people had suffered to the full as much, fi-om the Romans as they of Rome from the Albans. Since, then, neither party would make satisfaction, war was de- clared. Cluilius first led out his army and encamped within five miles of Rome, at a place afterwards called the Fossa Cluilia,
• where he died, and the Albans chose Mettus FufFetius to be- Dictator in his stead. Meanwhile Tullus^ on his part, had marched into the territory of the Albans, and Meatus returned to give him battle. But when the two armies were drawn up ready to fight, Mettus proposed that the quarrel should be de- cided by the combat of champions chosen from each army, and TuUus agreed to the proposal. Now it chanced that there were three brothers in each army, equal in age, strength, and valour. Horatii was the name of the three Roman brethren, Curiatii of '-the Alban.* These were chosen to be the champions, and an agreement was made, with solemn rites, that victory should be adjudged to that people whose champions should conquer in the strife. Then the two armies sate down opposite one another as spectators of the combat, but not like common spectators,, for each man felt that the question at issue was whether Rome was to be mistress of Alba or Alba of Rome. Long and bravely fought all the champions. At length all the Curiatii were grievously wounded ; but of the Horatii two lay dead upon the plain, while the third was yet untouched. So the surviving Ho- ratius, seeing that, single-handed, he could not prevail, pretended to flee before his three opponents. X^iey pursued him, each as he was able ; the most vigorous was foremost ; he that had lost
* In another form of the legend, the names are reversed. It maj be pre- sumed that this is the Latin version, while the received form is the RomaDi Each nation would wish to daim the conqueror.
CiiAP. n TULLUS HOSTILIUa , 35
most blood lagged behiDd. And when Horatius saw that they ^ were far separate one from another, he Uirned about and smote the first pursuer ; so likewise the second ; and lastly he slew the third. Then the Romans were adjudged victorious.
But a sad event followed to damp their joy. Horatius was returning home with the spoils of the slaughtered three borne in triumph before him, when, outside the Capuan gate,* he met his sister. Alas ! she had been betrothed to one of ^e Alban brethren, and now she beheld his bloody vestments adorning the triumph of her brother, and she wept aloud before all the army. But when Horatius saw this, he was so angered that he took his sword and stabbed her where she stood.
Now all, both Senate and People, were shocked at this unnatural deed ; and though they owed so much to Horatius, they ordered him to be tried before two Judges appointed by the King. These Judges found Horatius guilty, and condemned him to be " hanged with a rope," according to tne law; nor had they power to lighten his punishment. But Horatius appealed to the People, and they pardoned him, because he had fought so well for them, and be- cause old Horatius, the father, entreated for him, and said that his daughter had been rightly slain, and that he would himself have sl^ her, as he had a right to do, because he was her father; for by the old Roman law the father had this terrible power over his children. But to atone for the bloodshed, the father was ordered to make certain sacrifices at the public expense; and the heads of the Horatian Gens continued to offer these sacri- fices ever afterwards.
§ 4. Thus it was that the Albans became subjects of King Tullns, and they were bound to assist him in war against his enemies; and he soon called upon them to follow him against the Etruscans of Veil and Fidena^. So Mettus Fufietius came to his aid with a brave army; but in the battle Mettus stood aloof upon a hill with his army, waiting to see which party should prevail. The Romans were so hard pressed that the king to stay the alarm, vowed temples in case of victory to Pale- ness and Panic-fear (Pallor et Pavor). At length the battle was won, and then the Alban Dictator came down and pretended to be on their side. But Tullus took no notice, and summoned all the Albans to come next day to consult on public affairs. So they came, as to a peaceful assembly, with no arms in their hands, when suddenly the Roman legion closed around them, and they could neither fight or flee. Tlien Tullus rebuked the Albans, but said that he would only punish their chief, for that
*^It may bo noted that there was no Caigma Gate (Porta Capena) till afber the bnildLng of the walls of Serrios Tulliu&
36 ROME UNDER THE KINGa - . Book I.
he was tho most guilty. And he took Mettus and bound him by the arms and legs to two fbur-horsed chariots ; and the cha- riots, being drawn diflferent ways, tore the unhappy wretch asiinden
§ 5. Then TuUus gave orders that the city of Alba should be dismantled, and that all its burgesses with their clients should migrate to Borne. It was sad to leave their fathers' homes and the temples of their fathers* gods. Yet was their new abode no strange city. Had not Borne been founded by Alban princes? and did not the Quirites keep up the eternal fire of Yesta and worship the Latin Jupiter ? JNor did Tulius treat them as ene- mies, but gave them the Oselian Hill for their quarter ; and he built a palace for himself on the same hill and dwelt in the midst of them : he also made the heads of chief Alban families but- gesses of Bome, and placed some of their chief men in the Senate.
§ 6. After this he also made war against the Sabines ; and. in fulfilment of a vow which he made m the stre^ of battle, he celebrated his victory by establishing th^ games of the Saturnalia and Opalia in honour of the Latin god Satumus and the god- dess Ops. ^ — § 7. To Tulius Hostilius likewise is attributed the building of the Senate-house, called from him the Curia Hostilia. It stoc^ on the edge of the Comitium facing the Palatine ; and in a building erected on the same spot at a later time, and bearing the same name, the Senate continued to hold their ordinary meetings till the days of Julius Caesar.
§ 8. But amid his triumphs and successes Tulius rendered not meet reverence to the god^. The people of Borne were smitten . by a plague, and the King himself fell ill of a lingering disease. Then he bethought him to seek counsel of Jupiter, afier the manner of King Numa. But when he took his station upon the Aventine, and endeavoured to draw forth the father of the gods from heaven, lightnings descended, as to Numa, but with de- stroying force, so that he himself was smitten and his house burnt down. His reign had lasted two-and-thirty years.
X ^ § 9. After a short interregnum, the Burgesses chose Ancus Martius to be King, a Sabine noble, son of a daughter of King Numa. His reputation was worthy of his descent ; and his first act was to order the laws of his venerated grandsire to be written out fair on a white board and set up for all to read in the Forum. He also made a prison fbr criminals in the rock beneath that side of the Saturnian Hill which overhangs the Forum, — ^the same which was afterwards enlarged by King Servius Tuliiua, and called lifter him the Tullianum.
Chap. IL ANGUS MARTIUS. 37
§ 10. Ancns was a lover of peace ; but he did not shrink from war, when war was necessary to protect the honour of the Roman name. But even in matters of war he showed that reverence for law and order, which was his ruling characteristic. For he created a college of sacred Heralds, called Fetiales, whose business it was to demand reparation for injuries in a regular and formal manner,* and in case of refusal to declare war by hurling a spear into the enemj^s land. ^— § !!• His chief wars were with thfe Latin cities of the neigh- bourhood. He took Politorium, and destroyed it; and reduced to subjection all the Latin shore, or that part of Latium which lies between Rome and the sea. The heads of families in these Latin cities, after the example set by Tullus Hostilius, were made Roman citizens ; and to such as chose to settle in Rome Ancus assigned Mount Avcntine for a dwelling-place, so that thus a fifth hill was added to the other four. In this way the city of Rome was' greatly increased, and large numbers added to its citizens; while by the wars of Tullus and Ancus the power of the Latins ppoportionably diminished.
But the Latins whom Ancus made citizens of Rome, were not,
like the Albans in the time of Tullus, put on an equality with the
old Burgesses. Most of them continued to reside in their own
amaU cities, subject to Roman authority. They formed a new
element in the state — ^being neither Patrons nor Clients— ^f which
we shall speak more at length in our account of Tarquinius Pri&-
SQs: It is probably this encouragement of a free people, who
were not bound by the ties of Clientship to any Patron, that
leads Virgil to spealc of Ancus as " too much rejoicing in popular
- fovour.^f
v^ § 12- Other works of utility are attributed to Ancus Martins.
^ He is said to have made the first bridge over the Tiber. It was
built of wooden piles (sublicffi), and hence was called the Pons
Sublicius. In order to prevent it being broken down by the
• Etruscans who lived on tne other side of the Tiber, he fortified
Janiculum, where his grandsire Numa lay buried. He also built
the town of Ostia at the mouth of the river, which long continued
to be the principal haven of the Roman people*
§ 13. He died in peace after a prosperous reign of four-and- twenty years.
* We find, however, that the same fomuJity was observed by Tullus Hos- Ulins in declaring war against Alba: see g 3. f *' Quern juxta sequitur jactimtior Ancus,
Nunc quoque Jam nimium gaudens popularibus auris."
ViBO., Aen. vi 816.
CloAoa Maxima.
CHAPTER III.
TARQUnaUS PRISCUB" AND SERVIU8 TULLIU8, THE FIFTH AND SIXTH KINGS.
§ 1. Sons of Ancua set aside. § 2. Early historjr of Tarquinitts Priscus. § 3. How he came to be chosen K4ng.- § 4. Addition to numbers of Senate. § 5. Social state before reforms of Tarquin. Patricians or Patrons, Clients, Plebeians. § 6. Origin of Plebs. § 1, Tarquin's plan of reform. § 8. Opposition of Patricians. Legend of Attus Navius. § 9. Plan modified. Augmentation of Patrician Gentes and of Knights. § 10. Wars of Tarquin. § 11. Public works: Cloaca Maxima, etc. § 12. Legend of death of Tarquin. § 13. Servius TcllIus. § 14. "Wish to give political power to idl Plebeians. § 15. Plan of reform. Comitia Centuriata* § 16. Census. Preponderating influence of property. § H. Plebs made part of Populus, or Body Politic. § 18. Roman territoiy divided into Tribes. § 19. Four of city. § 20. Sixteen of country. § 21. Only Plebeians originally members of Tribes. § 22. Assembly of curiae finally superseded by that of Tribes. § 23. "Walls of Rome built by Servius. § 24. Principal places in eariy Rome. § 25. Alliance with Latina § 26. Legend of death of Servius.
X'^§ 1. The first trace of hereditary succession in the Roman monarchy appears with Ancus. He was grandson to Numa, and
Chap. in. TARQTTTNIUS PRISOUa 30
according to one legend conspired to take away the life of bis pre- decessor Tullus. -But the legends, after the death of Ancus, all make the notion of hereditary right an essential element in the succession. Ancus had left two sons, as yet boys. But when they grew up, and found the throne occupied by a stranger, they took measures for asserting their right It is of this stranger that we must now speak. He is known to all by the name of Tar- QuiHius Priscus.
§ 2. Tarquinius had been a citizen of Tarquinii, a city of Etruria. But it was said that his father was a Greek nobleman of Corinth, Demaratus by name, who had fled from his native land, because Uie power had fallen into the hands of a tyrannical oligarchy.* The son had become a Lucumo or Chief at Tarquinii, had gabled great wealth, and married a noble Etruscan lady, Tanaquil by name. Both himself and his wife were eager for power and honour ; and, as they could not satisfy their desires at home, they determined to try their fortune in the new city on the Tiber, where their countryman Caeles Vibenna and his followers had aJready settled.f Therefore they set out for Rome; and when they had reached the Mount Janiculum, in full view of the city, an eagle came down with gentle swoop and took the cap from off the head of Tanjuin, and then, wheeling round him, replaced it. His wife.Tanaqml, skilled in augury, like all the Etruscans, inter* preted this to be an omen of gw>d. ^ The eagle," she said, ^ was a messenger from heaven ; it had restored the cap as a gift of the gods ; her husband would surely rise to honour and power." Thus it was that he came to settle in Rome, probably among his coun- trymen on the Cselian Hill. He took the Latin name of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus;! and by his riches and his cleverness and goodwill he gained the fieivour of King Ancus, and was made guar- dian of his children.
But he used the power so gotten in his own favour ; and the people chose him to be their king. / — § 3. It needs some explanation to show how Tarquin, being an Etruscan stranger, came to be chosen king of Rome : for in all likelihood he belonged to the tribe of the Luceres ; and this Tribe had hitherto been held subordinate. The Ramnians of the Palatine and Titians of the Quirinal had kept power in their own hands ; and the Kings had been chosen by turns from these two Tribes. Romulus and Tullus were Ramnians ; Numa and Ancus
* Indentified by the Romans with the Bacchiades mentioned by Herodotus.
t Chapt, i. § 11. Another legend makes Cseles younger than Tarquin. Compare §12, and Chapt v. § 11.
