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THE
HISTORY OF ROJVIE,
BY
TITUS LIVIUS.
VOL. I.
Gtrahari and Fieiton, Printfrs-Street, Londov-.
L. ■
THE
HISTORY
OJ'
R O M E,
BY
TITUS Livirs.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL,
WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTBATIONS,
By GEORGE BAKER, A.M.
HtAory is I'hiliJopliv uaLliln- by pXAIUplM.
•OLINQBROU.
IHR SECOND EDITION. CORRECTED.
IX SIX VOLUMES. VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOB T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES,
IN THE STRAND.
1814.
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PREFACE.
TITUS LIVIUS, the illustrious Author of the Roman History, descended from a noble family in Rome, and was born at Pata- vium, now called Padua, in Italy, in the 694th year of Rome, filly-eight years before the com- mencement of the Christian aera.
Like many other literary men, his life was contemplative, rather than active ; very few par- ticulars, therefore, concerning him, have come down to us. He resided at Rome for a con- siderable time, where* he was much noticed, and highly hondUred, by Augustus ; to whom he was previ()C»^W k'niwn, it is said, by some wri- tings which he had dedicated to him. Seneca, however, is silent upon the subject of this sup- posed dedication, though he mentions the w^ork itsell', which, he says, consisted of moral and philosophical dialogues.
He appears to have conceived the project of writing his history, immediately upon his set- tling at Rome; or, perhaps, he came thither for the purpose of collecting the necessary materials for that great work.
Augustus appointed him preceptor to his grandson Claudius, afterwards emperor. But he seems not much to have attended to the advantage which might have resulted from so
A 3 ad van-
VI PREFACE.
advantageous a coiiiicclion, and to liavc occii- ])icd himself, entirely, in the composition of his history; parts of which, as they were finished, hejcad to Atigustus and Mececnas.
Distracted with the tumult, and disgusted, it may be, with the intrigues and cabals of Rome, he sought retirement and tran(|uillity in the l)eautiful country, and delightful climate, of Naples. Ifere, enjoying iminlerrupted lite- rary ease and quiet, he continued his labour, and finished his work, comprising, in an hun- dred and forty-two books, the history of Home, from the foundation of that city to the death of Drusus, containing a period of seven hun- dred and forty-three years, ending nine years before the birth of our Saviour. Having com- pleted this great work, he returned to pass the remainder of his days in his native country, Avhere he died, A.D. 17? at the age of seventy- five years.
AVhat family he left behind him, is not known. Quintilian, however, mentions that he had a son, for whose instruction he drew up some excellent observations on rhetoric; and there is also reason to suppose that he had a daughter, married to Lucius JMagius, an orator, who is advantageously spoken of by Seneca.
How highly his works were esteemexl, and himself personally honoured and respected, may be gathered from the manner in which he is mentioned by many ancient authors. Tacitus tells us*, that " T. Livius, that adrairkble histo- " rian, not more distinguished bj his elocjuence
* Annal. iv. 34.
" than
PREFACE Vlt
*' than by his fidehty, was so lavish in his praise " of Ponipey, that Augustus calked him the Pofn- " peiaji : and yet his friendship for him Avas un- " alterable/' The younger Pliny informs us*, that " a certain inhabitant of the city of Cadiz " was so struck with the illustrious character of " Livy, that he travelled to Rome on purpose " to see that great genius ; and as soon as he " had satisfied his curiosity, returned home/'
Of the hundred and forty-two books, of which the history of Rome originally consisted, thirty -five only have come doNvn to us. The- contents of the whole, the hundred and thirty- seventh and eightli excepted, have been pre- served ; compiled, as some, without any good reason, have supposed, by Livy himself; while others, with equal improbability, have asserted them to be the work of Lucius Llorus, author of a portion of Roman history. Whoever may have been the compiler, a fact as useless, as it is noAV impossible to ascertain, they are highly curious ; and although they contain but a faint outline, yet they serve to convey some idea of the original, and greatly excite regret at the loss of so large a j)ortion of this valuable work.
The parts of this history which we now pos- sess, are, the first decade : for it appears, ti'om his having prefixed separate prefatory introduc- tions to each portion, that the author had di- vided his work into distinct parts, consisting each of ten books. The first decade commences with the foundation of the city of Rome, and rapidly runs over the affairs of four hundred and *Ep. II.5.
A 4 * sixty
sixty years. The second drcach^ is lost : it eoiii- prised a ptTiod of sevenly-tive years ; the prin- cipal occurrence in it was the fnst Punic war, in which the Romans, after a long and arduous struggle, were fnially victorious, 'i'he third decade is extant : it contains a particular and well-detaih^d account of the second Punic war ; the longest, as our Author himself observes, and the most hazardous war, the Romans had ever been engaged in ; in the course of which they gained so many advantages, and acq\iired so much military experience, that no nation was ever able, afterwards, to withstand them. The fourth decade contains the Alacedonian war against Philip, and the Asiatic against Anti- ochus. These are related at considt rable length, insomuch that the ten books comprise a space of twenty-three years only. Of the fifth decade, the first five books only remain, and these very imperfect. They give an account of the war with Perseus King of Macedonia, who gains several advantages against the Romans, but is at length subdued, and his kingdom reduced- to the form of a Roman province ; of the cor- ruption of several Roman governors in the ad- ministration of the provinces, and their punish- ment; and of the third Punic war, which lasted only five years.
Of the remaining books, it has been already said, that the contents only have been preserved ; and they serve to shew us the greatness of our loss, the greatest literary loss, perhaps, owing to the ravages of the time. Livy had employed forty-five books in the history
8 of
PREFACE. IX
i)i' six centuries ; but so many, so various, and so interesting were the events, which he had before him lor selection, in the latter period of tlie Repubhc, that it took him above dou- ble that number to relate the occurrences of little more than an hundred and twenty y<:'ars. From the admirable manner in which he has written the former part of his History, we may judge of what must have been the merit of this latter part, which fails us, unfortunately, at a most remarkable period, when rational curiosity is raised to the highest pitch. N or can we doubt the excellence of its execution, when we con- sider how nmch better, and how much more copious his materials must have been; for, beside s what he could draw from his own per- sonal knowledge, having lived among, and conversed familiarly with, the most consider- able men in' the empire, who were themselves principal actors in the important transactions which he relates, he had access to the best pos- sible written materials ; to the memoirs of Jjyila, H Ca3sar, Labienus, PoUio, Augustus, and many J others which were then extant. Wliat would we not give; for the picture, finished by so able a hand, from the sketches of such masters? What delight would it not afford us, to see the whole progress of a Government from liberty to servitude? — the whole stTies of causes and effects, apparent and i*eal, public and private? — those which all men saw, and all good men opposed and lamented, at the time ; and those winch were so disguised to the prejudices, to the partialities, of a divided people, and even
to
X PREFACE.
to the corruption of mankind, that many did not, and that many could pretend they did not, discern them, till it was too late to resist tiiem? J own, says a noble Author*, 1 should he glad to exchange what we have ot" this History, for what we have not.
Much as our Historian was admired, and highly as he was respected, yet he was not without his detractors. He was charged with Patavinit}^ in his writings. The first person who brought this charge against him, seems to have been Asinius Pollio, a polite and elegant writer, and a distinguished ornament of the age of Augustus.!'
In what this Pativinity consisted, no ancient author having defined it, it is not now easy to say ; and, accordingly, it is a matter which has been much disputed. Some will have it, that it was a ])olitical term, and that it signified an attachment to the Pompeian party: others con- tend that it meant a hatred to the Gauls ; that it was symbolical of some blameable particu- larity, they know not what. The more pro- bable opinion, however, seems, from the term itself, to be, that it signified some provincial peculiarity of dialect. Ancient Italy, like modern Italy, had its differences, not of idiom merely, but of language, in every different province. In proportion as their language varies, at this day, from the purity of the Tus- can dialect, they become almost unintelligible to each other : with difficulty can a Venetian and a Neapolitan converse together; that is, the
* Bolingbroke. -j- Quintil. Instit. i. 5. viii. i.
people :
PREFACE. XI
people : for the well-educated in every coun- try learn to speak and write the dialect of the metropolis ; although, if brought up in their <:)wn provinces, however nearly their language may approach the purity of that of the capital, yet it will ever retain some tincture of provin- ciality.
If this supposition of the meaning of the word Patavinity be right, the fact, upon* such authority as that of Pollio, must be admitted; although in what, precisely, it consisted, it is not, at present, perhaps, possible to determine. Much h;^s been written upon the subject, which in reality seems now to be an idle inquiry ; and, as a dissertation upon this matter could afford neither instruction nor entertainment to the mere English reader, for whose use the fol- lowing 'I'raiislation is principally intended, we shall dismiss the subj(*ct with observing, that what Quint ihan has not told us, no modern scholar will ever, it is probable, have penetra- tion enough to discover : and we may be also allowed to suppose that, whatever these pecu- liarities may have been, as that great critic has not thought them worth pointing out, they can- not have been, either very numerous, or of very material consequence.
Nor will, perhaps, another objection, made by modern critics, be deemed of much greater Aveight. They dislike, it seems, the plan of his History, and they found that dislike, chiefly on the speeches which he so frequently introduces, Avhieh, they contend, it is not probable could have been spoken upon the occasions alledged ;
and
Xll PREFACE.
and therefore they pronounce them to be viola- tions of truth. That many of them were not spoken by the persons to whom they are ascribed, nor upon the occasions alleged, must be admitted : but they do not, upon that account, violate the truth of history. Nobody can suppose that our Author ever meant to impose upon his readers, and to make them believe that what he has given us, as said by the different persons whom he introduces, was really said by them : the supposition is absurd. He could only mean to vary his style ; and to enliven and embellish matter, which, if con- tinued in the even and unvaried tone of narra- tion, would be sometimes heavy and tedious ; making these supposed speeches a vehicle for conveying, and that in a very lively manner, the arguments for and against a proposed mea- ?iure; and he thus often brinos into them a rela- tion of facts, chiefly facts of remoter times, and much more agreeably than he could have inter- woven them into liis narrative, which should always be progressive. Modern historians, it is true, have rejected this plan : but Livy is not reprehensible, because his ideas of historic structure were difliercnt from theirs. He chose rather to conform himself to a custom which prevailed very generally before his time, and which succeeding writers, of great taste and judgment, have approved and adopted. The conduct of Livy, in this respect, if necessary, might be justified by the example of Herodo- tus, Xenophon, Polybius, Sallust, Tacitus, and other?, whose histories abound with speeches.
These
PREFACE. XUI
These speeches frequently give a more perfect idea of the character of the supposed speaker, tlian could easily have been done by mere description ; and it must be acknowledged, that the facts which they sometimes contain, would, if thrown into formal narrative, with episodes and digressions, lose much of their animation and force, and consequently much of their grace and beauty.
When we consider the use of such speeches, we shall not perhaps feel inclined to give them up, although many are to be held as mere fictions ; contrived, however, with much inge- nuity, and for the laudable purpose of convey- ing useful retiections and salutary admonitions. But though it be admitted, that several of them are fictitious, yet it may be contended that they are not all so. Many of those delivered in the senate, in popular assemblies, in conventions of ambassadors, and other the like occasions, are most probably genuine ; and, if they are so, they furnish us with very curious specimens of ancient eloquence. Public speakers among the Romans were in the habit of publishing their speeches upon particular occasions ; and others, delivered upon important occurrences, would, doubtless, be noted down, and circu- lated, by those who were curious about, and probably interested in, the subject* of them. We know that, in our own times, the substance of speeches in the British parliament, and other assemblies, has often been accurately collected, and carefully preserved; and we may,
therefore.
XIV PRE TACK.
liicrctorc, reasonably suppose thai s[)('<rlu's in the Roman seiiale, upon mailers in wiiieh the wliole communily were deeply interested, would be heard with equal attention, and preserved' with e(jual care.
A charge, of a very heavy nature, has been brought against our Author, which, were it well founded, would utterly disqualify him from writing a credible history. He is accused of superstitious credulity. 'J'liat he was of a seri- ous and religious turn of mind is sufficiently apparent tioni many passages in his liist^jry, in which he severely reprehends the licentious- ness and profligacy of the times he lived in, and applauds the simplicity of conduct, and sanctity of manners, of ancient days, when " that disregard of the gods, which prevails in " the present age, had not taken place; nor did *' every one, by his own interpretations, accom- " modate oaths and the laws to his particular ^' views, but rather adapted his practice to *' them*.'' Again, speaking of Spurius Papi- rius, he describes him as a " youth,, born in an " age when that sort of learning which incuU " cates contempt of the gods was yet un- " known -f-.'' Numberless passages, to this effect, might be cited ; suffice it, however, to observe, that, while reprehending, with strong indignation, the profane, the impious, and the immoral among his countrj^men, he omits no opportunity of applauding the virtuous and the good.
* B. iii, 46. f B. X. 40.
But,
PREFACE. XV
But, to be religious is one thing ; to be superstitious is anotlier. He has certainly recorded many and monstrous prodigies ; to enumerate which would be both tedious and disgusting. As, however, they were not merely the subject of popular tales and vulgar con- versation, but the objects of particular attention, noticed always by the magistrates, and even by the senate, whom we frequently find order- ing expiations of them, it was his duty, as an historian, to relate them, since they thus made a part of the public transactions of the times. ' And this he does with great caution ; appa- rently anxious lest he should be supposed to believe in such absurdities, and protesting, as it were, against the imputation of superstition. Thus, upon an occasion where he relates extra- ordinary prodigies, (more extraordinary, indeed, than in any other part of his History,) he intro- duces his account of them by saying, — " Nume- " rous prodigies were reported to havchappened *' this year ; and the more they were credited ^' by simple and superstitious people, the more " such stories multiplied*." He generally pre- faces the mention of all such, with a reserve as to his own belief of them :— " Many prodigies " were reported f." " It was believed that crows " had not only torn with their beaks some gold " in the Capitol, but had even eaten it :|:.'' And again ; " Fires from heaven, breaking out in va- " rious places, had, as was said§," &c. Nor is he at all scrupulous in declaring these numerous
* B. xxiy. 10. f B. xxvii. 4.
t B. XXX. 2. § B. xxxix. 22.
prodi-
XVI PFlKFACr.
prodigies to derive their origin from superstitious weakness; tlius, — " So iipt is superstitious woak- " ness to introduce the deities into the most " trivial occurrences*/' "The mention of one " prodigy was, as usual, followed by reports ol " others-^l/' " From this cause arose; abundance " of superstitious notions ; and the minds of the " people became disposed both to believe and to " propagate accounts of prodigies, of which a " very great number were reported X-" " 'i'b<' " consuls expiated several prodigies which had " been reported §/' " Several deceptions of the *' eyes and ears were credited ||." One is almost tempted to think, that those who charge our Author with credulity, had never read him; otherwise, liow could they ov( rlook such pas- sages as these, and especially the following, in which he seems aware that such a charge might be brought against him, and labours to ob\ iate it ? — "In proportion as the war was protracted " to a greater length, and successes and disap^ " pointments produced various alterations, not " only in the situations, but in the sentiments " of men, superstitious obsei*vances, and these " mostly introduced from abroad, gained such " ground among the people in general, that it " seemed as if either mankind, or the deities, " had undergone some sudden change^/'
From the passages here adduced, and very many others to the same purport might be quoted, it may be confidently pronounced, that our Author was not the dupe of those
* B. xxvii, 23. t lb. 37. t ^« ^'*^' 14*
§BlxxiT. 44. !| IbidL f B.ZXV.X.
vulgar
PREFACE. XVll
vulgar rumours, those " deceptions of the eyes " and ears," which yet he has thought it his duty to record. And, in truth, it seems as if the people themselves, at least the more enhghtened of them, were equally inclined, if established custom would have allowed, to disregard them : " They grew weary," we are told, " not only *' of the thing itself, but of the religious rites en- " joined in consecpience ; for neither could the " senate be convened, nor the business of the " public be transacted, the consuls were so con- " stantly employed in sacrifices and expia- " tions*." And accordingly, with a view to diminish the reports of these miracles, and the troublesome ceremonies consequent thereupon, the consuls, by direction of the senate, published an edict, that when " on any day public worship " should be ordered, in consecjuence of the " report of an eartluiuake, no person should " report another earthquake on that day -fj* Indeed, how very little faith the senate really had in oiiiens, prodigies, and auspices, we may learn from a remarkable order made by them, upon receiving from a consul the report of un- favourable omens, in no less than three victims successively sacrificed ; " they ordered him," says the Historian, " to continue sacrificing the " larger victims, until the omens should prove " favourable.".|.
It may be asked, — If Livy, the senate, and very many, perhaps the greater number, of the people, disbelieved these omens and pro- digies, why relate them? He answers the ques-
* B. xxxiv. 55. t Ibid. % B. xli. 15.
VOL. I. a ' tion
XVIU PREFACE.
tion himself; " I am well aware," he says, " that, " through the same disregard to religion, which " has led men into the present prevailing opi- " nion, of die gods never giving portents of any " future events, no prodigies are now either " reportx^d to government, or recorded in histo- ** lies. But, lor my part, while I am writing " the transactions of ancient times, my scn- " timents, 1 know not how, become antique ; '* and I feel a kind of religious awe, which " compels me to consider that events, which " the men of those tin jcs, renowned for wisdom, "judged deserving of the attention of govern- " ment, and of public expiation, must certainly " be worthy of a place in my History*/' And, in truth, it must be allowed, that an account of the religious ceremonies, and the super- stitious observances, of difi'erent nations at dif- ferent periods, forms not the least curious chap- ter in the history of the human mind.
A still heavier charge hath been brought against our Author ; indeed, the heaviest that can be alleged against an historian ; namely, the violation of the first great law of history ; which is, not to dare to assert any thing false, and not to suppress any truth -f-. He who could not be warped by views of private interest, has yet been supposed, from an excess of zeal for the honour and glory of his country, in some instances to have gone beyond the truth, in others to have suppressed it.
It has been already mentioned how highly he was esteemed by Augustus, and that he had
* B. xUi. ij. t Cic. <Je Orat.
even
PREFACE. XiX
fven received no inconsidera})le marks of fa- vour from him. Yet he does not seem to have courted this esteem, or those favours, by any particular attention on his part; nor to have endeavoured to repay them, by the only return which authors can make, the loading llieir pa- trons with perhaps undeserved praises. Although, at the time when he wrote his History, Augustus was in compkite possession of the Roman em- pire, yet he names him but three times, and then but in a slight and cursory uianner ; not availing himself of the opportunity to heap adulation upon him, but sim})ly giving him . that praise to which he was untpiestionably en- / titled. On occasion of shutting the temple of ^ Janus, he takes the opportunity of mentioning, that it had been but twice shut since the reign of Numa; the first lime in the consulship of Titus Manlius, on the termination of the tirst Punic war, and that " the happiness of seeing " it shut again, the gods granted to our own " times, when, after the battle of Actium, the " Emperor, Ca?sar Augustus, established uni- • " versal peace on land and sea*." As Augustus Avas highly vain of this circumstance, had our Author's disposition led him to tiatier this mas- ter of the world, it would have alTorded him an excellent opportunity; as M'ould another* occasion, where, speaking of spoliu opima, de- posited by Cossus in one of the temples, he appeals to the testimony of Augustus Caesar, "whom he styles " the founder or restorer of all " our temples -j-. '' But above all, he might have
* B. i. 19. t B. iv. 30.
a 2 found
^
XX PREFACE.
found a niche for him, as well as others of his family, when he mentions the distinguished victory gained by Livius and Nero over llas- drubal *. He relates the affair itself in very splendid terms, and bestows the most exalted praises on the admirable conduct of those vic- torious generals. He who was thus rigidly tenacious, when private motives, friendship, or interest might have swayed him, is, neverthe- less, accused, from national vanity, of having written with partiality ; and of havmg some- times exaggerated, and sometimes concealed, the truth.
It must be acknowledged that, when the grandeur of the Roman empire presents itself to his mind, he is not always sufficiently re- served in the terms which he uses. Thus, speaking of Cincinnatus-f-, so early as the 296th year of Rome, he calls him " the sole hope of " the empire of Rome," at a time when we know that this thus pompously announced empire extended not more than twenty miles beyond the city. And again, not many years after :{:, he introduces Canuleius boasting of its " eter- nal duration and immense magnitude §/' When we find him applying such magnificent terms to the Roman state, then in its infancy, we must uppose him to have forgot the period of which he was writing, and to have had present to his mind the splendor and extent to which it had attained at the time when he himself lived and wrote. He even puts the same language into
* B. xxvH. 47, 48, 49. t B. iii. a6.
t Y.R.310. § B.iv.4.
the
"i
PREFACE. XXI
the mouths of foreigners, and of enemies : he makes Hannibal call Rome " the capital of the " world*," at a time when the Romans had not even the whole of Italy in subjection, and no possessions whatever out of Italy, except a part of Sicily and Sardinia. In the same vain- glorious boasting strain he tells us-f-, that the Romans " were never worsted by the enemy's " cavalry, never by their infantry, never in open " fight, never on equal ground." He seems litre not to have recollected, what he afterwards acknowledges^, that, in the first battle with Hannibal, " it manifestly appeared that the Car- " thaginian was superior in cavalry ; and, con- " sequently, that open plains, such as those be- " tween the Po and the Alps, were unfavourable " to the Romans." Although he thus asserts, in unquahfied terms, that the Romans were never worsted in the open field, yet he gives very just and candid accounts, not only of this battle with Hannibal, but ol' another also against the same commander, and of that of the Allia, against the Gauls, in every one of which the Romans were completely overthrown.
