Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (4 page)

Page 13

they, however, hurled on her something else they wore on their armstheir shieldsand crushed her to death, to show that agreements with traitors would not be kept. The Tarpeian Rock, which is a cliff on the southwest corner of the Capitol, was named after her; from the Tarpeian Rock murderers and traitors were hurled to their deaths.

The Sabines thus were able to occupy the citadel of Rome. During one of the battles the Romans fought to recapture the citadel, the Roman army started losing and began to flee. To stop their flight, Romulus prayed to the father of the gods, Jupiter, and promised to build him a temple if the Roman army were inspired to stay its ground and fight. After hearing that Jupiter Optimus Maximus (Jupiter the Best and Greatest) ordered them to stop and fight, the Romans stopped running and renewed their attack. To show his gratitude and fulfill his part of the bargain, Romulus later dedicated the temple to Jupiter Stator, ''Jupiter the Stayer."

The Sabines and Romans were continuing the fierce battle when some of the Sabine women, including one named Hersilia, ran into the midst of the battle, through the flying missiles and arrows, beseeching the Romans not to kill their fathers and begging the Sabines not to kill their husbandsotherwise they would be left widows and orphans.

The soldiers, touched by the pitiful sight of the women and their babies, stopped fighting. The leaders agreed not only to a truce, but also to the union of two communities. The power would be based in Rome, and the Sabines would become Roman citizens. Roman citizens were henceforth called Quirites, supposedly after the Sabine town Cures. (Modem classicists reject that etymology, but the Romans believed it.) Romulus also divided all the citizens into thirty
curiae
, which he named after the Sabine women. Those
curiae
formed assemblies (
comitia curiata
) in which citizens would vote. To further honor the Sabine women, it was agreed that they were to be free from all common labor in the house except for spinning wool, and two holidays were celebrated in their honor, the Matronalia and the Carmentalia. Tradition says that the Sabine king, Titus Tatius, became joint king with Romulus but was later

Page 14

murdered in Lavinium by the relative of a man whom his relatives had murdered.

One day in 716
B.C.
Romulus was reviewing his troops when suddenly a storm arose; thick clouds hid Romulus from the soldiers' view, and when the clouds dissipated, the soldiers saw that Romulus was no longer there. After recovering from their shock and sadnessthey felt orphaned by his lossthey proclaimed that he had become a god. Not much later, one man named Proculus Julius claimed that Romulus had come down to him from the sky and had said, "Go now, and tell the Romans that the gods want my Rome to be the ruler of the world. Therefore, let them practice the art of war and make it a custom with their descendants that human powers cannot withstand Roman weapons!" (Livy 1.16.7). Romulus then returned to heaven. A less flattering version of the story has the senators tearing Romulus to pieces for becoming a tyrant. Whatever Romulus' manner of death, later Romans worshiped him for establishing a new nation and leaving it strong and secure: "Do you see," wrote Cicero almost seven hundred years later, "that with his sagacity this one man did not just create a new nation, but even left it already full-grown and almost mature?" (
De republica
II.11.1).

Page 15

Chapter 4
Kings after Romulus

After the death of Romulus, there was an
interregnum
(a period of time in which a senator would exercise royal power for five days, and then pass it to another). Then, in 715
B.C.
, Numa Pompilius, a Sabine with a great reputation for justice and piety, became the next king of Rome. Our major source of the time says that the common people chose him as Romulus' successor, the senators approved of the choice, and Jupiter sent a favorable sign during the inauguration. Romulus had been a warrior, waging war not only on the towns whose daughters the young Romans had seized, but also on the Etruscan cities Veii and Fidenae. Numa, in contrast, was peace-loving, and he tried to temper the Romans' desire for war.