\ Another form of the legend takes no notkse. of his Etruscan origin, and gires him to wife a person bearing the undeniably Xo^ name of GaiaG»cili&
-|<> ROME TINDER THE KTWGa Book I.
were Titians. Also, Romulus had chosen only 200 elders Into the Senate ; of whom 100 were first chosen from the Romans or Ramnians of the Palatine, and 100 afterwards from the Sabines or Titians of the Quirinal ; and there were no Lucerians in the Senate, except perhaps some few that Kin^ Tullus had added from the Alban families, which he settled in the Caelian Hill. Moreover, Nnma did not admit the Burgesses of the Lncerian- Tribe into the sacred offices which he made. For, under the Chief Pontifex, there were but four other Pontifices, two for the Ramnians, and two for the Titians. So, under the Chief Flamen of Jove, there were but two Flamens, one belonging to the Roman or Ramnian god Mars, the other to him who had become a god by the Sabine nam« of Quirinus. Likewise, he had made but four Augurs, and four Vestal Virffins ; two for the Ramnians, and two for the Titians;* and Tullus Hostilius had appointed but two Judges to represent him in deciding cases of life and death. . The Luceres, therefore, were held in small account ; and no doubt in the Comitia Curiata they were always outvoted by the other two Tribes ; for they had but 10 Curi» to the 20 of the other two.
But of late the Luceres had been waxing in power. The Albans had been added to their ranks ; and no doubt this addi- tion had made them more Latin, more like the other Romans, and less like the Etruscans. It might well be, therefore, that Tarquin was able by their means to raise himself to the kingly power. At all events, we may be sure that the four first Emgs appear as representatives of the two elder Tribes ; and that the three last belonged to the Luceres. ^^ ^ 4. Tarquin soon began to use his power to raise those by whom he had risen ; for he made the Luceres almost equal in dig- nity to the two old Tribes. First he chose 100 fresh members into the Senate, who ^we cannot doubt) were all of the Lucerian Tribe ; so that now tne Senate consisted of 300. Then, he in^ creased the number of Vestal Virgins to six ; the two new ones being ^it is presumed) Lucerian. But the influence of the old Tribes m the colleges of Pontifices, Augurs, and FlaaneHs appears to have been too strong to allow him to make similar alterations here. These remained according to the numbers fixed by Numa for a great many years.
* It has been already noticed that the number 3 frequently recurs in the early history of Borne (a i S 6 and § 13). But this number is suddenly interrupted, and (as appears mnn the text) 2 became the ruling unit of com- bination. The latter number seems to have been the &vourite of 4he Latins : see Chapt I § 15, Note. Probably this change must be attributed to the dominant influence of the Uoo elder tribes.
Chap. IIL TAEQUmTOS PRISCUSk 4 1
§ 5. Tarquin, however, was not satisfied with simply raising his Lncerian fhends to an equality with the Burgesses of the old Tribes. He designed to make other alterations in the state, larger and more important To explain these we must go back to the institutions attributed to Bomulus. The whole body of the people had been divided (as we saw) into two great elasses, Patrons and Clients. The Clients or vassals being wholly dependent upon their Patrons, had no part in the Body Politic, nor had they the right of connubium (as it was called), that is, the right of mter- marrying with their Patrons. The Patrons, alone, therefore (we repeat), made up the vPopulus or Body Politic of Rome : these oidy were members of the Three Tribes ; these o^ voted in the Comitium by their Curiae, when they chose their £angs or made laws. At first, then, there were only two classes of freemen at Rome, Patrons and Clients ; and all the power was in the hands of the Patrons.
These Patrons or Lords also took the name of patres or patricit, Fathers or Patricians. In after times the name of Patres was con- fined to the senators, and the descendants of the old patrons or patres were called Patricians. The Patricians were at this time the same as the Burgesses.
The Patricians were divided into certain private associations, called GenteSy which we may transli^ Houses or Clans. All the members of each Gens were called gentiles ; and they bore the same name, which always ended in -ius; as for instance, every member of the Julian Gens was a Julius ; every member of the Cornelian Gens was a Cornelius, and so on. Now in every Gens there were a number of Families^ which were distinguished by a name added to the name of the Gens. Thus the Scipios, Sullas, Cinnas, Cethegi, Lentuli were all Families of the Cornelian Gens. Lastly, every person of every Family was denoted by a name pre- fixed to the name of the Gens. The name of the person was, in Latin, prcenoffun; that of the Gens or House, nomen-; that of the Family, cognomen. Thus Caius Julius Caesar was a person of the Caesar Family in the Julian Gens ; Lucius Cornelius Scipio was a person of the Scipio Family in .the Cornelian Gens ; and so forth. Their pr»n6men, or fore-name, was Caius or Lucius, etc. ; their nomen or name Julius, Cornelius, etc. ; their cognomen or sur- name Caesar, Scipio, etc. These Qentes may be compared to the Scottish Clans, in which there are many Families, as in the Clan Campbell there are the great Families of Argyle and Breadalbano and others.
Whether the Gentes were originally connected by blood or not, is hard to say.* But whether it was so or no, it is certain * See the discuasion in Kiebohr, i. p. 33, Ac.
42 ROME UNDER THE KINQS. Book L
that they ceased to be so, jnst as in the Scottish Clatis. But they were bound together by certain private sacred rites, called »acra ffentilicia, of which we have seen one example in the case of the Horatian Gens.*
The Patrons or Patricians, then, alone belonged to Gentes, and these only might intermarry with each other. If a Patrician mar- ried a Client, their issue could not take the Patrician rank, or become a member of his parent's house ; because the Clients had not the connubium, or right of marriage with their Patrons.
•—"But as time went on, therQ arose a third class of freemen at Rome, who were neither Patrons nor Clien^ — neither lords over vassals, nor vassals dependent upon lords. These were called Plebeians, and tjieir general name was Plebs, or the Commonalty. They were like the Clients, in that they had no part in the government, in that they were excluded from the patrician houses, and could not intermarry with the Patricians. But they were unlike the Clients, in that they were quite free and independent, subject to no lord, except to the King and the laws.
^ — § 6. Now comes the question — How did this Plebs or Com- mons come into being ? How came there to be Plebeians in the time of Tarquitiius Priscus, whereas they were at all events but few in the time of Romulus ?
It is probable that at the first settlement of the city there were a number of people previously dwelling about the Seven Hills, who were made subject without becoming Clients. These were the original Plebeians, that is, free men, without political rights. Their numbers were afterwards much increased in various ways. First, a Patron might marry a Client's daughter, or a Client might marry a Patrician lady, and then the children would be neither Patricians nor Clients. Again, a Patron might die and leave no heirs, and then all his Clients would become independent^ having no lord. But the third class was mainly formed by the addition of Latins, who were not powerful enough to gain admittance into the Patrician Gentes and Tribes. Tullus, we remember, brought the Albans to Rome, and admitted their chief families into the patrician order. But there were many families that were not so admitted. However, the great increase of this kind took place when King Ancus peopled the Aventine with Latins, and conquered all the country between Rome and the Sea. All new settlers who were not, like the Albans, admitted into the ranks of the Buigesses, and all tho burgesses of conquered towns who continued to dwell at home, swelled the number of the Plebeians or Commons of Rome.f
* Qhapt it § 3.
f In the middle ages, the free towns of Italy and Geraiaiiy had a popnlaiion
Chap. IIL TARQUINIUS PRISCUS. 43
And as the great addition is reputed to have taken place in the reign of Ancus, he was held to bo the father of the Plebs, and is (as we have before noted) represented by Virgil as exulting in popular applause. But yet he gave them no part in the State ; they lived like strangers at Rome, subject to no lord, as the Clients were^ and yet, like them, without any rights or power as citizens. *
§ 7. Now Tarquinius Prisons saw that, sooner or later, these &milies of the Commons mnst gain power in the State. Many of them were rich; many of them had been noble in the old Latin .cities from which they had been brought to Rome, or in those w^ich had become subject to Rome. Tarquin. therefore determined to raise a certain number of these plebeian families to patrician rank, just as TuUus had raised many of the Alban families. Ho proposed to do this by doubling the number of the Patrician Tribes, so that they should be six instead of three. The three new Tribes were to be made up of Plebeian Gentes, and were to be called after himself and his chief friends.
§ 8. But the citizens of the two old Patrician Tribes, the Ramnes and Tities, already angry at seeing the Luceres raised nearly to an equality with themselves, opposed this new plan most fiercely. There was a famous Titian augur, called Attus Navius, who came forward and plainly forbade the whole thing in the name of the gods.
The story goes that Tarquin laughed at the augur, and bade him tell by his auguries whether what he then had in his mind was possible .to be done. And when the augur said it was possible, then said the king, ^'I was thinking that thou should'st cut this whetetone asunder with a razor : now let me see whether thy auguries will help thee." Whereupon Attus took the razor and cut the whetstone asunder. At this the king greatly marvelled, and promised that he would not disobey the gods. pC •*§ 9. But though Tarquin no longer thought of making new Patrician Tribes with new names, he did what in reality came to the same thing; for he added his favourite Plebeian Gentes to each of the mree Tribes, so that each Tribe consisted of two parts — the Old Ramnes and the New, the Old Tities and the
or privileged Cittadini or Burgesses, oorresponding to tho Roman Patriciaijs These had their Yaaeals or Clienta And besides these two classes, therq, was always a numerous class who were neither Burgesses nor Dependents. In Germany these Plebeians were called PfahlbiQrger, or Burgesses of the Palo, because (hey were aUou^ to Hve wiihin the pak of (he city^ but not to enjdy anj civic rights. They very much corresponded to the Proseljiies of the Gate among the Jews* See Niebuhr.
44 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book L
New, the Old Luceres and the New,* and there were in reality six Patrician Tribes, though they bore only three names as before ; and the new Patricians were called the Fathers of the Younger Clans, Patres Minorum Qentium,\
Thus the chief Plebeians were numbered among the Patrician funilies, and became part and parcel of the Populus or Body t^olitic of Rome; and were entitled to vote in the Comitia Ouriata. But the mass of the Plebeians remained, as of old, excluded from all share in the State.
Tarquinius also doubled the centuries of Eniffhts. Once they had been doubled by Tullus, so they were two hundred in each ' century or squadron, and six hundred in alL After the addition made by Tarquinius they amounted to twelve hundred The new Centuries retained the old names, just as in the Tribes the Old and New Ramnes, and so on ; and no doubt they were enrolled from the New Tribes.
§ 10. When Tarquin had thus attached the Plebeians to the state, by raising some and giving hopes to all, he led forth his army against the Sabines. He conquered them, and took their town. (SUatia, which he gave in charge to his nephew Egerius (the Needy), who was so called because he was left destitute to the charge of his uncle Tarquin. The son of Egerius took the name of Collatinus.
He also made war against the cities of Latium, which had not been conquered by Ancus MaHius. And he was so successful in his wars and treaties, that all the old Latin communities sub- mitted to Rome as their sovereign state.
His authority was also recognised by many of his Etruscan compatriots ; and he is said first to have introduced at Rome the Etruscan ensigns of royal dignity, the golden crown and sceptre, the ivory chair, and the robe striped with violet colour. X — § 11. But what made the reign of Tarquinius Priscus most famous were the great works by which he improved the city. The bounds of the Roman Forum had already been fixed in part by the buildings of Numa and Tullus Hostilius. But Tarquin completed them for ever by building booths or shops along the nortnem and sc^them 8ides.| And in the valley between the
^_ * "Ramnes prim! et secmidi," etc - f I4V7 and others tell us that Tarquin only doubled the Centuries of Knighia. But this (no doubt) is an error arising from the three GenturieB of Knights bearing the same name with the three patrician Tribes. Festos (p. 169) says: '^ Oum TbrquMnu Priscus instiiutas Tbibus a Homttlo mutare veOet," eta; and p. 344, ^^cwitas Romana in se^ esi distribtda paries^ in jyrimos 8ecundosqu& TiUenses, Ramnes^ lAiceres." C£ also Dionys. (iii. ^1, 12\- who speaks of ^vXa2 iTnrruv, thus confounding the two accounts. X Those on the northern side were rebuilt first, and hence wero caHed
Chip. IIL TAJtQUINIXTS PBISCUS. 45
Palatine and Aventine he formed the OirctiB Maximas, or great race-coarse for the celebration of the Roman or Great Games.