But these, it is probable, should rather be considered as inadvertencies than falsehoods; and, however inclined we may be to oveilook or excuse them, we shall not, perhaps, find it so easy to justify some other omissions, or changes, which he has made in his narrative, rtsp«.cting facts which, if fairly and fully related, would do no honour to his country ; or would lend, in
* B.ixi. 30. t B.ix. 19, t B.XJW.47.
a 3 some
XXU PRKFACR.
some dcgrrc, to lariiish llu; hislic ol tliosc cclc- bratod characters which he liolds up to our admiration.
Polybius is allowed to be an author of con- smiimale judgment, indetatigabh; industry, and strict veracity. Livy himseU' admits that he is entitled to entire credit. He takes extraordi- nary pains to investigate the causes of the second Punic war, and to determine which of the two nations had incurred the guilt of breach of treat3\ He discusses the matter at considerable length*; stating accurately, and carefully ex- amining, the facts and arguments urgx»d on both sides; and brings the matter to this issue, — that, if the war is to be considered as takmg its rise from the destruction of Sagunlum, the Car- thaginians were in the wrong ; but by no means so, if the matter be taken up somewhat higher, and the taking of Sardinia by the Konmns, and the imposing a tribute upon that island, be in- cluded in the account: for that, then, the Car- thaginians did no more than tiike occasion to avenge an injury done them.
Now, how stands the account of this affair, according to Liv}^-^? From this disquisition of Polybius, he carefully selects, and strongly states, every thing which tends to favour the cause of the Romans ; but passes over in silence every fact, and every argument, urged by the Greek historian in favour of the Carthaginians ; and thus he makes the worse appear the better cause.
* Lib. X. -f B. xxi. 19.
8 It
PREFACE. XXm
It has been urged in defence of Liry, that, in his twelfth book, he gave the account of the affair of Sardinia; and that, if that book had not been lost, it might from thence have appeared, that the conduct of the Romans in that transaction was perfectly justifiable; and that, consequently, what he has suppressed of Polybius's argument, he has omitted, not so much to favour the cause of his own countrymen, as because he knew the allegations therein to be false. It must, however, be observed, that Polybius was neither a Roman nor a Cartha- ginian; that he has always btx?n held to be au historian of the highest credit, and the strictest impartiality ; that he lived nearer the times he writes of than Livy, and was a most diligent inquirer into the truth of the facts which he relates in his history ; tliat he was by no means unfriendly to the Romans, but the contrary, taking all opportunities to speak of them with the highest praise.
It is not meant here to detract from the merit of Livy as an historian, by the mention of such particulars as these. It may be assumed as a maxim, that no historian of his own country can be, strictly speaking, impartial : he may intend to be so ; but the mind will be under an involuntary bias, influenced by some secret in- clination, of which he himself may be uncon- scious ; he may believe what he asserts, and yet it may not be true.
Another instance of his partiality to his countrymen may be found in his account of
a 4 the
XXIV PRLFACE.
the murder of Brachjllas*, who, lie tells us, was made Boeotarch, or chief magistrate of the Bcrolians, " for no other reason, than because " he had been commander of the Boeotians serv- " ing in the army of Philij) ; passing by Zeuxip- " pus, Pisistratus, and the others who Iiad pro- " nioted the alliance with Uome." That these men, offended at present, and alarmed about future consequences, resolved to take off Bra- chjllas, and accordingly procured six assassins, who put him to death. In these, and other circumstances, our Author perfectly agrees with Polybius, whose account of this whole affair he seems to have almost literally copied ; with the omission, however, out of tenderness for the character of Quintius, of a very material cir- cumstance ; which is, that the project of mur- dering Brachyllas was first opened in a con- ference between Zeuxis, Pisistratus, and Quin- tius, who told them, that he would not himself do any thing to promote it ; but that, if they were disposed to the execution of such a plan, he would do nothing to obstruct it: and he adds, that he directed theui to confer upon the matter with Alexamenes, the iEtolian, who was the person, he says, that procured the assassins. Another, and a very remarkable instance of partiality to the character of his countrymen, we have in his celebrated account of Scipio Africanus ; who seems, above all others men- tioned in his History, to have engaged his fondest, and, as he himself admits, his partial attention : for when he first introduces him, he
♦ B. xuciii. 27, 28.
does
PREFACE. XXV
does it in the most advantageous manner, as a youth who had scarcely attained to man- hood, rescuing his father, who was wounded in a battle with Hannibal. " This/' says lie*, is the same youth who is, hereafter, to enjoy the renown of terminating this war, and to receive the title of Africanus, on account of his glorious victory over Hannibal and the Carthaginians." He then, in a manner, avows his partiahty ; for he tells us, that Coehus attributes the honour of saving tlie Consul to a slave, by nation a Ligurian : " but 1 rather " wish the account to be true which gives it to " his son ; and so the fact is represented by " most authors, and generally beheved."
That Scipio was a most accomplished cha- racter, eminently distinguished by his military talents, valour, coolness, patience under diffi- culties, and moderation in victory, of most gentle manners, and a most generous temper, never has been, nor ever will be denied. But, if other writers knew the truth, and have spoken it, he was not that model of absolute perfec- tion which 'Livy paints him: and perhaps, had he been the cold and unimpassioned stoic, wliich he describes him to have been, he had deserved less praise than is undoubtedly due to him, when considered, as other authors repre- sent him, of a very diftVrent temperament.
That he generously restored a beautiful cap- tive to her parents, and to her intended spouse, Livy and Polybius are agreed ; but they differ ijoniewhat in the account of that affair. Poly-
* B. xxxi. 46.
bins
XXVI PREFACE.
bius tells us*, that a party of Roman youth, having taken captive a damsel of extjuisitc beauty, brought her to Scipio, wliom they knew to be much attache d to the sex ; and he makes Scipio say to them, that " a more acceptable gill " could not have been presented to him, were he " in a private station : but that, in his situation " of general, he could by no means accept of it/' Livy suppresses entirely the circumstance of his favourite's amorous disposition : and yet, what he represents him as saying to Allucius, bears so strong a resemblance to his answer, recorded by Polybius, though he gives it a different turn, to accommodate it to his purpose, that we can- not doubt his having had this passage in his eye: " If my thoughts were not totally employed by " the affairs of the public, and if 1 were at " liberty to indulge in the pleasurable pursuits " adapted to my time of life-f-," &c.
That Scipio, with all his perfections, was not that mirror of chastity which Livy is desirous of representing him, we learn, also, from an anecdote related by Valerius Maxim us:]:, who highly praises the amiable temper and patient forbearance of his wife iEmilia, " who,^' he tells us, " knew of his attachment to a female slave, " and yet concealed the fact, that there might " be no stain upon so illustrious a character/'
Such are the principal facts alleged to prove our Historian's neglect of veracity in his nar- ration : rigorous, and, it may be, invidious scrutiny, has noted some few more ; but they are of little importance : and, as it is not im-
* Lib. X. f B. xxxri. 50. J Lib. ti. 7.
pro-
PREFACE. XXVIl
probable, so it is not unfair to suppose, that the paucity of coteniporary historians may have induced those, who were also j^redisposed, to believe that to be false, which fuller infonnalion might perhaps have proved to be true. Why may we not believe that he had better oppor- tunities of knowing the truth than the Greek historian ? He admits Poly bins to be an author of credit, and yet be differs from him without scruple : he cannot, then, surely, be thought to mean more than that he was a writer of inte- grity, who compiled his history with fidelity, according to the best information he was able to obtain : that he did not wilfully falsify any fact, rather than that every fact he relates is strictly and absolutely true. He acknowledges him for his master, but does not conceive him- self bound to swear to his words.
Besides, it is but doing justice to our Author to observe, that if, in some few, and those not very material instances, he may have deviated from the truth, if he has done so, it is never with an ill-design : if he palliates a fault, or suppresses a fact, it is not so much for the pur- pose of lessening the reputation, or tarnishing the glory of others, wlu^ther nations or indivi- duals, as to aggrandize the character of his own nation. He allows himself in a practice which some of his countrymen have, since his time, carried to a much greater, as well as a more blameable extent, and which lias received the name of pious fraud.
But, whatever may be the case, whether our Author must lie under the reproach of soften- ing
XXVlll PREFACE.
ing facts in iiome instances, or even of sup- pressing them in others, yet will his genius and talents, as an historian, ever be respected. He cannot be denied the merit of having furnished us with a perfect model of historical composi- tion, in the purest and most elegant style ; more remarkable for perspicuity of narration, and neatness of expression, than ibr depth of reasoning, or pomp of diction. Although he seldom tligresses, and but rarely indulges in moral observations or philosophical retiections, yet he never loses sight of what he himself lays down in his Preface as the great, object of history : the furnishing " clear and distinct " examples of every line of conduct ; that we " may select for ourselves, and tor the state to " which we belong, such as are worthy of imi- " tation ; and carefully noting such, as, being " dishonourable in their principles, are equally " so in their cftects, learn to avoid them/*
All that the present writer feels it necessary to say, upon delivering to "the public a new Translation of so esteemed a work as Livy's History, is, that it has been the employment, and amusement, of many years, — a very labo- rious, but not unuseful, occupation: and that, if he be not deceived by self-love, and the partiality of a few friends, who have taken the trouble of looking into the work, it will be found not altogether unworthy of public ac- ceptance.
The
PREFACE. XXIX
The translator had intended -a much more copious commentary, than tliat which now accompanies this work ; and, in that view, he had prepared several dissertations upon the manners and customs of the Romans; their senate ; their laws ; their religious rites ; their arts of war, navigation, and commerce, &c. But he acknowledges, with much pleasure, that he has since found his labour, upon those subjects, rendered unnecessary by the publica- tion of Dr. Adam's Roman Antiquities: a work t[ ( so excellent in its kind, that whoever has the instruction of youth committed to his care, will do them injustice, if he omits to recom- mend it to their perusal. The notes, therefore, which are added, and which the Translator now thinks it his duty to make as few, and as short as possible, are such only as were deemed more immediately necessary to render some passages intelligible to the mere English reader.
It hath been an usual practice, in Prefaces to works of this kind, for the Authoi*s of them to load the labours of their predecessors with abuse : a practice, of which the present Trans- lator acknowledges he neither sees the necessity, nor the utility. For, should he succeed in dis- paraging the works of others in the humble walk of translation ; should he be able to prove them ever so wretchedly executed, it will by no means follow from thence, that his is better. That he thinks it so, is clear from his presuming to publish it. But, as the public has an un- doubted right to judge for itself, and will most assuredly exercise that right, the success of
* every
XXX PREFACE.
every work, of whatever kind, must ultimate ly depend upon its own merit.
To the pubhc judgment, therefore, he sub- mits liis labour; knowing that every endeavour of his, exeept that of rendering it worthy of acceptance, would be useless ; and that, in spite of his utmost exertions, his book will stand or fall by its own merit or demerit, whichever shall be found to preponderate. The ])ublic candour he has no reason to doubt; and he awaits its decision with tranquillity, but not without anxiety.
CON-
CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
Page
BOOK I. ..... I
BOOK II 107
BOOK III 216
BOOK IV. 339
BOOK V. 441
THE
HISTORY OF ROME.
BOOK I.
The arrival of ^neas in Italy , and his aicntevmnents there ; the reign of Afcanius in Alba^ and of the other Sylvian Kings^hisfuccejfors. Birth of Romulus and Remus . Ro' mulus builds Rome; forms the fenate-, divides the people into curias. His ivars. He offsets the fpolia opitna /* Jupiter Feretrius ; is deified. Numa Pompilius infiitutes the rites of religious ivorfbip; builds a temple to Janus ; rules in peace , and is fucceeded by Tutlus Ho/lilius. His •war with the Albans ; combat of the Horatii and Curiatii, The Albans removed to Rome. Tullus killed by lightning. Anciis^.JHartius conquers the Latines^ and incorporates them with the Romans; enlarges the city^ and the bounds of his dominitns, Lucumo arrives at Rome ; ajfumes the name of Tarquinius ; and^ on the death of Ancus, gains poffefjion of the throne ; defeats the Latines and Sabines; builds a <wall round the city^ and makes the common fewer s ; is flain by the fons of AncuSt and is fucceeded by Servius Tullius. He in- flitutes the cenfus ; divides the people into cLiffts and centuries ; extends the pomoerium; is murdered by Lucius Tarquinius t afterwards furnamed Superbus. He feizes the throne^ wages war ivith the Folfciansy and^ with their fpoils^ builds a temple to Jupiter in the Capitol; in confequence of his fon Sextus having forcibly violated the charity of Lucretia, he is dethroned and banifbed. Confuls elecfed.
PREFACE.
Vl/^HETHER, in tracing the feries of the Roman
Hiftory, from the foundation of the city, 1
Ihali employ m)t time to good purpofe, is a queftion
which I cannot pofitively determine; nor, were it
VOL. I. B pollible.
a THE HISTORY
P R E F. poffible, would I venture to pronounce fuch deter- mination ; for I am aware that the matter is of high antiquity, and has been already treated by many others ; the lateft writers always fuppofmg them- felves capable, either of throwing fome new light on the fubje^, or, by ihe fuperiority of their talents for comp)ofition, of excelling the more inelegant writers who preceded them. However that may be, I (hall, at all events, derive no fmall fatisfatlion from the refleftion that my beft endeavours have been exerted in tranfinittinc^ to poflerity the atchievc- ments of the greateft people in the world ; and if, amidfl fuch a multitude of writers, my name (hould not emerge from obfcurity, I fhall confole myfelf by attributing it to the eminent merit of thofe who ftand in my way in the purfuit of fame. It may be farther obferved, that fuch a fubjeft mufl: require a work of immenfe extent, as our refearches mufl be carried back through a fpace of more than feven hundred years; that the (late has, from very fmall beginnings, gradually inci-eafed to fuch a magnitude, that it is now diftrelled by its own bulk ; and that there is every reafon to apprehend that the generality' of readers will receive but little pleafure from the accounts of its firft origin, or of the times imme- diately fucceeding, but will be impatient to arrive at that period, in which the powers of this overgrown ftate have been long employed in working their own deftrudlion. On the other hand, this much will be derived from my labour, that, fo long at leafl as I (hall have my thoughts totally occupied in. inveftigating the tranfatlions of fuch didant ages, without being einbarraffed by any of thofe unpleaf- ing confiderations, in refpedt of later days, which, though they might not have power to warp a writer's mind from the truth, would yet be fuflBcient to create uneafmels, I (hall withdraw myfelf from the fight of the many evils to which our eyes have been fo long accuftomed. As to the relations which have beei:i
handed
OF ROME. 2
handed down of events prior to the founding of the p R E F. city, or to the circumftances that gave occafion to its being founded, and which bear the femblance rather of poetic fictions, than of authentic records of hiftory — thefe, I hav6 no intention either to maintain or refute. Antiquity is always indulged with the privilege of rendering the origin of cities more venerable, by intermixing divine with human agency : and if any nation may claim the privilege of being allowed to confider its original a-? facred, and to attribute it to the operations of the Gods, furely the Roman people, who rank fo high in military fame, may well exoedt, that, while they choofe to reprefent Mars as their own parent, and that of their founder, the other nations of the world may acquiefce in this, with the fame deference with which they acknowledge their fovereignty. But what degree of attention or credit may be given to thefe and fuch-like matters 1 ihall not confider as very material. To the following confiderations, I wiih every one ferioufly and earnelUy to attend ; by what kind of men, and by what fort of condud, in peace and war, the empire has been both acquired and extended : then, as difcipline gradually declined, let him follow in his thoughts the llrudlure of ancient morals, at firft , as it were, leaning afide, then linking farther and farther, then beginning to fall precipitate, until he arrives at the prefent times, when our vices have attained to fuch a height of enormity, that we can no longer endure either the burden of them, or the (harpnefs of the necefl'ary remedies. This is the great advantage to be derived from the lludy of hiltory ; indeed the only one which can make it anfwer any profitable and falutary purpofe : for, being abundantly fur- nifhed with clear and diftinft examples of every kind of conduct, we may feledt for ourfelves, and for the flate to which we belong, fuch as are worthy of imitation ; and, carefully noting fuch, as, being
B 2 diflionourable
THE HISTORY
diftionourable in iheir principles, are equally fo in their effeds, learn to avoid them. Now, either partiality to the fubjedt of my intended work mif- leads me, or there never was any (late either greater, or of purer morals, or richer in good examples, than this of Rome; nor was there ever any city into which avarice and luxury made their entrance fo late, or where poverty and frugality were fo highly and fo long held in honour ; men contracting their defires in proportion to the narrownefs of their circumftances. Of late years, indeed, opulence has introduced a greedinefs for gain, and the boundlefs variety ol diffolute pleafures has created, in many, a palTion for ruining themfelves, and all around them. But let us, in the firfl: ftage at leall of this undertaking, avoid gloomy refledions, which, when perhaps unavoidable, will not, even then, be agreeable. If it were cuf- tomary with us, as it is with poets, we would more willingly begin with good omens, and vows, and prayers to the gods and goddeffes, that they would propitioufly grant fuccefs to our endeavours, in the profecution of fo arduous a talk.
I. It has been handed down to us, as a certain faft, that the Greeks, when they had taken Troy, treated the Trojans with the utmofl feverity ; with the exception, however, of two of them, iEneas and Antenor, towards whom they exercifed none of the rights of conqueft. This lenity they owed, partly, to an old connection of hofpitality, and, partly, to their having been, all along, inclined to peace, and to the reftoration of Helen. Thefe chiefs experi- enced afterwards great varieties of fortune. Antenor, being joined by a multitude of the Henetians, who had been driven out of Paphlagonia in a civil war, and having loft their King Pylaemenes at Troy, were at a iofs both for a fettlement and a leader, came to the innermoft bay of the Adriatic fea, and expelling the
Euganeans,
OF ROME. 5
Euganeans, who then inhabited the traft between BOOK the Alps and the fea, fettled the Trojans and Hene- I. tians in the poflefTion of the country. The place where they firfl: landed is called Troy, and from thence the Trojan canton alfo has its name ; the nation in general were called Henetians. ^neas, driven from home by the fame calamity, but con- ducted by the fates to an eflabliftiment of more im- portance, came firfl to Macedonia ; thence, in fearch of a fettlement, he failed to Sicily, and from Sicily proceeded with his fleet to the country of the Lau- rentians *. Here alfo, to the fpot where they landed, was given the name of Troy. Here the Trojans dif- embarked ; and as, after wandering about for a great length of time, they had nothing left, befide their fhips and arms, they began to make prey of whatever they found in the country. On this King Latinus, and the Aborigines, who were then in pof- fefTion of thofe lands, afl'embled hailily from the city and country, in order to repel the violence of the flrangers. Of what followed, there are two dif- ferent accounts. Some writers fay, that Latinus, being overcome in battle, contracted an alliance, and afterwards an affinity, with ^neas; others, that, when the armies were drawn up in order of battle, before the fignal was given, Latinus, advancing in the front, invited the leader of the flrangers to a con- ference ; then inquired who they were, whence they came, what had induced them to leave their home, and with what defign they had landed on the Lau- rentian coafl ; and' that, when he was informed that the leader was JEneas, the fon of Anchifes by Venus, and his followers Trojans ; that they had mside their efcape from the flames of their native city and of their houfes, and were in fearch of a fettlement, and a place where they might build a town ; being flruck with admiration of that renowned people and their
* The Trojans were in number about fix hundred.
B 3 chief.
6 THE HISTORY
B 0 0 K chief, and of their fpirit, prepared alike for war or peace, he gave him his right hand, and by that pledge affiired him of his future friendfliip. A league was then ftruck between the leaders, and mutual falutarions pafTed between the armies. La- tinus entertained iEneas in his palace, and there, in the preience of his houfehold gods, added a domeftic alliance to their public one, giving him his (^ ' ' r in marriage. 1 liis event fully confirmed tl, , ■ -s of the Trojans, that here, at laft, they were to find an end of their wanderings ; that here they would enjoy a fixed and permanent fettlement. They built a town, which iEneas called Lavinium, from the name of his wife. In a fhort time after, his liew confort bore him a fon, who was named by his parents Afcanius.
