| Plutarch's Parallel Lives | |
| The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch | |
|
Romulus
From whom, and for what reason, the city of Rome, a name so great
in glory, and famous in the mouths of all men, was so first
called, authors do not agree.
But the story which is most believed and has the greatest number
of vouchers in general outline runs thus: the kings of Alba
reigned in lineal descent from Aeneas, and the succession devolved
at length upon two brothers, Numitor and Amulius. Amulius proposed
to divide things into two equal shares, and set as equivalent to
the kingdom the treasure and gold that were brought from Troy.
Numitor chose the kingdom; but Amulius, having the money, and
being able to do more with that than Numitor, took his kingdom
from with great ease, and, fearing lest his daughter might have
children who would supplant him, made her a Vestal, bound in that
condition forever to live a single and maiden life. This lady some
call Ilia, others Rhea, and others Silvia; however, not long
after, contrary to the established laws of the Vestals, she had
two sons of more than human size and beauty, whom Amulius,
becoming yet more alarmed, commanded a servant to take and cast
away; this man some call Faustulus, others say Faustulus was the
man who brought them up. He put the children, however, in a small
trough, and went towards the river with a design to cast them in;
but seeing the waters much swollen and coming violently down, was
afraid to go nearer, and, dropping the children near the bank,
went away. The river overflowing, the flood at last bore up the
trough, and, gently wafting it, landed them on a smooth piece of
ground, which they now call Cermanus, formerly Germanus, perhaps
from "Germani," which signifies brothers.
While the infants lay here, history tells us, a she-wolf nursed
them, and a woodpecker constantly fed and watched them. These
creatures are esteemed holy to the god Mars; the woodpecker the
Latins still especially worship and honor. Which things, as much
as any, gave credit to what the mother of the children said, that
their father was the god Mars.
Meantime Faustulus, Amulius's swineherd, brought up the children
without any man's knowledge; or, as those say who wish to keep
closer to probabilities, with the knowledge and secret assistance
of Numitor; for it is said, they went to school at Gabii, and were
well instructed in letters, and other accomplishments befitting
their birth. And they were called Romulus and Remus (from "ruma",
the dug), because they were found suckling the wolf. In their very
infancy, the size and beauty of their bodies intimated their
natural superiority; and when they grew up, they both proved brave
and manly, attempting all enterprises that seemed hazardous, and
showing in them a courage altogether undaunted. But Romulus seemed
rather to act by counsel, and to show the sagacity of a statesman,
and in all his dealings with their neighbors, whether relating to
feeding of flocks or to hunting, gave the idea of being born
rather to rule than to obey. To their comrades and inferiors they
were therefore dear; but the king's servants, his bailiffs and
overseers, as being in nothing better men than themselves, they
despised and slighted, nor were the least concerned at their
commands and menaces. They used honest pastimes and liberal
studies, not esteeming sloth and idleness honest and liberal, but
rather such exercises as hunting and running, repelling robbers,
taking of thieves, and delivering the wronged and oppressed from
injury. For doing such things, they became famous.
A quarrel occurring betwixt Numitor's and Amulius's cowherds, the
latter, not enduring the driving away of their cattle by the
others, fell upon them and put them to flight, and rescued the
greatest part of the prey. At which Numitor being highly incensed,
they little regarded it, but collected and took into their company
a number of needy men and runaway slaves,--acts which looked like
the first stages of rebellion. It so happened, that when Romulus
was attending a sacrifice, being fond of sacred rites and
divination, Numitor's herdsmen, meeting with Remus on a journey
with few companions, fell upon him, and, after some fighting, took
him prisoner, carried him before Numitor, and there accused him.