He also vowed a teinple to Jupiter on the Satumian Kill, and b^an to level the ground at the lower extremity, where it bore the name of the Tarpeian Hill. But this great building was re- served for another to complete.
One remarkable work remains to be mentioned, which even to the present .day preserves the memory of Tarquin. This was the Cloaca Maxima, or great drain, which ran from the valley of the Circus Maximus, and joined the Tiber below the island. The purpose of this great work was to carry off the waters which collected in stagnant pools in the ground to the weist of the Palatine Hill, which was known by the name of the Yelabrum. But its size and execution bear witness to the power and greatness of the monarch who planned it. It is formed in a semicircular vault, measuring nearly fourteen feet in diameter, and consists of three concentric arches, each com- posed of hewn blocks of hard volcanic stone.* Where it enters the river, the quay is formed by a wall of the same kind of masonry .f So admirable is the workmanship, that at the present day, though the stones are kept in their place simply by their own weight, without mortar or cement, not one block has been displaced in the part of it which has been explored, and a knife-blade can hardly be inserted between the joints.^ Similar works are found among the ruined cities of ancient Etruria ; and from that country doubtless came the artificers capable of execut- ing snch a work.) .
§ 12. The legend of Tarquin's death is one of the most famous in the early Roman annals. It runs thus. He had a favourite called Servius Tullius, a young man whom some said was born of a female Latin slave taken at Corniculum ; whereas others said
Tabemse Novae^ whOe those on the soath side retained the name of Tabemss Yeteres, even to Cicero's time. Acadgra, iv. 22 : " XJi ii qui svb Novis [sc Tbbemiaj totem non/enuU . . ., Vetemm . . . umhram secuius esLV
* A land of iopkus or tufiif finmd near Borne, acooiding to Brooch! (quoted by Dr. Arnold).
f This wbU is almost concealed by a feeing of la^r brick-work, as is shown in the woodcat at the head of this chapter.
f Anodier Ckioca from the great Cloaca under the Foram was discovered by excavations in the year 1742, This is probably the drain alluded to by Juvenal (Sat v. 104), when he speaks of a fish
" pinguis torrente cloaca, . £t solitus mediffi ciyptam penetrate Suburae." But it appears to be built of travertine, a soft limestone from the neighbour- hood of 'nvoli, which was not used till a late period in Boman buildings. — Niebuhr, vrf. L p. 392.
I See the woodcut at the dose of the chapter.
46 HOME UNDER THE KIKTOa Book L
lie was no Latin but an Etrnscan called Masiarna, who had come to Rome, like Tarquin himself, and assumed a Latin name.* Servios had the same plans as Tarquin himself, and afterwards (as we shall see) executed much which that King waa unable to perform, whence we may conclude that he was cither a Lucerian or a member of one of the Latin houses which had lately been raised to Patrician rank. Now it was thonght that this young man would most likely be chosen King, when Tarquinius was dead. Whereupon the sons of Ancus Martius, who had borne patiently the reign of Tarquin, resolved that they would seiz6 the crown ; and probably they were urged on by their brethren the Tities and others of the older Gentes, who could not bear that another upstart should be King. So they procured two countrymen, who pretended to have a quarrel, and came before the King as if to seek for judgment ; and while one of them was speaking, the other smote tho«|Cing on the head with an axe, so that he fell dead. But the lictors seized the murderers; and Tanaquil the Queen shut up the palace, and gave out that the King was not dead, but only wounded. Then she sent for Servius Tullius, and exhorted him to assume the royal robe, and go forth with the lictors in kingly state to judge causes in the King's naihe. Tliud Tarquinius Priscus died after a reign of cight- and-thirty years. And after a time his death was made known, and Servius Tullius became King in his place, without being regu- larly chosen by the Assembly of the Curiw.
X ^-§ 13. Servius Tullius was the best and wisest of all the Kings, ^ and his reign is a history of the greatest changes that took place among the Roman people during the whole time of the kingly government. His wars were few, though we hear that he overcame the people of Veil and other Etruscan cities. His chief glory came from his new institutions for the good government of the people, which in a manner completed what Tarquinius Priscus had be^n. >|^ ^*- § 14. We have already spoken of the growth of the Plebs or Commons, a third class, oelohging neither to the Patricians nor the Clients : and 'shown how Tarquinius raised the richest and most powerful houses of this class to be members of the Patrician Tribes. But still the mass of the Plebs continued to live as before upon the Aventine, without having art or part in the affairs of the Roman People. The Populus or Body Politic still consisted
* The Etrascan legend, which makes Mastarna or Servins a comrade of OoDles Vibenna, rests on the authority of a speech of the Emperor Claudius, which was inscribed on a brass tablet, and is now preserved (though so placed that no one can read it) in the Moadum at Lyona
Chap. IXL SERVIUB TULLIU& 47
only of Patricians ; but the Plebeians were every day increasing in numbers atid wealth, and it was to be feared that if they were much longer shut out from all" part in public aflfairs, they might rise against the Patricians and take by force wh^t they could not get as a free gift^ and so the Aventine would become the chief place of Rome instead of the Palatine.
Servins took measures to guard against this danger by admitting the Plebeians into foil citizenship, and made them in mreat mear sure equal to their Patrician brethren. The way he took was this. K — § 15. It was not proposed to raise the plebeian families to patrician rank and make them members of the Cnrise, but to create a new popular Assembly which was to include all the citi- zens. Patricians and Plebeians alike. The whole form, divisions, and nature of this assembly was military. It was called the Exercitus ; it met in the field of Mars outside the city ; the members of it appeared in the arms of their respective divisions, and gave their votes in the same manner. Of this we shall find full proof as we go on.
But it was not all free Romans who were admitted even into this Assembly. A great division was made between those who had independent means of living (locupletes or assidui*), and those who had no sufficient property (proletarii). "The former were required to have at least 11,000 asses' worth of land or house property, and these alone were induded in the new Assembly of Servius.
The locupletes appeared in the Assembly in five great Classes, or armed bodies, which were distinguished by their Census or amount of rateable property in land ; the richest formed the First Class, the next richest the Second Class, and so on. Then each of the five Classes were subdivided into a number of Cen- turies or companies, of which one half consisted of juniors, or men within the age of military service (17 to 45), the otlier half of seniors, or men between 45 and 60.f The First Class ap- peared in full armour, offensive and defensive ; the Second Class was less completely armed, and so on till we come to the Fifth Class, which wore no defensive armour, and served as light troops, slingers, archers, and the like.
At the head of the five Classes stood the Horsemen or Knights
* Assidmts is said to bo derived ab asse dando, bocause all who were induded in the Classes had to pay the tax.
f Occasional service might be required of the Seniors. After 60 they were saperannuated: And, as they could not serve, neither could they vote in the Oenturiato Assembly ; a strange provision, that was in force in Cicero's tima See his oration pro Sext. Roscio A merino, c. 35. Such old men (sexagenarii) were therefore called deponUmi^ because they could not pass the gangway {pona) which led into the voting-bootli (ovUe)^
48
BOMB UNDBB THE EIKGS.
BOOKl
(equiies). Semus found six Oentnrie6 already existing, each con- taining 200 men, as they had been left by Tarquinius Priscus, and all these six Centuries were Patricians, as has been shown. To these Servius added twelve Centuries more, the members of which were chosen from the best Plebeian families. These were the horsemen of the army, amounting in all to 3600 men. They were allowed a horse at the public expense, with a certain yearly sum for maintaining it.
Besides these there were two Centuries of carpenters and smiths (fabri tignarii et flerarii) for engineering purposes, with three of trumpeters and horn-blowers. The fonner, being skil- ful workmen, were thought worthy of being associated with the first Class; the latter ^longed to the fifth. The Proletarians also were thrown into a single century and added to the fifth Class.*
Such was the celebrated assembly known by the name of the CoMiTiA CsNTURiATA, or General Assembly of the Centuries. "^ § 16. The Census or assessment of property in the above mili- tary classification was made solely with regard to land and all that we call real property. No account was taken of slaves, cattle, pre- cious metals, furniture, and all that we call personalty, till a much later period.
The purpose of this Census was twofold : first, to raise a tri-
* The subjoined table will make it easy to peroeive these arrangements at . a glance, as they are given by Livy:
ClMMt.
Genaiu, or Rataable Property in LaDd.
Ceatnilw.
Defonslvo. Offenilve.
FtmClMi
8«c>dClaM
Third Glau Fo'rthClaH
FinhClaM
qnites
Il hiring 100,000 > MM and upwarda 5 FabrI . . -
;a,ooo^i
and up-}
90,000 aaea and vp-
warda
26,000 aaea and op-
6Patrlciao-|-12 Plebeian-18] 40 SenioraH^ Janlores-faO [ 100
10 S«olorea+10 Jnnlorea—
10 Saaiorca+lO Juniorea— SO 10 Sanlorea+10 Joniona— j 20
r Helmet, I aUeld;
I ffTMTei,
enlreia.
Bhield, [ creaTes. I Helmet,
11,000 aaea and np*1 wards (more pro- iNibly UfiOO, -l DIonyslai sayi)
16 8enlor«a+15 Jmlores^W
Capita Genal, or Pro- > Irtarti--'. 5
(f)
84
[ Sword and [ apcar. Spear and f Javelin.
SUnga,ete.
The whole number of CenturieSi therefi)re, was 194; and in the First Class alone there are more than bal£
The Centuries of oomicines, tubidnea, &&, were called aaxnsi^ because they were added ioiheUsiof cenai.
The single century of proletarii were called capite oensi, because they were counted by the head, and not rated by their property. Later, however, the proletarii and capite oensi were distinguished, the former being those who possessed ^preciable property of leas amount than 11,000 i
GHiP. m. SBBYinS TTTLLniS. 49
batum or tax for military expenses, of which we shall speak in a fatnre page ; and secondly, to serve certain political ends, of which we will speak here. It is manifest that Senrins, when he admitted the Plebeians to political power, did not contem- plate anything like the equality of a democracy. He intended that all the citizens of the Classes should have votes, but that their votes should avail only in proportion to their landed pro- perty. The wealthy were sure to have the preponderance ; for if the Centuries of the Knights and the other centuries of the first Class, even without the Fabri, agreed together, they could outvote the centuries of all the other Cksses put together. More- over, great weight was given to age. It is certain that in each Class the seniores, or those between the age of 45 and 60, nmst have been far less numerous than the juniors ; yet in each Class they formed an equal number of centuries. The number of seniors in each of the 40 Centuries of the first Class, thinned alike by age and rate of property, must have been comparatively very few.
yi «- g 17. But though safi^uards so many and so great were pro- vided in &vour of property, the new assembly of Servius con- ferred a great and positive boon on the Plebeians. It must be remembered that before his time they were outside the Populus or Body Politic altogether. They were still excluded fi'om the Curiffi or Assembly of the Patricians ; and so far as this involved political rights, the name of Populus was still confined to the old Burgesses. But in reality the Plebs became members of the Populus ; for the new Centuriate Assembly slowly but surely assumed to itself all the political rights which had formerly be- longed to the Ccariate Assembly alone ; and though it is probable that all laws proposed in the former must receive the sanction of the latter (as bills brought forward in the House of Commons must pass through the House of Lords), and also must be autho- rised by the Senate, which was at this time exclusively patrician, in thne these powers were cancelled, and the Centuriate Assembly became the supreme legislative body of the state.*
)(— § 18. But Servius was not satisfied with merely giving the Plebeians a place in the Body Politic He also made regulations which related to the well-being of the Plebeians alone, without reference to the Patricians.