II. The Aborigines, in conjun^ion with the Tro- jans, foon found themfelves engaged in a war. Tur- nus, King of the Rutulians, to whom Lavinia had been affianced before the arrival of ^neas, enraged at feeing a Ifranger preferred to him, declared war againft both iEneas and Latinus. A battle that €nfued gave neither army reafon to rejoice. The Rutulians were defeated, and the vidorious Abori- gines and Trojans loft their leader Latinus. Where- upon Turnus and the Rutulians, diffident of their ftrength, had recourfe to the flourifhing ftate of the Etrurians, and their King Mezentius, who held his court at Caere, at that time an opulent city. He had been, from the beginning, not at all pleafed at the foundation of the new city ; and now began to think that the Trojan power was increafmg to a degree inconfiftent with the fafety of the neighbouring ftates ; and therefore, without reluctance, concluded an alli- ance, and joined his forces with thofe of the Rutu- lians. ^neas, with the view of conciliating the affeftion of the Aborigines, that he might be the better able to oppofe fuch formidable enemies, gave
to
OF ROME. J
to both the nations under his rule the name of BOOK Latines, that all ftiould not only be governed by I- the fame laws, but have one common name. From thenceforth the Aborigines yielded not to the Trojans in zeal and fidelity towards their King ^Eneas. This difpofition of the two nations, who coalefced daily with greater cordiality, infpired him with fo muCh confidence, that, notwithftanding Etruria was pof- fefled of luch great power, that it had filled with the fame of its prowefs not only the land, but the fea alfo, through the whole length of Italy, from the Alps to I he Sicilian Streight ; and although he might have remained within his fortifications, fecure from any attack of the enemy, yet he led out his troops to the field. The battle that followed was, with refped to the Latines, their fecond, with r^peft to ^neas, the lall of his mortal ads. He, by what- ever appellation the laws of gods and men reqoire him to be called, is depofited on the bank of the river Numicus. The people gave him the title of Jupiter Indiges.*
III. His fon Afcanius was as yet too young to affume the government ; neverthelefs his title to the fovereignty remained unimpeached, until he arrived at maturity. During this interval, and under the re* gency of Lavinia, a woman of great capacity, the Latine ftate, and the united fubjeds of the prince's father and grandfather, continued firm in their allegiance. I am not without fome doubts (for who can affirm with certainty in a matter of fuch antiquity ?) whether this was the fame Afcanius men- tioned above, or one older than him, born of Creufa, wife to -^neas, before the deftrudion of Troy, and who accompanied his father in his flight from thence ; whom, being alfo called lulus, the Julian family
* Indices is the term applied to deiiici heroes, otherwife called gods terreftriaL
B 4 ^ claim
8 THE HISTORY
BOOK claim as the founder of their name. This Afcanius, I- wherefoever, and of whatfoever mother born, cer- tainly the fon of iEneas, finding the number of in- habitants in Lavinium too great, left that city, 'then in a flourifiiing and opulent ftate, confidermg the circumftances of tliofe times, to his mother, or ficp- mother, and built a new one on the Aiban mount, which, from its fituation being ftret ' ' long the hill, was called Alba Longa *. \> i the
building of Lavinium, and the tranfplanting the colony to Alba Longa, the interval was only about thirty years ; yet fo rapidly had this people increafed in power, efpecially after the defeat of the Etrurians, that, not even on the death of ^neas, nor afterwards, during the regency of a woman, and the firft: effays of a youthful reign, did either Mezentius and the Etrurians, or any other of the bordering nations, dare to attempt hoftilities againfl: them. A peact was agreed upon, in which it was ftipulated that the river Albula, now called the Tiber, fhould be th( boundary between the Etrurians and Latines. Afca- nius*s fon, called Sylvius, from his having by fomc accident been born in the woods, fucceeded him in the kingdom. He begat iEneas Sylvius, who after- wards begat Latinus Sylvius. This prince planted feveral colonies, who have obtained the name of Ancient Latines. The furname of Sylvius was henceforward given to all thofe who reigned at Alba. Of Latinus was born Alba ; of Alba, Atys ; of Atys, Capys ; of Capys, Capetus ; of Capetus, Tiberinus ; who, being drowned in endeavouring to crofs the river Albula, gave to that river the name fo cele- brated among his poilerity. Agrippa, fon of Tibe- rinus, reigned next ; after Agrippa, Romulus. Syl- vius received the kingdom from his father, and being ftruck by lightning, demifed it to Aventinus,
• It was called Alba, from a white fow with a litter of thirty young ohes, found there by iEneas.
who,
OF ROME.
9
who, being buried on that hill which is now a part BOOK of the city of Rome, gave it his name. To him ^' fucceeded Procas, who had two fons, Numitor and Amulius. To Numitor, as being the firli-born, he bequeathed the ancient kingdom of the Sylvian family ; but force prevailed over both the will of their father, and the refped: due to priority of birth. Amulius dethroned his brother, took pofTeffion of the kingdom, and adding crime to crime, put to death the male offspring of Numitor, making his daughter Rhea Sylvia a veftal, under the fpecious pretence of doing her honour, but, in fact, to de- prive her of all hope of iffue, the veftals being obliged to vow perpetual virginity.*
IV. But the fates, I fuppofe, demanded the founding of this great city, and the firft eflablifh- ment of an empire, which is now, in f)ower, next to the immortal gods. The veltul being deflowered by force, brought forth twins, and declared that the father of her doubtful offspring was Mars; cither becaufe (he really thought fo, or in hopes of extenuating the guilt of her tranfgreflion by im- puting it to the ad of a deity. But neither gods nor men fcreened her or her children from the King's cruelty : the prieltefs was loaded with chains, and caft into prifon, and the children were ordered to be thrown into the ftream of the river. It happened providentially that the Tiber, overflowing its banks, formed itfelf into llagnant pools in fuch a man- ner, as that the regular channel was every where inacceflible, and thofe who carried the infants fuppofed that they would be drowned in any water, however ilill. \Vherefore, as if thereby fulhlling the King's order, they expofed the boys in the nearelt pool, where now (lands the Ruminal iig-tree, which,
* For an account pf the veftal virgins, fee Dr. Adam's Roman Antiquities, p. 3 14.
it
lo THE HISTORY
BOOK it is faid, was formerly called Romular. Thofe ^- places where at that time wild dcfarts. A flory pre- vails that the retiring flood having left on dry ground the trough, hitherto floating, in which they had been expofed, a thirfly fhe-wolf from the n ' ur- ing mountains dirc(^ted her courfe to the ci : the children, and, (looping, prefented her dugs to the infants, (hewing fo much gentlcnefs, that tlic keeper of the King*s herds found her licking the boys with her tongue ; and that this fliepherd, whofe name was Faudulus, carried them home to his wife Lau- rentia to be nurfed. Some there are who think that this Laurentia, from her having been a proflitute, was, by the fliepherds, called Lupa ; and to tl ' circumftance they afcribc the origin of this fabuloi tale. Thus born, and thus educated, as foon as years fupplied them with flrength, they led not an inaftive hfe at the ftaoles, or among the cattle,/ but traverfed the neighbouring forefls in hunting. Hence acquiring vigour, both of body and mind, they foon began not only lo withftand the wild beads, but to attack robbers loaded with booty. The fpoil thus acquired they divided with the fliepherds ; and, in company with thefe, the number of their young aflTociates continually increafmg, they carried on both their bufmefs, and their fports.
V. It is faid that, even at that early period, the fports of the Lupercal*, which we ftill celebrate, were pradifed on the Palatine hill, and that this was called Palatium, from Pallanteum, a city of Arca- dia, and afterwards the Palatine hill ; and that Evander, who was of that tribe of Arcadians, and had been many years before in poflTefllon of this part of the country, had inftituted there this folemnity brought from Arcadia, in which young men were to run about naked, in fport and wantonnefs, in
* See Adam, p. 3 12.
honour
OF ROME. tt
honour of Lycean Pan, whom the Romans after- BOOK
wards called Inuus, While they were intent on the ^ ^•
performance of thefe fports, the time of their cele- bration being generally known, the robbers, enraged at the lofs of their booty, attacked them by furprife, having placed themfelves in ambufh. Romulus making u vigorous defence, extricated himfelf ; but they took Remus prifoner, delivered him up to King Am alius, and had the aifurance to accufe them both of criminal milbehaviour. The principal charge made againfl them was, that they had made violent inroads on the lands of Numitor, and, with a band of youths which they had colleded, plundered ^ the country in a hoftile manner. In confequence of y'^^ this, Remus was given up to Numitor to be punifhed. From the very beginning, Fauftulus had entertained hopes, that the children, whom he educated, would prove to be defcended of the royal blood ; for he knew that the infants of Rhea had betn expofed by order of the King, and that the time, when he had taken them up, correfponded exactly with that event ; but he had refolved to avoid any halty dilclofure, unlefs fome favourable c(mjundure or neceflitv fhould require it. The neceflity happened firll ; wherefore, conftrained by his apprehenfions, he imparted the affair to Romulus. It happened arffo that Numitor, ^, while he had Remus in his cuftody, heard that the brothers were twins ; and when he combined with this circumltance their age, and rheir turn of mind, which gave no indication of a fervile condition, he was ilruck with the idea of 'their being his grand- children ; and, all his enquiries leading to the fame conclufion, he w as upon the point of acknowledging Remus. In confequence, a plot againft the King was concerted between all the parties. Romulus, not going at the head of a band of youths, for he was unequal to an open attempt, but ordering the (hepherds to come at a certain hour, by diftierent roads, to the palace, forced his way to the King,
and
12 THE HISTORY
BOOK and was fupported by Remus, with another party, ^•_ procured from the houfe of Numitor. Thus they put the King to death.
VI. In the beginning of the tumuh, Numitor, calling out that the city was aflaulted by an enemy, and the palace attacked, had drawn away the Alban youth to the citadel, on pretence of fecuring it by » armed garrifon ; and, in a little time, feeing ti^ young men, after perpetrating the murder, conrnng towards him, with expreflions of joy, he inftantly called the people . to an aflembly, laid before ih«m the iniquitous behaviour of his brother towards him- felf; the birth of his grandchildren, how they were begotten, how educated, how difcovered ; then in- formed them of the death of the ufurper, and that he had himfelf encouraged the defign. The youths at the fame time advancing with their followers, through the midft of the aflembly, faluted their grandfather as King ; on which the multitude, tefti- tying ihcir aflcnt by univerfal acclamations, ratified . to him the royal title and authority. When Numitor was thus reinflated in the fovereignty at Alba, Ro- mulus and Remus were feized with a defire of building a city in the place where they had been ex- pofed and educat«d,0^heie were great numbers of Albans and Latines, who could be fpared for the purpofe, and thefe were joined by a multitude of ftiepherds; fo that, all together, they formed fuch a numerous body, as gave grounds to hope that Alba and Lavinium would be but fmall, in compa- rifon with the city which they were about to found. Thefe views were interrupted by an evil, hereditary in their family, ambition for rule. Hence arofe a ihameful conteft ; though they had in the beginning refted their difpute on this amicable footing, that, as they were twins, and confequently, no title to prece- dence could be derived from priority of birth, the gods, who were guardians of the place, (hould choofe 4 by
OF ROME. 13
by auguries *, which of the two (hould give a name BOOK to the new city, and enjoy the government of it J- when built. Romulus chofe the Palatine, Remus the Aventine mount, as their confecrated ftands to wait the auguries. We are told that the firft omen appeared to Remus, confifting of fix vultures ; and that, after this had been proclaimed, twice that number fhewed themfelves to Romulus ; on which each was faluted King by his own followers ; the former claiming the kingdom, on the grc^und of the priority of time ; the latter, on that of the number of the birds. On their meeting, an altercation en- fued, then blows ; and their paflions being' inflamed by the difpute, the affair proceeded at lalt to extre- mity, and murder was the confequence. Remus fell by a blow received in the tumult. There is another account more generally received, that Remus, in derifion of his brother, leaped over the new wall, and that Romulus, enraged thereat, flew him, utter- ing at the fame time this imprecation, " So perifli •* every one that fliall hereafter leap over my " wall." By thefe means Romulus came into the year fole pofleflion of the government, and the city, BtFoai when built, was called after the name of its founder.— '^"*"'^ The firft buildings, which he raifed, were on the Palatine hill, where he himfclf had been brought up. To the other deities he performed worlhip, according to the mode of the Albans, but to Her- cules, according to that of the Greeks, as inftituted by Evander.
VII. It is recorded that Hercules, after having flain Geryon, drove away his cattle, which were fur- prifmgly beautiful ; and that, being fatigued with travelling, he lay down, near the river 1 iber, in a graflTy place, to which he had fwum over, driving the herd before him, in order to refrefh the cattle
* For an account of augurs, aufpices, &c. fee Adam, p. 296.
with
THE HISTORY
with reft and the rich pa(ture. There, having in- dulged himfelf in meat and wine, he was overpowereii by fleep ; whereupon a fhepherd, who dwelt in tbi neighbourhood, named Cacus, of great ftrength smI fiercenefs, being ft ruck with the beauty of the cattle, wiftied to make prey of fome of them ; but confider- ing, that if he fhould drive the herd before him into his cave, their tracks would direft the owner's fearch, he dragged the cattle backward by the tails into the cave, picking out thofe that were the moft remark- able for their beauty. Hercules awaking at the dawn of day, took a view of his herd, and mifling fome of the number, went diredly to the next cave, to examine whether the footfteps led thither ; but when he obferved that they all pointed outward, and yet did not dired to any other quarter, perplexed, and not knowing how to act, he began to drive for- ward his herd from that unlucky place. Some of the cows, as they were driven off, miffing thofe that were left behind, began, as was natural, to low after them, and the found being returned from the cave, by thofe that were fhut up in it, brought Hercules back. Cacus, endeavouring by force to prevent his approach to the cave, and invoking in vain the affiftance of the fhepherds, received a blow of his club, which put an end to his life. At that time, Evander, a native of Peloponncfus, who had re- moved hither, governed that part of the country, rather through an influence acquired by his merit, than any power of fovereignty vefted in him. He was highly revered on account of his having intro- duced the wonderful knowledge of letters, a matter quite new to thefe men, who were ignorant of all the arts ; and ftill more fo, on account of the fup- pofed divinity of his mother Carmenta, whofe pro- phetic powers had been an objeft of admiration to thofe nations, before the arrival of the Sibyl in Italy. Evander then, being alarmed by the concourfe of the fhepherds, haflened to the fpot, where they were
afferabled
OF ROME. 15
affembied in a tumultuous manner about the ft ranger, BOOK whom they accufed as undeniably guilty of murder ; ^-^ and when he was informed of the fad, and of the caufe of it, obferving the perfon and mien of the hero, filled with more dignity and majefty than be- longed to a human being, he inquired who he was ; and being told his name, that of his father and his country, he addrefled him in thefe words; " Hiil, " Hercules, fon of Jove! my mother, the infallible " interpreter of the gods, foretold to me that you " were deftined to increafe the number of the ce- ** lelUals, and that an altar would be dedicated to •' you in this place, which a nation, hereafter the ** moll powerful in the world, Ihould diftinguifh by ♦* the name of TheGreated*, and would offer thereon *• facrifices to your honour/* Hercules, giving his right hand, replied, that, " he embraced the omen, " and would fulfil the decree of the fates, by build- ** ing and dedicating an altar in the place." There, then, for the firft time, was performed a facrifice to Hercules, of a chofen heifer taken out of the herd; and the Potitii and Pinarii, the mod diftinguilhed families in the neighbourhood at the time, wer vited to aflift in the ceremonies, and (hare the c:.:.. tainment. It happened that the Potitii attended in time, and the entrails were ferved up to t! the Pinarii, arriving after the entrails were c-., ., came in for the reft of the feaft ; hence it con- tinued a rule, as long as the Pinarian family ex- ifted, that they ftiould not eat of the entrails. The Potitii, inftruded by Evander, were directors of that folemnity for many ages, until the foletnn office of the family was delegated to public fervants, on which the whole race of the Potitii became extind. Thefe were the only foreign rites that Romulus then adopted, ftiewing thtreby, from the beginning,
* Am Maxima : it flood in ikt cattle market, where it re- Buined in the time of Augullus.
a re-
i6 THE HISTORY
BOOK a refpe£l for immortality obtained by merit, a dignit I- to which his own deftiny was conducing him.
VIII. After paying due worfhip to the gods, h( fummoned the multitude to an alTembiy ; and, know ing that they could never be brought to incorporati as one people, by any other means, than by havinj their condud direded by certain rules, he gave then a body of laws* ; and judging, that if he added t( the dignity of his own carriage, by afluming th( enfigns of fovereignty, it would help to procun refpecl to thofe laws, among a rude uninformec people, he adopted a more majeflic flyle of appear ance, both with regard to his other appointments and particularly in being attended by twelve Liftors Some think that he was led to fix on this numbe; by that of the birds in the augury which had por tended the kingdom to him : I am rather inclined t( be of tlieir opinion, who fuppofe that all the officer attendant on magi ft rates, and among the reft, -th( lidors, as well as the number of them, were bor rowed from their neighbours, the Etrurians, fron whom the curule chair, and the gown edged witl purple, were taken ; and that the Etrurians ufe( that number, becaufe their King being eleded b] the fufFrages of twelve ft:ates, each ftate gave hin one li6lor. Meanwhile the city increafed in build ings, which were carried on to an extent propor tioned rather to the number of inhabitants the] hoped for in future, than to what they had at th( timet. But that its fize might not increafe beyonc its ftrength, in order to augment his numbers, h< had recourfe to a practice common among founder of cities, who ufed to feign that the multitude o mean and obfcure people, thus collected, had fpranj
* Without doubt, he framed the government, and the lawi nearly on the model of thofe eftablifhed at Alba.
^ About 3000 foot, and 300 horfemen.
OU
OF ROME.
«7
out of the earth. He opened a fanduary, in the BOOK place where the inclofure now is, on the road I. down from the Capitol, called The Pafs of the Two Groves. Hither fled, from the neighbouring dates, crowds of all forts, without diftin^lion, whether freemen or flaves, led by a fondnefs for novelty ; and this it was that gave folidity to the growing greatnefs of the city. Having reafon now to b^ pretty well fatisfied with his Itrength, he next made provifion that this ftrength (hould be regulated by wifdom j and for that purpofe, he created an hundred fenators *, either becaufe that number was fufficient, or becaufe there were no more than an hundred citizens who could prove their defcent from refpedable families. They were certainly (lyled Fathers from their honourable office, and their defcendants Patricians.
IX. The Roman (late had now attained fuch a degree of power, that it v as a match in arms for any of the neighbouring ni dons ; but, from the fmall number of its women, its greatnefs was not likely to laft longer than one age of man, as they had neither hopes of offspring among themfelves, nor had yet contra6led any intermarriages with their neighbours. Romulus, therefore, by advice of the fenate, fent ambaffadors round to all the adjoining ftates, folidting their alliance, and permifllon for his new fubjeds to marry among them : he intimated to them, that " cities, hke every thing elfe, rife from " low beginnings ; that, in time, thofe which are " fupported by their own merit, and the favour of " the gods, procure to themfelves great power, and " a great name ; and that he had full affurance both ** that the gods favoured the founding of Rome,
* This expreflion muft be underftood in a qualified fenfe, in the fame manner as when a magiftrate, prefiding at an election, is faid to eleft fuch and fuch perfons. Romulus nominated one fenator ; each tribe, and each curia, chofe three ; and thus the number was made up.
VOL. I. c " and
THE HISTORY
and that the people would not be deficient in merit. Wherefore, as men, they ought to fhew <* no reludaiice to mix their blood and race with ** men." hi no one place were his ambafladors favourably heard ; fuch contempt of them did people entertain, and, at the fame time, fuch apprehenfions of danger to themfelves and their pofterity, from fo great a power growing up in the midll of ihem. By the greater part, they were difmiffed with the queftion, " whether they had opened an afylum for " women alfo, for that would be the only way to " procure fuitable matches for them ?" , This was highly refented by the Roman youth, infomuch that the bufmefs appeared evidently to point towards violence. ^ Romulus, in order to afford them a con- venient time and place for a defign of that fort, diffembling his difpleafure, prepared, with that intent, to celebrate folemn games in honour of the equeftrian Neptune *, to which he gave the name of Confualia. He then ordered the intended celebra- tion to be proclaimed among the neighbouring na- tions, while his people exerted themfelves in making the mofl magnificent preparations that their know- ledge and abilities allowed, in order to engage atten- tion and raife expectation. Great numbers of people affembled, induced, in fome meafure, by a defire of feeing the new city, efpecially thofe whofe countries lay nearefl, the Casnmenfians, Cruftuminians, and Antemnatians, efpecially the whole multitude of the Sabines came with their wives and children. They were hofpitably invited to the different houfes ; and when they viewed the fituation, and the fortifications,
* So called, from his having produced the firft horfe from the earth by a ftroke of his trident. Romulus called him Confus, the god of counfel, as having fuggefted the fcheme of feizing the women. The games, which he called Confualia, were after- wards termed the Roman, or the great games : they lafted, at firft, one day, then two, three, and, at length, nine days,
and
OF ROME. 19
and the city crowded with houfes, they were BOOK aftoni{hed at the rapid increafe of the Roman power. J- When the (hew began, and every perfon's thoughts "' and eyes were attentively engaged on it, then, accord- year of ing to the preconcerted plan, on a fignal being given, ^"p'* J* the Roman youth ran different ways to carry off the '^^ ' young women. Some they bore away, as they happened to meet with them, without waiting to make a choice ; but others of extraordinary beauty, being defigned for the principal fenators, were conveyed to their houfes by plebeians employed for that purpofe. It is faid, that one highly diftinguifhed above the reft for her beauty, was carried off by the party of one Talaffius; and that in anfwer to many who eagerly inquired to whom they were hutrying her, they, every now and then, to prevent any interruption in their courfe, cried out, that they were carrying her to Talaffms : this circumftance gave rife to the ufe of that word at weddings. The terror occafioned by this outrage put an end to the fports, and the parents of the young women redred full of grief, inveigh- ing againfl fuch a violation of the laws of hofpitality, and appealing to the god, to whofe folemn feftival and games they had come, relying on the refped due to religion, and on the faith of nations. Nor did the women who were ieized entertain better hopes with regard to themfelves, or a lefs degree of indignation : however Romulus went about in per- fon, and told them, that " this proceeding had been " occafioned by the haughtinefs of their parents, " who refufed to allow their neighbours to marry " among them ; that, notwithftanding this, they " (hould be united to his people in wedlock in the *' common enjoyment of all property, and of their '* common children ; a bond of union than which " the human heart feels none more endearing. " He begged of them to foften their refentment, " and to beftow their affections on thofe men on " whom chance had beftowed their perfons. It often
c 2 " hap-
20 THE HISTORY
BOOK " happened, he faid, that to hurfli treatment mutual " regard had fucceeded, and they would hnd their " hufbands behave the better on this very account ; " that every one would exert himfelt, not merely " in performing his duty as a hulband, but to ** make up to them for the lofs of their parents ** and of their country." To thefe perfuafions was added, the foothing behaviour of their hufbands themfelves, who urged, in extenuation of the violence they had been tempted to commit, the excefs of paflion, and the force of love : arguments, than which there can be none more powerful to afluage the irritation of the female mind.
