151 



ROMULUS. 



RONGE, JOHANNES. 



152 



wrote the character of his works ; another was afterwards written by 

 his son the Rev. John Romney ; and there is an interesting memoir of 

 him in Allan Cunningham's ' Lives of the British Painters,' &c. 



RO'MULUS. The numerous legends about Romulus, the founder 

 of Rome, may be distributed into two principal classes. One of these 

 represents him as closely connected with the royal family of Alba, and 

 may be considered as the native legend which probably originated 

 among the Romans themselves, and was almost universally believed 

 by the Romans. The second, which connects Romulus with Aeneas 

 and the Trojans, is manifestly of Greek origin, and did not become 

 current until a comparatively late period of the history of Rome. 

 According to the latter story, Romulus was sometimes described as 

 the son of Aeneas, and sometimes as his grandson ; and while some 

 writers mention Romulus alone, others represent him as having a 

 brother (Remus), or several brothers. (See the various modifications 

 of this legend, or rather Greek fabrication, in Festus, s. v. ' Roma ; ' 

 Plut., ' Romul.,' 2 ; and Dionys. Hal., i. 73 ; comp. Niebuhr, i., p. 210, 

 &c.) This story leaves a vacuum in the history of Rome, which 

 amounts to about three centuries and a half, that is, from the return 

 of the heroes from Troy till the middle of the eighth century before 

 Christ, and various means were devised by ancient writers, such as the 

 building of a second, and even of a third Rome, for filling up this gap. 

 But this story, notwithstanding its incongruities, has sometimes been 

 adopted even by Roman writers, such as Sallust, who states that Rome 

 was founded by Trojans, under the guidance of Aeneas. The genuine 

 Roman legend made Romulus and Remus the twin-sons of Silvia, 

 daughter of the Alban king Procas. The royal house of Alba was in 

 later times represented as descended from Aeneas, while others, pre- 

 serving the legend more in its original purity, made no mention of its 

 Trojan descent. The main features of the Roman legend which are 

 preserved in Livy (i. 3, &c. ; Cic., 'De Republ.,' il 5; comp. Plut., 

 ' Romul.,' 3, &c. ; Dionys. Hal., i. p. 61, &c.) are these : 



When Procas, king of Alba, died, he left two sons, Numitor and 

 Amulius. The latter wrested the government from his elder brother, 

 who yielded without a struggle, and lived as a private person in quiet 

 retirement. But Amulius, fearing that the descendants of his brother 

 might punish him for his usurpation, had the son of Numitor mur- 

 dered, and made his daughter Silvia a priestess of Vesta, an office 

 which obliged her to perpetual celibacy. One day however, when 

 Silvia went into the sacred grove to draw water from the well for the 

 service of Vesta, an eclipse of the sun took place, and the maid, 

 frightened by the appearance of a wolf, fled into a cave. Here she 

 was overpowered by Mars, who promised her a glorious offspring. She 

 was delivered of twins, but the god apparently forsook her, for she 

 was condemned and put to death by Amulius, and it was determined 

 that the two children should be drowned in the river Anio. But the 

 river carried the cradle, with the children in it, into the Tiber, which 

 at the time had overflowed its banks. The cradle was driven into 

 shallow water to a wild fig-tree (Ficus Ruminalis) at the foot of the 

 Palatine Hill. A she-wolf, which came to the water to drink, heard 

 the cries of the children, and suckled them ; whilst a woodpecker, 

 which was, like the wolf, an animal sacred to Mars, brought them 

 other food whenever they wanted it. This marvellous spectacle was 

 observed by Faustulus, the herdsman of the flocks of King Amulius, 

 and he took the children and carried them to his wife Acca Laurentia 

 or Lupa. Thus they grew up in the shepherd s straw huts on the 

 Palatine : that in which Romulus was saiii to have lived was kept up 

 to the time of the Emperor Nero. The two youths became the 

 stoutest and bravest among their comrades, with whom they shared 

 their booty. The followers of Romulus were called Quinctilii, and 

 those of Remus, FabiL A quarrel one day broke out between the two 

 brothers and the shepherds of the wealthy Numitor. Remus was 

 taken by a stratagem, and led to Alba before Numitor, who, struck by 

 his appearance and the circumstance of the age of the two brothers, 

 ordered Romulus likewise to be brought before him. Faustulus now 

 disclosed to the young men the secret of their birth, and, with the 

 assistance of the faithful comrades who had accompanied them to 

 Alba, they slew Amulius, and their grandfather Numitor was restored 

 to the government of Alba. 



The love of their humble home however drew the youths back to 

 the banks of the Tiber, to found a new city. The district assigned to 

 them for this purpose by Numitor extended in the direction of Alba 

 as far as the sixth milestone, which was the frontier of the original 

 Ager Romanus, and where, down to a very late period, the Ambarvalia 

 were solemnised. A dispute arising between the brothers as to the 

 site and name of the new city, it was agreed that it should be decided 

 by augury. Romulus took his station on the Palatine, and Remus on 

 the Aveutine. Remus had the first augury, and saw six vultures, but 

 Romulus saw twelve. Considering that his double number was a 

 signal proof of the favour of the gods, Romulus and his party claimed 

 the victory. In observance of the rites customary among the Etrus- 

 cans in the building of towns, Romulus yoked a bullock and a heifer 

 to a plough and drew a furrow round the foot of the Palatine Hill to 

 mark the course of the walls and of the pomerium. Over the parts 

 where he intended to build the gates (portse) he carried (portare) the 

 plough. The new city thus built on the Palatine was called Roma. 