By the conquests of the precadinff Kings Rome had gained laige acquisitions of territory in Latium, and some probably on the Etruscan side of the Tiber. Numa had divided the original
* The intention of the change was somewhat the same as that wrought by Solon at Athens^ who is said to have changed an i^yapxif^ into a TifiOKparUu See Dr. SmithHi Sigt. ofCheece^ p. 97.
8
50 ROME UNDER THE KING& Book I.
lands of the state into pagi. Bat these had become quite unequal to the altered condition of things ; and Servius now distributed the whole Roman territory, as he found it, into a number of Tribes. These Tribes of Servius, then, were divisions of the soil, like our parishes or townships, and we must take especial care not to confound them with the Tribes of Romulus. It is indeed ' unfortunate that things so different should be called by the same name. The Tribes of Romulus were three in number : those of Servius were at least twenty. The Tribes of Romulus included the Patrician Burgess^ only ; in the Tribes of Servius none were enrolled but Plebeians, ll^e members of the Tribes of Romulus held their place in virtue of their Patrician birth, independently of their place of habitation ; those who belonged to the Tribes of Servius belonged to it because they had what we mi^ht call their ^ settlement'^ in some particular place. In one pomt only they were alike. A person who once belonged either to a Romulian , Tribe of birth or a Servian Tribe of place, always remained a member of that Tribe, to whatever place he might remove his dwelling. It is probable, indeed, that there were means by which the members of the Servian Tribes might change their *^ settle- ment,*' but nothing is known upon this subject. In each Tribe there were Presidents,* whose business it was to keep the list of the Tribe ; but they were not empowered to remove the name of any person on the list simply because he had ceased to reside in the district belonging to the Tribe.
X >— § 19. Of these Tnbes four were in the city and the rest outside the limits of the city. The four city Tribes were 1. the Palatine^ 2. the CoUine, answering to the Quirinal Hill ; 3. the Suburran, answering to the Cielian with its neighbouring valleys ; 4. the Esquiline, which shows that the Equiline Hill, together with the Yiminal or seventh Hill, must have been already added to the city. It will be observed that neither the Saturnian Hill or Capitoline, nor the Aventine, were included within these Tribes. The former was omitted because it was, as it were, consecrated to military and religious purposes ; the latter because it never was included within the sacred limits of the Pomoerium, as will appear presently.
X"^ § 20. The Country Tribes were all named after patrician Gentes. The names of sixteen arc preserved as existing at the time of the expulsion of the kings.f The first Tribe which bore a name
♦ Galled imfieh^rdl ^?uuv by Dionjsius. They were probably the same as Che Tribtmi (urarii, of whom we shall have to speak hereafter.
f These were, 1. Aemilia; 2. Cornelia; 3. Fabia; 4. HoratiA; 5. Menenta; 6. Papiiia; 7. Sergia; 8. Yeturia; 9. Claudia; 10. *Camilia; 11. *Galeria; 12. *Leinonia; 13. «Pollia; 14. ^Piquola; 16. *RQinilia; 16. x^Yoltinia. The
Chap. IIL SERVIUS TULLIU& 51
not deriyed from a noble house was the Crnsttimine, which was added under the Republic, and made the twenty-first Tribe. No doubt the noble House which bore the same name with these Tribes consisted of the chief persons in the^ respective districts, just as in En^and great noblemen took their naa»es from those counties in which their families once possessed almost sovereign power. )^ — § 21. It is probable that at first none save the Plebeians were entered upon the lists of their respective Tribes ; and the Ple- beians, having thus received a kind of constitution of their own, used to meet in the Forum on market-days {mmdince) to settle their own affairs. These meetings were called the Comitia Tri- BUTA, because the Commons ^ave their votes according to their Tribes, as at the Comitia Cunata votes were given according to Curifle, and at the Comitia Centuriata according to Centuries; for it was an established custom at Rome not to vote in. a mass and bj the head ; but, first, the voters were distributed into smaller bodies, and then, in all cases, questions were determined by the majority of those bodies which voted for or against it
§ 22. Thus, then, the outline of the future Roman constitution was marked out. The Patricians met in their Curisd in the Co- mitium at the high or narrow end of the Forum ; the Plebeians met in their Tribes in the low or broad end of the same famous piece of land ; the whole People, Patricians and Plebeians alike, met m the Field of Mars according to their Classes and Centuries.
One of the chief tasks of Roman history is to trace the work- ing and development of those Assemblies under the control and direction of the Senate. We shall find the Patrician Assembly of the Curies, now supreme, gradually wane and become an empty name ; while the despised Assembly of the Plebeian Tribes gra- dually engrosses power to itself, till at length it becomes the great l^islative body of the State. Meanwhile the great Assem- bly of the Classes and Centuries undergoes changes and transmu- tations which much alter its character, and bnng it into close neighbourhood with the popular assembly. But of this hereafter.
names of most of these Tribes are femiliar as the names of Patrician Gentes ; . and it may be presumed that the seven unknown names (marked with aster- iaks) represent Gentes that had become extinct
It has been generallj assumed that Servius created Thirty Tribes in all, on the authority of Dionysius, iv. 14* iutXe di koI r^v x*^v aitaaavy (^ /iiv «d^<of ^<y«v, elc fiotpac [ue, pagos] i^ koX eUoaiv, df Ral aitruc KaXcl fvXtlc [i. «. tribus], kcU rcxf dartKoc npoaridelc aifraic TerrapuCy rpuiKovTa fvXdc ufi^ripov M Tv^Xiov raf irdaa( yevioBai leyu. — But in the learned atid ingenious work by Hommsen, On Ihe Soman 7H^ (Altona, 1844), so much uncertainty is shown to prevail on this subject, that it is thought better to leave the questkm open.
\ -
$2
BOMB UNDER THE KINGS.
BoqkI
§ 23. To Serviofl Tullius also is attribated the great work of enlarging the Pomoeriam of Romulus. But while the original Pomoerium of the Palatine or Roman Quadrata was the sam^ as its wall or line of defence, this rule was not observed by Servius. His new Pomcerium, which surrounded the four Tribes of the city, included only five of the seven hills ; for the Capitoline and Aventine were not admitted within the sacred inclosure : but his wall or line of fortification ran round all the Seven Hills.
1 ROMAN MILE.
Tliis will be a convenient opportunity to give some account of the city of Rome with its nills, walls, and gates. Ancient Rome stood on the left bank of the Tiber. A little to the north of the ancient city the river makes a sudden bend westward, till it is stopped and turned to the south-east affain by the high ground sloping downwards from the Vatican Hill. Bietween tiiese two
Ceap. HX SBBVinS TULLIUS. 53
reaches of the river is inclosed a plain, anciently called the Campus MartioSy on which stands the greater part of modem Rome. At the lower extremity of this plain, where the stream forms an island, called the Insula Tiberina, its course is again arrested and turned towards the south-west This turn is caused by the abrupt rise of the eminence <»lled in old times the Saturnjan Hill, and still renowned under its later name of " the Capitol f and this ^all be taken as the point from which we will survey the ancient city.
The City, as bounded by the wall of Servius, may be likened to a fan, of which the Capitol forms the pivot To this point con- veige, on the north, the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquilino ; then the Palatine and Csslian, lying in the same line, nearly south- west ; and due south, abutting upon the river, the Aventine. The Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline run out like so many pro- montories towards the Capitol ; but they soon unite and sink gradually into the plain towards the west
Across the slope thus formed a great earth-bank and trench were carried, of which traces still remain. In its original state this embankment of Servius Tullius is said to have been 60 feet high and its base 50 feet broad, while the foss outside it was 100 feet wide and 80 deep. From either end of this mound walls were built on all the low ground and across the valleys; but when these walls reached the edges or escarpments of the hills, which in those days were steep and high, no wall was needed. Thus from the northern end of the embankment the wall was carried to the steep edge of the Quirinal, where it ceased, and appeared again in the narrow valley between this hill and the Capitoline, and then was continued from the south- western torner of the Capitoline to the edge of the river. In like manner the wall was carried from the southern edge . of the Esquiline across the valley which divides that hill from the Ca&lian ; then across the Cselian to its lower verge ; then across a second valley, and so quite round the Aventine to the river^s ^ge, which it joined at a distance of little more than a quarter of an English mile from the point at which it started. This short space was faced by a quay, but was not considered to need a wall for its defence.
The whole circuit thus inclosed measures about seven milles, and it remained without alteration for many centuries. Great snbarbs grew up, and as Rome needed no fortifications till the times of the later emperors, the walls of Servius were suffered to <^ecay, and no new line of fortification was formed till the days of Aurelian and Probus (a.d. 270-282).
The principal gates in the wall of Servius were the Flumentane
54
ROME UNDER THE KINGS.
BookL
and the Carmental, between the river and the Capitol ; the Col- line, at the northern extremity of the Agger of Servius, and the Esquiline at its southern extremity ; the Cselimontane upon the Cselian ; the Capene or Capuan, where this hill slopes to- wards the Aventine ; and the Trigemina, between the Aventine and the river. The Sublician Bridge, which Ancus built to con- nect the city with the Janiculdm, was just outside this gate, if the piles still remaining in the bed of the Tiber indicate its true position. But as it is little likely that the only bridge then ex- isting would be outside the walls, it may be assumed that the real position of the Pons Sublicius was between the points where the wall abuts upon the river. >
§ 24. We may here also notice a few of the places of chief im- portance in Roman history, which were inclosed within the wall of Servius.
The low ground alone the river, below the Capitoline, Palatine, and Aventine, drained by the Cloaca Maxima and protected by its quay, was the Forum Boarium or cattle market, the part im- mediately beneath the Palatine being the Velabrum. FVom the upper end of the Velabrum the Nova Via led oyer the Palatine to the Forum, while from its lower part the Vicus Tuscus ran in a parallel direction to the same quarter.
i Clivas Capltollnus. D. Prison, cftllcd TnllianniiL G. TribQnal.
B. Temple of Saturn. £. Roetra. H. Arch of Fabius.
C. Temple of Concord. F. Scnate-HoQse. K. Temple of Vesta. L. Temple of Castor and PoUaz.
This is the quarter on which principal attention must be fixed. ^ 8 you stand upon the Capitol and look eastward, beneath you
Chap. IIL SERVIUS TULUUS. 55
lies a piece of land of irregular shape, having its bfoader end beneath the Capitol itself while its two sides converge towards the ridge called the Velia, which connects the Palatine with the Esquiline, and was in after ages marked by the triumphal arch of Titus. The broader end, of which we speak, measures about 190 feet, the narrower 100; the lower side about 630 fee);, and the upper somewhat less. These measurements include both the Forum proper and the Comitium ; but the line of de- marcation between the meeting-places of the Plebeians and Patri- cians ran across at about 200 feet distance from the narrow end, and here stood the rostra^ or place occupied by those who ad- dressed the people assembled beneath them. The Sacra Via, the most famous street of Rome, entered the Forum or Comi- tium at its Bonth-eastem comer, passed along the narrow end, and then ran along the northern side, by the Curia Hostilia and the Tabernse Nov®, till it reached the foot of the Capitoline. Here it met the famous Chvus Capitolinus, which led up by a steep ascent to the summit of the Capitol. When a general went up to offer thank^ving to Jupiter, he descended from the Yelian ridge into the Forum, and then mounted by this ascent to the great temple on the Tarpeian, or lower height of the Capi- toline Hill.
On the southern side of the Forum ran a street past the Temple of Vesta and the Regia of Numa, connecting the Nova Via with the Sacra Via. From the Forum to the Esquiline ran the Vicus Cyprius, the upper part of which was called the Vicus Sceleratus, in memory of the murder of King Servius, of which we are to speak presently. This street probably led through the Subura or populous quarter, which lay in the low ground l^tween the Esqui- line, Viminal, and Quirinal Hills, to the Carinas, which was after- wards the most fashionable part of Rome, and lay on the edge of the Esquiline next the Velia.
