28 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



8. History of Rome. 



Tradition affirms, that when Latinus was king of Latium, a Trojan 

 prince, ^neas, landed in Italy, and founded the town of Lavinium, which 

 he named after Lavinia his wife, the daughter of Latinus. But this pro- 

 voked the jealousy of Turnus, king of the Rutulians. In the war which 

 ensued, Latinus fell, although victorious, and ^neas reigned over the Latins 

 and Trojans, until, in a subsequent war with the Rutulians and Tyrrhenes, 

 he also was killed. 



Thirty years after the foundation of Lavinium, Ascanius, the son of 

 ^neas, built the town of Alba Longa, the parent city of Rome. Between 

 Ascanius and Romulus fifteen kings reigned, under whom cities and 

 villages sprang up rapidly. 



The fourteenth king, Procus, left two sons, l^umitor and Amulius, who 

 were to reign alternately. But Amulius, in order to secure the whole 

 power to himself, banished l^umitor, put to death his onl}^ son, and 

 compelled his daughter Rhea Silvia to become priestess of Yesta, thus 

 binding her to perpetual celibacy. His scheme, however, did not succeed ; 

 for Silvia, notwithstanding, gave birth to the twin boys, Romulus and 

 Remus, whose father, according to the myth, was the god of war. Mars. 

 In his rage, Amulius ordered the boys to be thrown into the Tiber, which 

 at that time had overflowed its banks. The basket which contained the 

 (children was deposited by a servant in shallow water, and when the 

 river subsided, the little pair were left high and dry upon the shore. A 

 she-wolf, happening to find them here, suckled them. Faustulus, a royal 

 shepherd, discovered them in this condition, and took them home to his 

 wife, by whom they were carefully reared. While in his family, they 

 followed the business of shepherds, and frequently mingled in the contests 

 of the rustic factions. 



During one of these skirmishes, Remus was captured, and dragged before 

 his grandfather, E'umitor. The latter discovered his origin, and ascertained 

 from Faustulus the circumstance of his singular preservation from drowning. 

 Remus, uniting with his brother, organized a force which expelled Amulius 

 and restored Numitor to the throne. Of the latter they obtained permission 

 to build a city on the spot where they had lived as shepherds. It was 

 situated on the banks of the Tiber, on the Palatine hill, and received the 

 name of Rome (754 B.C.). While it was building, a dispute arose, in the 

 course of which Remus was killed, and Romulus became absolute monarch. 



The language, manners, and constitution of early Rome, indicate that 

 probably other tribes soon made their appearance in the neighborhood, 

 especially Sabines and Etruscans. Then the number of inhabitants 

 was increased by offering refuge to the fugitives and the malcontents 

 of other states. This caused an excess of male over female inhabit- 

 ants, and Romulus, with a view of obtaining women, invited a large 

 number of Latin and Sabine families to attend a festival which he pro- 

 claimed in honor of ISTeptune ; and, during the progress of the games, he 

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