CLAS 3307: MYTHS OF HEROES
MYTHIC FOUNDATION OF ROME (TOPIC
5)
OTHER STUDY AIDS FOR ROMAN MYTHS OF FOUNDATION:
ROMAN HISTORICAL OUTLINE
ROMAN MYTHIC CHRONOLOGY
ROMAN POLITICS AND MYTHS OF ORIGIN (copyrighted)
Outline
of Vergil's Aeneid
Selected passages from Livy on Romulus (the
links take you to Perseus)
1) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.3. (Roberts)
[1.3]
Ascanius and the Foundation of Alba.
His son Ascanius was not old enough to assume the government but his throne
remained secure throughout his minority. During that interval --such was
Lavinia's force of character--though a woman was regent, the Latin State,
and the kingdom of his father and grandfather, were preserved unimpaired
for her son.
I will not discuss the question-for who could speak decisively about
a matter of such extreme antiquity ?-whether the man whom the Julian house
claim, under the name of Iulus, as the founder of their name, was this
Ascanius or an older one than he, born of Creusa, whilst Ilium was still
intact, and after its fall a sharer in his father's fortunes. This Ascanius,
where-ever born, or of whatever mother-it is generally agreed in any case
that he was the son of Aeneas-left to his mother (or his stepmother) the
city of Lavinium, which was for those days a prosperous and wealthy city,
with a superabundant population, and built a new city at the foot of the
Alban hills, which from its position, stretching along the side of the
hill, was called "Alba Longa." An interval of thirty years elapsed between
the foundation of Lavinium and the colonisation of Alba Longa. Such had
been the growth of the Latin power, mainly through the defeat of the Etruscans,
that neither at the death of Aeneas, nor during the regency of Lavinia,
nor during the immature years of the reign of Ascanius, did either Mezentius
and the Etruscans or any other of their neighbours venture to attack them.
When terms of peace were being arranged, the river Albula, now called the
Tiber, had been fixed as the boundary between the Etruscans and the Latins.
Ascanius was succeeded by his son Silvius, who by some chance had been
born in the forest. He became the father of Aeneas Silvius, who in his
turn had a son, Latinus Silvius. He planted a number of colonies: the colonists
were called Prisci Latini. The cognomen of Silvius was common to all the
remaining kings of Alba, each of whom succeeded his father. Their names
are Alba, Atys, Capys, Capetus, Tiberinus, who was drowned in crossing
the Albula, and his name transferred to the river, which became henceforth
the famous Tiber. Then came his son Agrippa, after him his son Romulus
Silvius. He was struck by lightning and left the crown to his son Aventinus,
whose shrine was on the hill which bears his name and is now a part of
the city of Rome. He was succeeded by Proca, who had two sons, Numitor
and Amulius. To Numitor, the elder, he bequeathed the ancient throne of
the Silvian house. Violence, however, proved stronger than either the father's
will or the respect due to the brother's seniority; for Amulius expelled
his brother and seized the crown. Adding crime to crime, he murdered his
brother's sons and made the daughter, Rea Silvia, a Vestal virgin; thus,
under the pretence of honouring her, depriving her of all hopes of issue.
2) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.4. (Roberts)
[1.4]
THE STORY OF ROMULUS. Birth and Uprearing.
But the Fates had, I believe, already decreed the origin of this great
city and the foundation of the mightiest empire under heaven. The Vestal
was forcibly violated and gave birth to twins. She named Mars as their
father, either because she really believed it, or because the fault might
appear less heinous if a deity were the cause of it. But neither gods nor
men sheltered her or her babes from the king's cruelty; the priestess was
thrown into prison, the boys were ordered to be thrown into the river.
By a heaven-sent chance it happened that the Tiber was then overflowing
its banks, and stretches of standing water prevented any approach to the
main channel. Those who were carrying the children expected that this stagnant
water would be sufficient to drown them, so under the impression that they
were carrying out the king's orders they exposed the boys at the nearest
point of the overflow, where the Ficus Ruminalis (said to have been formerly
called Romularis) now stands. The locality was then a wild solitude. The
tradition goes on to say that after the floating cradle in which the boys
had been exposed had been left by the retreating water on dry land, a thirsty
she-wolf from the surrounding hills, attracted by the crying of the children,
came to them, gave them her teats to suck and was so gentle towards them
that the king's flock-master found her licking the boys with her tongue.