§ 25. Besides enlarging and strengthening the city, Serviu^ also endeavoured to form an enduring alliance with the whole Latin nation, who had been so much weakened by the wars of the former kings. He built a temple to the great Latin goddess Diana upon the Aventine, and here were to be held sacrifices and festivals common both to Rome and Latium. The Sabines also, as it seems, desired to share in this alliance, but not on equal terms. There was, so runs the legend, a cow of noble form and surpassing beauty, which belonged to a Sabine householder : whoever, said the soothsayers, first sacrificed this animal in the new-built temple of Diana, should hold sway over Rome. - The Sabine owner brought his cow to offer her on the Aventine. But 'the Roman sacrificing . priest bade him first purify himself by
5« ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book L
bathing in the Tiber, and then cunningly himself completed the sacrifice.
§ 20. It remains only to add the famous legend of the death of thegood King Servius.
He had assumed kingly power without the consent of the patri- cian CurisB, and he had afterwards sought confirmation of his title, not from this proud assembly, but th^new assembly of the Classes and Centuries which he had created. It is said^ moreover, that when he had finished his reforms he had it in his mind to resign the kingly power altogether, and leave his great Assembly to elect two chief magistrates to govern in his stead. But this purpose was not accomplished. He continued to reign till he was mur- dered, like King Tarquinius before him.
From the two sons of King Ancus there was nothing to fear. But Tarquinius Priscus had also two sons, Lucius and Aruns, and Servius had two daughters. So he married these two daughters to the two young Tarquins, that they might become his succes- sors, and might not be jealous of a stranger sitting in their father's seat. Now Lucius Tarquinius was a proud and violent youth, but his brother Aruns was mild and ^ood. So also the eldest daughter of King Servius was gentle, but ner sister was ambitious and cruel. Servius therefore took care that Lucius, the violent brother, should be married to the good sister, and Aruns, the good brother, to the bad sister ; for he hoped that the good might prevail over the evil and subdue it. But the event proved otherwise. The lamb wUl not lie down with the wolf, nor the hawk couple with the dove. Therefore Lucius and the younger Tullia conspired together ; and Lucius murdered his wife, and Tullia murdered her husband ; and then they married together, so that the two wicked ones were free to work their will.
Lucius Tarquin soon resolved to make an end of King Servius. So he conspired with the Patricians, and chiefly with those of the new Gentes, whom his feither had raised ; and when he thought he was strong enough, he came into the Comitium and took his seat upon the throne in front of the senate-house, and summoned the Patricians to attend on " King Tarquinius." But when King Ser- vius heard of it he came forth and asked how any one dared sit on the throne while he was alive. But Lucius said it was his Other's throne, and that now it was his own by right. Then he seized the old man by the waist and cast him down the steps of the throne, and he himself entered into the senate-house. Servius, when he saw that all were against him, endeavoured to escape homewards; but certain men, sent by Lucius, overtook him and slew him, and left his body lying in the way.
And when Tullia heard what was done, she mounted her chariot
Chap. HL
SBRVIUS TULLIUa
51
and drove to the Fonun and sainted her husband king. But he bade her go hom6, for such scenes were not fit for women. And she came to the foot of the Esquiline Hill, to th^ place where the body of her father lay in the way. And when the charioteer saw it he was shocked, and pulled in his horses tha^t he might not drive over the body. But his wicked mistress chid him angrily and bade him drive on. So she went home " with her father's blood upon her chariot-wheels ;" and that place was called the Wicked Street ever after.
So King Servius died when he had reigned four and forty years, and Lucius Tarqninius the Proud reigned in his stead.
Cloaca of Marta in Toaeany.
Tomb of the Tarqulns.
CHAPTER IV.
TARQUIKIUS BUPERBUS, AKD THE BEGINNINa OF THE REPUBLIC.
§ 1. Despotism of seoond Tarquin. § 2. Alliance with Etruscans and Latins. § 3. Temple on Capitoline. § 4. Legend of Sibjl. § 5. Stratagem by which Gabii was taken. § 6. King's sons, with Brutus, sent to consult the Delphic Oracle. § *l. Legend of Lucrdtia. Eicpulsion of Tarqmns. § 8. Consuls. § 9. Patrcs Conscriptl § 10. Rex Sacrorum. § 11. First attempt to restore Tarquin. Judgment of Brutus. § 12. Second attempt by Etruscans of Tarquinii and Veil Death of Brutus. § 13. P. Valerius Poplicola. § 14. Consecration of Capitoline Temple by M. Horatius. § 15. Third attempt to restore Tarquin. Porsenna. Legends of Horatius Codes, Mucins ScsYola, Cloelia. § 16. Tarqum at Tusculum. § 17. First Dictator. § 18. Fourth attempt to restore Tarquin by Latins. Battle of Lake Regil- lus. § 19. Death of Tarquin at Cumse.
X— § !• Tarquin bad made himself king by the aid of the Patricians, and chiefly by means of the third or Lucerian tribe, to which his family belonged. The Burgesses of the Gentes were indignant at the cmtailment of their privileges by the popular reforms of Ser- vius, and were glad to lend themselves to any overthrow of his power. But Tarquin soon kicked away the ladder by which he had risen. . He abrogated, it is true, the hated Assembly of
Chap. IV. TABQUINIUS SUPERBUS. 5^
the Centuries ; bat neither did he pay any heed to the Curiatc Assembly, nor did he allow luiy new members to be chosen into the Senate in place of those who were removed by death or other causes ; so that even those who had helped him to the throne re- pented them of their deed. The name of Supcrbua, or the Proud, testifies to the general feeling against the despotic rule of the second Tarquin. X**§ 2. It was by foreign alliances that he calculated on supporting his despotism at home. The Etruscans of Tarquinii, and all its associate cities were his friends ; and among the Latins also he sought to raise a power which might counterbalance the senate andpeople of Romc.y
The wisdom of larquinius Priscus and Servius had united all
the Latin name to Rome, so that Rome had become the sovereign
city of Latiura. The last Tarquin drew those ties still closer. He
gave his daughter in marriage to Octavius Mamilius, Chief of Tus-
cnlum, and favoured the Latins in all things. ' But at a general
assembly of the Latins at the Ferentine Grove, beneath the Alban
Mounts where they had been accustomed to meet of olden time to
settle their national- aJQTairs, Turnus Herdonius of Aricia rose and
spoke against him. Then Tarquinius accused him of high treason,
and brought Cetlse witnesses against him; and so powerful with
the Latins was the King that they condemned their countryman
to be drowned in the Ferentine water, and obeyed Tarquinms in
all things.
X7§ 3- With them he made war upon the Volscians and took the
city of Suessa, wherein was a great booty. This booty he applied
to the execution of great wonts in the city, in emulation of his
fiither and King Servius. The elder Tarquin had built up the side .
of the Tarpeian rock and levelled the summit, to be the founda- -
tion of a temple of Jupiter, but he had not completed the work.
Tarquinius Superbus now removed all the temples and shrines of
the old Sabine gods which had been there since the time of Tilus
Tatius; but. the goddess of Youth and the god Terminus kept
their place, whereby was signified that the Roman people should
enjoy undecaying vigour, and that the boundaries of their empire
should never be drawn in. . And on the Tarpeian height he built
a magnificent temple, to be dedicated jointly to the three great
gods of the Latins and Ktruscans, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva ; and
this part of the Saturnian Hill was ever after called the Capitol
or the Chief Place, while the upper part was called the Abx or
Citadel.*
He brought architects from Etruria to plan the temple, but he forced the Aoman people to work for him without hire. * See GhM>t i. § 7.
60 ROME UNDER THE KDSTGa Book I.
§ 4. One day a strange woman appeared before the King and offered, him nine books to buy ; and when he refused them she went away and burnt three of the nine books, and brought back the remaining six and offered to sell them at the same price that she had asked for the nine ; and when he laughed at her and again refused, she went as before and burnt three more^books, and came back and asked still the same price for the thiee that were left Then the King was struck by her pertinacity, and he consulted his augurs what this mi^ht be ; and they bade him by all means buy the three, and said he had done wrong not to buy the nine, for these were the books of the Sibyl and contained great secrets. So the books were kept underground in the Ca- pitol in a stone chest, and two men (duumviri) were appointed to take charge of them, and consult them when the state was in danger.
§ 6. The only Latin town that defied Tarquin's power was Qabii; and Sextus, the king's youngest son, promised to win this place also for his father. So he fled from Rome and pre- sented himself at Gabii ; and there he made complaints of his Other's tyranny and prayed for protection. The Gabians be- lieved him, and took him into their city, and they trusted him, so that in time he was made commander of their army. Now his fiather suffered -^ii^ to conquer in many small battles, and the Gabians trusted him 'more and more.' Then he sent pri- vately to his father, and asked what he should do to make the Gabians submit. Then King Tarquin gave no answer to the messenger, but, as he walked up and down his garden, he kept cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies with his staff. At last the messenger was tired, and went back to Sextus and told him what had passed. But Sextus understood what his father meant, and he began to accuse falsely all the chief men, and some of them he put to death and some he banished. So at last the city of Gabii was left defenceless, and Sextus delivered it up to his father.*
§ 6. While Tarquin was building his temple on the Capitol, a strange portent offered itself; for a snake came forth and de- voured the sacrifices on the altar. The king, not content with the interpretation of his Etruscan soothsayers, sent persons to consult the famous oracle of the Greeks at Delphi, and the per- sons he sent were his own sons Titus and Aruns, and, his sister's son, L. Junius, a young man who, to avoid his uncle's jealousy, feigned to be without common sense, wherefore he was called - Brutus or the Dullard. The answer given by thfe oracle wte,
* It is well known that this Legend occurs in Herodotus, who relates that Babylon was betrayed to Darius Hystaspes in a similar manneri iiL 154» aqq.
Chap, rv. TABQUINIUS SUPBRBUS. 61
that the chief power of Rome should helong to him of the three who should first kiss his mother ; and the two sons of King Tar-
2uin agreed to draw lots which of them should do this as soon as tiey returned home. But Brutus perceived that the oracle had another sense ; so as soon as they landed in Italy he fell down on the ground as if he had stumbled, and kissed the earth, for she (he thought) was the true mother of all mortal things.
§ 7. When the sons of Tarquin returned with their cousin, L. Junius Brutus, they found the king at war with the Rutulians of Ardea. Being unable to take the place by storm, he was forced to blockade it ; and while the Roman army was encamped before the town the young men used to amuse themselves at night with wine and wa4ail. One night there was a feast, at which Sextus, the king's third son, was present, as also Oollatinus, the son of E^rius, the king's uncle, who had been made governor of Col- •latia. So they soon began to dispute about the worthiness of their wives ; and when each maintained that his own wife was worthiest, ** Come, gentlemen," said Cbllatinus, "• let us take horse and see what our wives are doing ; they expect us not, and so we shall know the truth." All agreed, and they galloped to Rome, and there they found the wives of all the others feasting and revelling: but when they came to CoUatia they found Lucretia, the wife of CoUatinufl, not making merry like the rest, but sitting in the midst of her handmaids carding wool and spinning ; so they all allowed tiiat Lucretia was the worthiest.
Now Lucretia was the daughter of a noble Roman, Spurius Lu- cretius, who was at this time Prefect of the city ; for it was the custom, when the kings went out to war, that they left a chief man at liome to administer all things in the king's name, and he was called Prefect of the City.
But it chanced that Sextus, the king's son, when he saw the tear Lucretia, was smitten with lustful passion ; and a few days after he came again to Collatia, and Lucretia entertained him hospitably as her husband's cousin and friend. But at midnight he arose and came with stealthy steps to her bedside : and hold- ing a sword in his right hand, and laying his left hand upon her breast, he bade her yield to his wicked desires; for if not, he would slay her and lay one of her slaves beside her, and would declare that he had taken them in adultery. So for shame she consented to that which no fear would have wrung from her : and Sextus^ having wrought this deed of shame, returned to the camp.