Numitor would not punish him himself, fearing his brother's anger,
but went to Amulius and desired justice, as he was Amulius's
brother and was affronted by Amulius's servants. The men of Alba
likewise resenting the thing, and thinking he had been
dishonorably used, Amulius was induced to deliver Remus up into
Numitor's hands, to use him as he thought fit. He therefore took
and carried him home, and, being struck with admiration of the
youth's person, in stature and strength of body exceeding all men,
and perceiving in his very countenance the courage and force of
his mind, which stood unsubdued and unmoved by his present
circumstances, and hearing further that all the enterprises and
actions of his life were answerable to what he saw of him, but
chiefly, as it seemed, a divine influence aiding and directing the
first steps that were to lead to great results, out of the mere
thought of his mind, and casually, as it were, he put his hand
upon the fact, and, in gentler terms and with a kind aspect, to
inspire him with confidence and hope, asked him who he was, and
whence he was derived. He, taking heart, spoke thus: "I will hide
nothing from you, for you seem to be of a more princely temper
than Amulius, in that you give a hearing and examine before you
punish, while he condemns before the cause is heard. Formerly,
then, we (for we are twins) thought ourselves the sons of
Faustulus and Larentia, the king's servants; but since we have
been accused and aspersed with calumnies, and brought in peril of
our lives here before you, we hear great things of ourselves, the
truth of which my present danger is likely to bring to the test.
Our birth is said to have been secret, our fostering and nurture
in our infancy still more strange; by birds and beasts, to whom we
were cast out, we were fed--by the milk of a wolf, and the
morsels of a woodpecker, as we lay in a little trough by the side
of the river. The trough is still in being, and is preserved, with
brass plates round it, and an inscription in letters almost
effaced, which may prove hereafter unavailing tokens to our
parents when we are dead and gone." Numitor, upon these words, and
computing the dates by the young man's looks, slighted not the
hope that flattered him, but considered how to come at his
daughter privately (for she was still kept under restraint), to
talk with her concerning these matters.
Faustulus, hearing Remus was taken and delivered up, called on
Romulus to assist in his rescue, informing him then plainly of the
particulars of his birth--not but he had before given hints of it
- and told as much as an attentive man might make no small
conclusions from; he himself, full of concern and fear of not
coming in time, took the trough, and ran instantly to Numitor; but
giving a suspicion to some of the king's sentry at his gate, and
being gazed upon by them and perplexed with their questions, he
let it be seen that he was hiding the trough under his cloak. By
chance there was one among them who was at the exposing of the
children, and was one employed in the office; he, seeing the
trough and knowing it by its make and inscription, guessed at the
business, and, without further delay, telling the king of it,
brought in the man to be examined. Faustulus, hard beset, did not
show himself altogether proof against terror; nor yet was he
wholly forced out of all: confessed indeed the children were
alive, but lived, he said, as shepherds, a great way from Alba; he
himself was going to carry the trough to Ilia, who had often
greatly desired and handle it, for a confirmation of her hopes of
her children. As men generally do who are troubled in mind and act
either in fear or passion, it so fell out Amulius now did; for he
sent in haste as a messenger, a man, otherwise honest and friendly
to Numitor, with commands to learn from Numitor whether any
tidings were come to him of the children's being alive. He, coming
and seeing how little Remus wanted of being received into the arms
and embraces of Numitor, both gave him surer confidence in his
hope, and advised them, with all expedition, to proceed to action;
himself too joining and assisting them, and indeed, had they
wished it, the time would not have let them demur. For Romulus was
now come very near, and many of the citizens, out of fear and
hatred of Amulius, were running out to join him; besides, he
brought great forces with him, dividing into companies, each of an
hundred men, every captain carrying a small bundle of grass and
shrubs tied to a pole. The Latins call such bundles "manipuli,"
and from hence it is that in their armies still they call their
captains "manipulares." Remus rousing the citizens within to
revolt, and Romulus making attacks from without, the tyrant, not
knowing either what to do, or what expedient to think of for his
security, in this perplexity and confusion was taken and put to
death. This narrative, for the most part given by Fabius and
Diocles of Peparethos, who seem to be the earliest historians of
the foundation of Rome, is suspected by some because of its
dramatic and fictitious appearance; but it would not wholly be
disbelieved, if men would remember what a poet Fortune sometimes
shows herself, and consider that the Roman power would hardly have
reached so high a pitch without a divinely ordered origin,
attended with great and extraordinary circumstances.