X. The women, who had been forcibly carried off, foon became reconciled to their fituation ; but their parents, ftill more than at firft, endeavoured to roufe their feveral dates to revenge, employing both complaints and tears, and wearing the drefs of mourners. Nor did they confine their demands of vengeance within the limits of their own dates, but made joint applications from all quarters to Titus Tatius, King of the Sabines, the embaffies being addrefled to him as the perfon of the higheft renown in all thofe parts. The people who were the prin- cipal fufferers by the outrage, were the Caeninen- lians, the Cruftuminians, and the Antemnatians. To them, the proceedings of Tatius and the Sabine nation appeared too dilatory ; wherefore thefe three dates, uniting in a confederacy, prepared for imme- diate war. Nor did even the Cruftuminians and Antemnatians exert aftivity enough for the impa- tient rage of the Cseninenfians. This date, therefore, alone, made an irruption into the Roman terri- tories ; but while they carried on their ravages in a diforderly manner, Romulus met them, and, with- out much difficulty, taught them that rage without drength avails but little. He routed and difperfed their army ; purfued it in its flight ; flew their King
in
OF ROME. 5
in the battle, and feized his fpolls ; after which he B O O made himfelf mafler of their city at the firft aflauh. ^• From thence he led home his victorious troops ; and '^~" being not only capable of performing fplendid ac- tions, but alfo fond of difplaying thofe adions to advantage, he marched up in proceflion to the Ca- pitol, carrying on a frame, properly conftrudted for the purpofe, the fpoils of the enemy's general whom he had flain ; and there laying them down under an oak, which the fhepherds accounted facred, he, at the fame time, while he offered this prefent, marked out with his eye the bounds of a temple for Jupiter, to whom he gave a new name, faying, '* Jupiter " Feretrius *, in acknowledgment of the vidory " which I have obtained, I, Romulus the King, offer " to thee thefe royal arms, and dedicate a tem- " pie to thee on that fpot which I have now mea- '* fured out in my mind, to be a repofitory for thofe " grand fpoils, which, after my example, generals " in future times fliall offer, on flaying the Kings " and generals of their enemies." This was the origin of that temple which was the firft confe- crated in Rome. Accordingly, it pleafed the gods fo to order, that neither the predidion of the founder of the temple, intimating that future gene- rals fhould carry fpoils thiiher, ihould prove erro- neous, nor that the honour of making fuch offerings Ihould be rendered common, by being imparted to many. In after-times, during fo many years, and fo many wars, there have been only two inflances of the grand fpoils being obtained ; fo rare was the attainment of that high honour.
* So called, from the feretrum, or frame, fupporting the fpoils. The fecond fpoRa ottmat or grand fpoiU, were offered by Cornelius Coffus, who killed Tolumnius, King of the Veien- tians ; and the third by Claudius Marcellus, who killed Virido- marus, a King of the Gauls. The fpoils, called ^o//<j opima, or grand, or chief, fpoils, were fo denominated when they were taken from a King or general-in chief, commanding an army*
c 3 XI. While
THE HISTORY
XI. While the Romans were thus employed, the army of the Antcninarians, taking advantage of the opportunity which the country being left without troops afforded them, made an hoftile incurfion into the Roman territories ; but a Ro- man legion*, haftily led our, furprilcd them, while they draggled through the country. 'I'hey were routed therefore at the firft onfet, and their town was taken. While Romulus exulted in this fecond viftory, his confort, Herfilia, teafed by the intrea- ties of the captured women, earneftly petitioned him that he would fhew favour to their parents, and admit them into the number of his citizens, a meafure which could not fail of forming an union fatisfadory to all parties. This requeft was eafily obtained. He then marched againft the Cruftumi- nians, who were carrying on hoflilities : with thefe he had (till lefs trouble than with the Antem- natians, becaufe they had been difpirited by the defeats of their allies. Colonies were fent to both countries, but greater numbers were found willing to give in their names for Cruftuminum, on account of the fertility of the foil. There were frequent migrations alfo from thofe places to Rome, chiefly of the parents y. R. 5. and relations of the ravifhed women. The laft war, B.C. 747. on this occafion, was begun by the Sabines ; and it was by far the mod formidable, for none of their operations were directed by rage or paffion, nor did they difclofe their intentions until they began to aft. They employed flratagem, too, in aid of prudence. The Roman citadel was commanded by Spurius Tarpeius. His maiden daughter, who had acci- dentally gone without the fortifications to bring water for the facred rites, was bribed by Tatius with gold
* So called from legerc to choofe, to feieft. The legion confifted, at this time, of 3,000 foot and 300 horfe. The num- ber afterwards was generally 4,000 foot and 300 horfe ; and • fomctimes augmented to 6,000 foot and 400 horfe. It was divided into lo cohorts, 30 companies, and 60 centuries.
to
OF ROME.
2J
to admit fome of his troops into the citadel. As BOOK
foon as they gained admittance they put her to (J^th, ^ ^^
by throwing their armour in a heap upon her, either becaufe they wiflied that the citadel ftiould rather appear to have been taken by ftorm, or for the fake of eftabUfliing a precedent that faith was not to be kept with a traitor. The ftory is told in another manner ; that, as the Sabines generally carried on their left arms bracelets of great weight, and wore rings fet with precious (tones, which made a great (hew, (he bargained for what they wore on their left arms ; accordingly, inftead of the prefents of gold which (he expeded, they threw their (hields upon her. Others fay, that, in purfuance of their agreement to deliver up what was on their left arms, (he exprefsly demanded their (hields ; and this feem- ing to be done with a treacherous intent, (he was put to death by means of the very reward which (he required.
XII. The Sabines however kept pofl'e(rion of the citadel ; but though, on the following day, the Roman army, in order of battle, (illed the whole plain between the Palatine and Capitoline hills, yet they did not come down to the level ground ; until the Romans, (limulated by rage and eagernefs to recover the citadel, advanced to an aflfault. The foremoft champions of the two parties, who led on the troops, were Mettius Curtius on the fide of the Sabines, and Hoftus Hodilius on that of the Romans. The latter, in the front of the army, by his fpirit and intrepidity, enabled the Romans to fupport the (ight, in fpite of the difad- vantage of the ground; but, on his falling, the Roman foldiers quickly gave way, and were driven back to the old gate of the Palatium. Romulus himfelf being forced along by the flying crowd, raifed his hands toward heaven, and faid, " O " Jupiter I by the diredion of thy aufpices, 1, here c 4 "on
24 THE HISTORY
BOOK "on the Palatine hill, laid the firft foundation of !• " TWf city. The Sabines are already in pofleflion
"""^^^""^ a of our citadel, which they obtained by fraud ; •* from thence they now make their way hither ; in ** arms, and havepafled the middle of the valley; but ** do thou, () father of gods and men ! from hence *' at lead repel the enemy ; remove difmay • from " the minds of the Romans, and (lop their fhame- " ful flight. I vow a temple here to thee, Jupiter " Stator*, as a teftimony to polterity of the city ** being preferved by thy immediate aid." Having prayed thus, as if he had perceived that his fup- plications were heard, he called out, " Here, Romans, *' Jupiter, fupremely good and great, orders you to ** halt, and renew the fight.'* The Romans, as if they had heard a voice from heaven, halted, and Ro- mulus himfelf flew forward to the front. On the fide of the Sabines, Mettius Curtius had run down firft from the citadel ; had driven back the Romans, in diforder, through the whole fpace at prefent occupied by the Forum, and was now at no great diftance from the gate of the Palatium, crying aloud, " We have " conquered thefe traitors to hofpitality, thefe cow- " ards in war. They now feel that it is one thing *' to ravifli virgins, and another, far different, to fight *' with men." While he was vaunting in this man- ner, Romulus attacked him with a band of the mofl courageous of the youths. Mettius happened at that time to fight on horfeback, and on that account was the more eafily repulfed : he foon gave way, and was purfued hj^ the Romans ': the refl: of the Roman troops alfo, animated by the bravery of their King, put the Sabines to the rout. Mettius was plunged into a lake, his horfe taking fright at the noife of the purfuers : and this circumftance turned the attention of the Sabines to the danger in which they faw a perfon of fo much confequence to them. However,
* Yvomjlarcy to halt.
his
OF ROME. 85
his friends beckoning and calling to him, he acquired BOOK frefli courage from the afFedlion of the multitude, f* and accompliflied his efcape. Both parties now -'-''—' renewed the engagement in the plain between the two hills, but the advantage was on the fide of the Romans.
XIII. At this crifis the Sabine women, whofe fufferinL's had given caule to the war, with their hair difhevelled and garments torn, their natural timidity being overcome by the fight of fuch difallrous fcenes, had the refolution to throw thefufelves in the way of the flying weapons; and, rufhing acrofs between the armies, fepa- rated the incenfed combatants, and alfuaged their fury ; befeeching, on the one hand their parents, on the other their hufbands, " not to pollute " themfelves with the impious ftain of the blood '* of faiher-in.law and fon-in-law, nor brand with " the infamy of parricide their offspring, the " children of one, and grandchildren of the " other party. If ye wifh, faid they, to deftroy " the affinity and connection formed between " you by our marriage, turn your rage againft us ; " we are the caufe of the war : we are the caufe of " wounds and death to our huihands and fathers. " It is better for us to perifh, than to live either " widowed by the lofs of one party, or fatherlefs by " that of the other.** This tranfadion powerfully affeded both the multitude and the leaders : filence fuddenly enfued, and a fufpenfion of the fight. The commanders then came forward, in order to concert meafures for a pacification ; and they not only con- Y. R. 7. eluded a peace, but combined the two nations into B'C745 one, allbciating the two fovereigns in the government, and ertabliihing the feat of empire at Rome. By this accefiion the number of citizens was doubled ; and, as fome compliment to the Sabines, the united people were called Quirites, from the town of Cures.
To
26 THE HIvSTORY
BOOK To perpetuate the remembrance of that battle, the !• place where his horfe, emerging from the deep of the lake, firll brought Clurtius to a fliallow, was called the Curtian lake*. This happy re-eftabli(hment of peace, after a war fo diftrefling, rendered the Sabine women (till dearer both to their huibands and parents, and above all to Romulus himfelf, fo that, when he divided the people into thirty Curiasf, he gave thefe the names of the women. But as the number of the women was undoubtedly greater than that of the Curias, whether thofe who were to give their names to them were felcded on account of their age, or their own dignity, or that of their hufbands, or by lot, we are not informed. At the fame time alfo, three centuries of knights were en- rolled ; the Ramnenfes, fo called from Romulus ; the Titienfes, from Titus Tatius ; and ihe Luceres, the reafon of whofe name and origin is unknown. Thenceforward the two Kings reigned together, not only with equal power, but with concord.
f^' XIV. Several years after, fome relations of
King T'atius offered violence to the ambafladors of the Laurentians ; for which violation of the law of nations, the latter demanded fatisfaction : but Tatius paid more regard to the interefl: and importunities of his relations, and thereby drew upon himfelf the punifhment due to them. For he was flain after- wards at Lavinium, in a tumult raifed on his going
* This name it retained long after it was filled up, and be- came a part of the Forum.
f He divided the city into three tribes : the Ramnenfes, fo called from Romulus, being his original followers ; the Titienfes, from Titus Tatius, compofed of the Sabines ; and the Luceres, of thofe who had aflembled in the Lucus, or fanftuary, or "afterwards joined the Romans. Each tribe he divided into ten curias, or wards. Each curia had its own prieft, called curio, and its own place of worfliip, where, on certain ftated days, facrifices were offered to particular deities ; and the people of the curia feafted together. The centuries of knights were named after the tribes out of which they were taken.
thither
OF ROME. 27
hither to an anniverfary facrifice. It Is faid, that BOOK Romulus (hewed lefs relentment of this proceeding I. han became him, either becaufe there had been no '— ^''"**^ Incere cordiality between them, while aflbciated in :he government, or becaufe he thought that the Dther deferred the death which he met. He avoid- ed therefore entering into a war on the occafion ; but to make fome atonement for the ill-treatment of the ambaflkdors, and the murder of the King, the league between the cities of Rome and Lavinium was renewed. Thus, beyond their expedations, the Romans enjoyed peace on that fide j but a war broke out from another quarter, much nearer home, and almoft at their gates. The Fidenatians, look- ing with jealoufy on the great increafe of power in fo near a neighbour, determined to make war on them before they fhould arrive at that de- gree of flrength which it was evident they would in time acquire, and fent a body of young men in arms, who laid wafte the whole country between Fidenae and the city. Then, turning to the left hand, becaufe the Tiber confined them on the right, and continuing their depredations, they threw the country people into the utmoft confternation, and the fudden alarm fpreading from the country into the city, made known what had happened. Romulus inliantly led out his forces, for a war fo near home admitted no delay, and pitched his camp at the diftance of a mile from Fidena?. Leaving there a fmall guard, and marching out with all the rell of his troops, he ordered a party to lie in am- buih, among the bufhes that grew there in abun- dance ; then advancing with the other more nume^ rous body of infantry, and all the cavalry, by riding up almoft to the gates, and offering battle, ia an irregular and infulting manner, he drew the enemy out of the town, as he wiftied. The cavalry, ading in this manner, anfwered alfo another purpofe, as it afforded a more fpecious pretext for the retreat,
which
28 THE HISTORY
BOOK which he was to counterfeit ; and when the foot too !• began to retire, while the horfe fcemcd irrefolute,
*'*'""^'''**^ whether to fight or fly, the enemy rufhing fuddenly out of the gates in crowds, eager to purfue and prefs on the Roman army in its retreat, were draun to the place of the ambul'cade. Tlie Romans, now rifmg fuddenly, attacked their line in flank ; and the enfigns of thofe who had been left to gua' " the camp, advancing at the fame time, added to tli .. fears. Difmayed at fo many dangers, the Fidenatians fled, before Romulus, and the horfemen with hi could well turn to purfue them. Thus they, who ii... lately purfued an enemy, who only pretended to fly# now fled themfelves in earned, with much grea hafte, back to the city : but they could not get cIl : of the enemy ; the Romans preffing clofe on their rear, rufhed into the city along with them, before the gates could be fhut.
XV. The contagion of the Fidenatian war in- fefted the Veientians. Induced by the relationfhip fubfifling between them and the Fidenatians, (for they alfo were Etrurians,) and urged on befide by their dangerous vicinity of fituation, in cafe the Roman arms were to be turned againfl all their neighbours, made an incurfion into the Roman ter- ritories, in the manner of a predatory, rather than of a regular, war j and thus, without encamping or waiting the approach of the enemy's army, they re- turned to Veii, carrying home the plunder colleded in the country. On the other fide, the Roman com- mander, not finding the enemy in the country, and being prepared for, and determined on, a decifive aftion, orofTed over the Tiber. The Veientians, hearing that he was forming a camp, and that he in- tended to advance to their city, marched out to meet him ; for they chofe rather to engage in the open field, than to remain (hut up, and fight from the walls and houfes. There, unalTifled by any
ftratagem.
• OF ROME. 29
Iratagem, the Roman King, through the mere force BOOK 3f his veteran troops, obtained the vidory, and I- Durfued the routed enemy to their walls. The city was fo flrong, and fo well fecured both by art and by nature, that he did not choofe to attempt it, but led home his troops; and, in his way, ravaged the enemy's country for the fake of revenge rather than of booty. Thefe devaf- tations having diftrefl'ed the Veientians no lefs than the lofs of the battle, they fent deputies to Rome to fue for peace. A part of their lands was taken from them, and a truce granted for an hun- dred years. Thefe were the principal tranfadioiis in peace and war, during the reign of Romulus ; and none of them was unfuitable to the belief of his divine origin, or to the rank of a divinity, which after his death he was fuppofed to have obtained. This may be faid of the fpirii which he fliowed in recovering the kingdom for his grandfather, as well as of his wife condu<^ in founding the city, and eftablifhing its power, by the arts both of war and peace; for, by the flrcngth which it acquired under his management, it became fo refpedable, that, during forty years after, it enjoyed profound peace and fecurity. He Hood, however, much higher in the favour of the people than he did in that of the fenate; and was yet more beloved by his a' He eftabliflied a body-guard of three hundred 1 whom he called Celeres*; and thefe he kept con - ftantly about his perfon, in time of peace as well as war.
XVI. Such were his atchievements in his mortal Y.R.37. ftate. One day, while holding an afl'embly in B.C. 715. the plain, on the borders of the lake of Capra, for the purpofe of reviewing his army, a fudden ftorm
arofe,
♦ Or, the Swift, if we fuppofe them to derive their nanoe from the Latin word, ceUr. This muft be allowed to be the moft pro- bable
^o THE HISTORY
BOOK arofe, accompanied with violent thunder and light- ^' ning ; the King was enveloped in a thick cloud, "'' which hid him from the eyes of the afTembly, and was never more feen upon earth. The Rom^n youth were at length eafed of their apprehenfions, by the return of calm and ferene weather, after fu- ' a turbulent day ; but when they faw the royal d i empty, though they readily believed the fenators, who had ftood nearefl to him, that he had been carried up on high by the ftorm, yet they were ftruck with fuch dread at being thus left in a manner fatherlefs, that, for fome time, they remained in mournful filence. At laft, fome few fetting the example, the whole multitude faluted Romulus as ** a deity, the fon of a deity ; the King and parent *' of the city of Rome ;" and implored his favour, with prayers, that he would be pleafed always " propitioufly to watch over the fafety of his own " offspring.** Some, I believe, even at that time, harboured filent fufpicions that the King had been torn in pieces by the hands of the fenators. Such a report was fpread abroad, but it was little credited, both on account of the high admiration entertained of the man, and becaufe the general confternation caufed the other account to be more univerfally received. It is farther mentioned, that a contrivance of one particular man procured additional credit to this re- prefentation of the matter : for Proculus Julius, a perfon whofe teftimony, as we are told, deferved refpedl in any cafe, even of the greateft importance, while the public were full of grief for the King, and of difpleafure againft the fenators, came out into an
bable origin of the appellation, although it muft be admitted to be by no means certain, that they were not fo called, as fome allege, from the name of their captain, Celer ; while others con- tend that they were fo called from the Greek word Kj^vrp, which fignifies a horfeman.
aflerably
OF ROME. ' »i
aflembly of the people, and faid, " Romans, yefter- BOOK " day at the dawn of day, Romulus, the parent of I.
'* this our city, defcending fuddenly from heaven, " '""■^
** appeared before me ; and when, feized with hor- " ror, I flood in a worfhipping pofture, and ad- " drefled him, with prayers, that I might be allowed " to behold him without being guilty of impiety, " Go, faid he, tell the Romans that it is the will " of the gods that my Rome fliould be the me- " tropolis of the world. Let them therefore cuK " tivate the arts of war ; and be affured, and " hand this affurance down to poflerity, that no hu- " man power is able to withftand the Roman arms. " After thefe words, he went up, and vanifhed from *' my fight.'* It was wonderful how readily the ftory was credited on this man's word ; and how much the grief of the people, and of the army, was aiTuaged, by their being fatisfied of his im- mortality.
XVII. Meanwhile the minds of the fenators were agitated by ambition and contention for the vacant throne. Fadions had not yet taken their rife from the interefts of individuals ; for, among a new people, no one yet pofleifcd any eminent fuperioritv over the reft. The conteft lay between the different bodies of which the ftate was compofed : thofe of Sabine defcent were anxious that a King fhould be chofen from among them, apprehenfive left they might lofe their clai.m by difufe, there having been no King of their race fince the death of Tatius; although, by the terms of the union, they were en- titled to equal privileges. On the other hand, the original Romans fpurned the thought of a foreigner being placed on the throne. Notwithftanding this diverfity in their views, yet all concurred in wifhing for a King, for they had not yet tafted the fweets of liberty. The fenate now began to fear, left as the fen- timents of many of the neighbouring ftates were very
unfriendly
^2 THE HISTORY
BOOK unfriendly towards them, fome foreign power might h attack them, while the ftate was deftitute of a go- vernment, and the army deftitute of a commander. Every one therefore was defirous that there (hould be fome head, but no one party could be in- duced to give way to another. In this difficulty, the fenators fhared the government among them- felves ; forming, out of their number, which con- fifted of an hundred, ten decades, with one prefident in each, who were to have the direction cjf public affairs. Each ten governed jointly ; the prefident alone had the Lidors and other Jt>adges of fove- reignty. The time of each holding the govern- ment was limited to five days, and the ad minift ra- tion went to them all in rotation. In this manner Y. R. 38. a year paffed without a King ; and that interval, B.C.714. from this circumftance, was called an Interregnum; which term is dill applied to fimilar interruptions of the regular government. By this time, the people began to murmur, alleging that flavery was multiplied on them ; that they had an hun- dred mafters fet over them inftead of one ; and it became evident that they would no longer be fatisfied without a King, nor without one chofen by thera- felves. The fenators, perceiving that fuch fchemes were in agitation, judged it prudent to make a volun- tary offer of what they could not much longer retain. Yet while they gratified the people in furrendering to them the fovereign power, they took care not to give up a larger fhare of privilege than they kept in their own hands ; for they paffed a decree, that, when the people fhould eled a King, that election ffiould not be valid, unlefs the fenate ap- proved their choice. And, to this day, the fame right is claimed with refpe6t to the enacting of laws, and the appointing of magiftrates j though the effi- cacy of it has been quite taken away : at prefent, before the people begin to vote, the fenate pre- vioufly declare their approbation of the proceedings 8 of
OF ROME. 33
of the aflembly, and that, even before they are yet BOOK refolved upon. The Interrex, then, having called !• an aflembly, faid, " Romans! be the event prof- ^^ *' perous, fortunate, and happy j eleft a King : the " fathers have thought proper to decree that it_ " fhould be fo. If ye choofe a perfon worthy to be ** efteemed a fit fucceflbr to Romulus, the fathers " will join their approbation." This proceeding was fo pleafmg to the people, that, lelt they might appear to be outdone in generofity, they voted, and ordered, nothing more than that the fenate fhould determine, by. their decree, who fhould be King of Rome.