According to the story his name was Faustulus. He took the children to
his hut and gave them to his wife Larentia to bring up. Some writers think
that Larentia, from her unchaste life, had got the nickname of "She-wolf"
amongst the shepherds, and that this was the origin of the marvellous story.
As soon as the boys, thus born and thus brought up, grew to be young
men they did not neglect their pastoral duties but their special delight
was roaming through the woods on hunting expeditions. As their strength
and courage were thus developed, they used not only to lie in wait for
fierce beasts of prey, but they even attacked brigands when loaded with
plunder. They distributed what they took amongst the shepherds, with whom,
surrounded by a continually increasing body of young men, they associated
themselves in their serious undertakings and in their sports and pastimes.
3) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.5. (Roberts)
[1.5]
Romulus recognised, Amulius killed.
It is said that the festival of the Lupercalia, which is still observed,
was even in those days celebrated on the Palatine hill. This hill was originally
called Pallantium from a city of the same name in Arcadia; the name was
afterwards changed to Palatium. Evander, an Arcadian, had held that territory
many ages before, and had introduced an annual festival from Arcadia in
which young men ran about naked for sport and wantonness, in honour of
the Lycaean Pan, whom the Romans afterwards called Inuus. The existence
of this festival was widely recognised, and it was while the two brothers
were engaged in it that the brigands, enraged at losing their plunder,
ambushed them. Romulus successfully defended
himself, but Remus was taken prisoner and brought before Amulius, his captors
impudently accusing him of their own crimes. The principal charge brought
against them was that of invading Numitor's lands with a body of young
men whom they had got together, and carrying off plunder as though in regular
warfare. Remus accordingly was handed over to Numitor for punishment.
Faustulus had from the beginning suspected that it was royal offspring
that he was bringing up, for he was aware that the boys had been exposed
at the king's command and the time at which he had taken them away exactly
corresponded with that of their exposure. He had, however, refused to divulge
the matter prematurely, until either a fitting opportunity occurred or
necessity demanded its disclosure. The necessity came first. Alarmed for
the safety of Remus he revealed the state of the case to Romulus.
It so happened that Numitor also, who had Remus in his custody, on hearing
that he and his brother were twins, and comparing their ages, and the character
and bearing so unlike that of one in a servile condition, began to recall
the memory of his grandchildren, and further inquiries brought him to the
same conclusion as Faustulus; nothing was wanting to the recognition of
Remus. So the king Amulius was being enmeshed on all sides by hostile purposes.
Romulus
shrunk from a direct attack with his body of shepherds, for he was no match
for the king in open fight. They were instructed to approach the palace
by different routes and meet there at a given time, whilst from Numitor's
house Remus lent his assistance with a second band he had collected. The
attack succeeded and the king was killed.
4) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.6. (Roberts)
[1.6]
At the beginning of the fray, Numitor gave out that an enemy had entered
the City and was attacking the palace, in order to draw off the Alban soldiery
to the citadel, to defend it. When he saw the young men coming to congratulate
him after the assassination, he at once called a council of his people
and explained his brother's infamous conduct towards him, the story of
his grandsons, their parentage and bringing up, and how he recognised them.
Then he proceeded to inform them of the tyrant's death and his responsibility
for it. The young men marched in order through the midst of the assembly
and saluted their grandfather as king; their action was approved by the
whole population, who with one voice ratified the title and sovereignty
of the king.
The Foundation of Rome.
After the government of Alba was thus transferred to Numitor, Romulus
and Remus were seized with the desire of building a city in the locality
where they had been exposed. There was the superfluous population of the
Alban and Latin towns, to these were added the shepherds: it was natural
to hope that with all these Alba would be small and Lavinium small in comparison
with the city which was to be founded. These pleasant anticipations were
disturbed by the ancestral curse--ambition--which led to a deplorable quarrel
over what was at first a trivial matter. As they were twins and no claim
to precedence could be based on seniority, they decided to consult the
tutelary deities of the place by means of augury as to who was to give
his name to the new city, and who was to rule it after it had been founded.
Romulus
accordingly selected the Palatine as his station for observation, Remus
the Aventine.
5) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.7. (Roberts)
[1.7]
Death of Remus.