Amulius now being dead and matters quietly disposed, the two
brothers would neither dwell in Alba without governing there, nor
take the government into their own hands during the life of their
grandfather. Having therefore delivered the dominion up into his
hands, and paid their mother befitting honor, they resolved to
live by themselves, and build a city in the same place where they
were in their infancy brought up. This seems the most honorable
reason for their departure; though perhaps it was necessary,
having such a body of slaves and fugitives collected about them,
either to come to nothing by dispersing them, or if not so, then
to live with them elsewhere. For that the inhabitants of Alba did
not think fugitives worthy of being received and incorporated as
citizens among them plainly appears from the matter of the women,
an attempt made not wantonly, but of necessity, because they could
not get wives by good-will. For they certainly paid unusual
respect and honor to those whom they thus forcibly seized.
Not long after the first foundation of the city, they opened a
sanctuary of refuge for all fugitives, which they called the
temple of the god Asylaeus, where they received and protected all,
delivering none back, neither the servant to his master, the
debtor to his creditor, nor the murderer into the hands of the
magistrate, saying it was a privileged place, and they could so
maintain it by an order of the holy oracle; insomuch that the city
grew presently very populous, for, they say, it consisted at first
of no more than a thousand houses. But of that hereafter.
Their minds being fully bent upon building, there arose presently
a difference about the place where. Romulus chose what was called
Roma Quadrata, or the Square Rome, and would have the city there.
Remus laid out a piece of ground on the Aventine Mount, well
fortified by nature, which was from him called Remonium, but now
Rignarium. Concluding at last to decide the contest by a
divination from a flight of birds, and placing themselves apart at
some distance, Remus, they say, saw six vultures, and Romulus
double the number; others say Remus did truly see his number, and
that Romulus feigned his, but, when Remus came to him, that then
he did, indeed, see twelve. Hence it is that the Romans, in their
divinations from birds, chiefly regard the vulture, though
Herodorus Ponticus relates that Hercules was always very joyful
when a vulture appeared to him upon any occasion. For it is a
creature the least hurtful of any, pernicious neither to corn,
fruit-tree, nor cattle; it preys only on carrion, and never kills
or hurts any living thing; and as for birds, it touches not them,
though they are dead, as being of its own species, whereas eagles,
owls, and hawks mangle and kill their own fellow-creatures; yet,
as Aeschylus says,--
What bird is clean that preys on fellow bird?
Besides, all other birds are, so to say, never out of our eyes;
they let themselves be seen of us continually; but a vulture is a
very rare sight, and you can seldom meet with a man that has seen
their young; their rarity and infrequency has raised a strange
opinion in some, that they come to us from some other world; as
soothsayers ascribe a divine origination to all things not
produced either of nature or of themselves.
When Remus knew the cheat, he was much displeased; and as Romulus
was casting up a ditch, where he designed the foundation of the
city wall, he turned some pieces of the work to ridicule, and
obstructed others: at last, as he was in contempt leaping over it,
some say Romulus himself struck him, others Celer, one of his
companions; he fell, however, and in the scuffle Faustulus also
was slain, and Plistinus, who, being Faustulus's brother, story
tells us, helped to bring up Romulus. Celer upon this fled
instantly into Tuscany, and from him the Romans call all men that
are swift of foot Celeres; and because Quintus Metellus, at his
father's funeral, in a few days' time gave the people a show of
gladiators, admiring his expedition in getting it ready, they gave
him the name of Celer.
Romulus, having buried his brother Remus, together with his two
foster-fathers, on the mount Remonia, set to building his city;
and sent for men out of Tuscany, who directed him by sacred usages
and written rules in all the ceremonies to be observed, as in a
religious rite. First, they dug a round trench about that which is
now the Comitium, or Court of Assembly and into it solemnly threw
the first-fruits of all things either good by custom or necessary
by nature; lastly, every man taking a small piece of earth of the
country from whence he came, they all threw them in promiscuously
together. This trench they call, as they do the heavens, Mundus;
making which their centre, they described the city in a circle
round it. Then the founder fitted to a plough, a bronze
ploughshare, and, yoking together a bull and a cow, drove himself
a deep line or furrow round the bounds; while the business of
those that followed after was to see that whatever earth was
thrown up should be turned all inwards towards the city, and not
to let any clod lie outside. With this line they described the
wall, and called it, by a contradiction, Pomoerium, that is, "post
murum," after or beside the wall; and where they designed to make
a gate, there they took out the share, carried the plough over,
and left a space; for which reason they consider the whole wall as
holy, except where the gates are; for had they adjudged them also
sacred, they could not, without offence to religion, have given
free ingress and egress for the necessaries of human life, some of
which are in themselves unclean.