XVIII. There was at that time a perfon named Numa Pompilius *, who was univerfally celebrated forjuflice and piety: he lived at Cures, in the coun- try of the Sabines ; and was as eminently (killed, as any one in that age could be, in all laws human and divine : he was fuppofed to have been inflruded by Pythagoras of Samos ; for which fuppofition there is no other foundation, than its not being known from what other quarter he derived his knowledge : cer- tain it is, that more than an hundred years after this period, in the reign of Servius Tullius, Pythagoras afl'embled the youth of the remoter parts of Italy, about Metapontum, Heracla, and Croton, and had them inftruded under his own direction. From places fo remote, even if he had lived in the time of Numa, how could fuch a character of him have reached the Sabines, as fhould have infpired them with the defire of receiving his inflruftions ? In what common language could they have communicated ? or with what fafety could a lingle man have made his way thither, through fo many nations differing in
* He was the fon of a Sabine nobleman, and had been mar- ied tu a daughter of King Tatius, but was now a widower.
vol.. I. D their
^4 HISTORY OF
Book their language and manners ? ' I therefore rather be- I. lieve, that his mind was, by nature, fumifhed with virtuous difpofitions, and that the inftru£lion ' ' !i he received were, not fo much in foreign Iv ^^,
as in the cosurfe and fevere difcipline of the Sabines, than whom no race of men were lefs corrupted by refinements. On hearing the name of Numa Pom- pilius, although the Roman fathers faw that the balance of power would incline to the Sabines, if a King were chofen from among them, yet, no one prefuming to prefer himfelf, or any other of his own party, or, in fhort, any one of the fathers, or citizens, to him, they all, to a man, concurred in voting that the kingdom fhould be conferred on
Y. R, 39. Numa Pompilius. When he arrived, in confe- ■^^^' quence of their invitation, he ordered, that, as Ro- mulus, on the founding of the city, had obtained the fovereign power by an augury, fo the gods (hould be conlulted, in like manner, concerning himfelf. Accordingly, being conduced into the citadel by an augur, to which profeflion was annexed, for ever after, by public authority, the honour of perform- ing that folemn office, he fat down on a ftone with his face turned towards the South : the augur took his feat at his left hand, with his head covered, hold- ing in his right hand a crooked wand free from knots^ which they called Htuus; then, taking a view to- wards the city, and the adjacent country, after offer- ing prayers to the gods, he marked out the regions of the Iky from Eaft to Weft ; the parts towards the South, he called the right, thofe toward the North, the left ; and, in front of him, he fet, in his mind, a boundary at the greateft diftance that his eye could reach. Then, fhifting the Lituus into his left hand, and laying his right on Numa*s head, he prayed in this manner : — " Father Jupiter, if it is " thy will that this Numa Pompilius, whofe head I " hold, fhould be King of Rome, difplay to us, we
" befeech
OF ROME.
35
'*■ befeech thee, clear tokens of the fame, within B O O It " thofe limits which I have marked out.'* He then '• named the particular aufpices, which he wiflied fliould be fent ; and, thefe having appeared, Numa was declared King, and came down from the confe- crated ftand.
XIX. Being thus put in pofleffion of the king- dom, and confidering that the city was but of (hort {landing, and had been founded by means of vio- lence and arms, he formed a defign of eilablifhing it anew, upon principles of juflice, laws, and morals ; and, knowing that the minds of the people, render- ed ferocious by a military Hfe, would never accom- modate themfelves to the praOice of thefe, during the continuance of war, he refolved, by a difufe of arms, to mollify the ficrcenefs of their temper. With this view, he built a temple to Janus *, near the foot of the hill Argiletum |, which was to notify a ftate either of war or of peace : when open, it de- noted that the ftate was engaged in war ; when fhut, that there was peace with all the furrounding nations. Since the reign of Numa, it has been Ihut but twice ; once, in the confulate of Titus Manlius, upon the conclufion of the firft Punic war : the happinefs of feeing it once more Ihut, the gods granted to our own times, when, after the battle of A<5lium, the Emperor Csefar Auguftus eftabliflied univerfal peace, on land and fea. This temple he then fhut ; and
* Janus is the moll ancient King in Italy, of whom any know- ledge has been handed down to pofterity : he was the firft who introduced civilization, and the ufeful arts, among the wild inhabitants of that country. He is reprefented with two faces, as knowing both the pad and the future : fometimes with four; in which latter form, one of the many temples dedicated to him at Rome, was erected ; having four equal fides, on each fide one door and three windows ; tie four doors were emblematical of the feafons; the twelve windows, of the months; and the whole, of the year.
t A fmall hill, to the eaft of the Palatine.
D 2 havin?.
36 THE HISTORY
BOOK having, by treaties and alliances, fecured the friend- I- ^ (hip of all his neighbours, and thereby removed all apprehenfion of danger from abroad, he made it his firil aim, left the difpofitions of the people, which had hitherto been reflrained by fear of their enemies, and by military difcipline, fhould, in time of tran- quillity, grow licentious, to infpire them with fear of the gods ; a principle of the greatefl efficacy with the multitude, in that rude and ignorant age. And as this did not feem likely to make much imprefTion on their minds, without the aid of fome pretended mira- cle, he made them believe that he had nightly meet- ings with the goddefs Kgeria ; and that, by her diredion, he inftituted the facred rites, mod accept- able to the gods, and appointed proper priefts for each of the deities. His firft undertaking was to divide the year into twelve months, according to the courfe of the moon : and becaufe the moon does not make up the number of thirty days in each month, and confequently there are fome days wanted to fill up the complete year, formed by the revolution of the fun, he managed in fuch a manner, by inferting intercalary months, that every twenty-fourth year, the fpace of all the intermediate years being com- pleted, the days coincided with the fame pofition of the fun from whence they had fet out. He alfo ap- pointed days of bufmefs, and days of ceiTation there- from, forefeeing how expedient it would be in future, that there fhould be times wherein no bufmels could be brought before the people.
XX. He next turned his thoughts to the appoint- ment of priefts, though he performed in perfon the greateft part of the facred rites, efpecially thofe which now belong to the office of the flamen of Jupiter * ; judging, that in fuch a warlike ftate, the
greater
* For a full account of the duty and office of the diflFerent flamens, fee Dr. Adam's Roman Antiquities. Alfo for thofe of
tb«
OF ROME.
:■ reater number of Kings would refemble Romulus, i ather than Numa, and would go abroad themfelves to war ; therefore, left the facred rites, the per- formance of which pertained to the office of the King, ihould be negleded, he created a flamen of Jove, who was to attend conftantly on the duties of that priefthood, and decorated him with a fplendid drefs, and a royal curule chair. He created like- wife two other flamens ; one of Mars, the other of Quirinus. He alfo felefted virgins for the fervice of Vefta, an order of priefthood derived from Alba, and therefore related, in fome fort, to the family of the founder of the city. For thefe he fixed a ftipend, to be paid out of the public treafury, that they might, without interruption, attend to the bufi- nefs of the temple ; and by enjoining virginity, and other religious obfervaiices, gave them a fan^ity of character that attracted veneration. He elected alfo twelve priefts, called falii, for Mars Gradivus ; and gave them, as an ornament of diftindion, a flowered tunic, and, over the tunic, a brazen covering for the breaft. He ordered thefe to carry the celeftial armour, called Ancilia, and to go in proceftion through the city, fmging hymns, with leaping and folemn dancing. He then chofe, out of the fenators, a pontiif, named Numa Marcius, fon of Marcus, and gave him a written and fealed copy of the infti- tutions refpeding all the facred rites, together with diredions as to what vidims, and on what days, and in what temples, each ftiould be performed ; and out of what funds the expences of them fhould be defray- ed. He alfo fubjedted all other religious performances, whether public or private, to the determination of the pontiff; in order that there ihould be an autho- rized perfon to whom the people might, on every
the veftal virgins, and the falii, mentioned in this chapter, fee the fame learned work, which may be confidered as a perpetual com- mentary upon the Roman hiftoriaus, in general, and Livy, in particular.
D 3 occaiion.
3^ THE HISTORY I
BOOK Qccafion, refort for inftru^Uon, left, through their I !• negleft of the rites of their ow n country, or the intro- du(Sl^ion of foreign ones, irregularities might take place in the worfhip of the gods. The fame pontiff was alfo to determine all matters relative, not only to the invocation of the celeflial gods, but to funeral folemnities, and the worlhip of the infernal deities, and when and how fuch prodigies as appeared either by lightning or any other phaenomenon, fiiould be attended to and expiated. For the purpofe of ob- taining information of the fentiments of the deities, refpeding thefe matters, he dedicated an altar, on the Aventine, to Jupiter Eiicius*; and confulted the god, by auguries, concerning the prodigies that were to be expiated.
XXI. The attention of the whole community being diverted from violence and arms, to the con- iidering and adjufting of thefe matters, neceflarily prevented idlenefs ; whilft reverence towards the gods, with the thought of the deity of heaven inter- fering in the concerns of mankind, filled their breafts with fuch a degree of piety, that good faith, and regard to the obligation of oaths, operated as power- fully on their minds, as the dread of the laws and of punifhment. And while the people formed their manners after the example of the King, as the moft perfect model, the neighbouring powers, who had formerly looked upon Rome, not as a city, but as a camp pitched in the mid ft of them, for the pur- pofe of difturbing the general peace, were brought to entertain fuch refpeft for it, as to deem any one guilty of impiety, who ftiould give trouble to a ftate entirely occupied in the worfliip of the gods. There was a grove, in the centre of which, from out of a dark cave, flowed a rivulet, fed, by a perpetual
* From eliceret to folicit information,
fpring ;
OF ROME. 39
fpring ; thither it was Numa's cuftom frequently to BOOK repair unattended, to meet, as he pretended, the I- goddefs Egeria. He therefore dedicated it to the ' "^"^ mufes, they having been, he alleged, of her coun- cils, whom he called his fpoufe. To Faith, under the defignation of Single Faith, he inftituted an anni- verfary feftival ; in the celebration of which, he ordered the flamens to be carried in a covered chariot, drawn by two horfes ; and, while employed in the worfhip of her, to have their hands covered, clofe down to the fingers, to fignify that Faith was to be carefully preferved, and that even its feat, in the right hand, was facred. He appointed many other facrifices, and confecrated the places where they were to be performed, which the priells call Argenfes. But the greateft of all his works was the eftablifh- ment of a permanent peace, which he maintained through the whole courfe of his reign, with no lefs care than he employed in fecuring his own authority. Thus two Kings in fucceifion, by different methods, one by warlike, the other by peaceful inftitutions, contributed to the aggrandifement ot the (late. Ro- mulus reigned thirty-feven years, Numa forty-three. The nation, by this time, became poflfefled not only of great ftrength, but had alfo attained to a competent knowledge of the arts both of war and peace.
XXII. On the death of Numa, an interregnum Y.R.Sa again took place. After fome time, the people B.C. 60. elefted to the throne Tullus Hoflilius, grandfon to that Hoflilius who diflinguifhed himfelf in the battle with the Sabines, at the foot of the citadel ; and the fenate gave their approbation. He was not only of a temper very different from that of the late King, but more warlike in his difpofition than even Ro- mulus himfelf. His youth and vigour, and at the fame time, the renown ot his grandfather, flimulated his native courage. Thinking, therefore, that the
D 4 ftrength
40 THE HISTORY
BOOK ftrength of the flate was growing languid, through I- inactivity, he fought on all fides for an opportunity of (lirring up a war. It happened that foine Roman and Alban peafants commitred mutual depredations on each other's lands : at this time, C. Cluilius held the government of Alba. Anibadadors were fent from both fides, at nearly the fame time, to demand reftitution. Tullus gave orders to his, that they fhould attend to nothing elfe, until ihcy executed their commiflion : he well knew that the Alban would give a refufal, and then war might b-^ pro- claimed, without incurring the charge of impiety. The Albans proceeded with lefs difpatch ; being courteoufly and liberally entertained by Tullus in his palace, they cheerfully enjoyed the pleafures of the King's table Meanwhile, the Romans had made the firft demand of reftitution, and, on the Alban*s refufal, had declared war to commence on the thir- tieth day after, and returned to 'lullus with an ac- count of their proceedings. He then gave the am- baffadors an opportunity of propofing the bufinefs of their einbafly ; they, entirely ignorant of what had pafled, fpent fome time, at firft, in making apjo- logies J that " it was very difagreeable to them to fay any thing that would not be pleafing.to Tullus, but that they were compelled by their inftrudions : they came to demand reftitution, and if that were not granted, had orders to declare war." To this Tullus anfwered : " Tell your King, that, the King of Rome appeals to the gods, to judge which of the two ftates firft dif- miffed, with a refufal, the ambafladors of the other demanding reftitution ; that, upon that ftate, they may inflici all the calamities of this war."
y.R. 8^. XXIII. This anfwer the Albans carried home, and B.C.667. both parties made the moft vigorous preparations for a war, which might almoft be called a civil war, as it was to be waged, in fome manner, be- tween
OF ROME. 41
tween parents and their children, both parties de- BOOK riving their defcent from Troy : for Lavinium owed I- its origin to Troy, from Lavinium fprung Alba, and, from the race of the Alban Kings, the Romans \\ere defcended. The ilfue of the war, however, was fuch as rendered the difpufe lefs grievous than might have been apprehended ; for, without a general en- ' gagement, and without any farther damage than the demoUtion of the houfes of one of the cities, the two dates were incorporated into one. The Albans firft, with very numerous forces, made an irruption into the Roman territories; and, at the diflance of no more than five miles from the city, fortified their camp with a trench, which, from the name of their leader, was afterwards called the Cluilian Trench, and retained the name for feveral ages, until the occafion being in time forgotten, the name too fell into difufe. In this camp, Cluilius the Alban King died, on which the Albans created Mettius FufFetius their dictator. TuUus, now, impatient for adion, efpecially after the deatii ot the King, alTured his men that the fupi eme power of the gods, which had already begun wiih the head, would inflid, upon the whole body ot the Albans, the penalty incurred by their having octafioned this impious war ; and, marching pad the enemy's camp in the night, he advanced, u ith his army ready for aflion, into the Alban territories. This procedure dreu out Met- tius from the camp where he lay ; he led his troops, by the fliorteft road, towards the enemy, . fending forward an ambaflador to tell Tullus, that '* it was highly expedient that they (hould confer " together, before they came to an engagement ; " that, if he would give him a meeting, he was ** confident that what he had to propofe to his *' confideration would appear to concern the intereft " of Rome, no lefs than that of Alba.'* Tullus, not thinking it proper to decline the propofal, though
he
41
THE HISTORY
BOOK he faw no probability of any good confequcnci^ I- arifmg from it, led out his troops into the field ; 'hdl Albans likewife marched out to meet him. When both parties were drawn up in order of battle, tht_ leaders, attended by a few of the principal officersjH advanced into the middle fpace, where the Alban began thus: — " I underftood, from our King Clu- *' ilius, that, on our part, injuries fuftained, and a rc- ** fufal of fatisfadion, when demanded, were the ** caufes of the prefent war ; and I doubt not thai " you,Tullus, allege, on your part, the fame grounds ** of quarrel : but if, inftead of plaufible profeflions, <♦ I may be allowed to declare the truth, it is a thirft ** for dominion that ftimulates two nations, con- '* ne£bed by their fituation, and by confanguinity, '* to take up arms againft each other. Nor do I *' examine whether the meafures purfued are juf- *' tifiable or not ; the determination of that point '* was the bufmefs of him who commenced the war ; ** for my part, it was for the purpofe of carrying it " on, that the Albans conflituted me their leader. *' Of this, however, TuUus, I wifli to warn you ; " what a formidable power the Etrurians poflefs, ** both in our neighbourhood and more efpecially in ** yours, you, as being nearer to them, know bet- " ter than we. On land, they are very powerful ; on " the fea, exceedingly fo. Now confider, that, ** when you fhall give the fignal for battle, they " will enjoy the fight of thefe two armies engaged ** as they would a fliow, and will not fail to attack ** both the vidtor and the vanquifhed together, *' when they fee them fatigued, and their ftrength ** exhaufled. Wherefore, fmce we are not content '* with the certain enjoyment of liberty, but are go- " ing to hazard an uncertain caft for dominion or *' flavery, let us, in the name of the gods, purfue *' fome method, whereby, without great lofs, with- " out much blood of either nation, it may be de-
" cided
^ OF ROME. 43
■« cided which fhall have dominion over the other.** BOOK This propofal was not unpleafing to TuUus, though, I- from his natural difpofition, as well as from confidence of fuccefs, he was rather inclined to violent meafures. Both of them then turning their thoughts to devife fome plan, they adopted one, for which accident h^<i ^/ already laid the foundation.
XXIV. It happened, that, in each of the armies, there were three twin brothers, between whom there was no difparity, in point of age, or of ftrength. That their names were Horatius and Curiatius, wc have fufficient certainty, for no occurrence of anti- quity has ever been more univerfally noticed ; yet, notwithftanding that the fad is fo well afcertained, there flill remains a doubt refpefting the names, to which nation the Horatii belonged, and to which the Curiatii : authors are divided on the point ; finding, however, that the greater number concur, in calling the Horatii, Romans, I am mclined to follow them. To thefe three brothers, on each fide, the Kings propofed, that they ihould fupport by their arms the honour of their refpedive countries ; in- forming them, that the fovereignty was to be en- joyed by that nation, whofe champions (hould prove vi6lorious in the combat. No rcluclance was Ihewn on their parts, and time and place were appointed. Previous to the fight, a league was made between the Romans and Albans, on thefe conditions; that, whichever of the tw6 nations fhould, by its cham- pions, obtain vidory in the combat, that nation fhould, without further difpute, poflefs fovereign dominion over the other. Treaties are varioufly formed, but the mode of ratification is the fame in all. The following is the manner in which, as we are told, they proceeded on that occafion ; and we have no record of any more ancient treaty. The herald addrefled the King in thefe words : " Doit thou, O King, order me to flrike
" a league
44 THE HISTORY
book" a league with the Pater Patratus • of the Alban I. " nation ?" Having received the King's order, he faid, " O King, I demand vervain from thee:** the King anfwered, " Take it pure." The herald brought clean ftalks of that herb from the citadel. He afterwards afked the King in thefe words ; " Doft thou, O King, conditute me the royal dele- " gate of the Roman people, the Quirites; in- " eluding, in my privileges, my attendants and *' implements." The King replied, " Be it with- *' out detriment to me, and to the Roman people, " the Quirites, I do conftitute thee." The herald was Marcus Valerius, and he made Spurius Fufius Pater Patratus, by touching his head and hair with the vervain. The Pater Patratus is appointed ** ad " jusjurandum patrandum," that is, to ratify the league ; and this he does in a great many words, which being exprefled in a long fet form, I may be excufed from repeating. Then, after reciting the conditions, he faid, " Hear thou, O Jupiter ! hear ** thou. Pater Patratus of the Alban nation : hear, " ye people of Alba : as thofe conditions, from firft *' to lafh, have been recited openly from thofe tab- ** lets, or that wax, without fraud or deceit, in fuch " fenfe as they are mofl: clearly underflood here this " day, from thofe conditions the Roman peopk " will not firfl depart : if they fhall, at any time, firfl " depart from them, under authority of the flate, " through any fraud or deceit, do thou, O Jupiter, " on that day, ftrike the Roman people in like man- *' ner as I fhall here, this day, flrike this fwine ; and " flrike them, thou, with greater feverity, in pro- " portion as thy power and ability are greater.*' So faying, he flruck down the fwine with a fiini flone. The Albans likewife, by their diftator and their priefts, repeated their form of ratification an(i their oath.
* The duty of the Pater Patratus was, to attend the making of the treaty, and to ratify it by oath.
