Read Ancient Rome: An Introductory History Online

Authors: Paul A. Zoch

Tags: #History, #Ancient, #Rome, #test

Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (6 page)

Page 20

The citizens of Alba Longa were brought to Rome, and Roman legions were sent to Alba Longa to destroy it. (A
legion
was a unit of the Roman army containing, at full strength, six thousand soldiers, but usually only three to four thousand.) Rome took over the leadership of the Latin League. The number of Roman citizens was doubled, and the Caelian Hill was added to the city.

Tullus, having become sick with a plague that was then afflicting Rome, undertook unfamiliar sacrifices and rites to Jupiter. Apparently he did not perform them correctly, for his palace was struck by lightning in 642
B.C.
, and he died in the fire.

Ancus Marcius Becomes King

After an interregnum, the Romans then elected Ancus Marcius king. The Latins, thinking him a weak king, made raids on Roman territory and responded arrogantly to Ancus' demands for redress. Before declaring war on the Latins, Ancus decided to establish rites by which Rome could justly declare war, so it would not offend the gods.

In the ceremony for declaring war, the Roman envoy stood at the border of the hostile country and called upon the gods to witness that his demands were just; if his demands were unjust, he said, let him never be a citizen of his country. The envoy then crossed the border and repeated the speech to the first citizen he met, and then again in the marketplace. If the Romans voted for war, the
fetials
(priests whose duty was declaring and deciding upon the justice of a war) then went to the border and gave a formal speech detailing the wrongs of the enemy. They would then throw a bloody spear into the enemy's territory, as the formal declaration of War.

Ancus Marcius is given the credit for establishing the first Roman colony, where the Tiber meets the Tyrrhenian Sea. The settlement received the name Ostia (from
os
, "mouth, opening") and became the port of Rome as well as the source of salt, a valuable and essential commodity. He also built Rome's prison, the
carcer
(seen in the English word
incarceration
), on the Capitoline Hill; the steps leading to the
carcer
were called the Scalae Gemoniae, or Mourning Steps, because the bodies of executed criminals were thrown out

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on them. He seized and fortified the Janiculum, a ridge on the west bank of the Tiber, because of its great strategic importance in the defense of the city; to ease communication with the troops on the Janiculum, he built the Pons Sublicius, a wooden bridge across the Tiber.

During Ancus Marcius' reign an Etruscan man named Lucumo left Tarquinii, the city of his birth, and came to Rome. As he and his wife, Tanaquil, reached the gates of Rome, an eagle landed on Lucumo's head and then flew away with his hat. The eagle returned a minute later, and placed the hat back on Lucumo's head. Tanaquil, who was skilled in interpreting such signs, said it foretold her husband's future greatness.

Ambitious and wealthy, Lucumo soon became a friend to all. He was now known by the nickname Tarquinius, after his native city. He even became an adviser to King Ancus and a guardian of the king's children. When Ancus died in 617, Tarquinius sent the king's sons on a hunting expedition. During their absence, he solicited votes for his own campaign to become king. His popularity, his knowledge of the city and its customs, and his familiarity with Ancus won him the necessary votes, and he became king. To further protect his power, he packed the Senate with loyal followers.

King Tarquin

King Tarquin (616-579
B.C.
; later called Tarquinius Priscus, or Tarquin the Elder, to distinguish him from another Tarquin) then captured the Latin town Apiolae and returned to Rome with a great amount of loot. He celebrated public games on a lavish scale never before seen in Rome. The games became a custom, called the Roman Games. In early Rome horse races and boxing matches supplied the entertainment in the
ludi
(games), while in later Rome wild beast hunts and gladiator combats were featured. Tarquin built the Circus Maximus, where chariot races were held. He also drained the low-lying areas between the hills, where rainwater collected; eventually the Forum (the public square of Rome) was built where once there had been a swamp. He may have started construction of the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol.

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The Sabines soon attacked Rome, disrupting Tarquin's plan to encircle the whole city with a stone wall. During the battles with the Sabines, Tarquin saw a weakness in the formation of the Roman cavalry and went about solving the problem. The augurs, however, had not given him their approval for reforming the cavalry, and an augur came to the king and told him that he needed to get the sanction of the augurs before proceeding with his plans.

Tarquin, in a contemptuous voice, said, "Come now, my devout fellow, take the auspices, and tell whether or not what I am thinking can be done."

The augur was not daunted by Tarquin's dare. He took the auspices and said that what the king had been thinking could indeed be done.

"But," said Tarquin, "I was thinking that you could split a sharpening-stone with a razor blade. Take these things," he said, handing him a razor and sharpening-stone, "and do what those birds of yours predicted could happen."

The augur did not hesitate. He took the razor and cut the sharpening-stone in half. Tarquin never again doubted the validity of the augurs; instead of reforming the cavalry as he had originally planned, he simply doubled the number of knights (Livy I.36.4).

One day a woman came to Tarquin and offered to sell him nine books filled with oracles from the Sibyl, a woman who had prophetic powers. Tarquin, however, did not understand how valuable the knowledge of the future was, and thought the price too high; the woman left and burned three of the books. Later she returned and offered to sell him the six remaining books at the same price she had asked for all nine. Tarquin, thinking that the price now was even worse, still refused to buy them. So the woman left and burned three more of the books. Later, she came back to Tarquin and offered to sell him the last three at the same price she had once asked for all nine. In amazement Tarquin summoned the augurs and asked them what to do. Recognizing that the books contained prophecies, they advised him to buy the books at the price she was asking. He did so, and appointed men to guard the Sibylline books. During times of crisis, when the Senate was perplexed, it would order that the Sibylline books be consulted to find divine advice on how to solve or address the

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problem; the priests then searched through the Sibyl's mystical, enigmatic sayings to find advice that fit the particular problem they were facing. When the original books were destroyed in 83
B.C.
, a new collection was made.