As for the day they began to build the city, it is universally
agreed to have been the twenty-first of April, and that day the
Romans annually keep holy, calling it their country's birthday. At
first, they say, they sacrificed no living creatures on this day,
thinking it fit to preserve the feast of their country's birthday
pure and without stain of blood. Yet before ever the city was
built, there was a feast of herdsmen and shepherds kept on this
day, which went by the name of Palilia. The Roman and Greek months
have now little or no agreement; they say, however, the day on
which Romulus began to build was quite certainly the thirtieth of
the month, at which time there was an eclipse of the sun which
they conceive to be that seen by Antimachus, the Teian poet, in
the third year of the sixth Olympiad. In the times of Varro the
philosopher, a man deeply read in Roman history, lived one
Tarrutius, his familiar acquaintance, a good philosopher and
mathematician, and one, too, that out of curiosity had studied the
way of drawing schemes and tables, and was thought to be a
proficient in the art; to him Varro propounded to cast Romulus's
nativity, even to the first day and hour, making his deductions
from the several events of the man's life which he should be
informed of, exactly as in working back a geometrical problem; for
it belonged, he said, to the same science both to foretell a man's
life by knowing the time of his birth, and also to find out his
birth by the knowledge of his life. This task Tarrutius undertook,
and first looking into the actions and casualties of the man,
together with the time of his life and manner of his death, and
then comparing all these remarks together, he very confidently and
positively pronounced that Romulus was born the twenty-first day
of the month Thoth, about sun-rising; and that the first stone of
Rome was laid by him the ninth day of the month Pharmuthi, between
the second and third hour. For the fortunes of cities as well as
of men, they think, have their certain periods of time prefixed,
which may be collected and foreknown from the position of the
stars at their first foundation. But these and the like relations
may perhaps not so much take and delight the reader with their
novelty and curiosity as offend him by their extravagance.
The city now being built, Romulus enlisted all that were of age to
bear arms into military companies, each company consisting of
three thousand footmen and three hundred horse. These companies
were called legions, because they were the choicest and most
select of the people for fighting men. The rest of the multitude
he called the people; an hundred of the most eminent he chose for
counselors; these he styled patricians, and their assembly the
senate, which signifies a council of elders.
In the fourth month after the city was built, as Fabius writes,
the adventure of stealing the women was attempted. It would seem
that, observing his city to be filled by a confluence of
foreigners, few of whom had wives, and that the multitude in
general, consisting of a mixture of mean and obscure men, fell
under contempt, and seemed to be of no long continuance together,
and hoping farther, after the women were appeased, to make this
injury in some measure an occasion of confederacy and mutual
commerce with the Sabines, Romulus took in his hand this exploit
after this manner. First, he gave it out that he had found an
altar of a certain god hid under ground, perhaps the equestrian
Neptune, for the altar is kept covered in the Circus Maximus at
all other times, and only at horse-races is exposed to public
view. Upon discovery of this altar, Romulus, by proclamation,
appointed a day for a splendid sacrifice, and for public games and
shows, to entertain all sorts of people; many flocked thither, and
he himself sat in front, amidst his nobles, clad in purple. Now
the signal for their falling on was to be whenever he rose and
gathered up his robe and threw it over his body; his men stood all
ready armed, with their eyes intent upon him, and when the sign
was given, drawing their swords and falling on with a great shout,
they stole away the daughters of the Sabines, the men themselves
flying without any let or hindrance. Some say there were but
thirty taken, and from Curiae or Fraternities were named; but
Valerius Antias says five hundred and twenty seven, Juba, six
hundred and eighty-three.