Remus is said to have been the first to receive an omen: six vultures appeared
to him. The augury had just been announced to Romulus
when double the number appeared to him. Each was saluted as king by his
own party. The one side based their claim on the priority of the appearance,
the other on the number of the birds. Then followed an angry altercation;
heated passions led to bloodshed; in the tumult Remus was killed. The more
common report is that Remus contemptuously jumped over the newly raised
walls and was forthwith killed by the enraged Romulus,
who exclaimed, "So shall it be henceforth with every one who leaps over
my walls." Romulus thus became sole ruler,
and the city was called after him, its founder.
The Legend of Hercules and Cacus.
His first work was to fortify the Palatine hill where he had been brought
up. The worship of the other deities he conducted according to the use
of Alba, but that of Hercules in accordance with the Greek rites as they
had been instituted by Evander. It was into this neighbourhood, according
to the tradition, that Hercules, after he had killed Geryon, drove his
oxen, which were of marvellous beauty. He swam across the Tiber, driving
the oxen before him, and wearied with his journey, lay down in a grassy
place near the river to rest himself and the oxen, who enjoyed the rich
pasture. When sleep had overtaken him, as he was heavy with food and wine,
a shepherd living near, called Cacus, presuming on his strength, and captivated
by the beauty of the oxen, determined to secure them. If he drove them
before him into the cave, their hoof-marks would have led their owner in
his search for them in the same direction, so he dragged the finest of
them backwards by their tails into his cave. At the first streak of dawn
Hercules awoke, and on surveying his herd and saw that some were missing.
He proceeded towards the nearest cave, to see if any tracks pointed in
that direction, but he found that every hoof-mark led from the cave and
none towards it. Perplexed and bewildered he began to drive the herd away
from so dangerous a neighbourhood. Some of the cattle, missing those which
were left behind, lowed as they often do, and an answering low sounded
from the cave. Hercules turned in that direction, and as Cacus tried to
prevent him by force from entering the cave, he was killed by a blow from
Hercules' club, after vainly appealing for help to his comrades.
The king of the country at that time was Evander, a refugee from Peloponnesus,
who ruled more by personal ascendancy than by the exercise of power. He
was looked up to with reverence for his knowledge of letters--a new and
marvellous thing for uncivilized men-but he was still more revered because
of his mother, who was believed to be a divine being and regarded with
wonder, by all as an interpreter of Fate, in the days before the arrival
of the Sibyl in Italy. This Evander, alarmed by the crowd of excited shepherds
standing round a stranger whom they accused of open murder, ascertained
from them the nature of his act and what led to it. As he observed the
bearing and stature of the man to be more than human in greatness and august
dignity, he asked who he was. When he heard his name, and learnt his father
and his country, he said, "Hercules, son of Jupiter, hail! My mother, who
speaks truth in the name of the gods, has prophesied that thou shalt join
the company of the gods, and that here a shrine shall be dedicated to thee,
which in ages to come the most powerful nation in all the world shall call
their Ara Maxima and honour with thine own special worship." Hercules grasped
Evander's right hand and said that he took the omen to himself and would
fulfil the prophecy by building and consecrating the altar. Then a heifer
of conspicuous beauty was taken from the herd, and the first sacrifice
was offered; the Potitii and Pinarii, the two principal families in those
parts, were invited by Hercules to assist in the sacrifice and at the feast
which followed. It so happened that the Potitii were present at the appointed
time and the entrails were placed before them; the Pinarii arrived after
these were consumed and came in for the rest of the banquet. It became
a permanent institution from that time that as long as the family of the
Pinarii survived they should not eat of the entrails of the victims. The
Potitii, after being instructed by Evander, presided over that rite for
many ages, until they handed over this ministerial office to public servants
after which the whole race of the Potitii perished.
This, out of all foreign rites, was the only one which Romulus
adopted, as though he felt that an immortality won through courage, of
which this was the memorial, would one day be his own reward.
6) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.8. (Roberts)
[1.8]
The Political Constitution.