XXV. The
OF ROME. 45
XXV. The league being concluded, the three BOOK brothers, on each fide, purfuant to the agreement, I. took arms ; the friends of each putting them in mind '~ •'— ^ that " the gods of their country, their country itfelf, " the whole of their countrymen, whether at home " or in the army, refted on their prowefs the decifion " of their fate." Naturally bold and courageous, and highly animated befides by fuch exhortations, they advanced into the midfl: between the two armies. The two armies fat down before their refpedive camps, free from all apprehenfions of immediate danger to themfelves, but not from deep anxiety ; no lefs than fovereign power being at ftake, and depending on the bravery and fuccefs of fo fmall a number. With all the eagernefs therefore of anxious fufpenfe, they fixed their attention on an exhibition, which was far indeed from being a matter of mere amufement. The figna! being given, the three youths, who had been drawn up on each fide, as in battle array, their breads ani- mated with the magnanimous fpirits of whole armies, ruflied forward to the fight, intent on mutual flaugh- ter, utterly thoughtlefs of their own perfonal peril, and reflecting, that, on the iffiie of the conteft, de- pended the mture fate and fortune of their refpedive countries. On the firft onfet, as foon as the clafh of their arms, and the glittering of their fwords, were perceived, the fpedators fhuddered with excefs of horror j and their hopes being, as yet, equally ba- lanced, their voice was fupprefled, and even their breath was fufpended. Afterwards, in the pro- grefs of the combat, during which, not only the activity of the young men's limbs, and the rapid motions of their arms, offenfive and defenfive, were exhibited to view, the three Albans were wounded, and two of the Romans fell lifelefs to the ground. On their fall, the Alban army fet up a (hout of joy ; while the Roman legions were almoft reduced to a (late of defpair, by the fituation of their 9 champion,
THE HISTORY
champion, who was now furrounded by the three Curiatii. It happened that he was unhurt ; fo that, though fingly, he was by no means a mutch for them collec^.tively, yet was he confident of fuccefs, againft each taken fingly. In order therefore to avoid their joint attack, he betook himfelf to flight, judging from their wounds that they would purfue him with different degrees of fpced. He had now fled fome way from the place where they had fought, when, looking back, he perceived that there were large intervals between the purfiiers, and that one was at no great diilance from him : he therefore turned about, with great fury, and while the Alban army called out to the Curiatii to fuccour their brother, Horatius, having in the mean time flain his antagonift, pro- ceeded victorious to attack the fecond. 1 ne Romans then cheered their champion with fhouts of applaufe, fuchas naturally burfl: forth on occafions of unexpefted fuccefs : on his part, he delayed not to put an end to the combat ; for, before the third could come up to the relief of his brother, he had difpatched him. And now, they were brought to an equality, in point of number, only one on each fide furviving, but were far from an equality either in hopes or in ftrength ; the one, unhurt, and flufhed with two vidlories, advanced with confidence to the third conteft j the other, enfeebled by a wound, fatigued with running, and difpirited, befides, by the fite of his brethren, already flain, met the vidorions enemy. What followed, could not be called a fight; the Roman, exulting, cried out, '' Two of you have I offered to the fliades " of my brothers, the third I will offer to the caufe in " which we are engaged, that the Roman may rule " over the Alban:'* and, whilft the other could fcarcely fupport the weight of his armour, he plunged his fworn downward into his throat ; then, as he lay proftrate, he defpoiled him of his arms. The Ro- mans
OF ROME.
mans received Horatius with triumphant congratu- lations, and a degree of joy proportioned to the greatnefs of the danger that had threatened their caufe. Both parties then applied themfelves to the burying of their dead, with very different difpofitions of mind ; the one being elated with the acquifition of empire, the other deprefled under a foreign jurif- dicftion. The fepulchres ftill remain, in the feveral fpots where the combatants fell ; thofe of the two Romans in one place nearer to Alba, thofe of the three Albans, on the fide next to Rome ; but, in different places, as they fought.
XXVI. Before the armies feparated, Mettius, in conformity to the terms of the treaty, defired to know from Tullus what commands he would give, and was ordered to keep the young men in readi- nefs, under arms, as he intended to en^ ' ' 'a cafe of a war breaking out with tlu is.
The two parties then retired to their refpedive hpmes. Horatius advanced at the head of the Ro- mans, bearing in triumph the fpoils of the three brothers : near the gate Capena he was met by his fifter, a maiden who had been betrothed to one of the Curiatii : obferving, on her brother's flioulder, the military robe of her lover, made by her own hands, /he tore her hair, and, with loud and mourn- ful outcries, called on the name of her deceafed fpoufe. His fifter*s lamentations, in the midfl: of his own triumph, and of fo great public joy, irritated the fierce youth to fuch a degree, that, drawing his fword, he plunged it into her breaft, at the fame time upbraiding her, in thefe words, " Begone to thy " fpoufe, with thy unfeafonable love, fmce thou " couldfl: forget what is due to the memory of thy " deceafed brothers, to him who flill furvives, and *' to thy native country : fo periffi every daughter " of Rome that fhall mourn for its enemy.** Both the fenate and people were Ihocked at the horrid
deed ;
48 THE HISTORY
BOOK deed ; but ftill, in their opinion, his recent merit ^' outweighed its guilt : he was, however, indantly ~ ^ carried before the King for judgment. The King, unwilling to take on himfelf a decifion of fuch a melancholy nature, and evidently difagreeable to the multitude, or to inflid the confequent punifh- ment, fummoned an aflenibly of the people, and then faid, " I appoint two commilTioners to pafs ** judgment on Horatius for murder, according " to the law." The law was of dreadful import : " Let two commiflioners pafs judgment for murder ; ** if the accufcd appeal from the commiflioners, ** let the appeal be tried ; if their fcntence be *' confirmed, cover his head, hang him by a rope " on the gallows, let him be fcourged either within '* the Pomasrium or without the Pomacrium." The two commiflioners appointed were of opinion, that, according to that law, they were not authorifed to acquit him, however fmall his offence might be ; and, after they had found him guilty, one of them pronounced judgment in thefe words : /' Publius Horatius, I fentence thee to punifliment ** as a murderer ; go, Lictor, bind his hands." The lifter had come up to him, and was fixing the cord, v^hcn Horatius, by the advice of TuUus, who wiflied to give the mildefl: interpretation to the law, faid, " I appeal :" fo the trial, on the appeal, came before the commons. During this trial, the people were very deeply aifedled, efpe- cially by the behaviour of Publius Horatius the father, who declared that, " in his judgment, his " daughter was defervedly put to death ; had it not " been fo, he would, by his own authority as a ** father, have infiided punifliment on his fon." He then befought them that " they would not leave " him childlefs, whom they had beheld, but a few " hours ago, furrounded by a progeny of uncommon " merit." Uttering thefe words, the old man em- braced the youth, and pointing to the fpoils of the
Curiatiiy
OF ROME. 49
Curiatif, which were hung up in the place where BOOK
now (lands the Horatian column ; " O my fellow- I-
** citizens,*' he exclaimed, " can you bear to be-
" hold him laden with chains, and condemned to
*' ignommy, Itripes, and torture, whom, but jufl
" now, you faw covered with the ornaments of
" victory, marching in triumph ! a fight fo horrid,
*' that fcarcely could the eyes of the Albans them-
" felves endure it. Go, Lidor, bind the arms,
" which, but now, wielded thofe weapons which
'* acquired dominion to the Roman people : cover
" the head of that man, to whom your city owes
'* its liberty : hang him upon the gallows : fcourge
" him, within the Pomcerium ; but do it betwe«i
** thofe pillars, to which are fufpended the trophies
" of his vidory : fcourge him, without the Pomce-
*' rium, but do it between the tombs of the Curiatii.
*' For to what place can ye lead this youth, where
•' the monuments of his glory would not redeem
" him from the ignominy of fuch a puni{hment ?*'
The people could not withftand either the tears of
the farher, or the intrepid fpirit of the youth him-
felf, which no kind of danger could appal, and
rather out of admiration of his bravery, than regard
to the juftice of his caufe, they paiTed a fentence of
acquittal. Wherefore, that fome expiation ;night be
made for the ad of manifell murder, the father was
ordered to make atonement for his fon at the public
expence. After performing expiatory facrifices,
which continued afterwards to be celebrated by the
Horatian family, he laid a beam acrofs the Itreet,
and, covering liie young man's head, made him pafs
as it were, under the yoke. The beam remains
to this day, being conftantly kept in repair at the
expence ot the public, and is called the Silter's beam.
A tomb of Iquared ilone was railed for Horatia,
on the fpoL where Ihe tell.
VOL. I. E XXVII. The
^O THE HISTORY
BOOK XXVII. The peace with Alba was not of lonp; I. continuance. The diffatisfaclion of the multitude, on account of the power and fortune of the ftate having been hazarded on three champions, per- verted the unfteady mind of the diftator ; and as his defigns, though honourable, had not been crowned with fuccefs, he endeavoured, by others of a dif- ferent kind, to recover the efteem of his countrymen. Wiih this view, therefore, as formerly, in time of war, he had fought peace, fo now, when peace was eftablifhed, he as ardently u ifhed for war : but, per- ceiving that his own (late poffeflfed more courage than ftrength, he perfuaded other nations to make war, openly, by order of their governments, referving to his own people the part of effe£ling their purpofcs, by treachery, under the maik of allies. The Vide- natians, a Roman colony, being allured of the con- currence of the Veientians, and receiving from the Albans a pofitive engagement to defert to their fide, were prevailed on to take arms and declare war. Fidense having thus openly revolted, Tullus, after fummoning Mettius and his army from Alba, marched againll the enemy, and pafling the Anio, pitched his camp at the conflux of the rivers. Between that place, and Fidense, the Veientians had crofled the Tiber, and, in the line of battle, they compofed the right wing near the river, the Fidenatians being polled on the left towards the mountains. Tullus drew up his own men facing the Veientians, and ported the Albans oppofite to the troops of the Fidenatians. The Alban had not more refolution than fidelity, fo that, not daring either to keep his ground, or openly to defert, he filed off flowly towards the mountains. When he thought he had proceeded to a fufficient diilance, he ordered the whole line to halt, and being ftill irrefolute, in order to wafte time, he employed himfelf in forming the ranks : his fcheme was to join his forces to whichever of the parties fortune fhould favour with vidory. At firfl,
the
OF ROME. 51
the Romans who flood neareft were aftonifhed at BOOK finding their flank left uncovered, by the departure ^■ of their allies, and, in a (hort time, a horfeman at ' full fpeed brought an account to the King that the Albans were retreating. Tullus, in this perilous jundure, vowed to inftitute twelve new Salian priefts, and alfo to build temples to Palenefs and Terror ; then, rebuking the horfeman with a loud voice, that the enemy might hear, he ordered him to return to the fight, telling him, that " there was no occafion " for any uneafinefs ; that it was by his order the " Alban army was wheeling round, in order to fall " upon the unprotected rear of the Fidenatians." He commanded him, alfo, to order the cavalry to raife their fpears aloft; and, this being performed, intercepted, from a great part of the infantry, the view of the Alban army retreating ; while thofe who did fee them, believing what the King had faidf fought with the greater fpirit. The fright was now transferred to the enemy, for they had heard what the King had fpoken aloud, and many of the Fide- natians underftood theLatine tongue, as h . ^ Seen intermixed with Romans hi the colony. \ ire,
dreading left the Albans might run down fuddenly from the hills, and cut off their retreat to the town, they betook themfelves to flight. Tullus prefled them clofe, and after routing this wing compofed of the Fidenatians, turned back with double fury againft the Veientians, now diflieartened by the dif- may of the other wing. Neither could they with- ftand his attack, and the river intercepting them be- liind, prevented a precipitate flight. As foon as they reached this, in their retreat, fome, (hamefully throwing away iheir arms, plunged defperately into the water, and the reft, hefitating on the bank, irrefolute whether to fight or fly, were overpowerd and cut ofi^. Never before had the Romans been engaged m fo defperate an action.
E 2 XXVIII. When
THE HISTORY
XXVIII. When all was over, the Alban troops, who had been fpeftators of the engagement, marched down into the plain, and Mettius congratulated Tullus on his viftory over the enemy. Tullus an- fwered him, without fhewing any fign of difplea* fure, and gave orders that the Albans fhould, with the favour of fortune, join their camp with that of the Romans, and appointed a facriBce of purifica- tion to be performed next day. As foon as it was light, all things being prepared in the ufual manner, he commanded both armies to be fummoned to an aflembly. The heralds, beginning at the outfide, fummoned the Albans fii ft ; and they, ftruck with the novelty of the affair, and wiftiing to hear the Roman King delivering a fpeech, took their places neareft to him : the Roman troops, under arms, purfuant to direftions previoufly given, formed a circle round them, and a charge was given to the Centurions to execute without delay fuch orders as they fhould receive. Then Tullus began in this manner ; " If ever, Romans, there has hitherto *' occurred, at any time, or in any war, an occafioa " that called on you to return thanks, firft, to the ** immortal gods, and, next, to your own valour, it " was the battle of yefterday : for ye had to ftruggle " not only with your enemies, but, what is a more " difficult and dangerous ftruggle, with the treachery " and perfidy of your allies : for I will now unde- " ceive you ; it was not by my order that the " Albans withdrew to the mountains, nor was what " ye heard me fay, the iffuing of orders, but a *' ftratagem, and a pretext of having given orders, ** to the end that while ye were kept in ignorance " of your being deferted, your attention might not *' be drawn away from the fight ; and that, at the *' fame time, the enemy, believing themfelves to be <* furrounded on the rear, might be ftruck with ter- *' ror and difmay : but the guilt which I am expofmg " to you, extends not to all the Albans : they fol-
" lowed
OF ROME.
•' lowed their leader, as ye would have done, had I " chofen that the army fhould make any movement " from the ground which it occupied. Mettius *' there was the leader of that march, the fame Met- *' tius was the fchemer of this war. Mettius it was " who broke the league between the Romans and " Albans, May others dare to commit like crimes, " if I do not now make him a confpicuous example " to all mankind.** On this the Centurions in arms gathered round Mettius, and the King proceed- ed in his difcourfe : " Albans, be the meafure prof- ** perous, fortunate, and happy to the Roman people, ** to me, and to you ; it is my intention to remove ** the entire people of Alba to Rome, to give to the *' commons the privileges of citizens, and to enroll ** the principal inhabitants among the fathers, to " form of the whole one city, one republic. As *' the flate of Alba, from being one people, was ** heretofore divided into two, fo let thefe be now *' re-united.** On hearing this, the Alban youth who were unarmed, and fur rounded by armed troops, however different their fentiments were, yet, being all retrained by the fame apprehenfions, kept a pro- found filence. Tullus then faid, " Mettius Fuf- " fetius, if you were capable of learning to preferve " faith, and a regard to treaties, I fhould fuffer you " to Hve, and fupply you with inftru(5lions ; but "your " difpofition is incurable : let your punifhinent, then, " teach mankind to confider thofe things as facred, " which you have dared to violate. As, therefore, *' you lately kept your mind divided between the ** intereft of the Fidenatians and of the Romans, *' fo fhall you now have your body divided and " torn in pieces.** Then two chariots being brought, each drawn by four horfes, he tied Met- tius, extended at full length, to the carriages of them, and the horfes being driven violently in dif- ferent directions, bore away on each carriage part of his mangled body, with the limbs which were faf-
E 3 tened
^4 THE HISTORY
BOOK tened by the cords. The eyes of all were turned 1' with horror from this fhocking fpedacle. This wm the firft, and the laft, iiiflancc among the Romans, of any punifhinent inflicted without regard to the laws of humanity. In every other cafe, we may juftly boaft, that no nation in the world has (hewn greater mildnefs.
yog XXIX. During thefe proceedings, the cavalry had
B.C. 665. been fent forward to Alba, to remove llie multitude to Rome. Tiie legions were now led thicher, to demolifh the city. As foon as they entered the gates, there enfued not a tumult, or panic, as ii> ulual in cities taken by florm, where the gates being burlt open, or the walls levelled by the ram, or the citadel being taken by force, the fhouts of the enemy, and the troops running furioufly ihrough the city, throw all into confufion with fire and fvvprd ; but gloomy filence, and dumb forrow, fo llupified the inhabit- ants, that, not knowing in their diltradion what to leave behind or what to carry with them, and in- capable of forming any plan, they ftood at their doors, making inquiries of each ot er, or wandered through their own houfes, which they were now to fee for the lafl time. But now, when the horfe- men, with fliouts, urged them to depart, and the crafli of the houfes, which the troops were demo- lifliing in the outer parts of the city, affailed their ears, and the dufl, raifed in diftant places, had filled all parts, enveloping them as with a cloud ; each of them haftily fnatching up whatever he could, and leaving behind his guardian deity, his houfehold gods, and the houfe wherein he had been born and educated, they began their departure, and foon filled the roads with one continued troop of emigrants. The fight of each other continually renewed their tears, through the mutual comraiferation which it excited in every breaft. Their ears were affailed with bitter lamentations, efpecially from the women,
as
OF ROME. 5j
as they paffed the temples which they had been BOOK ufed to revere, now filled with armed foldiers, and I- refleded that they were leaving their gods, as it were, in captivity. When the Albans had evacu- ated the city, the Romans levelled to the ground all the buildings in every part of it, both public and private, and in one hour ruined and deltroyed the work of four hundred years, during which Alba had flood. The temples of the gods, how- ever, they left untouched, for fo the King had com- manded.
XXX. Meanwhile from this deflrudion of Alba, Rome received a confiderable augmentation. The number of citizens was doubled. The Caelian mount was added to the city ; and, in order to induce others to fix their habitations there, 'I'ullus chofe that fituation for his palace, where, from thenceforth, he refided. The perfons of chief note among the Albans, the Tulii, Servilii, Quintii, Geganii, Curiatii, Cloelii, he enrolled among the fenators, that this part of the Hate alio might receive an addition : and, as a confecrated place of meeting for this body, thus augmented, he built a fenate-houfe, which retained the name of Holfilia, even within the memory of our lathers. And, that every order in the Itate mi^^ht receive an acceflion of ftrength from this new people, he chofe from among the Albans ten troops of horfemen. From among them alio he drew recruits, with which he both filled up the old, and formed fome new, legions. Encouraged by this formidable itate of his y.R.ioo. forces, he declared war againfi the Sabines, a B.B. 65a. nation the moft powerful of that age, next to the Etrurians, both in point of numbers, and of fkill in arms. Injuries had been ofiered on both fides, and fatisfadtion demanded in vain. Tullus com- plained that fome Roman traders had been feized in an open fair at the temple of Feronia. The
£ 4 Sabines,
«._.
-V
56 THE HISTORY
BOOK Sabines, that prior to this, fome of their people I« had fled into the Afyluni, and were detained at Rome. Thefe were the reafons afligned for the war. I'he Sabines, refleding that a great part of their original ftrength had been fixed at Rome by Tatius, and that the Roman power had been al(o lately increafed, by the acceflion of the people of Alba, took care, on their part, to look round for foreign aid. Etruria lay in their neighbourhood, and the ftate of the Etrurians ncarell to them was that of the Veientians. From among thefe they procured a number of volunteers, who were in- duced to take part againfl the Romans, principally by the refentment which they ftill retained on account of their former quarrels. Several alfo of the populace, who were indigent and unprovided of a fettlement, were allured by pay. From the government they received no afliftance, and the Veientians, for it was lefs furprifing in others, ad- hered to the terms of the truce ftipulated with Ro- mulus. Vigorous preparations being made on both fides, and it bemg evident, that, whichever party fhould firfl commence holtilities, would have con- fiderably the advantage, Tullus feized the oppor- tunity of making an incurfion into the lands of the Sabines. A furious battle enfued at the wood called Malitiofa, in which the Romans obtained the vidory. For this, they were indebted not only to the firm ftrength of their infantry, but chiefly to the cavalry, which had been lately aug- mented ; fince, by a fudden charge of this body, the ranks of the Sabines were thrown into fuch diforder, that they were neither able to continue the fight, nor to make good their retreat, without great flaughter.
XXXI. After the defeat of the Sabines, the government of Tullus, and the Roman ftate in general, poflefled a large degree of power and of
fame.
I
OF ROME. 57
iaine. At this time an accounf was brought to the B GO K King and the fenate that a (hower of ftoncs had fallen on the Alban mount. This appearing fcarcely credible, and feme perfons being fent to examine into the prodigy, there fell from the air in their fight, a vafl quantity of ftones, like a ftorm of hail. They imagined alfo that they htard a loud voice from the grove on the fummit of the hill, ordering, that the Albans fhould perform religious rites according to the praOice of their native country. Thefe the Albans had entirely negled:ed, as if, with their country, they had alfo abandoned its deities, and had adopted the Roman pradice, or perhaps, incenfed againft fortune, had renounced the worlhip of the gods. On account of the fame prodigy, the Romans alfo inftifuted for themfelves, by order of government, a fellival of nine days ; either in obedience to a voice from heaven, uttered on the Aiban mount, for that likewife is mentioned, or by direction of the arufpices. Be this as it may, it is certain, that, whenever an account was received of a Hmilar phe- nomenon, a feftival for nine days was celebrated. In a (hort time after, the country was afflicted with a peftilence ; and though this neceflarily rendered men averfe to military fcrvice, yet the King, in himfelf fond of war, and perfuaded that young men enjoyed belter health while employed abroad, than when loitering at home, gave them no reft from arms, until he was feized by a tedious diforder. Then, together with the ftrength of his body, the fiercenefs of his fpirit was reduced to fuch a degree, that he, who, lately, thouglit nothing lefs becoming a King, than to bufy his thoughts in matters of religion, became, at once, a Have to every kind of fuperftition, in cafes either of great or of trifling import, and even filled the minds of the people alfo with fuperftitious notions. The generality, comparing the prefent ftate of their %. aft'airs with that which they had enjoyed under
Numa
58 THE HISTORY
BOO K Nunia, became pofleired of an opinion, thnt the only I- profped left them, of being relieved from the fick-
' ^' nefs, was, in obtaining pardon and favour from the gods. It is faid, that the King hin^felf, turning over the commentaries of Numa, and difcovering therein that certain facrifices, of a fecret and folemn nature, had been performed to Jupiter Elicius, fhut himfelf up, and iet about the performance of this folemnity ; but, not having undertaken, rr conducted, the rites in due form, he not only failed of obtaining any notification from the gods, but, through the refent- ment of Jupiter, for being addreffed in an improper manner, was (truck with lightning, and reduced to aflics, together with his houfe. Tullus reigned thirty-two years, highly renowned for his military atchievements.