It continues a custom at this very day for the bride not of
herself to pass her husband's threshold, but to be lifted over, in
memory that the Sabine virgins were carried in by violence, and
did not go in of their own free will. Some say, too, the custom of
parting the bride's hair with the head of a spear was in token
their marriages began at first by war and acts of hostility.
The Sabines were a numerous and martial people, but lived in
small, unfortified villages, as it befitted, they thought, a
colony of the Lacedaemonians to be bold and fearless;
nevertheless, seeing themselves bound by such hostages to their
good behavior, and being solicitous for their daughters, they sent
ambassadors to Romulus with fair and equitable requests, that he
would return their young women and recall that act of violence,
and afterwards, by persuasion and lawful means, seek friendly
correspondence between both nations. Romulus would not part with
the young women, yet proposed to the Sabines to enter into an
alliance with them; upon which point some consulted and demurred
long, but Acron, king of the Ceninenses, a man of high spirit and
a good warrior, who had all along a jealousy of Romulus's bold
attempts, and considering particularly from this exploit upon the
women that he was growing formidable to all people, and indeed
insufferable, were he not chastised, first rose up in arms, and
with a powerful army advanced against him. Romulus likewise
prepared to receive him; but when they came within sight and
viewed each other, they made a challenge to fight a single duel,
the armies standing by under arms, without participation. And
Romulus, making a vow to Jupiter, if he should conquer, to carry
himself, and dedicate his adversary's armor to his honor, overcame
him in combat, and, a battle ensuing, routed his army also, and
then took his city; but did those he found in it no injury, only
commanded them to demolish the place and attend him to Rome, there
to be admitted to all the privileges of citizens. And indeed there
was nothing did more advance the greatness of Rome, than that she
did always unite and incorporate those whom she conquered into
herself. Romulus, that he might perform his vow in the most
acceptable manner to Jupiter, and withal make the pomp of it
delightful to the eye of the city, cut down a tall oak which he
saw growing in the camp, which he trimmed to the shape of a
trophy, and fastened on it Acron's whole suit of armor disposed in
proper form; then he himself, girding his clothes about him, and
crowning his head with a laurel-garland, his hair gracefully
flowing, carried the trophy resting erect upon his right shoulder,
and so marched on, singing songs of triumph, and his whole army
following after, the citizens all receiving him with acclamations
of joy and wonder. The procession of this day was the origin and
model of all after triumphs. But the statues of Romulus in triumph
are, as may be seen in Rome, all on foot.
After the overthrow of the Ceninensians, the other Sabines still
protracting the time in preparations, the people of Fidenae,
Crustumerium, and Antemna, joined their forces against the Romans;
they in like manner were defeated in battle, and surrendered up to
Romulus their cities to be seized, their lands and territories to
be divided, and themselves to be transplanted to Rome. All the
lands which Romulus acquired he distributed among the citizens,
except only what the parents of the stolen virgins had; these he
suffered to possess their own. The rest of the Sabines, enraged
thereat, choosing Tatius their captain, marched straight against
Rome. The city was almost inaccessible, having for its fortress
that which is now the Capitol, where a strong guard was placed,
and Tarpeius their captain. But Tarpeia, daughter to the captain,
coveting the golden bracelets she saw them wear, betrayed the fort
into the Sabines' hands, and asked, in reward of her treachery,
the things they wore on their left arms. Tatius conditioning thus
with her, in the night she opened one of the gates and received
the Sabines in. And truly Antigonus, it would seem, was not
solitary in saying he loved betrayers, but hated those who had
betrayed; nor Caesar, who told Rhymitalces the Thracian that he
loved the treason, but hated the traitor; but it is the general
feeling of all who have occasion for wicked men's services, as
people have for the poison of venomous beasts; they are glad of
them while they are of use, and abhor their baseness when it is
over. And so did Tatius behave towards Tarpeia, for he commanded
the Sabines, in regard to their contract, not to refuse her the
least part of what they wore on their left arms; and he himself
first took his bracelet off his arm, and threw that, together with
his buckler, at her; and all the rest following, she, being borne
down and quite buried with the multitude of gold and their
shields, died under the weight and pressure of them; Tarpeius also
himself, being prosecuted by Romulus, was found guilty of treason,
and that part of the Capitol they still call the Tarpeian Rock,
from which they used to cast down malefactors.