Then Lucretia sent to Rome for her &ther, and to the camp at Ardea for her husband. They came in haste. Lucretius brought with him P. Valerius, and Collatinus brought L. Junius
62 ROME UNDER THE JSJSGB. Book I.
Brutus, his cousin. And they came in and asked if all was well. Then she told them what was done : " but," she said, " my body only has suffered the shame, for my will consented not to the deed. Therefore," she cried, " avenge me on the wretch Scxtus. As for me, though my heart has not sinned, I can live no longer. No one shall say that Lucretia set an example of living ia un- chastity," So she drew forth a knife and stabbed herseUT to the heart.
When they saw that, her father and her husband cried aloud ; but Brutus drew the knife from the wound, and holding it up, spoke thus : " By this pure blood I swear before the gods that I will pursue L. Tarquinius the Proud and all his bloody house with fire, sword, or in whatsoever way I may, and that neither they nor any other shall hereafter be King in Rome." Then he gave the knife to CoUatinus and Lucretius. and Valerius, and they all swore likewise, much marvelling to hear such words from* L. Junius the Dullard. And they took up the body of Lucretia, and carried it into the Forum, and called on the men of OoUatia to rise against the tyrant. So they set a guard at the gates of the town, to prevent any news of the matter being carried to King Tarquin: and they themselves, followed by the youth of CoUatia, went to Rome. Here Brutus, who was Chief Captain of the Knights,* called the people together , and he told them what had been done, and called on them by the deed of shame wrought against Lucretius and CoUatinus — ^by all that they had suffered from the tyrants — ^by the abominable murder of good King Servius — to assist them in taking vengeance on the Tar- quins. So it was hastily agreed to banish Tarquinius and his &mily. The youth declared themselves ready to follow Brutus against the King's army, and the seniors put themselves under the rule of Lucretius, the Prefect of the City. In this tumult, the wicked Tullia fied from her house, pursued by the curses of all men, who prayed that the avengers of her father's blood might be upon her.
When the King heard what had passed, he set off in all haste for the city. Brutus also set off for the camp at Ardea ; and he turned aside that he might not meet his uncle the King. So he came to the camp at Ardea, and the King came to Rome. And all the Romans at Ardea welcomed Brutus, and joined their arms to his, and thrust out all the King's sons from the camp. But the people of Rome shut the g&tes against the King, so that he could not enter. And King Tarquin, with his sons Titus and Aruns, went into exile and lived at Caere in Etruria. But Sextus
♦ Tribunus Celeram.
Chap. IV. BXPUI^lON OP TAEQUINi <J3
fled to Gabii, where lie had before held rule, and the people of Gabii slew him in memory of his former cruelty.
So L. Tarquinius Snperbus was expelled from Rome, after he had been King five-and-twenty years. And in memory of this event was instituted a festival called the Regifuginm or Fugalia, which was celebrated every year on the 24th day of February,* /(^§ 8. To gratify the Plebeians, the Patricians consented to re- store, in some measure at least, the popular institutions of King Servius ; and it was resolved to follow his supposed intention with r^ard to the supreme government — that is, to have two Magis- trates elected every year, who were to have the same power as the King during the time of their rule. These. were in after days known by tne name of Coj^buls ; but in ancient times they were called Praetors or Judges (Judices). They were elected at the
Et Assembly of the Centuries ; and they had sovereign power «rium) conferred hpon them by the Assembly of the Curies. J wore a robe edged with violet colour, sat in their chairs of state called curule chairs, and were attended by twelve lictors each. These lictors carried fasces, or bundles of rods, out of which arose an axe, in token of the power of life and death possessed by the Consuls as successors of the Kings. But only one of them at a time had a right to this power ; andin tok€^hereof, his colleague's fiisces had no axes in them. Each retainecnhis mark of sovereign power (imperium) for a month at a time.
The first Consuls were L. Junius Brutus and L. Tarquinius Col- latinus. ^ ^-§ 9. The new Consuls filled up the Senate to the proper num- ber of three hundred ; and the new Senators were called Con- script!, while the old members retained their old name of Patres. So after this the whole Senate was addreased by speakers as " Patres, Conscripti" («. e. Patres et Conscripti)* But in later times, it was forgotten that these names belonged to different sorts of persons, and the whole Senate was addressed a^ by one name, " Patres Conscripti.'' y^§ 10. The name of King was hateful. But certain sacrifices had always been performed by the King in person ; and there- fore, to keep up the form, a person was' still chosen, with the title of Rex Sacrortltn or Rex Sacrificulus, to perform these off'cr- ings. But even he was placed under the authority of the Chief Pontifex.
§ 11. After his expulsion. King Tarquin sent messengers to
Rome to ask that his property should be given up to him, and
the Senate decreed that his prayer should be granted. But
the King's ambassadors, while they were in Rome, stirred up the
♦ Ovid. .Rm«, ii. 286.
64 ROME UNDEB THE KINGS. Book L
minds of the young men and others who had been favoured by Tarquin^ so that a plot was made to bring him back. Among those who plotted were Titus and Tiberius, the sons of the Consul Brutus ; and they gave letters to the messengers of the King. Bat it chanced that a certain slave hid himself in the place where they met^ and overheard them plotting ; and he came and told the thing to the Consuls, who seized the messenggis of the King with the letters upon their persons, authenticated by the seals of the young men. The culprits were immediately arrested ; but the ambassadors were let ^o, because their persons were regarded as sacred. And the goods of King Tarquin were given up for plun- der to the people.
Then the traitors were brought up before the Consuls, and the sight was such as to move all beholders to pilr ; for among them were the sons of L. Junius Brutus himself, the First Consi^, the liberator of the Roman people. And now all men saw how Brutus loved his country ; for he bade the lictors put all the traitors to death, and his own sons first ; and men could mark in his &ce the struggle between his duty as a chief magistrate of Rome and his feelings as a &ther. And while they praised and admired hun, they pitied him yet more.*
Then a decree of t^ Senate was made that no one of the blood of the Tarquins shonM remain in Rome. And since Collatinus, the Consul, was by descent a Tarquin, even he was obliged to give up his office and return to CoUatia. In his room, P. Valerius was chosen Consul by the people.
This was the first attempt to restore Tarquin the Proud.
§ 12. When Tarquin saw that the plot at home had fiiiled, he
ErevaUed on the people of Tarquinii and Yeii to make war with im a^inst the Romans. But the Consuls came out against them ; Valerius commanding the main army, and Brutus the cavalry. And it chanced that Aruns, the King's son, led the cavaliy of the enemy. When he saw Brutus he spurred his horse against him, and !brutus declined not the combat. So they rode straight at each other with levelled spears ; and so fierce was the shocE, that they pierced each other through from breast to back, and both fell dead.
Then, also, the armies fought, but the battle was neither won nor lost But in the night a voice was heard by the £truscans, saying that the Romans were the conquerors. So the enemy fled by night ; and when the Romans arose in the morning, there was no man to oppose them. Then they took up the body of Brutus, and departed home, and buried him in public with great
* ''In&lix—- utcunque femnt ea facta minoresl^'— iien. vL 823— a punctaa- tion which one oould wish it possible to maintaiiL
Chap, IV. ATTEMPTS TO RESTORB TARQUIK. • 65
ap ; and the matrons of Rome mourned him for a whole year, ause he had avenged, the injury of Lucretia.
And thus the second attempt to restore King Tarquin was frus- trated.
§ 13. After the death of Brutus, Ptlblius Yalerius ruled the people for a while by himself, and he began to build himself a nouse upon the ridge called Velia, which looks down upon the Formn. So the people thought that he was going to make him- self king ; but when he heard this, he called an Assembly of the People, and appeared before them with his fasces lowered, and with no axes in them,«v^hence the custom remained ever after, that no consular lictors wore axes within the city, and no Consul had power of life and death except when he was in command of his legions abroad. And he pulled down the beginning of his house upon the Velia, and built it below that hill. Also he passed laws that every Roman citizen might appeal to the people against tiie judgment of the chief magistrates. Wherefore he was greatly honoured among the people, and was called Poplicola^ or Friend of the People,
.Aft«r this Valerius calkd together the great Assembly of the Centuries, and they chose Sp. Lucretius, father of Lucretius, to succeed Brutus. But he was an old man, and in not many days he died. So M. Horatius was chosen in his stead.
§ 14. The temple on the Capitol which King Tarquin began had never vet been consecrated. Then Valerius and Horatius drew lots which should be the consecrator, and the lot fell on Horatius. But the friends of Valerius murmured, and they wished to prevent Horatius from having the honour ; so when he was now 8a3ring the prayer of consecration, with his hand upon the door- post of the temple, there came a messenger, who told him that his son was just dead, and that one mourning for a son could not rightly consecrate the temple. But Horatius kept his hand upon the door-post, and told them to see to the burial of his son, and finished the rites of consecration. Thus did he honour the. gods even above his own son.
§ 15. In the next year Valerius was again made Consul, with T. Lucretius ; and Tarquinius, despairing now of aid from his friends at Veii and Tarquinii, went to Lars Porsenna of Clusium, a city on the river Clanis, which falls into the Tiber. Porsenna was at this time acknowledged as chief of the twelve Etruscan cities; and he assembled a powerful army and came to Rome, He came so <}uickly that he reached the Tiber and was near the Sublician Bridge before there was time to destroy it ; and if he had crossed it the city would have been lost. Then a noble Roman, called Horatius Codes, of the Lucerian tribe, with two
^Q BOMB UNDER THE EING& ^ Book I.
friends — Sp. Lartius, a Ramnian, and T. Herminius, a Titian — posted themselves at tbe far end of the bridge, and defended the passage against all the Etruscan host, while the Romans were cutting it off behind them. When it was all but destroyed, his two fhends retreated across the bridge, and Horatius was left alone to bear the whole attack of the enemy. Well he kept his ground, standing unmoved amid the darts which were showered upon his shield, till the last beams of the bridge fell crashing into the river. Then he prayed, saying — " Father Tiber, receive me and bear me up, I pray thee." So he plunged in, and reached the other side safely; and the Romans honoured him greatly: they put up his statue in the Ciomitium, and gave him as much land as he could plough round in a day, and every man at Rome subscribed the cost of one day's food to reward him.
Then Porsenna, disappointed in his attempt to surprise the city, occupied the Hill Janiculum, and besieged the city, so that the people were greatly distressed by hunger. But C. Mucins, . a noble youth, resolved to deliver his country by the death of the King. So he armed himself with a dagger, and went to the place where the King was used to sit in judgment. It chanced that the soldiers were receiving their pay from the King's secretaiy, who sate at his ri^ht hand splendidly apparelled ; and as this man seemed to be diief in authority, Mucms thought that this must be the King; so he stabbed him to the heart Then the guards seized him and dragged him before the King, who was greatly en- raged, and ordered them to bum him alive if he would not confess the whole affair. Then Mucius stood before the King, and said — " See how little thy tortures can avail to make a brave man tell the secrets committed to him ;" and so saying, he thrust his right hand into the fire of the altar, and held it in the flame with unmoved countenance. Then the King marvelled at his cour- age, and ordered him to be spared, and sent away in safety: " for," said he, " thou art a brave man, and hast done more- harm to thyself than to me." Then Mucius replied, " Thy generosity, O King, prevails more with me than thy threats. Know that three hundred Roman youths have sworn thy death:. my lot came first. But all the rest remain, prepared to do and suffer like- myself." So he was let go, and returned home, and was called Scaevola, or the Left-handed^ because his right hand had been burnt off.
