Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (11 page)

Page 45

Cloelia leading the children across the Tiber.
(Drawing by Christina Marent Westmoreland)


she were not returned as a hostage, the treaty would be considered broken. If she were returned, however, he would give her back safe, untouched, and chaste to her relatives.

Good faith was kept on both sides, and the Romans restored their guarantee of peace, in accordance with the treaty; courage was not only safe in the king's court, it was even held in honor. After praising the girl, he said that he was giving her back with some of the hostages, and she could choose whatever fellow hostages she wanted. When all the young people had been brought forward, Cloelia is said to have chosen those who were in puberty. "After all," Cloelia said, "it is seemly for unmarried

Page 46


girls, and proper in the opinion of all the hostages, that the age that is most vulnerable to being molested is most deserving of being free from the enemies' clutches." When peace had been restored, the Romans honored the courage unfamiliar in a woman with a new type of honor, an equestrian statue of a girl sitting on a horse; the statue was placed at the top of the Sacred Way. (Livy II.13.6-11)

Rome's Neighbors

The Etruscans (in Latin, Tusci or Tyrrheni, seen in the names Tuscany and Tyrrhenian Sea) to the north of Rome, who were trying to regain their power in Rome, were not the only enemies the Romans faced. The Gauls in the far north of the peninsula posed a constant threat to Rome and its neighbors, but the Etruscans were still powerful enough to keep them in northern Italy, away from Rome. Rome's enemies to the east were the relentless Aequi and the Sabines, and to the southeast, the Samnites. With the Latins to the south Rome had an alliance, but this did not always prevent hostilities between the Romans and Latins. To the south of the sometimes friendly Latins were the Volsci, a constant threat to the Latins and to the Romans. In the far south of the Italian peninsula were Greeks, who were not yet a large concern of the Romans. As Rome expanded its power, it naturally came into conflict with those peoples.

By virtue of their common language, institutions, and religion, Rome and the towns of Latium had developed a mostly religious, but sometimes political, alliance called the Latin League. During the monarchy Rome was the dominant partner in the alliance, but after the expulsion of the kings the city lost its superiority over the Latins. Rome attempted to reassert its superiority over the Latins at the Battle of Lake Regillus in 496
B.C.

Rome won the battle, but barely. Three years later, in 493, Rome and Latium reached an agreement, called the Foedus Gassianum, which formed a common army of defense; each party pledged to contribute an equal contingent. The side that had summoned the help of the others would take command.

The battle was important for other reasons, too. When the outcome was still in doubt, the dictator Aulus Postumius vowed a

Page 47

temple to the gods known as the Dioscurithe twins Castor and Pollux, the Gemini of the Zodiacif they fought on the Romans' side. Suddenly the gods appeared on horseback, helping the Romans to victory. Roman legend also says that after the battle had been fought, but before news of the outcome arrived in Rome, two handsome young men, who were hot and sweaty, as if from fighting in a battle, were seen in the Forum, watering their horses; the two young men announced the Romans' victory. The next day, a letter from the dictator arrived in Rome, telling of the victory; try as they might, the citizens could not find the two young men, and concluded that they must have been Castor and Pollux themselves. In gratitude, the Romans built a temple of Castor and Pollux where the two had been seen in the Forum. Roman tradition also says that before the news of the battle had come to Rome, the two gods told one Roman man, who had no knowledge of the outcome, to go report the victory at Rome; to prove that they were gods, they stroked his beard, turning it a reddish color. After that his family was known as Ahenobarbus, or Bronze Beard. One famous descendant of the Ahenobarbus family was the emperor Nero, 550 years later.

The Three Hundred and Six Fabii

The Romans were facing wars with the Aequi, the Volsci, and the Etruscans, but did not have adequate forces to engage all three enemies at the same time. The clan of the Fabii decided to take a stand for Rome. The spokesman for the clan happened to be consul, and he proposed to the Senate that the Fabii take up the war against the Etruscan city Veii; then the Romans could concentrate their forces against the Aequi and the Volsci. The Senate agreed. The next morning, all the Fabii of military agethree hundred and seven of themappeared at the consul's house, ready to go to war.

While patrolling the border between Rome and Etruria, the Fabii beat the Veientes in many small battles, and kept them from pillaging Roman territory. The Veientes become angry and insulted, since their large forces were being held back from their pillaging and looting by the small army of the Fabii. The Veientes then formed a plan to rid themselves of the Fabii.

Page 48

These three columns are what remains of the
Temple of Castor and Pollux. (Author photograph)

Other books

The Waking Engine by David Edison

The Divide (The Divide Series Book 1) by Kaitlyn Kroner

Christmas in the Rink by Dora Hiers

Kevin Kling's Holiday Inn by Kevin Kling

Colorado Clash by Jon Sharpe

Riding Bitch by Melinda Barron

Federation Reborn 1: Battle Lines by Chris Hechtl

Beyond the Rising Tide by Sarah Beard

Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein

A Soldier' Womans by Ava Delany