The Sabines being possessed of the hill, Romulus, in great fury,
bade them battle, and Tatius was confident to accept it. There
were many brief conflicts, we may suppose, but the most memorable
was the last, in which Romulus having received a wound on his head
by a stone, and being almost felled to the ground by it, and
disabled, the Romans gave way, and, being driven out of the level
ground, fled towards the Palatium. Romulus, by this time
recovering from his wound a little, turned about to renew the
battle, and, facing the fliers, with a loud voice encouraged them
to stand and fight. But being overborne with numbers, and nobody
daring to face about, stretching out his hands to heaven, he
prayed to Jupiter to stop the army, and not to neglect but
maintain the Roman cause, now in extreme danger. The prayer was no
sooner made than shame and respect for their king checked many;
the fears of the fugitives changed suddenly into confidence. The
place they first stood at was where now is the temple of Jupiter
Stator (which may be translated the Stayer); there they rallied
again into ranks, and repulsed the Sabines to the place called now
Regia, and to the temple of Vesta; where both parties, preparing
to begin a second battle, were prevented by a spectacle, strange
to behold, and defying description. For the daughters of the
Sabines, who had been carried off, came running, in great
confusion, some on this side, some on that, with miserable cries
and lamentations, like creatures possessed, in the midst of the
army, and among the dead bodies, to come at their husbands and
their fathers, some with their young babes in their arms, others
their hair loose about their ears, but all calling, now upon the
Sabines, now upon the Romans, in the most tender and endearing
words. Hereupon both melted into compassion, and fell back, to
make room for them betwixt the armies. The sight of the women
carried sorrow and commiseration upon both sides into the hearts
of all, but still more their words, which began with expostulation
and upbraiding, and ended with entreaty and supplication.
"Wherein," say they, "have we injured or offended you, as to
deserve such sufferings, past and present? We were ravished away
unjustly and violently by those whose now we are; that being done,
we were so long neglected by our fathers, our brothers, and
countrymen, that time, having now by the strictest bonds united us
to those we once mortally hated, has made it impossible for us not
to tremble at the danger and weep at the death of the very men who
once used violence to us. You did not come to vindicate our honor,
while we were virgins, against our assailants; but do come now to
force away wives from their husbands and mothers from their
children, a succor more grievous to its wretched objects than the
former betrayal and neglect of them. Which shall we call the
worst, their love-making or your compassion? If you were making
war upon any other occasion, for our sakes you ought to withhold
your hands from those to whom we have made you fathers-in-law and
grandsires. If it be for our own cause, then take us, and with us
your sons-in-law and grandchildren. Restore to us our parents and
kindred, but do not rob us of our children and husbands. Make us
not, we entreat you, twice captives." Having spoken many such
words as these, and earnestly praying, a truce was made, and the
chief officers came to a parley; the women, in the meantime,
brought and presented their husbands and children to their fathers
and brothers; gave those that wanted, meat and drink, and carried
the wounded home to be cured, and showed also how much they
governed within doors, and how indulgent their husbands were to
them, in demeaning themselves towards them with all kindness and
respect imaginable. Upon this, conditions were agreed upon, that
what women pleased might stay where they were, exempt from all
drudgery and labor but spinning; that the Romans and Sabines
should inhabit the city together; that the city should be called
Rome, from Romulus; but the Romans, Quirites, from the country of
Tatius; and that they both should govern and command in common.
The place of the ratification is still called Comitium, from
"coire," to meet.
The city thus being doubled in number, an hundred of the Sabines
were elected senators, and the legions were increased to six
thousand foot and six hundred horse; then they divided the people
into three tribes: the first, from Romulus, named Ramnenses; the
second, from Tatius, Tatienses; the third, Luceres, from the
"lucus," or grove, where the Asylum stood, whither many fled for
sanctuary, and were received into the city. And that they were
just three, the very name of "tribe" and "tribune" seems to show.