After the claims of religion had been duly acknowledged, Romulus
called his people to a council. As nothing could unite them into one political
body but the observance of common laws and customs, he gave them a body
of laws, which he thought would only be respected by a rude and uncivilised
race of men if he inspired them with awe by assuming the outward symbols
of power. He surrounded himself with greater state, and in particular he
called into his service twelve lictors. Some think that he fixed upon this
number from the number of the birds who foretold his sovereignty; but I
am inclined to agree with those who think that as this class of public
officers was borrowed from the same people from whom the "sella curulis"1
and the "toga praetexta" 2 were adopted--their neighbours, the
Etruscans--so the number itself also was taken from them. Its use amongst
the Etruscans is traced to the custom of the twelve sovereign cities of
Etruria, when jointly electing a king furnishing him each with one lictor.
The Asylum.
Meantime the City was growing by the extension of its walls in various
directions an increase due rather to the anticipation of its future population
than to any present overcrowding. His next care was to secure an addition
to the population that the size of the City might not be a source of weakness.
It had been the ancient policy of the founders of cities to get together
a multitude of people of obscure and low origin and then to spread the
fiction that they were the children of the soil. In accordance with this
policy, Romulus opened a place of refuge on
the spot where, as you go down from the Capitol, you find an enclosed space
between two groves. A promiscuous crowd of freemen and slaves, eager for
change, fled thither from the neighbouring states. This was the first accession
of strength to the nascent greatness of the city.
The Senate.
When he was satisfied as to its strength, his next step was to provide
for that strength being wisely directed. He created a hundred senators;
either, because that number was adequate, or because there were only a
hundred heads of houses who could be created. In any case they were called
the "Patres" in virtue of their rank, and their descendants were called
"Patricians."
1,8,n1. sella curulis--Lit. "the chariot seat", and hence the seat of
the supreme magistrate when administering justice.
1,8,n2. toga praetexta.--Lit. "the bordered toga" (i.e. edged
with purple), worn by the higher magistrates and priests, and also by all
free-born boys till about their sixteenth year and by girls till their
marriage.
7) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.9. (Roberts)
[1.9]
The Rape of the Sabines.
The Roman State had now become so strong that it was a match for any of
its neighbours in war, but its greatness threatened to last for only one
generation, since through the absence of women there was no hope of offspring,
and there was no right of intermarriage with their neighbours. Acting on
the advice of the senate, Romulus sent envoys
amongst the surrounding nations to ask for alliance and the right of intermarriage
on behalf of his new community. It was represented that cities, like everything
else, sprung from the humblest beginnings, and those who were helped on
by their own courage and the favour of heaven won for themselves great
power and great renown. As to the origin of Rome, it was well known that
whilst it had received divine assistance, courage and self-reliance were
not wanting. There should, therefore, be no reluctance for men to mingle
their blood with their fellow-men.
Nowhere did the envoys meet with a favourable reception. Whilst their
proposals were treated with contumely, there was at the same time a general
feeling of alarm at the power so rapidly growing in their midst. Usually
they were dismissed with the question, "whether they had opened an asylum
for women, for nothing short of that would secure for them inter-marriage
on equal terms." The Roman youth could ill brook such insults, and matters
began to look like an appeal to force.
To secure a favourable place and time for such an attempt, Romulus,
disguising his resentment, made elaborate preparations for the celebration
of games in honour of "Equestrian Neptune," which he called "the Consualia."
He ordered public notice of the spectacle to be given amongst the adjoining
cities, and his people supported him in making the celebration as magnificent
as their knowledge and resources allowed, so that expectations were raised
to the highest pitch. There was a great gathering; people were eager to
see the new City, all their nearest neighbours-the people of Caenina, Antemnae,
and Crustumerium-were there, and the whole Sabine population came, with
their wives and families. They were invited to accept hospitality at the
different houses, and after examining the situation of the City, its walls
and the large number of dwelling-houses it included, they were astonished
at the rapidity with which the Roman State had grown.
When the hour for the games had come, and their eyes and minds were
alike riveted on the spectacle before them, the preconcerted signal was
given and the Roman youth dashed in all directions to carry off the maidens
who were present. The larger part were carried off indiscriminately, but
some particularly beautiful girls who had been marked out for the leading
patricians were carried to their houses by plebeians told off for the task.
One, conspicuous amongst them all for grace and beauty, is reported to
have been carried off by a group led by a certain Talassius, and to the
many inquiries as to whom she was intended for, the invariable answer was
given, "For Talassius." Hence the use of this word in the marriage rites.3
Alarm and consternation broke up the games, and the parents of the maidens
fled, distracted with grief, uttering bitter reproaches on the violators
of the laws of hospitality and appealing to the god to whose solemn games
they had come, only to be the victims of impious perfidy.