King Porsenna was greatly moved by the danger he had escaped; and perceiving the obstinate determination of the Romans, he offered to mate peace. The Romans gladly gave ear to his words, for they were hard pressed ; and they con- sented to give back all the land which they had won from the
Chap. IV. ATTEMPTS TO RESTORE TARQUIN. 67
Etruscans beyond the Tiber. And they gave Hostages to tbe King in pledge that they wQuld obey him as they had pro- mis^ ten youths and ten maidens. But one of the maidens, named Clodlia, had a man's heart, and she persuaded all her fellows to escape from the King's camp and swim across the Tiber. At first King Porsenna was wroth ; but then he was much amazed, even more than at the deeds of Horatius and Mucins. So when the Romans sent back ClceHa and her fellow- maidens — ^for they would not break faith with the King — he bade her return home again, and told her she might take whom she pleased of the youuis who were hostages ; and she chose those who were yet boys, and restored them to their parents.
So the Koman people gave certain lands to young Mucins, and they set up an equestrian statue to the bold Clcelia at the top of the Sacred Way. And King Porsenna returned home ; and thus the third and most formidable attempt to bring back Tarquin failed.
§ 16. When. Tarquin now found that he had no hopes of farther assistance from Porsenna and his Etruscan friends, he went and dwelt at Tusculum, where Mamilius Octavius, his son- in-law, was still chief. Then the thirty Latin cities combined together, and made this Octavius their Dictator, and bound themselves to restore their old friend an^ ally King Tarquin to the sovereignty of Rome.
§ 17. P. Valerius, who was called Poplicola, was now dead, and the Romans looked about for some chief worthy to lead them against the army of the Latins. Poplicola had been made Consul four times, and his compeers acknowledged him as their chief, and all men submitted to him as to a king. But now the two Consuls were jealous of each other; nor had they power of life and death within the city, for Valerius (as we saw) had taken away the axes from the fasces. Now this was one of the reasons why Brutus and the rest made two Consuls instead of one king : for they said that neither one would allow the other to become tyrant ; and since they only held oflSce for one year at a tiniie, they might be called on to give account of their govern- ment when their year was at an end.
Yet though this was a safeguard of liberty in times of peace, it was hurtful in time of war ; for the Consuls chosen by the people in their great assemblies were not always skilful generals ; or if they were so, they were obliged to lay down their com- mand at the yearns end.
So the Senate determined, in cases of great danger, to call upon one of the Consuls to appoint a single chief, who should be called Dictator, or Master of the People. He had sovereign
68 BOMB UNDER THE KJNGa Book I.
power (imperium) both in the city and out of the city^ and the fasces were always carried before him with the axes in them, as they had been before the king. He could only be appointed for six months, but at the end of the time he had to giv^ no account. So that he was free to act according to his own judgment, having no colleague to interfere with him at the present, and no accusations to fear at a future time. The Dictator was general-in-chief^ and he appointed a chief officer to command the knights under him, who was called Master of the Horse.
And now it appeared to be a fit tinje to appoint such a chief, to take the command of the army against the Latins. So the first Dictator was T. Lartius ; and he made Spurius Cassius his Master of the Horse. This was in the year 499 B.C., eight years after the expulsion of Tarquin.
§ 16. But the Latins did not declare war for two years after. Then the Senate again ordered the Consul to name a Master of the People, or Dictator ; and he named Aul. Postumius, who appointed T. .^Ebutius (one of the Consuls of that year) to be his Master of the Horse. So they led out the Roman army .against the Latins, and they met at the Lake Regillus, in the land of the Tusculans. King Tarquin and all his family were in the host of the Latins ; and that day it was to be deter- mined whether Rome should be again subject to the tyrant, and whether or no she was to be chief of the Latin cities.
King Taisqnin himself, old as he was, rode in front of the Latins in full armour ; and when he descried the Roman Dictator marshalling his men, he rode at him ; but Postumius wounded him in the side, and he was rescued by the Latins. Then also j£butius, the Master of the Horse, and Oct Mamilius, the Dictator of the Latins, charged one another, and ^butius was pierced through the arm, and Mamilius wounded in the breast. But the Latin chief, nothing daunted, returned to battle, fol- lowed by Titus, the King's son, with his band of exiles. These charged the Romans furiously, so that they gave way ; but when M. Valerius, brother of the great Poplicola, saw this, he spurred his horse against Titus, and rode at him with spear in rest : and when Titus turned away and fled, Valerius rode furiously after him into the midst of the Latin host, and a certain Latin smote him in the side as he was riding past, so that he fell dead, and his horse galloped on without a rider. So the band of exiles pressed still more fiercely upon the Romans, and they began to flee. Then Postumius the Dictator lifted up his voice and vowed a temple to Castor and Pollux, the great twin heroes of the Greeks, if they would aid him ; and behold there appeared on his right two horsemen, taller and fairer than the sons of men, and
Chap. IV. ArTEMPTS TO KESTORB TARQUIN. 69
their horses were as white as snow. And they led the Dictator and his guard against the exiles and the Latins, and the Romans preTaiied against them ; and T. Herminius, the Titiad, the friend of Horatius Cocles, ran Mamilius, the Dictator of the Latins, through the body, so that he died ; but when he was stripping the arms from his foe, another ran him through^ and he was carried back to the camp, and he also died. Then also Titus, the King's son, was slain, and the Latins fled, and the Romans pursued them with great slaughter, and took their camp and all that was in it. Now Postumius had promised great rewards to those who first broke into the canip of the Latms, and the first who broke in were the two horsemen on white horses ; but after the battle they were nowhere to be seen or found, nor was there any sign of them left, save on the hard rock there was the mark of a horse's hoo^ which men said was made by the horse of one of those horsemen.
But at this very time two youths on white horses rode into the Forum at Rome. They were covered with dust and sweat and blood, like men who had fought long and hard, and their horses also were bathed in sweat and foam : and they alighted near the Temple of Vesta, and washed tljemselves in a spring that gushes out hard by, and told all the people in the Forum how the battle by the Lake Regillus had been fought and won. Then they mounted their horses and rode away, and were seen no more.
But Postumius, when he heard it, knew that these were Castor and Pollux, the great twin brethren of the Greeks, and that it was they who fought so well for Rome at the Lake Regillus. So he built them a temple, according to his vow, over the place where they had alighted in the Forum.* And their cfiSgies were displayed on Roman coins to the latest ages of the city.f
§ 19. This was the fourth and last attempt to restore King Tarquin. After the great defeat of Lake Regillus, the Latin cities made peace with Rome, and a^eed to refuse harbourage to the old Kin^. He had lost all his sons, and, accompanied by a few &ithM friends, who shared his exile, he sought a last asylum at the Greek city of CumsB in the Bay of Naples, at the court of the tyrant Aristodemus. Here he died in the course of a year, fourteen years after his expulsion.
* See the plan of the Fomm, Chapt til § 24.
t See the cote at the end of Chapt viii. and hMd of Chapt. x.
Butt of Niebtthr.
CHAPTER V.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE HI8TORT OF ROME UNDER THE KINGS.
g 1. Nature of Legendary Histoiy. § 2. Among Greeks. § 3. Among Bo- mana. §4. Religious and Historical Legends. §5. Tendencyio propagate historical legends in all times. § 6. Detection of incongniities in eariy Roman history : difficulties explained away by ancient critics. § 7. Modern critics, before and after Niebuhr. § 8. Relation of stories of Kings to actual history. § 9. Romulus and Num& § 10. Tullus and Ancus. § 11. Tar- quinius Priscus and Seryius. §12. Tarquinius Superbua §13. Character of next Book.
§ 1. Few persons will now be found to dispute the position tiiat the early history of Rome, like Uiat of all nations, begins with legendary tales. Such L^ends are not to be regarded as mere Romances, that is, fictions invented by persons of lively imagination for the purpose of giving pleasure and amusement to their hearers or readers. They are older and more genuine than such professed romances. Among all nations in a rude and simple state, tales will be found current which pass from mouth to mouth without suspicion that they are not absolutely true. They are not written, because they date from times when writing is unknown ; and the mere fact of their being repeated
Chap. V. NATUTtB OF EARLY HISTORY. 71
bj word of moatlL eanses a' perpetual variation in the narra- tives. The same original story bein^ handed down tradition- alij by two different tribes, which have been separated from each other, or which are animated by hostile feelings, will in a very short time assume extremely different forms. Names,* circumstances, ever3rtbing, except some dominant thought, may have been changed, and yet the origin may be the same. No fraud is intended or committed. The alterations arise naturally from the causes which have been indicated.
§ 2. Among the Greeks such legendary lore is chiefly connected with religious ideas. The Legends or fivdo$ of that lively race may mostly be traced to that sort of awe or wonder with which simple and uneducated minds regard the changes and movements of the natural world. The direct and easy way in which the imagination of such persons accounts for marvellous phenomena is to refer them to the operation of Persons. When the atten- tion is excited by the regular movements of sun and moon and stars, by the alternations of day and night, by the recurrence of the seasons, by the rising and falling of the seas, by the ceaseless flow of rivers, by th^ ffathering of clouds, the rolling of thunder, and Uie flashing of lightning, by the operation of life in the vegetable and animal worlds, in short by any exhibition of ah active and motive power, — it is natural for uninstructed minds to consider such changes and movements as the work of divine Persons. In this manner the early Greek Ijegends associate themselves with personification of the powers of nature. All attempts to account for the marvels which surround us are foregone ; everything is referred to the immediate operation of a god. " Cloml-compelling" Zeus is the author of the pheno- mena of the air; '^Earth-shaking'' Poseidon of all that happens in the water under the earth ; Nymphs are attached to every spring and tree; Demeter, or Mother Earth, for six months rejoices in the presence of Proserpine, the green herb, her daughter, and for six months forgets her absence in dark abodes beneath the earth.
This tendency to deify the powers of nature is due partly to a clear atmosphere and sunny climate, which inclines a people to live much in the open air in close communion with all that nature offers to charm the senses and excite the imagination, partly to the character of the people, and partly to the poets who in early times have wrought these legendary tales into works, which are read with increased delight in ages when science and method have banished the simple faith which pro- cured acceptance for these legends. Among the Greeks all «these * See note on Ohapt iL g 3.
72 BOMB UNDER TEE Km6& Book I.
conditions were found existing. Thej lived, so to say, out of doors ; their powers of observation were extremely quick, and their imagination singularly vivid; and their ancient poems are the most noble specimens of the old legendary tales that hare been preserved in any country.*
§ 3. But amonff the Romans all is different We find few traces of this Rehgious Legend amon^ them. What may have been the case in the earliest times we know not ; bat the Roman poets whose works we possess adopted the mythology of Greece, and transferred to the Sabine and Latin divinities the attnbutes and actions of the Hellenic gods, so that we are often presented with the strange anomaly of Italian divinities disporting them- selves on the hills and in the valleys of Thessaly or Arcadia. But if there is not much of the native Religious Legend among the Romans, there is found anothet kind of Legend in greater fulness and beauty than perhaps among any other people.
§ 4. We are tiius brought to a distinction which it is neces- sary to make in the Legends of all nations. One class may be called the Religious Legend, of which we have briefly spoken; the other is the Heroic or Historical, of which we have now to speak. The Religious Legend pretends to explain the nature of the universe and its history ; the Heroic Legend seeks to determine the early history of the particular people among whom it is found existing. As the poetic fancy of the Greek inclined him to the former kind, so the practical and business-like character of the Roman mind cared little for the mysteries of nature, but loved to dwell upon the origin and early fortunes of their own ^eat city.
§ 5. This tendency to hero-worship, which is indicated by the prevalence of the Heroic Legend, generally exerts its influence to a very late period in a nation's life, or rather it may be said never to die away entirely. A corrector natural philosophy has
* Coftparo the beautiftd passage in the fourth book of the EsBOnrnon: " The liyel7 Grecian, in a land of hills,
Rivera, and fertile plains, and sounding shores,
Under a cope of variegated sky,
Gould find commodious place for every god," etc: And again:—
" The traveller slaked
His thirst from rill or gashing fount, and thanked
The Naiad. Sunbeams, upon distant hills
Gliding apace, with shadows in their train,
Might, with small help from fimcy, be transformed
Into fleet Oreads sporting visibly.