Then they constituted many things in honor to the women, such as
to give them the way wherever they met them; to speak no ill word
in their presence; that their children should wear an ornament
about their necks called the "bulla" (because it was like a
bubble), and the "praetexta," a gown edged with purple.
The princes did not immediately join in council together, but at
first each met with his own hundred; afterwards all assembled
together. Tatius dwelt where now the temple of Moneta stands, and
Romulus, close by the steps, as they call them, of the Fair Shore,
near the descent from the Mount Palatine to the Circus Maximus.
There, they say, grew the holy cornel tree, of which they report
that Romulus once, to try his strength, threw a dart from the
Aventine Mount, the staff of which was made of cornel, which
struck so deep into the ground that no one of many that tried
could pluck it up; and the soil, being fertile, gave nourishment
to the wood, which sent forth branches, and produced a cornel-
stock of considerable bigness. This did posterity preserve and
worship as one of the most sacred things; and therefore, walled it
about; and if to any one it appeared not green nor flourishing,
but inclining to pine and wither, he immediately made outcry to
all he met, and they, like people hearing of a house on fire, with
one accord would cry for water, and run from all parts with
bucketfuls to the place. But when Gaius Caesar. they say, was
repairing the steps about it, some of the laborers digging too
close, the roots were destroyed, and the tree withered.
The Sabines adopted the Roman months, of which whatever is
remarkable is mentioned in the Life of Numa. Romulus, on the other
hand, adopted their long shields, and changed his own armor and
that of all the Romans, who before wore round targets of the
Argive pattern. Feasts and sacrifices they partook of in common,
not abolishing any which either nation observed before, and
instituting several new ones. This, too, is observable as a
singular thing in Romulus, that he appointed no punishment for
real parricide, but called all murder so, thinking the one an
accursed thing, but the other a thing impossible; and for a long
time, his judgement seemed to have been right; for in almost six
hundred years together, nobody committed the like in Rome; Lucius
Hostius, after the wars of Hannibal, is recorded to have been the
first parricide. Let thus much suffice concerning these matters.
In the fifth year of the reign of Tatius, some of his friends and
kinsmen, meeting ambassadors coming from Laurentum to Rome,
attempted on the road to take away their money by force, and, upon
their resistance, killed them. So great a villany having been
committed, Romulus thought the malefactors ought at once to be
punished, but Tatius shuffled off and deferred the execution of
it; and this one thing was the beginning of an open quarrel
betwixt them; in all other respects they were very careful of
their conduct, and administered affairs together with great
unanimity. The relations of the slain, being debarred of lawful
satisfaction by reason of Tatius, fell upon him as he was
sacrificing with Romulus at Lavinium, and slew him; but escorted
Romulus home, commending and extolling him for just a prince.
Romulus took the body of Tatius, and buried it very splendidly in
the Aventine Mount.
The Roman cause daily gathering strength, their weaker neighbors
shrunk away, and were thankful to be left untouched; but the
stronger, out of fear or envy, thought they ought not to give away
to Romulus, but to curb and put a stop to his growing greatness.
The first were the Veientes, a people of Tuscany, who had large
possessions, and dwelt in a spacious city; they took occasion to
commence a war, by claiming Fidenae as belonging to them. But
being scornfully retorted upon by Romulus in his answers, they
divided themselves into two bodies; with one they attacked the
garrison of Fidenae, the other marched against Romulus; that which
went against Fidenae got the victory, and slew two thousand
Romans; the other was worsted by Romulus, with the loss of eight
thousand men. A fresh battle was fought near Fidenae, and here all
men acknowledge the day's success to have been chiefly the work of
Romulus himself, who showed the highest skill as well as courage,
and seemed to manifest a strength and swiftness more than human.
