Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (3 page)

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Chapter 2
Rome's Origins according to the Ancients

The Romans did not know about the Indo-Europeans; what they believed to be their ancient history is more properly called mythology or legend. The history of Rome's first three centuries of existence is difficult to know for certain. The ancient historians who wrote about Rome's beginnings frequently themselves did not know what had happened, because the Romans did not start writing their history until centuries after Rome was founded. The historians also were not critical of their sources in the same way that historians today would be; frequently they were more concerned about the moral and patriotic value of history than about historical truth, and sometimes they cared more about writing well and praising their ancestors than about writing truthfully. Still another problem is the loss of much Latin literature: In the days before photocopiers and cheap paper, books had to be copied by hand (the English word
manuscript
means "handwritten" in Latin) onto expensive papyrus, which was made by pasting together reeds that grew in Egypt, or onto vellum (also known as parchment), which was made from the skin of cattle, sheep, and goats. Consequently few copies were made of most books. Many of these copies perished over the centuries, and in many cases no copies at all of a particular work survive. Such works are known today only by mentions or excerpts in other works. When our literary sources fail, we have recourse to other sources of information. From archaeology we learn much by studying the myriad objects that the ancients dropped, lost, abandoned, threw away, or forgot about; we can also study the monuments and buildings they erected in praise of the gods (or in praise of themselves) or in memory of key

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victories or important people. Despite these problems with sources, it is possible to piece together the early history of Rome in such a way as to show the development of Roman society and government and the beginnings of civilization in western Europe. We can also study the Romans as people: What values did they cherish? What did they want their past to be?

Aeneas

Ancient writers, both Greek and Roman, found a noble ancestry for the Latin people and for Rome's power in the figure of Aeneas, a Trojan prince. When Troy was sacked by the Greeks in 1200
B.C.
, Aeneas fled with his son Ascanius, his father Anchises, and friends to found a new Troy; Aeneas' wife Creusa did not live to accompany her husband on his journey.

Aeneas was not one of the outstanding heros in Homer's
Iliad
, which tells the tale of Troy; the few references to him, however, attest both to his
pietas
(a Latin word meaning "fulfillment of the obligations placed upon a person by family, community, and gods") and to his valor in war; he was respected equally with Hector, the great Trojan warrior whom only Achilles could conquer. The two ideas of
pietas
and valor in battle were very important to the Romans, and the poets writing about Rome's past found in Aeneas an ancestor who embodied these values: while fighting valiantly against Achilles, Aeneas is saved from certain death because he has worshipped the gods.

The Latin poet Vergil's epic poem
The Aeneid
(written from 26 to 19
B.C.
) tells the story of Aeneas' wanderings. According to Vergil, Aeneas left Troy, knowing that it was his destiny to found a city from which a great empire would eventually arise. Because he did not know where to go to found his city, he traveled through the Mediterranean region in search of his destiny, During his travels he met Dido, queen of Carthage, a city in northern Africa.

Because the goddess Venus, Aeneas' mother, feared for her son's safety in Carthage, she caused Dido to fall passionately in love with him. Aeneas likewise fell in love with Dido and stayed in Carthage with her, until he was reminded by the god Mercury that his duty and destinyto establish what would become the Roman

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empirewere more important than his love for Dido. Aeneas sadly left Africa, abandoning Dido and breaking her heart. Dido, who had thought that Aeneas was going to marry her, committed suicide as Aeneas and his allies sailed away, but first she cursed Aeneas and all his descendants, saying: "Carthaginians, hound his descendants and all his future race with your hatred! Give this gift to my ashes: no love, no treaties between our peoples. Arise, some avenger, from my bones to pursue the Trojan settlers with fire and the sword, now, later, whenever you have the power to do so. I beg our shores to be against theirs, our seas against theirs, swords against swords. Let our descendants and theirs fight it out!" (
Aeneid
IV.622-627).

In Vergil's poem, Dido's curse explains the savage wars, called the Punic Wars, that Rome and Carthage fought in the third and second centuries
B.C.

Aeneas landed in Italy, where he visited the Underworld and heard his father (who died shortly after leaving Troy) prophesy of Rome's coming greatness: "My son, beholdwith Mars' blessingthat renowned Rome will make an empire as great as the Earth, and a spirit that will rival Olympus, and will surround the seven hills within one wall: Rome, blessed with her generations of men" (
Aeneid
VI.781-784).

Later on during the visit, Anchises tells Aeneas of his and his descendants' mission: "Some people will be better at shaping bronze statues that seem to breathe; others will produce living faces from a marble block, while still others will deliver cleverer speeches or plot the movements of the heavens or explain the risings of the stars. You, Roman, remember to rule peoples with your power, for that is what you do best: accustom them to peace, spare the conquered, and war down the proud" (
Aeneid
VI.847-853).

Having now a clearer understanding of his purpose in life, and inspired by his father's words, Aeneas heroically fought wars with the hostile natives of Italy and founded the town Lavinium, naming it after his new, Italian wife, Lavinia. Aeneas' son Ascanius founded the town Alba Longa.

After his death Aeneas was deified and was later worshiped as Aeneas Indiges, "the native-born."

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Chapter 3
Romulus and Remus Found Rome

Long after Alba Longa was founded by the son of Aeneas, the king of the city, Numitor, was deposed by his brother Amulius and driven into exile. Fearing that the descendants of Numitor would rob him of the throne that he had just stolen, Amulius murdered Numitor's sons and made his only daughter, Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin. For a Vestal Virgin to break her vows of chastity in service of the goddess Vesta (the goddess of the hearth) would earn her the punishment of being buried alive. In spite of her special status, Rhea Silvia became pregnant by the god Mars; she bore twin sons, Romulus and Remus.