The Zejphera, fiinning, as they passed, tlieir wihgs,
Lacked not, for love, &ir objects, whom they wooed
With gentle whisper," eta
Chap. V. NATOBB OF KARLY HISTORT. 73
banished from moet minds this belief in particular divine beings exercising particular influence on streams, and skies, and trees."* But no sooner does a man occupy any space in the public mind, than all kinds of tales concerning his sayings and doings pass current from mouth to m^uth, and things are believed of him either for good or evil which have very slender foundation in truth. To children their parents, to young people their masters, to grown men their poets and philosophers, their statesmen and generals, or any one who raises himself above the crowd by ex- traordinary actions, ^ood or bad, have an existence more or less mythical ; that is, wey are the heroes of many tales, which are unconsciously invented, transmitted, altered, magnified^ and be- lieved. Education and the press have done much to diminish this propensity to mythology ; the more persons are brought into im- mediate contact with tiie great, the more are they disabused of imaginative fimcies with regard to them. But the spirit can never wholly be eradicated, nor indeed is its eradication produc- tive of unmixed good. It is impossible to conceive a society of men so penetrated by philosophical culture as to have become incapable of inventing and receiving legendary tales in some shape or other.
§ 6. It is well known that the Legends of Roman history were long repeated and regarded as sober historic tniths. Some keen- sighted critics were excited to examine them, and they proved by a long and careful investigation that they had no claim to be 80 r^arded.f Impossibilities were pointed out, discrepancies of time and isust noted^ variations of the same story, as told by
^ See C61eridge'8 translation of SctuUer's WaUensiein, act ii. sc. 4:— • " The intelligible forms of ancient poets^ The fair humanitieB of old religion, The power, the beauty, and £e miyesty, That had their haunts in dale or piny mountain, Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring, Or chasms and wat'ry depths ; — all these have vanished ; They live no longer in the &ith of reason t" f The first, and probably the ablest, of these sceptical critics was Perizonius, a German. Bat h^ work (Ammaduernonet Historicce) was written in Latin, and addressed only to the leaniecL Gianbattista Yico^ an Italian of extraor- dinary genius^ mixed up his historical specuhitions with so much of mysticism and obscurity, that they also produced but little effect. The person who next shook the credit of the old Roman history was the Frenchman Beaufort, who, with the dear and <^1 calculation of his nation, made the discrepancies and variations dear to the least attentive, in his essay, Sur PlncertUude de VBis- ioirt HonuUne. It is characteristic at least, that he was first stimulated to his mvestigations by national pique. He was indignant at the tale that the brave Gauls of Brennus were defeated by Gamillus, and his successful confutation of this legend led him on to more adventorous flights. The immediate results of his work may be seen in the histories of Hook and Ferguson.
4
f 4 BOICB UNDER THE KINGS. Book L
different writers, brought forward. £ven in ancient times the miraculous nature of many of these L^nds was a stumbling- block to sober annalists. The course these writers took in ancient times was what we now know by the name of rationalism. They retained all the statements of tne legends, but explained them so as to suit common prose. The Golden Fleece was a ship in which Medea and Jason escaped ; the Bull was a ship in which Europa was carried off by Jove, and so forth. In Grecian litera- ture the chief rationalist was named Euhemeros ; in Roman L. Calpumius Piso played the same part.
§ 7. But the modem critics who showed the discrepancies and variations of the ancient Legends took a different course. It was not the marvellous and supernatural incidents that attracted their notice; for after all there are not many of such kind in Roman annals. It was the manifest falsehood of many of the early stories, which attracted notice, — the exaltation of indivi- dual heroes, the concealment of defeats and losses on the part of Borne. The most striking among these inventions, as we shall show below, are the stories of Porsenna and Camillns. The im- mediate effect of these discoveries was, that for a time the annals of early Roman history 'were passed over in almost contemptuous silence. It was then that Niebuhr arose. He acknowledged the sagacity of these critics, and conceded to them that the early historjr, if regarded as an actual -narrative of facts, was wholly unreal ; but he refused to throw it all aside as arbitrary fiction. He showed that the early history of Rome, tike that of all nations, was mythical or legendary, containing a poetical account of the first ages of the city, i^nd not a sober historical nar- rative ; but the legendary traditions of the Roman people parti- cularly are, he contended, so rich and so beautiful, that they give an insight into the early genius of the people which would never have been divined from the imitative literature which has been handed down as Roman. Moreover, mingled up with the poetic legends of which we speak, there are accounts of laws and institu- tions which undeniably existed, such as the regulations attributed to Romulus and Numa, and the popular reforms of which the elder Tarquin and Servius Tulhus are the reputed authors. There are also great works, in part remaining to the present day, of which these Legends tell — such as the Cloaca Maxima, the Substructions of the Capitol, the Agger of Servius Tullius. Here we have realities which cannot be put aside as children's tales.
§ 8. At present we have only to estimate the relation which the chronicles of Regal Rome bear to actual historical fact.
The reigns of the seven Kings have been thrown into four
SfeCC V. NATUEB OF EARLY HISTORY. 75
chapters porj^oeely. £ach of these sections presents a legendary character of its own. The accounts of Romulus and Numa differ eflsentially torn those of Tullus and Ancus; and all these differ more widely from the chronicle of the first Tarquin and of Servius; while the story of the last Tarquin brings us into the atmosphere of romance in which we move during the first century and a half of the Republic.
§ 9. The reigns of Romulus and Numa are in the realm of pure mythology. Komulus, like .^£neas, is the son of a god ; Numa, like Anchises, is the favoured lover of a goddess. Romulus is the man of force, for Roma (^/^i?) signifies itrenpth and vigour. Numa is the man of law, for numus (v6p)f ) signifies law. Under these typical names is embodied, in beautiful legends, the origin of the social, political, and religious institutions of Rome. How long a period is thus symbolised, or how many generations. of kings, it is impossible to guess.
But under the mythical story of these reigns we may clearly discern historical truth. We see in them a continual struggle between the. original Latin infiuence and the Sabine. Romulus the R<mian founds the city, and is obliged to admit into partner- ship Titus the Sabine, who occupies botii the Quirinal and Satur- nian Hills. Then Titus is slain by Latins, and the Roman King regains ascendancy for a time. But he is carried miraculously from the earth, is worshipped under a Sabine name, and a Sabine kinff succeeds. Here we trace the indisputable symptoms of Sabme conquest The admission of Sabines into the city at all . suggests this; their occupation of the stronghdd on the Satumian ^1 confirms it; the assumption of a Sabine name by the Roman king, and the appellation of Quirites given to the united citizens, prove it*
It is probable, indeed, that the early institutions of Rome are Sabine rather than Latin. The religious ordinances of Numa are confessedly so. There is reason to think that the same is
• Above, Chapt i § 10, Quirites has been rendered "Ifen of the Spear," aooording to the first derivation thus quoted fix>m Ovid. It is objected that tfais sppeUstion, whidi is alwavs used of the Romaos in their civU oapacUy, while as oonquerora they are always called Populus Romanus, ill accords wiUi this ezplaoation. In answer, it is suggested that the term Quirites, originally meamng '^united warriors," lost its warlike, and retained only its political, sense of umon. From the notion of union or brotherhood, it follows (wluch is the &ct) that the singular Quins was not properiy used at all. Niebnhr eaft- poses that the common phrase, J^ipvku Somanus Quiriies, stood for Populus Romanos ei Quirites, aooording to the forms of ancient Latin. But, on the above hypothesis, this cannot be so. Quirites can hardly denote a body dis- tinct from Populus Romanus; and the phrase must be equivalent to Pop. Rom. Quhitiam, which is not unfrequent. See the proof in Becker's Boman AnU^ ^Khes, VoL ii part i page 21, aqqi
76 EOME UKDER THE KINGS. . Book L
.- v
tnie also of the social and political regulations attributed to Romulus. .
' For example, the relations of Patrons and Clients almost ndces- sarily itapiy a conquering and a conquered people. The Clients we may presume to be the Aborigines, a Pelasgian tribe, first re- duced by Oscans, and afterwards by Sabines. On the conquest by the Sabines, it may be supposed that the chief Oscan &milies were admitted to equality with the conquerors, either at once or in the course of a short time : while the mass of the Qsco-Pelasgian population sank into the condition of Russian serfe or of feudal vassals.
Something not very dissimilar occurred after the con<juest of
."England by William the Norman. The great Saxon families were not doomed to ruin by the Conqueror till a wide-spread rebellion had convinced him that he could not retain his power but by fear: and even then the French wars soon promoted an equality between the Norman lords and the Saxon chiefs, while the mas)» of the nation remained in a state of serfdom. It is, in like manner, very probable that the dominion of the Sabines was relaxed, in conse^ <]uence of war with their neighbours the Latins and Etruscans ; and it is very possible that the patriotism of later Roman minstrels may have confounded the Sabines with their own progenitors ; just as the Norman-French of England soon learned to glory in the name of Englishmen.
On the whole, then, it seems not unlikely that the reigns of Romulus and Numa represents a period of Sabine supremacy; during which institutions arose of Sabine origin and character, but so moulded and modified as to suit the genius of the combined people ; and that slowly, but surely, the spirit and genius of the Latin people prevailed over the smaller numbers of their Sabine
. conquerors, just as the spirit and genius of the Anglo-Saxons gra- dually overpowered the Roman influence.
§ 10. The reigns of Tnllus and Ancus present^ in some mea- sure, a repetition of those of Romulus and Numa. The Roman King dies by a strange and sudden death ; the Sabine succeeds. But the miraculous has disappeared. The King^ are ordinary mortals, not the sons and spouses of divinities; and there is very little even of heroic legend. But there are a few' naked facts which are no doubt historical. The destruction of Alba by Tullus, the conquest of Politorium and the Latin shore by Ancus, and the rapid growth of an independent Commonalty by the side of their Patrons and their Clients, are evidently beyond the range of legendary tales. There are few signs here of hostility between Latin atid Sabine interest The reigns of Tullus and Ancus seem to denote a. period in which the two
CHAP. V. . NATtJBB OP EARLT HISTOEY. 77
nations, though still distinct, were going through a rapid process of fusion.
§ 11. With the elder Tarquin and Servius the scene changes suddenlj. The differences between Romans and Sabines have dis- aj^peared ; the fusion of the Rhamnian and Titian tribes is com- plete. But the third Tribe, the Lucerian, which the Legends (erroneously, no doubt,) represent as coeval with the other two, and which had been hitherto kept in a subordinate position, now starts into political life. It seems originally to have been of a mixed race, partly Etruscan, partly Latin, though gradually the Latin preponderated, and the Etruscan element at length dis- appeared. This mixture is indicated, by the varying accounts .which are given of the birthplace and family of Tarquin and Ser- vius. The former is commonly represented as an -Etruscan emi- grant, but one Legend calls him a Latin ; the latter is generally regarded as a Latin, but one Legend makes him an Etruscan chief, nan|ed Mastama, the comrade of Cseles Vibenna. Yet, so vague and baffling is the language of these Legends, that after all inves- t^tions, nothing more can be said than that the bulk of the third Tribe was manifestly Latin, and that whatever there was in Rome of Etruscan decayed and vanished away.
Yet it is certain that, under these kings, Rome became the centre of a considerable monarchy, extending her sway over Lower Etmria and all Latium. This is proved not only by the concur- rent voice of all the Legends, but also most convincingly by the great works which still remain to attest the power and wealth of .uiose who executed them, the CloacflB of Tarquin, the walls of Ser- Tiua, and the great extent of ground enclosed by them, and the plan of the Capitoline Temple. To this subject we have to recur, at the beginning of our next chapter.
Further, it is certain that under these kings the old oligar- chical constitution was in great measure superseded. Anciently, the Kings, according to the Sabine rule, had been the chiefs in war ; but in peace meir power was almost limited to the duty of presiding in the oligarcnical assembly of the Curise, and in the Council of the Senate. Their power of life and death was limited by the right of appeal to the Curiate Assembly belonging to every burgess, as is shown in the legend of Horatius. But Tar- quin admitted great numbers of new burgesses to leaven the oligarchy, and Servius remoulded the whole population, in which ^e independent commonalty now formed the chief part, into a new political f