But what some write, that, of fourteen thousand that fell that
day, above half were slain by Romulus's own hand, verges too near
to fable, and is, indeed, simply incredible: since even the
Messenians are thought to go too far in saying that Aristomenes
three times offered sacrifices for the death of a hundred enemies,
Lacedaemonians, slain by himself. The army being thus routed,
Romulus, suffering those that were left to make their escape, led
his forces against the city; they, having suffered such great
losses, did not venture to oppose, but, humbly suing him, made a
league and friendship for an hundred years; surrendering also a
large district of land called Septempagium, that is, the seven
parts, as also their salt-works upon the river, and fifty noblemen
for hostages. He made his triumph for this on the Ides of October,
leading, among the rest of his many captives, the general of the
Veientes, an elderly man, but who had not, it seemed, acted with
the prudence of age; whence even now, in sacrifices for victories,
they led an old man through the market-place to the Capitol,
appareled in purple, with a bulla, or child's toy, tied to it, and
the crier cries, "Sardians to be sold;" for the Tuscans are said
to be a colony of the Sardians, and the Veientes are a city of
Tuscany.
This was the last battle Romulus ever fought; afterwards he, as
most, nay all men, very few excepted, do, who are raised by great
and miraculous good-haps of fortune to power and greatness, so, I
say, did he: relying upon his own great actions and growing of a
haughtier mind, he forsook his popular behavior for kingly
arrogance, odious to the people; to whom in particular the state
which he assumed was hateful. For he dressed in scarlet, with the
purple-bordered robe over it; he gave audience on a couch of
slate, having always about him some young men called "Celeres,"
from their swiftness in doing commissions. He suddenly disappeared
on the Nones of July, as they call the month which was then
Quintilis, leaving nothing of certainty to be related of his
death; the senators suffered the people not to search, or busy
themselves about the matter, but commanded them to honor and
worship Romulus as one taken up to the gods, and about to be to
them, in the place of a good prince, now a propitious god. The
multitude, hearing this, went away believing and rejoicing in
hopes of good things from him; but there were some, who,
canvassing the matter in a hostile temper, accused the patricians,
as men that persuaded the people to believe ridiculous tales, when
they were the murderers of the king.
Things being in this disorder, one, they say, of the patricians,
of noble family and approved good character, and a faithful and
familiar friend of Romulus himself, having come with him from
Alba, Julius Proculus by name, presented himself in the forum; and
taking a most sacred oath, protested before them all, that, as he
was travelling on the road, he had seen Romulus coming to meet
him, looking taller and comelier than ever, dressed in shining and
flaming armor; and he, being affrighted at the apparition, said,
"Why, O king, or for what purpose, have you abandoned us to unjust
and wicked surmises, and the whole city to bereavement and endless
sorrow?" and that he made answer, "It pleased the gods, O
Proculus, that we, who came from them, should remain so long a
time amongst men as we did; and, having built a city to be the
greatest in the world for empire and glory, should again return to
heaven. But farewell; and tell the Romans, that, by the exercise
of temperance and fortitude, they shall attain the height of human
power; we will be to you the propitious god Quirinus." This seemed
credible to the Romans, upon the honesty and oath of the relator,
and laying aside all jealousies and detractions, they prayed to
Quirinus and saluted him as a god.
This is like some of the Greek fables of Aristeas the
Proconnesian, and Cleomedes the Astypalaean; for they say Aristeas
died in a fuller's workshop, and his friends, coming to look for
him, found his body vanished; and that some presently after,
coming from abroad, said they met him travelling towards Croton.
And that Cleomedes, being an extraordinarily strong and gigantic
man, but also wild and mad, committed many desperate freaks; and
at last, in a schoolhouse, striking a pillar that sustained the
roof with his fist, broke it in the middle, so that the house fell
and destroyed the children in it; and being pursued, he fled into
a great chest, and, shutting to the lid, held it so fast that many
men, with their united strength, could not force it open;
afterwards, breaking the chest to pieces, they found no man in it
alive or dead.
And many such improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate,
deifying creatures naturally mortal; for though altogether to
disown a divine nature in human virtue were impious and base, so
again to mix heaven with earth is ridiculous. Let us believe with
Pindar, that
All human bodies yield to Death's decree:
The soul survives to all eternity.
For that alone is derived from the gods, thence comes, and thither
returns.
It was in the fifty-fourth year of his age and the thirty-eighth
of his reign that Romulus, they tell us, left the world.
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