Amulius learned of the twins' existence and ordered that they be put in a basket and thrown into the Tiber River, so they could not rob him of his throne. The Tiber happened to be unusually high, however, and the attendant was not able to put the basket into the river proper, as he could not reach it. Instead he left the basket floating in the shallow water near the shore. The water then magically receded and left the twins safe on land. A passing she-wolf heard the babies' cries and nursed them until Faustulus, the shepherd of the royal flock, found the boys under a fig tree (called
ficus Ruminalis
, "the fig tree of Rumina," a minor goddess, perhaps of nursing), and brought them home.

Romulus and Remus grew up and quickly distinguished themselves from other young men of their age with their bravery and daring. Other young men followed the two, and together they fearlessly hunted wild beasts and robbed robbers of their loot, distributing it among their fellow shepherds.

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She-wolf from the Capitol, sixth-fifth century B.C. (Courtesy of the Archer
M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, William J. Battle
Collection of Plaster Casts)

The robbers, angry at losing their loot, ambushed the twins during a festival; Romulus managed to escape, but Remus did not, and the robbers took him to King Amulius, claiming that the brothers had made raids on Numitor's lands. Numitor suspected that the two were his grandsons, and was just about to acknowledge Remus as his grandchild (by this time Faustulus had already told Romulus the truth about his origins). Before Amulius could eliminate the brothers, Romulus and his fellow shepherds attacked and killed him, rescued Remus, and restored Numitor to his rightful throne.

Romulus and Remus then decided to found a city on the banks of the Tiber, where they had been abandoned, rescued, and raised. Since they were the same age, it was not possible to tell who was older, and thus who would rule the new city. They agreed to use augury, the practice of looking for signs of approval or disapproval from the gods, usually by birds, to decide who should rule. Remus

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stood on the Aventine Hill, and Romulus on the Palatine, each watching for signs from the gods; Remus had no sooner seen six vultures than Romulus saw twelve, and the followers of each saluted their leader as king. During the argument that followed, Romulus killed Remus. Another version of the story has Remus mockingly jump over Romulus' half-built walls, to demonstrate that the walls were too low; Romulus then kills him, saying, "And the same goes for any other person who jumps over my walls!" Romulus became king and named the city after himself. The traditional date for the founding of Rome is April 21,753
B.C.

The city on the Palatine Hill grew, and King Romulus established customs and laws that would unify the new citizens into a harmonious political body and imbue them with respect for the king's power. One custom was for the king to be accompanied by twelve
lictors
(attendants, more or less, who announced his coming and cleared all citizens but Vestal Virgins and matrons from his path) so the people would respect his power and authority; each lictor carried a
fascis
(a bundle of sticks wrapped around an axe, which symbolized the king's ability to punish citizens, either with a beating using the sticks or with decapitation using the axe). Romulus wore a toga with a purple border, purple being the color of royalty. He also created the Senate, a council of elders; the word
senatus
is derived from
senex
, which means "old." The one hundred members of the Senate were called
patres
, "fathers," since they were the fathers of the different clans, and their descendants were called
patricians
. The patricians were the leading citizens of Rome and constituted the nobility. The common people were the
plebs
(from which comes the English word
plebeian
, "common, vulgar").

To attract more people to the new city, Romulus established a sanctuary (
asylum
, "place where one cannot be seized") to which men fled from their troubles in their native cities. The city, however, lacked one essential element for population growth: women. Romulus sent envoys to the neighboring cities to solicit an alliance, with the privilege of intermarriage between the citizens of the two communities. The other cities wanted to curb the growth of the new rival, and accordingly rejected Romulus' offers, even telling the Romans that the only way they would be able to get

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women was to have a sanctuary for women, too. The young Romans were very bitter at that insult.

The Rape of the Sabine Women

Romulus then invented another plan for bringing women into the city. He prepared his city for games in honor of the god Neptune and invited the inhabitants of the neighboring towns to join the celebration. Many of them came to the games, bringing their wives and children, and they admired the new city. Once the time for the show had come, and when everybody was eagerly anticipating the start, the signal was given: The young Romans swarmed upon the crowd and carried off the single women.

The outraged parents called upon the gods to avenge the crime they had suffered at the hands of the Romans. They charged the Romans with breaking the laws of hospitality: They had left the safety of their own homes and towns to honor Neptune in Rome, but instead had become the victims of that most unholy deed. The different towns prepared for war; the Romans quickly defeated the smaller and less prepared towns, with Romulus earning great honor. In one of those battles he killed the enemy commander in single combat; to show his gratitude he built a temple for Jupiter Feretrius and offered
spolia opima
, the spoils of an enemy commander killed by a Roman commander in single combat. The word
feretrius
might be derived from the verb
ferio
, "to strike."

The tribes of the Sabines, however, led by their king, Titus Tatius, gave stiffer opposition. The Sabines were a tough, hardy people in the hills northeast of Rome, whom the Romans would later compare to the Spartans for their bravery and simple morality. In making war upon them the Romans faced not only strong opposition, but even a traitor within their own city. A Roman girl, Tarpeia, the daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, the commander of the citadel on the Capitol, one of the hills of Rome, was bribed by offers of gold, and admitted armed Sabines into the citadel; the Sabines, however, killed her instead of giving the promised gold. The price she had demanded for admitting them into the citadel was what they wore on their arms. She meant their gold bracelets;

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