During Tarquin's reign there occurred a very odd thing. A boy named Servius Tullius, the son of a female slave in the king's household, was sleeping when his head burst into flames. The noise caused by the excitement of those nearby brought Tarquin and Tanaquil to the child's bed. Just as a servant was about to throw water onto the child's head, the queen stopped him, saying that the child had to sleep until he awoke on his own. A few minutes later the child woke up, and the fire on his head died out, leaving him unharmed.

Tanaquil said to the king, ''Do you see this child here, whom we are bringing up in such lowly conditions? You can be sure that someday he'll be a light of safety upon our troubled affairs and a guardian of our palace in its distress. From now on, let's nurture him with all our love and care, since he will later be the source of great honor in public and private." From then on the child Servius received the education and upbringing of a king's son. He became a man impressive in all ways, and Tarquin even gave him his daughter in marriage. Soon Servius became one of the most distinguished men in the state (Livy I.39).

The Assassination of Tarquin

In the thirty-eighth year of Tarquin's reign, the sons of Ancus Marcius, his predecessor, began to cause trouble. They began to badmouth Tarquin for being a foreigner and for adopting the son of a slave as his heir. They hired two men to murder the king.

The two assassins presented themselves at the palace and started fighting with each other. When the king's attendants appeared, the two kept shouting at each other and demanded to see the king, so he could arbitrate their dispute. They were taken to the king, and as one began to explain his case, the other killed Tarquin.

Tanaquil kept a clear head. She ordered the palace to be closed and made preparations for nursing the king as if there was hope of his recovery. Then she summoned Servius and said, "Servius, if

Page 24

you're a man, the kingdom belongs to you, not those whose hired men committed that horrible crime. Stand tall and follow the gods as your leaders, for they showed long ago with that divine fire on your head that your life would be brilliant. Now let that heaven-sent fire inspire you, now get going!" (Livy I.41.3).

She then told the people that the king had been merely stunned by a blow, and that they should give their obedience to Servius until Tarquin had fully recovered. Servius made appearances on behalf of Tarquin and acted as king, all the time strengthening his position; soon he was acknowledged as king. Since Servius' position was so strong, Ancus' sons went into voluntary exile. To prevent Tarquin's sons, Lucius and Arruns, from being bitter about their loss of the throne as the sons of Ancus Marcius had been, Servius gave them his daughters (both named Tullia) in marriage. Nothing, however, could assuage their bitterness and jealousy.

Servius, King of Rome

Servius' main accomplishment was the division of the Roman
plebs
(common people) into classes and his institution of the census. There were several classes, with the knights (
equites
), who formed the cavalry, at the head of them all. During the republic and empire the knights, or equestrians, were conspicuous because of the gold ring that they were allowed to wear.

First Class
Men who had capital valued at 100,000
asses
(the
as
was the basic unit of Roman currency) or more. They were required to equip themselves with helmet, round shield, greaves, breastplate, sword, and spear. Two centuries of engineers also belonged to this class.

Second Class
Men whose property was valued between 100,000 and 75,000
asses
. They had to equip themselves with the same equipment as the men of the first class, except for the breastplate, and they were allowed a long shield instead of a round one.

Third Class
Men whose property was valued at 50,000
asses
. They had to supply the same equipment as those in the second class, except for the greaves.

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Fourth Class
Men whose property was valued at 25,000
asses
. They had to supply only the spear and javelin.

Fifth Class
Men whose property was valued at 11,000
asses
. They supplied slings and stones. Buglers and trumpeters also belonged to this class.

Proletarii
Those whose property was valued below 11,000
asses
. They were formed into a single century and were exempt from military service. They were called proletarii because the only thing they could contribute to Rome was their children (proles).

Each class was further divided into groups of one hundred (
centum
), forming a
centuria
, which was the smallest unit of the Roman army. Those
centuriae
eighteen of cavalry and one hundred seventy of foot soldiersalso were the basis of an assembly (the Comitia Centuriata, or Meetings by Hundreds) at which the soldiers voted. Whenever a vote was needed on, say, whether or not to go to war, the soldiers voted in order of class; thus, while the rich were expected to do more for the state, they also received political prerogatives for their added burdens. The richer always voted before the poorer, and rarely did a vote go even to the Second Class, for the classes above the Second Class had already decided the matter.

Servius also divided the city into four tribes, where citizens would register for the census. The census was the basis by which people were grouped into classes. He enacted a law that punished with death all who failed to register with the census. At the first census, eighty thousand men capable of bearing arms registered. After conducting the census, Servius also performed a
lustrum
(purification ceremony), whose purpose was to ward off evil; since the census and
lustrum
occurred every five years,
lustrum
came also to mean a period of five years.

Since the population of Rome was growing quickly and needed more space, Servius added the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline Hills to the city. Rome now had its seven hills, the other four being the Palatine, Capitoline, Caelian, and the Aventine. Some Romans believed that Servius also built a wall around the city; parts of the "Wall of Servius" remain today, although modem scholars believe that the wall in question was actually built later, in 378
B.C.
It was

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