To prevent the Romans from degenerating into idleness and dissipation, once they were freed from the demands and discipline of war, King Numa imbued them with a religious fervor. To accomplish this, he spread the rumor that he had secret meetings with the goddess Egeria, who gave him information on how to maintain the goodwill of the gods, which the Romans called
pax deorum
(peace of the gods). He built the Temple of Janus, whose gates, when open, indicated that Rome was at war and, when closed, showed that the city was at peace. He appointed priests (
flamines
), one for Jupiter alone (
flamen Dialis
), and others for Mars and Quirinus, both gods of war; Quirinus was of Sabine origin, and associated with the Quirinal Hill. He is credited with building the Regia, the seat of authority of the
pontifex maximus
, or high priest. He created the
salii
, minor priests in service of Mars. At the beginning and end of the season for war, they would

Page 16

dance (
salire
) through the city, beating their shields; they also protected a shield that was believed to have fallen from heaven.

King Numa created Rome's cult of the Vestal Virgins, who were greatly honored by the Romans for giving up the goals of marriage and a family to tend the eternal fire of Vesta. He is credited with dividing the Roman year into twelve lunar months and with appointing days when business could and could not be conducted: Days when business could be conducted were
fas
(literally, "speakable") and those when business could not be conducted were
nefas
("not speakable," and thus unholy, which gave rise to the English word
nefarious
). He wrote complete directions for performing the rites of worship of all the gods: which animals were to be sacrificed, how much money was to be spent on the rites, which were the days of worship, and in which temple the rites were to be held. Some later Romans believed that Numa had acquired his learning from Pythagoras, who lived in southern Italy. Pythagoras, however, lived more than one hundred fifty years after Numa became king. Numa died after ruling for forty-three years.

Tullus Hostilius Becomes King

After another interregnum, Tullus Hostilius (673-642
B.C.
) became king. He was even more warlike than Romulus had been. The citizens of Rome and Alba Longa, who had been making border raids on each other, now prepared for waractually a civil war, since the two cities had a common origin. Alba Longa at that time may have been the head of the Latin League, a confederacy of cities and towns in Latium, an area south of Rome; one of the issues in this conflict was primacy in the Latin League. Before the final battle, Mettius Fufetius, the dictator of Alba Longa, called Hostilius to a conference and suggested that the two cities not fight the battle. He argued that the Etruscans, people who had a powerful confederacy of cities in northern and central Italy, would soon swoop down upon the tired and wounded victors, whether those of Rome or of Alba Longa, and thus take both cities. Still, they needed to decide who would be dominant, Rome or Alba Longa.

Page 17

The Horatii

It happened that in each army were triplet brothers. Mettius and Tullus agreed that each city would be represented in battle by its triplets, and that the city whose triplets won would rule the losers' city. The Romans' triplets were the Horatii, and those of Alba Longa were the Curiatii. The fight began, with both armies watching and cheering their boys on.


The signal was given. Like an army, with their deadly weapons ready for battle, the triplets dashed forward against their enemy, bringing into battle all the courage of their great armies. Neither the Horatii nor the Curiatii thought about the danger; their only concern was whether the city would rule or be ruled, and what future they would create for their city.

Immediately upon the men's first clashing together, their weapons rang out, and their glittering swords flashed in the light. The spectators were seized by great dread, their voices and breaths halting in unfailing hopes of victory; as they watched the men dodging and thrusting with their weapons, and receiving wounds and bleeding, two Horatii fell dead, one on top of the other, and the Curiatii were wounded. As the two Romans fell, the Alban army cried out with joy; immediately the Roman army lost all hope, but now worried about the one surviving Roman, who was surrounded by the three Curiatii. It happened that he had not been wounded; alone, he was certainly no match against the three together, but against them one at a time, he was a dangerous foe.

Therefore, to take them on one at a time, he immediately dashed away, seeing that each of his enemies would follow as his wounded body allowed. Once he had fled some distance from where the battle had been fought, he looked back and saw them following with great distances between them; one was not far away at all. He turned back on him in a fierce attack; by the time the Alban army shouted to the other two Curiatii to help their brother, Horatius had already cut down his opponent and, victorious, was seeking the next fight. Then, with the kind of roar that usually arises after the unexpected happens, the Romans encourage their soldier; he hurries to finish off the battle. Before the one Curiatius, who was not far away, could reach his brother, Horatius had already dispatched him: now the two remainedone Horatius and one

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