 Remus, who felt indignant at the wrong which he had suffered, in 

 order to show his contempt of the rude and simple fortifications, 



leaped over them ; and Romulus punished his brother's insolence by 

 putting him to death. 



The population of the new city being very small, the gates were 

 thrown open to strangers. Exiles, robbers, runaway slaves, and 

 criminals flocked to the city as an asylum, and found a welcome 

 reception. The only thing they now wanted was women, but none of 

 the neighbouring people were willing to form matrimonial connections 

 with the new settlers. Romulus therefore had recourse to a stratagem : 

 he proclaimed that festive solemnities and games should be held in the 

 city, and he invited his neighbours the Latins and Sabines to attend 

 them with their daughters. In the midst of the solemnities the females 

 were forcibly carried off : the number thus taken was said to have 

 been thirty. The three nearest Latin towns, Antemnse, Ctenina, and 

 Crustumerium, now took up arms against Rome ; but Romulus defeated 

 them successively, and having slain Acron, king of Csenina, he dedi- 

 cated the first spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius. The Sabines, under 

 then? king Titus Tatius, likewise made war upon Rome; and the 

 treachery of Tarpeia, a Roman woman, opened to them the gates of 

 the fortress on the CapitoL The Sabines attempted to storm the city; 

 and Romulus in this emergency vowed a temple to Jupiter Stator, in 

 order to inspire his men with courage, and to prevent them from flying 

 before the enemy. The war was continued with doubtful success, and 

 finally terminated by the Sabine women throwing themselves between 

 the combatants, and thus restoring peace between their fathers and 

 husbands. Romulus rewarded the women of Rome for their services 

 by the grant of various privileges, and the thirty curiae were called 

 after the names of the thirty Sabine women. The two nations, the 

 Romans on the Palatine, and the Sabiues on the Capitoline and the 

 Quirinal, were united as one nation, though each continued to have 

 its own king. 



The two kings and the citizens of the two states met in the valley 

 between the Capitoline and Palatine (comitium), whenever it was 

 necessary to transact business which was of importance to both nations. 

 This union however did not last long, for Tatius was killed during a 

 national sacrifice at Lavinium, and Romulus henceforth ruled alone 

 over the two nations. 



During the period that Romulus was sole king he is said to have 

 carried on two wars, one against Fidense and another against Veii. 

 Fidense commenced the war from fear of the growing strength of its 

 neighbour; but Romulus got a victory over them by stratagem, and 

 took possession of their town. The war against Veii rose out of that 

 against Fidense, for both were Etruscan towns. Veii was likewise 

 humbled, but it obtained a truce of one hundred years, after 

 surrendering part of its territory to Rome. 



Such are the fortunes and achievements which the old Roman legend 

 ascribed to the founder of the city. He is said to have died after a 

 reign of thirty-seven years (B.C. 716). His d-ath is represented in as 

 marvellous a light as his birth. On the nones of Quinctilis, or on the 

 Quirinalia, the king, while reviewing his people near the marsh of 

 Capra, was taken up by his father Mars, and carried to heaven. The 

 people in terror fled from the spot; but Romulus soon afterwards 

 appeared as a glorified hero to Proculus Julius, and bade him inform 

 his people that in future he would watch over them as the god 

 Quirinus. 



Such are the main features of the story of the founder of Rome, 

 which was handed down by tradition, and commemorated in national 

 songs to the time of Dionysius. (Dionys. Hal., i, p. 66.) Writers both 

 ancient and modern have attempted to elicit historical truth from this 

 beautiful and in most parts poetical legend, or have struck out some 

 parts of the narrative as altogether fabulous, and retained others which 

 are more in accordance with the events of real history. The mis- 

 chievous results of such perverse criticism have been clearly shown by 

 Niebuhr (L, p. 235, &c.) 



* RONGE, JOHANNES, the leader of the so-called ' Catholic move- 

 ment' which agitated Germany in 1845 and subsequent years, and 

 which for the time threatened a schism in the Roman Catholic Church 

 in Germany, was born at Birchofswalde, a village in Silesia, on the 

 16th of October 1813. His father was a farmer in humble circum- 

 stances, and with a large family ; and it was with some difficulty that 

 the boy, after receiving some rudiments of education at the village- 

 school, w&s sent to the gymnasium of Neisse. He attended the gym- 

 nasium from 1827 to 1836, and in 1837 he went to the University of 

 Breslau ; in 1839 he served for a twelvemonth as a volunteer in a rifle 

 battalion. To satisfy his friends, he devoted himself to theology, with 

 a view to becoming a Roman Catholic priest. After receiving the 

 necessary education at the Roman Catholic seminary of Breslau, he was 

 appointed in 1841 to a clerical charge at Grottkau. Here he was active 

 in his duties, especially in educating the young. While still at the 

 Roman Catholic seminary however he had contracted a distaste for many 

 of the priestly ideas and methods, and hence he had a reputation for 

 ' liberalism ' and heretical opinions. It was objected to him also that 

 he "wore his hair long," and in other respects did not conform to the 

 customs of his order. He had projected and was preparing a work 

 on the ' Abuses of the Church,' but before this work could be got 

 ready an opportunity presented itself of his coming forward in the 

 character of a critic of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical system in 

 Germany. A vacancy having occurred in the bishopric of Breslau, the 

 Jesuits had been active in exerting their influence in the diocese, and 