^'. R.I 14. XXXII. On the death of Tullus, the direction of B.C.6;^8. affairs, according to the mod^ adopted from the beginning, fell into the hands of the fenate ; they nominated an interrex, who prefided at the election, when the people created Ancus Marcius King, and llie fenate approved of their choice. Ancus Mar- cius was the grandfon of Numa Pompilius, by his daughter. As foon as he was in pofieffion of the throne, reflecting on the glory which his grand- father had acquired, and confidering that the late reign, though highly honourable in other relpects, yet, in one particular, had been very deficient, the affairs of religion having been either quite neglected or improperly managed, he judged it to be a matter of the utmoft confequence, to provide that the public worfhip fhould be performed in the manner infti- tuted by Numa, and ordered the pontiff" to make a tranfcript of every particular rite, from the com- mentaries of that King, on white tables, and to ex- pofe it to the v'ew of the people. From thefe pro- ceedings, not only his fubjecls, whofe wifhes tended to peace, but the neighbouring Hates alfo, conceived
hopes
^OF ROME. 59
hopes that the King would conform himfelf to the BOOK mariners and inftitutions of his grandfather. In con- I- fcquence of which, the Latincs, with whom a treaty had been concluded in the reign of Tullus, aflumed new courage, and made an incurfion into the Ro- man territories ; and, when the Romans demanded fatisfadlion, returned a haughty anfwer, imagining the Roman King fo averfe to action, that he would fpend his reign among the chapels and altars. The genius of Ancus was of a middle kind, partaking both of that of Numa and of Romulus. He was fenfible, not only that peace had been more necefl'ary in the reign of his grandfather, to a people who •were but lately incorporated and dill uncivilized, but alfo, that the tranquillity, which had obtained at that time, could not now be prderved, with- out a tame fubmiflion to injuries ; ihat they were making trial of his patience, and would foon come to delpile it ; in fliort, that the times required a King like Tullus, rather than one like Numa. However, being defirous, that, as Numa had inftituted the religious rites to be obferved in time of peace, fo the ceremonies, to be obferved in war, ftiould have him- felf for their founder, and that wars ihould not only be waged, but be proclaimed likewife, according to a certain eflabliflied mode, he borrowed from the antient race of the iEquicola;, that form of demand- ing fatisfadion which is flill ufed by the heralds. The ambaflador, when he comes to the frontiers of the flate, from whom fatisfadion is demanded, having his head covered with a fillet of wool, fays, " O Jupiter, hear me ! hear, ye frontiers,*' (naming the ibite to which they belong) *' let juftice hear ; *' 1 am a public melfenger of the Roman people. ** I come, an ambaflador duly authorized, according " to the forms of juflice and religion ; let my words " therefore meet with credit." He then makes his demands, and afterwards appeals to Jupiter : " If I " demand that thofe perfons, and thofe effeds, fhould
« be
fco THE HISTORY
BOOK ** be given up to me, the meflenger of the Roman I. " people, contrary to juflice and the law of nations, " then fuffer me not to enjoy my native country." Thefe words he repeats, when he paiTes over th« boundaries ; the fame, to the firft perfon that he meets ; again, when he enters the gate ; and laftly, when he enters the Forum, only making the necef. fary change of a few words in the form of the de- claration and of the oath. If the perfons whom he demands are not given up, then, on the expiration of thirty-three days, that being the number enjoined by the rule, he declares war in this manner : " O *' Jupiter, hear me ! and thou, Juno, Quirinus, and "' all ye gods of heaven, and ye of the earth, and " ye of the infernal regions, hear, I call you to " witnefs, that that people," naming them, who- ever they are, " are unjuft, and do not perform *' what equity requires. But concerning thofe af- " fairs we will confult the elders in our own country, " by what means we may obtain our right." After this, the melfenger returned to Rome, in order that the opinion of the government might be taken. The King immediately confulted the fenate, nearly in thefe words : " Concerning thofe matters, con- " troverfies, and arguments, which were agitated '* between the Pater Patratus of the Roman people, " the Quirites, and the Pater Patratus of the an- " tient Latines, and the antient Latine people, ** which matters ought to have been granted, per- " formed, and difcharged ; but which they have " neither granted, performed, nor difcharged, de- " clarcj" faid he, to the perfon whofe vote he firft afked, " what is your opinion." The other then faid, " I am of opinion, that the performance of *' them ought to be exaded in juft and regular " war, wherefore I confent to and vote for it." The reft were then afked in order, and the ma- jority of thofe prefent being of the fame opinion,
a vote
OF ROME. . ' 6i
a vote paffed for war. It was a cuflomary prac- BOOK
tice for the herald to carry a fpear pointed with I-^
fteel, or burnt at the point and dipped in blood, to
the frontiers, and there, in the prefence of at leall
three grown-up perfons, to fay, " Forafmuch as
*' the ftates of the antient Latines, and the antient
" Latine people, have aded againft and behaved
** unjuftly towards the Roman people the Quirites,
" forafmuch as the Roman people the Quirites
" have ordered that there fliould be war with the
" antient Latines, and the fenate of the Roman peo-
** pie the Quirites have given their opinion, con-
*' fented, and voted that war (hould be made with
" the antient Latines ; therefore I, and the Roman
" people, do declare and make war againfl: the
'*■ ftates of the antient Latines, and the antient La-
*• tine people ;" and faying this, he threw the fpear
within their boundaries. In this manner was fatis-
fadion demanded from the Latines, at that time,
and war declared ; fucceeding generations adopted
the fame method.
XXXIII. Ancus, having committed the care of religious affairs to the flamens and other priefts, affembled a new army, fet out to the war, and took Politorium, a city of the Latines, by ftorm. Then, purfuing the pradice of former Kings, who had aug- mented the power of the Roman Rate, by receiving enemies into the number of their citizens, he removed the whole multitude to Rome ; and, as the original Romans entirely occupied the ground round the Palatium, the Sabines the Capitol with* the cita- del, and the Albans the Cselian Mount, the Aven- tine was affigned to this body of new citizens ; and in a little time after, on the reduction of Tellenae and Ficana, an additional number of inhabitants were fettled in the fame place. Politorium was foon after attacked, a fecond time, by the Roman forces, the antient Latines having taken poffeffion
of
6i THE HISTORY
BOOK of It, when left without inhabitants ; and this induced !• the Romans to demoiifh that city, that it might not again ferve as a receptacle ior the enemy. At length, the whole force of the Latine war was col- leded about MeduUia, and the conteft was carried on there with various fuccefs : for the city was not only well defended by works, and fecured by a ftrong garrifon, but the army of the Latines, having pitched their camp in the open country, fought the Romans feveral times in clofc engagement. At lafl, Ancus, making a vigorous effort with all his force, hrft defeated them in the field, and then made himv felf mailer of the city, from whence he returned, with immenfe booty, to Rome. On this occafion too, many thoufands of the Latines, being admitted into the number of citizens, had ground allotted to them near the temple of Murcia, in order to unite the Aventine to the Palatine hill. 'J'he Janiculum alfo was taken in, not for want of room, but to pre- vent its ferving, at any time, as a place of ftrength to an enemy ; and it was determined that this (hould be joined to the city, not only by a wall, but like- wife, for the convenience of paffage, by a wooden bridge, which was then firfl built over the Tiber, The Quiritian trench alfo, no inconfiderable defence to thofe parts, which, from their low fituation, are of eafy accefs, is a work of King Ancus. In confe- quence of thefe vafl acceflions to the flate, and the numbers of people becoming fo very large, many, difregarding the dillindtions between right and wrong, committed various crimes, and efcaped dif- covery. In order to fupprefs by terror the boldnefe which the vicious aflumed from hence, and which gained ground continually, a prifon was built in the middle of the city, adjoining the Forum : and not only the city, but the territory alfo and boundaries of the (late, were extended by this King. The Mae- fian foreft was taken away from the Veientians, the Roman dominion extended as far as the fea, and the
lo city
OF ROME. 63
city of OIHa built at the mouth of the Tiber, near BOOK which, falt-pits were formed ; and in confequence of ^' the glorious fuccefs obtained in war, the temple of ^' Jupiter Feretrius was enlarged.
XXXIV. During the reign of Ancus, a perfon X*5*i*** named Lucumo, of an enterprifmg fpirit, and pof- ' ' ^ ' fefl'cd of great wealth, came and fettled at Rome, led principally by ambition, and hopes of attaining higher honours than he could expetl at Tarquinu, where alfo he was confidered as an alien. He was the fon of Deniaratus a Corinthian, who, having left his native country, in confequence of fome inteltine commotions, happened to fix his refidence at Tar- quinii, and marrying there, had two fons. Their names were Lucumo and Aruns. Lucumo furvived his father, and inherited all his property. Aruns died belore the father, leaving a wife pregnant. The father did not long furvive his fon, and not knowing that his daughter-in-law was with child, he died, without taking any notice of a grandfon in his will, fo that the boy, who was bom after his grand- father's deceafe, not being entitled to any ftiare of his property, was called, from the poverty of his fituation, Egerius. Lucumo, on the other hand, be- coming fole heir, was, by his riches, infpired with elevated notions ; and th^fe were much increafed by his marriage with I'anaquil, a woman of the highelt diftindion, who could not endure, with patience, that the rank of the man whom ihe had married, fhould remain inferior to that of the family which gave her birth. As the Etrurians looked with con- tempt on Lucumo, the defcendant of a foreign exile, Ihe could not fupport the indignity, but, difregarding her natural attachment to her country, in compa- rifon with the pleafure of feeing her hufband raifed to an honourable rank, formed the defign of re- moving from Tarquinii. Rome appeared bed fuited to her purpofe. In a new ftate, where all nobility
was
^4 THE HISTORY
BOOK was of late date, and acquired by merit, (he thought I. there would be room for a man of fpirit and induftry. She confidered that Tatius, a Sabine, had enjoyed the throne; that Numa had been called to the crown from Cures ; and that Ancus was of a Sabine family by his father, and could fhew only the fmgle image of Numa to entitle him to nobility. It was not difficult to perfuade her hufband, who was am- bitious of honours, and had no natural attachment to Tarquinii, except through his mother, to enter into her defigns. Wherefore, carrying their effeds along with them, they fet out together for Rome. They happened to come through the Janiculum ; there, as he fat in the chariot with his vvife, an eagle, fuf- pending herfelf on her wings, (looped gently, and took off his cap, and, after hovering for feme time over the chariot, with loud fc reams, replaced it in its proper pofition on his head, as if fhe iiad been fent by fome deity to perform that office ; and then, fly- ing up into the air,, difappeared. It is faid, that this augury was received with great joy by Tanaquil, who was well (killed in celefl:ial prodigies, as the Etrurians generally are. Embracing her hufband, (he defired him to cherilh hopes of high and magnificent fortune, for that fuch a bird, from fuch a quarter of the heaven, the meffenger of fuch a deity, portended no lefs ; that it had exhibited the omen on the inoft elevated part of the human body, and had lifted up the ornament, placed on the head of man, in order to replace it on the fame part, by direction of the gods. Full of thefe thoughts and expedations, they advanced into the city, and having purchafed a houfe there, they gave out his name as Lucius Tarquinius. The circum- ftance of his being a flranger, and his wealth, foon attracted the general notice of the Romans ; nor was he wanting, on his part, in aiding the efforts of for- tune in his favour ; he conciliated the friendfhip of all, to the utmoft of his power, by his courteous ad- drefs, hofpitable entertainments, and generous acts ;
at
OF ROME.
at laft his charader reached even the palace. Hav- ing thus procured an introdudion there, he foon improved it to fuch a degree, by his politenefs and dexterity in paying his court, that he was admitted to the privileges of familiar friendfhip, and was con- fulted in all affairs both public and private, foreign and domeflic, and having acquitted himfelf to fatif- fadion in all, was at length, by the King's will, ap- pointed guardian to his children. Ancus reigned twenty-four years, equal in renown, and in the arts both of peace and war, to any of the former Kings.
XXXV. The fons of Ancus had now nearly reached the age of manhood ; for which reafon Tarquinius the more earneltly preffed, that an affem- bly might be convened as fpeedily as poilible for the election of a King. The proclamation for this pur- pofe being iffued, when the time approached, he lent the youths to a diftance, on a hunting party. He is faid to have afforded the firft inftance ot making way to the crown, by paying court to the people, and to have made a fpeech, compofed for the purpofe of gaining the affedions of the populace ; telling them, that *' It was no new favour which he folicited ; if •' that were the cafe, people might indeed be dif- *' pleafed and furprized ; that he was not the firil *' foreigner, but the third, who aimed at thegovern- " ment of Rome : — that Tatius, from being not " only a foreigner, but even an enemy, was made " King ; and Numa, entirely unacquainted with the *' city, and not propofmg himfelf as a candidate, *' had been, from their own choice, invited to ac- " cept the crown : — that he, as foon as he be- " came his own mafter, had removed to Rome, " with his wife and all his fubftance : — that he " had fpent the moft adive pr.t of his life Jtl " Rome: -—that both in civil and military em- " ployments he had learned the Roman laws " and Roman cuftoms, under fuch a mafter as
VOL. I. F *' ought
66 THE HISTORY
BOOK ** ought to be wlfhed for. King Ancus hlmfelf: — ^- " that in duty and obedience to the King, he had ' ''' ' ** vied with all men ; in kindnefs towards others, *^ with the King himfelf." As thefe aflertions were no more than the truth, the people unanimoufly con- fented that he fhould be eleded King. And this Y.R.I 38. was the rcafon that this man, of extraordinary merit 13. C. 614. jj^ other rcfpects, retained, through the whole courfe of his reign, the fame affectation of popularity which he had ufed in fuing for the crown. For the pur- pofe of flrengthening his own authority, as well as of increafmg the power of the commonwealth, he added an hundred to the number of the fenate, who afterwards were entitled, " minorum gentium,'* /. e. of the younger families, and neceffarily conftituted a party in favour of the King, by whofe kindnefs they had been brought into the fenate. His firft war was '•^ith the Latines, from whom he took the city Ap- /* 'piolee by florm ; and having brought from thence a greater quantity of booty than had been expected, from a war of fo little confequence, he exhibited games in a more expenfive and fplendid manner than any of the former Kings. On that occafion, the ground was firfl marked out for the Circus, which is noWcalled " maximus " (the principal), in which certain divifions were fet apart for the fenators and knights, where each were to build feats for them- felves, which were called Fori (benches). They remained, during the exhibition, on thefe feats, fup- ported by pieces of timber, twelve feet high from the ground : the games confided of horfe-races, and the performances of wreftlers, colle£ted moftly from Etruria; and from that time continued to be cele- brated annually, being termed the Roman, and, fometimes, the great games. By the fame King, lots for building were affigned to private perjfcns, round the Forum, where porticoes and {hops were eredted.
XXXVI. He
OF ROME. 67
J.
XXXVI. He intended alfo to have furrounded ^ O O K the city with a ftone wall ; but a war with the Sa- ^ bines interrupted his defigns. And fo fuddenly did this break out, that the enemy pafled the Anio, be- fore the Roman troops could march out to meet them, and flop their progrefs. This produced a great alarm at Rome, and, in the fird engagement, the vidory remained undecided, after great flaughter on both fides. The enemy afterwards having re- tired to their camp, and allowed the Romans lime to prepare for the war anew, Tarquinius, obferving that the principal defed of his army was the want of cavalry, refolved to add other centuries to the j^ Ramnenfes, Titienfes, and Luceres, inftituted by Romulus, and to leave them diftinguifhed by his own name. As Romulus, when he hr(l formed this inftitution, had made ufe of augury, Accius Naevi<»<' a celebrated augur at that time, infifled that no aU^ ration or addition could be made to it, without the fandion of the birds. The King was highly dif- pleafed at this, and, in ridicule of the art, faid, as we are told, " Come, you diviner, difcover, by Your " augury, whether what I am now thinking or can " be accomplifhcd.** The other having tried the matter according to the rules of augury, and declared that it could be accomplished, " Well," faid he, ** what I was thinking of was, whether you could " cut a whetftone in two with a razor. Take thefe, " then, and perform what your birds portend to be " pra<5licable.*' On which, as the ftory goes, h©, without any difficulty, cut the whetltone. There was a ftatue of Accius, with a fillet on his head, in the place where the tranfadion happened, in the Comi- tium * or place of aflembly, juft on the rteps, at the left-hand fide of the fenate-houfe. It is alfo faid, that the whetftone was fixed in the fame place,
* The'Comitium was a part of the Roman Forum, where, in eai ly times, aflemblies of the people were held i and the aflem- blik-a of the Curiae always.
F 2 there
68 THE HISTORY
BOOK' there to remain, as a monument of this miracle, to I. pofterity. This is certain, that the refpeft paid to
"—^''■**^ auguries, and the office of augurs, rofe fo high, that, from that time forth, no bufinefs either of war or peace was undertaken without confulting the birds : meetings of the people, embodying of ar- mies, the mofl important concerns of the ftate, were poflponed when the birds did not allow them. Nor did Tarquinms then make any change in the number of the centuries of the knights, but doubled the number in each, fo that there were one thoufand eight hundred men in the three centuries. The additional men were only diftinguifhed by the ap- pellation of the younger, prefixed to the original names of their centuries ; and thefe at prefent, for they have been fmce doubled, are called the Six Centuries.
XXXVII. Having augmented this part of his army, he came to a fecond engagement with the Sabines. And here, befides that the Roman army had an addition of flrength, a ftratagem alfo was made ufe of, which the enemy, with all their vigi- lance, could not elude. A number of men were fent to throw a great quantity of timber, which lay on the bank of theAnio, into the river, after fetting it on fire ; and the wind being favourable, the blazing timber, mod of which was placed on rafts, being driven againfl the piers, where it ftuck faft, burned down the bridge. This event not only ftruck terror into the Sabines during the fight, but prevented their retreating when they betook themfelves to flight, fo that great numbers who had efcaped the enemy, perifhed in the river: and their arms being known at the city, as they floated in the Tiber, gave certain aflurance of the victory, fooner almofl: than any meflTenger could ar- rive. In that battle the cavalry gained extraordinary honour. We are told, that being pofted on both wings, when the line of their infantry which formed
OF ROME. 69
the centre was obliged to give ground, they made BOOK fo furious a charge on the flanks of the enemy, that I- they not only checked the Sabine legions, who were '' '" vigoroufly prefling the troops which gave way, but quickly put them to the rout. The Sabines fled precipitately toward the mountains, which but few of them reached. The greateft part, as has been mentioned, were driven by the cavalry into the river. Tarquinius, judging it proper to -purfue the enemy clofely, before they fhould recover from their difniay, as foon as he had fent off the booty and prifoners to Rome, and burned the fpoils, collected together in a great heap, according to a vow which he had made to Vulcan, proceeded to lead his army forward into the Sabine territories. On the other hand, the Sabines, though they had met with a defeat, and had no reafon to hope that they fliould be able to retrieve it, yet, their circumflances not allowing time for deliberation, advanced to meet him, with fuch troops as they had haftily levied ; and being routed a fecond time, and reduced almofl to ruin, a they fued for peace.
XXXVIII. Collatia, and all the land around that city, was taken from the Sabines, and Egerius, fon to the King's brother, was left there with a garrifon. This was the manner, as I underftand, in which the people of Collatia came under the dominion of the Romans, and this was the form of the furrender. The King aiked, " Are ye ambafl'adors and deputies " on behalf of the people of Collatia, to furrender " yourfelves, and the people of Collatia ?'* *' We " are." — " Are the people of Collatia in their " own difpofal ?'* " They are." — " Do ye fur- " render yourfelves and the people of Collatia, to- " gether with your city, lands, waters, boundaries, " temples, utenfils, all property both facred and " common, under my dominion, and that of the " Roman people ?" " We do furrender them."— " Well, 1 receive them." The Sabine war being
F 'I thus
70 THE HISTORY
BOOK thus concluded, Tarquinius returned in triumph to I. Rome*. Soon after this, he made war on the ancient Latines, during which there happened no general engagement. By leading about his army to the feveral towns, he reduced the whole Latine race to fubjedion. Corniculum, old Ficulnea, Ca- meria, Cruftumerium, Ameriola, MedulUa, Nomen- tum, all thefe, which either belonged to the ancient Latines, or had revolted to them, were taken, and foon after peace was re-cftabliflicd. He then applied himfeif to works of peace, with a degree of fpirit, which even exceeded the efforts that he had made in war : fo that the people enjoyed little more rcfl at home, than they had during the campaigns : for he fet about furroundiiig with a wall of (tone, thofe parts of the city which he had not already fortified ; which woVk had been interrupted, at the beginning, by the war of the Sabines. 'I'he lower parts of the city about the Forum, and the other hollows that lay between the hills, from whence it was difficult to difcharge the water, by reafon of their fituaiion, he drained, by means of fewers drawn on a flope down to the Tiber. He alfo marked out, and laid the foundations for inclofing, a court round the temple of Jupiter, in the Capitol, which he had vowed during the Sabine war, his mind already prefaging the future magnificence of the place.