The abducted maidens were quite as despondent and indignant. Romulus,
however, went round in person, and pointed out to them that it was all
owing to the pride of their parents in denying right of intermarriage to
their neighbours. They would live in honourable wedlock, and share all
their property and civil rights, and--dearest of all to human nature-would
be the mothers of freemen. He begged them to lay aside their feelings of
resentment and give their affections to those whom fortune had made masters
of their persons. An injury had often led to reconciliation and love; they
would find their husbands all the more affectionate because each would
do his utmost, so far as in him lay to make up for the loss of parents
and country. These arguments were reinforced by the endearments of their
husbands who excused their conduct by pleading the irresistible force of
their passion--a plea effective beyond all others in appealing to a woman's
nature.
1,9,n3. Talassio.--The procession in which the bride was led from her
parents' house to her new home was attended by minstrels who invoked Tallassius
in the nuptial song.
War with the Sabines.
The last of these wars was commenced by the Sabines and proved the most
serious of all, for nothing was done in passion or impatience; they masked
their designs till war had actually commenced. Strategy was aided by craft
and deceit, as the following incident shows.
Spurius Tarpeius was in command of the Roman citadel. Whilst his daughter
had gone outside the fortifications to fetch water for some religious ceremonies,
Tatius bribed her to admit his troops within the citadel. Once admitted,
they crushed her to death beneath their shields, either that the citadel
might appear to have been taken by assault, or that her example might be
left as a warning that no faith should be kept with traitors. A further
story runs that the Sabines were in the habit of wearing heavy gold armlets
on their left arms and richly jeweled rings, and that the girl made them
promise to give her "what they had on their left arms," accordingly they
piled their shields upon her instead of golden gifts. Some say that in
bargaining for what they had in their left hands, she expressly asked for
their shields, and being suspected of wishing to betray them, fell a victim
to her own bargain.
10) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.12. (Roberts)
[1.12]
However this may be, the Sabines were in possession of the citadel.
And they would not come down from it the next day, though the Roman army
was drawn up in battle array over the whole of the ground between the Palatine
and the Capitoline hill, until, exasperated at the loss of their citadel
and determined to recover it, the Romans mounted to the attack. Advancing
before the rest, Mettius Curtius, on the side of the Sabines, and Hostius
Hostilius, on the side of the Romans, engaged in single combat. Hostius,
fighting on disadvantageous ground, upheld the fortunes of Rome by his
intrepid bravery, but at last he fell; the Roman line broke and fled to
what was then the gate of the Palatine. Even Romulus
was being swept away by the crowd of fugitives, and lifting up his hands
to heaven he exclaimed: "Jupiter, it was thy omen that I obeyed when I
laid here on the Palatine the earliest foundations of the City. Now the
Sabines hold its citadel, having bought it by a bribe, and coming thence
have seized the valley and are pressing hitherwards in battle. Do thou,
Father of gods and men, drive hence our foes, banish terror from Roman
hearts, and stay our shameful flight! Here do I vow a temple to thee, "Jove
the Stayer," as a memorial for the generations to come that it is through
thy present help that the City has been saved." Then, as though he had
become aware that his prayer had been heard, he cried, " Back, Romans!
Jupiter Optimus Maximus bids you stand and renew the battle." They stopped
as though commanded by a voice from heaven-Romulus
dashed up to the foremost line, just as Mettius Curtius had run down from
the citadel in front of the Sabines and driven the Romans in headlong flight
over the whole of the ground now occupied by the Forum. He was now not
far from the gate of the Palatine, and was shouting: "We have conquered
our faithless hosts, our cowardly foes; now they know that to carry off
maidens is a very different thing from fighting with men." In the midst
of these vaunts Romulus, with a compact body
of valiant troops, charged down on him. Mettius happened to be on horseback,
so he was the more easily driven back, the Romans followed in pursuit,
and, inspired by the courage of their king, the rest of the Roman army
routed the Sabines. Mettius, unable to control his horse, maddened by the
noise of his pursuers, plunged into a morass. The danger of their general
drew off the attention of the Sabines for a moment from the battle; they
called out and made signals to encourage him, so, animated to fresh efforts,
he succeeded in extricating himself. Thereupon the Romans and Sabines renewed
the fighting in the middle of the valley, but the fortune of Rome was in
the ascendant.
11) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.13. (Roberts)
[1.13]
Peace and Union with the Sabines.
Then it was that the Sabine women, whose wrongs had led to the war, throwing
off all womanish fears in their distress, went boldly into the midst of
the flying missiles with dishevelled hair and rent garments. Running across
the space between the two armies they tried to stop any further fighting
and calm the excited passions by appealing to their fathers in the one
army and their husbands in the other not to bring upon themselves a curse
by staining their hands with the blood of a father-in-law or a son-in-law,
nor upon their posterity the taint of parricide. "If," they cried, " you
are weary of these ties of kindred, these marriage-bonds, then turn your
anger upon us; it is we who are the cause of the war, it is we who have
wounded and slain our husbands and fathers. Better for us to perish rather
than live without one or the other of you, as widows or as orphans."
The armies and their leaders were alike moved by this appeal. There
was a sudden hush and silence. Then the generals advanced to arrange the
terms of a treaty. It was not only peace that was made, the two nations
were united into one State, the royal power was shared between them, and
the seat of government for both nations was Rome. After thus doubling the
City, a concession was made to the Sabines in the new appellation of Quirites,
from their old capital of Cures. As a memorial of the battle, the place
where Curtius got his horse out of the deep marsh on to safer ground was
called the Curtian lake.
The Curies and Centuries.
The joyful peace, which put an abrupt close to such a deplorable war, made
the Sabine women still dearer to their husbands and fathers, and most of
all to Romulus himself. Consequently when
he effected the distribution of the people into the thirty curiae, he affixed
their names to the curiae. No doubt there were many more than thirty women,
and tradition is silent as to whether those whose names were given to the
curiae were selected on the ground of age, or on that of personal distinction--
either their own or their husbands'--or merely by lot. The enrolment of
the three centuries of knights took place at the same time; the Ramnenses
were called after Romulus, the Titienses from
T. Tatius. The origin of the Luceres and why they were so called is uncertain.
Thenceforward the two kings exercised their joint sovereignty with
perfect harmony.
14) Livy
The
History of Rome 1.16. (Roberts)
[1.16]
Disappearance of Romulus.
After these immortal achievements, Romulus
held a review of his army at the "Caprae Palus" in the Campus Martius.
A violent thunder storm suddenly arose and enveloped the king in so dense
a cloud that he was quite invisible to the assembly. From that hour Romulus
was no longer seen on earth. When the fears of the Roman youth were allayed
by the return of bright, calm sun-shine after such fearful weather, they
saw that the royal seat was vacant. Whilst they fully believed the assertion
of the Senators, who had been standing close to him, that he had been snatched
away to heaven by a whirlwind, still, like men suddenly bereaved, fear
and grief kept them for some time speechless. At length, after a few had
taken the initiative, the whole of those present hailed Romulus
as " a god, the son of a god, the King and Father of the City of Rome."
They put up supplications for his grace and favour, and prayed that he
would be propitious to his children and save and protect them. I believe,
however, that even then there were some who secretly hinted that he had
been torn limb from limb by the senators-a tradition to this effect, though
certainly a very dim one, has filtered down to us. The other, which I follow,
has been the prevailing one, due, no doubt, to the admiration felt for
the man and the apprehensions excited by his disappearance. This generally
accepted belief was strengthened by one man's clever device. The tradition
runs that Proculus Julius, a man whose authority had weight in matters
of even the gravest importance, seeing how deeply the community felt the
loss of the king, and how incensed they were against the senators, came
forward into the assembly and said: "Quirites! at break of dawn, to-day,
the Father of this City suddenly descended from heaven and appeared to
me. Whilst, thrilled with awe, I stood rapt before him in deepest reverence,
praying that I might be pardoned for gazing upon him, "Go," said he, "tell
the Romans that it is the will of heaven that my Rome should be the head
of all the world. Let them henceforth cultivate the arts of war, and let
them know assuredly, and hand down the knowledge to posterity, that no
human might can withstand the arms of Rome."" It is marvellous what credit
was given to this man's story, and how the grief of the people and the
army was soothed by the belief which had been created in the immortality
of Romulus.
