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History of Rome
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General SummaryMOST eloquent of all Roman historians is Livy (59 B. C.–17 A. D.). His history of Rome begins with Romulus and extends to the reign of Augustus. The first ten books of the work relate the fortunes of the Roman city from its foundation to the consolidation of Roman power in Italy by the subjugation of the Samnites. Modern scholars are not inclined to attach much value as sober history to this earlier part of Livy’s narrative. And indeed the author himself declares that for the first four centuries of Roman history "the facts were obscure by reason of their remote antiquity, like objects which from their great distance are seen with difficulty, and also because in those times written records, which are the only faithful guardians of the memory of events, were few and rare." Whatever their historical importance, the earlier chapters of Livy’s great production are a treasure house of those heroic legends, of those splendid stories of patriotic devotion, which never failed to fire the hearts of noble Romans.
Historical SummaryÆneas, son of Priam, after the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, led a colony of Trojans into Latium, the fated end of his long wanderings by land and sea. And here he married Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus, and founded a city called, after her name, Lavinium. When Æneas died, his son Ascanius succeeded his father as king of the Latins and built a new city under the Alban Hills, named Alba Longa (the "Long White Town"). Now many generations afterwards, King Amulius sat upon the throne of Alba Longa, having wickedly expelled his elder brother, Numitor, from the royal power. And he forced Rhea Silvia, Numitor’s daughter, to become a Vestal Virgin, lest she marry and raise a son to avenge the wrongs of her house. It was decreed by the Fates, however, that she should bear to Mars, the god of war, twirl sons, Romulus and Remus. When Numitor learned of their birth, he ordered the babes to be set adrift on the Tiber. But Heaven guarded them: the river, subsiding, left the trough and its occupants safe on dry land; and a she-wolf, hearing their cries, came and nursed them. In this situation they were discovered by a shepherd, who rescued the children and brought them to his home. After the boys had grown to manhood, they killed the wicked Amulius and restored their grandfather Numitor to his kingdom.
Chapter XIV
Legends of Early Rome1
63. The Founding of Rome3
. . . The government of Alba Longa being thus intrusted to Numitor, Romulus and Remus were seized with the desire of building a city on the spot where they had been exposed and brought up. . . . But ambition to be sole ruler interrupted their plans, and provoked them to a shameful quarrel. Since they were twins, and neither could claim the rights of an elder brother, they agreed to leave it to the gods, under whose protection the place was, to choose by augury which of them should give a name to the new city, and govern it when built. Romulus chose the Palatine1 and Remus the Aventine,1 as points of observation for taking the auguries.
It is said that an omen came to Remus first, in the shape of six vultures. When, after the omen had been declared, twice that number presented themselves to Romulus, each was hailed king by his own party. Remus claimed sovereign power because he had been the first to see any birds; Romulus likewise claimed to have triumphed because he saw more birds than his brother. . . . A common account is that Remus, in derision of his brother, leaped over the newly-erected walls of Rome, and was thereupon slain by Romulus in a fit of passion. "So," said Romulus, "may every one perish hereafter, who shall leap over my walls." Thus Romulus obtained supreme power for himself alone. The city, when built, was called after the name of its founder. . . .
1 Livy. , books i–vi, ix. The translation of D. Spillan, revised by J. H. Freese, E. S. Weymouth, and Francis Storr. London, 1893–1894. George Bell and Sons.
1 Livy, vi, 1.
1 Livy, i, 6–7.
1 Two of the "seven hills" of Rome.
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Chicago: D. Spillan, trans., "The Founding of Rome," History of Rome in Readings in Early European History, ed. Webster, Hutton (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1926), 155–156. Original Sources, accessed December 4, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=LUNC5AFQCMLHMD9.
MLA: . "The Founding of Rome." History of Rome, translted by D. Spillan, in Readings in Early European History, edited by Webster, Hutton, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1926, pp. 155–156. Original Sources. 4 Dec. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=LUNC5AFQCMLHMD9.
Harvard: (trans.), 'The Founding of Rome' in History of Rome. cited in 1926, Readings in Early European History, ed. , Ginn and Company, Boston, pp.155–156. Original Sources, retrieved 4 December 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=LUNC5AFQCMLHMD9.
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