XXX IX. About that time a prodigy was feen in the palace, wonderful, both in the appearance and in the event. They relate that, whilft a boy, whofe name was Servius Tullius, lay afleep, his head blazed with fire, in the fight of many people ; that, by the loud cries of aftonifhment, occafioned by fuch a miraculous appearance, the King and Queen were
* This is the firft initanceof a regfular triumph mentioned in the Roma:i Hiflory; the invention of which ceremony is, by feme, afcribf d to Tarquinius. For a full accourit of the Ro- man triumph, fee Dr. Adam.
* alarmed ^
OF ROME.
7'
alarmed ; and that when fome of the fervants brought BOOK water to extinguifh it, the Queen prevented them ; ^ I- and, having quieted the uproar, forbad the boy to be difturbed until he awoke of his own accord. In a fliort time, on his awaking the flame difappeared. Then Tanaquil, calling her hutband afide, to a private place, faid to him, " Do you fee this boy, whom we " educate in fuch an humble ftyle ? Be alTured that " he will hereafter prove a light to difpel a gloom " which will lie heavy on our affairs, and will be the " fupport of our palace in dillrefs. Let us there- " fore, with every degree of attention that we can " bellow, nouriih this plant, which is, hereafter, to " become the greateft ornament to our family, and " our ftate.'* From that time they treated the boy as if he were their own child, and had him inllrufted in all thofe liberal arts, by which the mind is" qualified to fupport high rank with dignity. That is eafily brought to pafs which is pleafmg to the gods. The youth proved to be of a difpofition truly royal, fo that when Tarquinius came to look for a fon-in-law, there was not one among the Roman youth who could be fet in competition with him, in any kind of merit j and to him Tarquinius betrothed his daughter. This extraordinary honour conferred on him, whatever might be the reafon for it, will not let us believe that he was born of a flave, and had himfelf been a flave in his childhood : I am rather inclined to be of their opinion, who fay, that, when Comiculum was taken, the wife of Servius TuUius, the principal man in that city, being pregnant when her hufband was flain, and being known among the red of the prifoners, and, on account of her high rank, exempted from fervi- tude by the Roman Queen, was delivered of a fon at Rome, in the houfe of Tarquinius Prifcus : that, in confequence of fuch kind treatment, an inti- macy grew between the ladies, and that the boy alfo being brought up in the houfe, from his infancy, was
F 4 highly
— V
72 THE HISTORY
BOOK highly beloved and refpeded ; and that the circirm- I. fiance of his mother having fallen into the enenny's hands, on the taking of her native city, gave rife to the opinion of his being born of a flave.
XL. About the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Tarquinius, Servius TuUius flood in the higheft degree of eftimation, not only with the King, but with the fenate and the commons. At this time, the two fons of Ancus, although they had before this always con- fidered it as the higheft indignity, that they fhould be expelled from the throne of their father, by the perfidy of their guardian, and that the fovereignty of Rome fhould be enjoyed by a ftranger, whole family, fo far from being natives of the city, were not even natives oFltaly, yet now felt their indignation rife to a higher pitch of violence, at the probability that the crown was not to revert to them even after Tarquinius, but was to continue to fink one flep after another, until it fell on the head of a flave : fo that, within the fpace of a little more than an hundred years from the time when Romulus, defcended from a deity, and himfelf a deity, had, during his abode on earth, held the government, a flave, the fon of a flave, fhould now get polTeflion of it. They looked on it as a difgrace to the Roman name in general, and par- ticularly to their own houfe, if, while there was male iffue of King Ancus furviving, the government of Rome fhould be proRituted not only to ftrangers, but to flaves. They determined, therefore, to prevent this difhonour by the fword. But refentment for the injury which they had fuffered flimulated them flrongly to attack Tarquinius himfelf, rather than Servius; and alfo the confideration that the King, if he furvived, would be able to take feverer vengeance for any murder committed than a private perfon could ; and that, befides, were Servius put to death, it was to be expeded that whatever other fon-in-law he might
choofe.
OF ROME. 73
choofe, would be made heir of the kingdom. BOOK For thefe reafons, they formed a plot againft the I- King himfelf ; for the execution of which, two of the moft undaunted of the (liepherds were chofen, who, armed with the iron tools of huibandmen, which they were ufed to carry, pretended a quarrel in the porch of the palace, and attracted, by their outrage- ous behaviour, the attention of all the King's attend- ants : then both appealing to the King, and their clamour having reached the palace, they were called in, and brought before him. At firll: they both bawled aloud, and each furioufly abufed the ©ther, until, being rebuked by a lifter, and ordered to fpeak in their turns, they defifled from railing. Then, as they had concerted, one began to explain the affair ; and while the King, attentive to him, was turned quite to that fide, the other, raifing up his axe, ftruck it into his head, and leaving the weapon in the wound, they both ruflied out of the houfe.
XLI. Whilft the perfons prefent raifcd up Tar- quinius, who fcarcely retained any figns of lite, the lidors feized the allallins, who were endeavouring to efcape. An uproar immediately enfued, and the people ran together in crowds, furprifed, and eager to be informed of what had happened. Tanaquil, during this tumult, turned out every perfon from the palace, and ordered the doors to be (hut, and at the fame rime appeared to be very bufy in pro- curing fuch things as were neceflarv for the drelling of the wound, as if there were realon to hope ; nor did (he negled to provide other means of fafety, in cafe her hopes (hould fail. Sending inftantly ror Servius, and fliewing him her hulband juft expiring, (lie laid hold of his right hand, belought him that he would not fuller the death of his father-in-law to pals unrevenged, nor his mother-in-law to be expofed to the inlults of their enemies. " Ser- " vius,*' faid (he, " if you ad as a man, the king- Q " dom
74
B06K 1,
THE HISTORY
dom is yours, and not theirs, who, by the hands of others, have perpetrated the bafeft of crimes. Call forth your beft exertions, and follow the guidance of the gods, who formerly, by the divine fire which they fpread around your head, ^'v an evident indication that it would aftcrvs be crowned with glory. Now let that heavenly flame roufe you. Now awake to real glory. We, though foreigners, have reigned before you. Confider your prefent fituation, not of what family you are fprung. If the fuddennefs of this event deprives you of the power of forming plans of your own, then follow mine." When the cla- mour and violence of the populace could hardly be withftood, Tanaquil addrelfed them from the upper part of the palace, through the windows facing the new ftrect ; for the King refided near the temple of Jupiter Stator. She defired them " not to be " difheartcned :" told them, that " the King had *' been ftunned by a fudden blow ; that the weapon " had not funk deep into his body ; that he had come " to himfelf again ; that when the blood was wiped ** oflF, the wound had been examined, and all appear- *' ances were favourable ; that fhe hoped he might ** be able to (hew himfelf to them again in a few *' days ; and that, in the mean time, he commanded " the people to obey the orders of Servius TuUius ; " that he would adminifter juilice, and fupply the ** King's place in other departments." Servius came forth in the robe of (late, attended by the lie- tors, and feating himfelf on the King's throne,* adjudged fome caufes, and, concerning others, pre- tended that he would confult the King. Thus, though Tarquinius had already expired, his death was concealed for feveral days ; while Servius, under the appearance of fupplying the place of another, ftrengthened his own intereft. Then, at length, the truth being made public, and loud lamentations raifed in the palace, Servius, fupported by a ftrong
guard.
OF ROME. f^
guard, with the approbation of the fenate, took pof- B OOlt feflion of the kingdom, being the firft who attained I- the fovereignty without the orders of the people. '^ ''^ The fons of Ancus, as foon as they found that the Y.R.176. inftruments of their villainy were feized, and under- B.C.576. flood that the King was alive, and that the interefl of Servius was fo flrong, had gone into exile to Sueffa Pometia.
XLII. And now Servius laboured to confirm his authority, not only by fchemes of a public, but by others of a private nature. And left the fons of Tarquinius fhould entertain the fame fentiments of refentment againft him, which had animated the fons of Ancus againft Tarquinius, he joined his two daughters in marriage to the young princes, the Tar- quinii, Lucius and Aruns. But by no human de- vices could he break through the unalterable decrees of fate, or prevent envy of the fovereign power from raifing difcord and animofity, even among thofe of his own family. Very feafonably for pre- ferving ftability to the prefent eftabliftiment, war was undertaken againft the Veientians, the truce with them having expired, and againft the other Etrurians. In that war, both the valour and the good fortune of Tullius were very coi^fpicuous: and, after vanquilhing a powerful army of the ene- my, he returned to Rome, no longer confidering his authority as precarious, whether it \^ere to depend on the difpofition of the patricians towards Tiimfelf, or on that of the commons. He then entered on an improvement in civil polity of the utmoft importance, intending, that, as Numa had been the founder of fuch inftitutions as related fo the worftiip of the gods, fo pofterity ftiould celebrate Servius, as the author of every diftinftion between tht members of the ftate ; and of that fubordination of ranks, by means of which, the limits between the feveral degrees of dignity and fortune are exactly
afcertained.
76 THE HISTORY
BOOK afccrtalned. For he inftituted the Cenfus, an ordi- ^' nance of the mod falutary confequence, in an empire Y R^jQ-' that was to rife to fuch a pitch of greatnefs ; ac- ^'C'SSS' ^^^^^"S t° which the feveral fervices requifitc in war ami peace were to be difcharged, not by every perfon indifcriminately, as formerly, but according to the proportion of their feveral properties. He then, according to the Cenfus, formed the plan of the Clafles and Centuries, and the arrangement which fubfifts at prefent, calculated to preferve re- gularity and propriety in all tranfaclions either of peace or war.
XLIII. Of thofe who poflefled a hundred thou- fand aj^es *, or more, he formed eighty Centuries, forty elder, and the fame number of younger t. The colledive body of thefe was denominated the firfl; clafs. The bufmcfs of the elder was to guard the city ; that of the younger, to carry on war abroad. The arms which they were ordered to pro- vide, were a helmet, fhield, greaves, coat of mail, all of brafs — thfefe for the defence of the body : their weapons of offence were a fpear and a fword. To this clafs were added two Centuries of artificers, who were to ferve without arms ; the fervice al- lotted to them was to attend the machines in war. The fortune fixed for the fecond clafs, was from a hundred down to feventy-five thoufand ajes { : of thefe, elder and younger, were formed twenty Centuries : the arms for thefe were, a buckler, inftead of a fhield, and all the reft, except the coat of mail, the fame with the former. The for- tune of the third clafs he fixed at fifty thoufand qffes § : the number of Centuries was the fame,
* 32 al. 1 8s. 4d. according to Dr.Arbuthnot's calculation, f The elder, confifted of thofe who had attained to forty-fix years of age ; the younger, frona feventeen to forty-fix. t 3421. 3s, 9d. § 161I. 9s. 2d.
and
OF ROME. 77
and thefe regulated by the fame diflinfHons of BOOK age ; nor was any difference made in their arms, I- only the greaves were taken from them. In the ' -^ fourth clals the fortune was twenty-five thoufand affes * : the fame number of Centuries were formed : their arms were different ; they were allowed none but a fpear and a buckler. The fifth clafs was larger j it contained thirty Centuries : thefe carried flings and ft ones, which they were to throw. Among thefe, the extraordinaries, trumpeters, and fifers, were diftributed into three Centuries. This clafs was rated at eleven thoufand qffesf. The reft of the populace were comprehended under an efti- mate lower than this, and of them was formed one Century, exempted from military fervice. The foot forces being thus diftinguifhed and armed, he en- rolled twelve Centuries of horfemen from among the principal perfons of the ftate. He formed like- wife fix other Centuries, out of the three inftituted by Romulus, preferving ftill the original names un- der which they had been incorporated. Ten thou- fand qffes { were given thefe out of the public funds, to purchafe horfes ; and certain widows were ajj- pointed, who were to pay them annually two thou- fand qffes § each, towards the maintenance of their horfes. In all thefe inftances, the burthen was taken off from the poor, and laid on the rich. To make the latter fome amends, additional honours were con- ferred on them. For henceforth fuffrages were given, not according to the mode eftabliflied by Romulus, and retained by the other Kings, man by man promifcuoufly, with equal weight, and equal privileges; but degrees of precedency were eftablifhed in fuch a manner, that while no one appeared to be excluded from giving his fuftVage, ftill the whole power was lodged in the chiefs of the ftate : the
* 8ol. 14s. 7d. f 35I. los. 5d.
t 32!. 5s. lod. § 61. 9s. 2d.
knights
^8 THE HISTORY
BOOK knights being firfl called, then the eighty Centuries I. of the higher cliifs. If there was a ' '' - -ice of opinion among thefe, which feldom h<.i , then
the Centuries of the fecond clafe were to be called ; and fcarcely ever did an inllance occur of their de- fcending beyond this, fo as to come to the lowefl: claffes. Nor ought it to be wondered at, that the ar» rangement, which fubfifts at prefent, after the tribes had been increafed to thirty-five, and the number of them aluioft doubled, does not agree in the number of Centuries younger and elder, with the amount of thofe inftituted by Servius Tullius: for the city being laid out into four divifions, according to the feveral quarters and hills (the parts that were inhabited), thefe were what he called Tribes, I fuppofe from the tribute ; for the mode of the people's paying their fhares of this, in an equal proportion to their rated property, took its rife alfo from him : nor had thefe tribes any relation to the number and diftribution of the Centuries.
XLIV. When the Cenfus was completed, which he had expedited by the terrors of a law paflTed con- cerning fuch as fhould negleft to attend it, with denunciations of confinement and death, he iflued a proclamation, that all citizens of Rome, horfe and foot, fhould aflemble in the Campus Martius at the dawn of day, each in his refpedlive Century ; and having there drawn up the whole army in order, he performed the luftradon or purification of it, by the ceremonies and facrifices called Suovetaurilia*. This was called the clofing of the luftrum, becaufe it was the conclufion of the Cenfus. In that furvey eighty thoufand citizens are faid to have been rated. Fabius Pi£tor, the mod ancient of our writers, adds, that this was the number of thofe who were able to
* So called from the viftims, fusy ovis, taurus, a fwine, a iheep, and bull ; which, after being three times led round the army, were offered ia facrifice to Mars. See Adam.
bear
OF ROME. 7f
bear arms. To accommodate fo great a multitude, BOOK it was found neceffary to enlarge the city in propor- I- tion i" he added to it, therefore, two hills, the Quiri- nal and Viminal, and immediately adjoining the latter extended the limits of the Efquilia% and there fixed his own refidence, in order to bring the place into repute. He furrounded the city with a ram- part, trenches, and a wall, and thus extended th© Pomcerium. Thofe who confider merely the ety- mology of the word, explain Pomcerium, as denoting a fpace on the outfide of the wall, Poftmoerium : but it is rather a fpace on each fide of the wall, which the Etrurians, formerly, on the founding of cities, confecrated with the ceremonies ufed by augurs, in the direction wherein they intended the wall fhould run, of a certain breadth on both fides of it ; with the intention that, on the infide, no build- ings (hould be ereded clofe to the walls, though now they are, in many places, joined to them ; and alfo that, on the outfide, a certain fpace of ground Ihould lie open and unoccupied. This fpace, which it was unlawful either to inhabit or to till, the Romans called Pomcerium, not becaufe it was on the outfide of the wall, any more than becaufe the wall was on the outfide of it : and always, on occa^ fion of an addition being made to the city, as far as they intended that the walls fliould advance out- ward, fo far thefe facred limits were extended.
XLV. Having increafed the power of the ft ate by this enlargement of the city, and made every in- ternal regulation that appeared beft adapted to the exigencies both of war and peace, the King, who wifhed that the acquifition of power fhould not always depend on the mere force of arms, laid a fcheme for extending his dominion, by the wifdom of his counfels, and raifing. at the fame time, a con- fpicuous ornament to the city. The temple of Diana at Ephefus was at that time univerfally celebrated,
and
8o THE HISTORY
BOOK and it was commonly believed, that it had been built I by a general contribution from the feveral dates of Afia : Servius, in converfation with the chietr ;icn of the Latines, with whom he had taken pains to form connections of hofpiiality and friend (hip, both in his public and private capacity, ufed frequently, in the flrongefl terms, to recommend concord and a fecial union between their feveral gods ; and by often repeating the fame fentiments, prevailed fo far at lad, that the Latine flates agreed to build, in conjundlion with the Roman people, a temple to Diana at Rome. This was an acknowledgment that Rome was the fovereign head of both nations, a point which had been fo often difputcd in arms. But though the Latines, finding all their efforts in war ineffectual, feemed now to have thrown afide all concern with regard to that matter, yet among . the Sabines one particular perfon did not negleft an opportunity, which feemed to be thrown in his way by fortune, of recovering independence, by jthe execution of a fcheme which he planned himfelf. It is related, that this perfon, the head of a family, had a heifer calf of extraordinary fize and beauty produced by one of his cows : her horns, which remained for many ages fixed in the porch of the temple of Diana, were a monument of this wonder. The matter was confidered in the light of a prodigy, as it deferved, and the foothfayers declared, that fovereignty would refide in that ftate whofe fubject fhould facrifice this heifer to Diana ; and this predic- tion had reached the ears of the prieft who had the charge of Diana's temple. The Sabine, as foon as he had fixed on a proper day for the facrifice, drove the heifer to Rome, brought her to the temple of Diana, and placed her before the altar ; the prieft, fufpeCting the truth, from the fize of the viclim, of which he had heard fo much, and remembering the predic- tion, addreffes the Sabine thus : " Stranger, what *' are you preparing to do ? To perform facrifice to
" Diana
OF ROME. 8,
** Diana without the neceflary purification ? Why BOOK " do you not firft dip yourfelf in a running dream ? " The Tiber flows along in the bottom of that vale.** The ftranger, flruck with the fcruple, and anxious to have every thing performed in due order, that the event might anfwer to the prodigy, went down from the temple to the Tiber. In the mean time the Roman facrificed the heifer to Diana, a circum- ftance which gave great pleafure to the King, and to the whole ftate.
XLVI. Servius, though long polTefllon had now rendered his title to the crown indifpiuable, yet having heard that young Tarquinius fometimes threw out infmuations, that he held the government without the order of the people, firft ingratiated himfelf with the commons, by making a genera! diflribution among them of the lands taken from the enemy ; and then ventured to propofe the queltion to the people, wliether they " chofe and ordered " that he Ihould be King ?'* Whereupon he was declared King, with greater unanimity than had ever before appeared on any fimilar occafion. But the event did not leflen the hopes, which Tarquinics had conceived, of being able to feat himfelf on the throne : on the contrary, having obferved that the proceedings, relative to the lands for the commons, were highly difagreeable to the patricians, he em- braced, the more eagerly, the opportunity which this afforded him, of arraigning the conduft of Servius before them, and of increafmg his own influence in the fenate. This young man was naturally of a fiery temper, and his reftlefs fpirit was continually ftimulated at home by his wife Tullia : and the palace at Rome was deftined to exhibit a fcene of tragical villainy ; fo that, difgufted at King?, the people might become more ripe for the afferting of their liberty, and that a reign, founded in wicked- nefs, fliould prove the laft. Whether this Lucius
VOL. I. G Tarqui-
— r-
82 THE HISTORY
BOOK TarquiniuB was the foil or grandfon of Tarqulniu* 1. Prifcus, is not clear ; following, however, the autho- rity of the greater number, I have chofen to call him his fon. He had a brother Aruns Tarquinius, a youth of a mild difpofition ; to thefe two, as has already been mentioned, were married the two Tullias, the King's daughters, who were alfo of widely different tempers. It happened, luckily, that the two violent difpofilions were not united in wed- lock, owing, I prefume, to the good fortune of the Roman people, that the reign of Servius being lengthened, the manners of the people might be fully formed. The haughty Tullia was highly cha- grined, at finding in her hufband no principle either of ambition or enterprize; (he turned, therefore, her whole regard towards the other Tarquinius ; him (he admired, him ftie called a man, and a true defcen- dant of the royal blood ; her fifter (he defpifed, who, having got a man for her hufband, (hewed nothing of that fpirit of enterprize which became a woman. Similarity of difpofition quickly produced an inti- macy between them, as is generally the cafe ; evil is fitteft to confort with its like. But it was the wo- man who fet on foot the fcene of univerfal confufion which followed. In the many private converfations which fhe ufed to hold with her filler's hufband, fhe refrained not from throwing out th^ moft violent re- proaches againfl her own, to his brother, and againfl her fifter, to that fifter's hufband ; affirming, that " it were better that both he and fhe were un- '* married, than to be fo unfuitably matched ; that, *' through the ftupidity of others, they were con- " demned to a life of inactivity. If the gods had *' granted her fuch a hufband, as fhe deferved, *' quickly would be feen in her own houfe, that ** crown which was now upon her father's head.** She foon infpired the young man with notions as defperate as her own. Aruns Tarquinius, and the younger Tullia, dying almofl immediately after,
and
OF ROME. S^
and thus leaving room in their families for new BOOK nuptials, they were joined in matrimony, Ser- I- vius rather not obftruding, than approving of, the match.
XLVII. From that time forward, Tullius, now in an advanced age, found himfelf daily expofed to new difquietudes, and his authority to new dangers ; for Tullia now prepared to proceed from one wicked- nefs to another, and never ceafed, either night or day, teafing her hufband not to let the parricides which they