Оливер Голдсмит
Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome
CHAPTER II.
FROM THE BUILDING OF ROME TO THE DEATH OF ROMULUS
See Romulus the great, born to restore
The crown that once his injured grandsire wore.
This prince a priestess of our blood shall bear;
And like his sire in arms he shall appear. —Dryden.
1. Scarcely was the city raised above its foundation, when its rude inhabitants began to think of giving some form to their constitution. Rom'ulus, by an act of great generosity, left them at liberty to choose whom they would for their king; and they, in gratitude, concurred to elect him for their founder. He, accordingly, was acknowledged as chief of their religion, sovereign magistrate of Rome, and general of the army. Beside a guard to attend his person, it was agreed, that he should be preceded wherever he went, by twelve lictors, each armed with an axe tied up in a bundle of rods;50 these were to serve as executioners of the law, and to impress his new subjects with an idea of his authority.
2. The senate, who were to act as counsellors to the king, was composed of a hundred of the principal citizens of Rome, consisting of men whose age, wisdom, or valour, gave them a natural authority over their fellow-subjects. The king named the first senator, who was called prince of the senate, and appointed him to the government of the city, whenever war required his own absence.
3. The patricians, who composed the third part of the legislature, assumed to themselves the power of authorising those laws which were passed by the king, or the senate. All things relative to peace or war, to the election of magistrates, and even to the choosing a king, were confirmed by suffrages in their assemblies.
4. The plebeians were to till the fields, feed cattle, and follow trades; but not to have any share in the government, to avoid the inconveniences of a popular power.
5. The first care of the new-created king was, to attend to the interests of religion. The precise form of their worship is unknown; but the greatest part of the religion of that age consisted in a firm reliance upon the credit of their soothsayers, who pretended, from observation on the flight of birds, and the entrails of beasts, to direct the present, and to dive into futurity. Rom'ulus, by an express law, commanded that no election should be made, nor enterprise undertaken, without first consulting them.
6. Wives were forbidden, upon any pretext whatsoever, to separate from their husbands; while, on the contrary, the husband was empowered to repudiate the wife, and even, in some cases, to put her to death. The laws between children and their parents were still more severe; the father had entire power over his offspring, both of fortune and life; he could imprison and sell them at any time of their lives, or in any stations to which they were arrived.
7. After endeavouring to regulate his subjects by law, Rom'ulus next gave orders to ascertain their numbers. The whole amounted to no more than three thousand foot, and about as many hundred horsemen, capable of bearing arms. These, therefore, were divided equally into three tribes, and to each he assigned a different part of the city. Each of these tribes was subdivided into ten curiæ, or companies, consisting of a hundred men each, with a centurion to command it; a priest called curio, to perform the sacrifices,
and two of the principal inhabitants, called duumviri, to distribute justice.
8. By these judicious regulations, each day added strength to the new city; multitudes of people flocked in from all the adjacent towns, and it only seemed to want women to insure its duration. In this exigence, Rom'ulus, by the advice of the senate, sent deputies among the Sab'ines, his neighbours, entreating their alliance; and, upon these terms, offering to cement the strictest confederacy with them. The Sab'ines, who were at that time considered as the most warlike people of Italy, rejected the proposal with disdain. 9. Rom'ulus, therefore, proclaimed a feast, in honour of Neptune,51 throughout all the neighbouring villages, and made the most magnificent preparations for celebrating it. These feasts were generally preceded by sacrifices, and ended in shows of wrestlers, gladiators, and chariot-courses. The Sab'ines, as he had expected, were among the foremost who came to be spectators, bringing their wives and daughters with them, to share the pleasures of the sight. 10. In the mean time the games began, and while the strangers were most intent upon the spectacle, a number of the Roman youth rushed in among them with drawn swords, seized the youngest and most beautiful women, and carried them off by violence. In vain the parents protested against this breach of hospitality; the virgins were carried away and became the wives of the Romans.
11. A bloody war ensued. The cities of Cæ'nina,52 Antem'næ,53 and Crustumi'num,54 were the first who resolved to avenge the common cause, which the Sab'ines seemed too dilatory in pursuing. But all these, by making separate inroads, became an easy conquest to Rom'ulus, who made the most merciful use of his victories; instead of destroying their towns, or lessening their numbers, he only placed colonies of Romans in them, to serve as a frontier to repress more distant invasions.
12. Ta'tius, king of Cures, a Sabine city, was the last, although the most formidable, who undertook to revenge the disgrace his country had suffered. He entered the Roman territories at the head of twenty-five thousand men, and not content with a superiority of forces, he added stratagem also. 13. Tarpe'ia, who was daughter to the commander of the Capit'oline hill, happened to fall into his hands, as she went without the walls of the city to fetch water. Upon her he prevailed, by means of large promises, to betray one of the gates to his army. The reward she engaged for, was what the soldiers wore on their arms, by which she meant their bracelets. They, however, either mistaking her meaning, or willing to punish her perfidy, threw their bucklers upon her as they entered, and crushed her to death. 14. The Sab'ines being thus possessed of the Capit'oline, after some time a general engagement ensued, which was renewed for several days, with almost equal success, and neither army could think of submitting; it was in the valley between the Capit'oline and Quiri'nal hills that the last engagement was fought between the Romans and the Sab'ines. 15. The battle was now become general, and the slaughter prodigious; when the attention of both sides was suddenly turned from the scene of horror before them to another. The Sab'ine women, who had been carried off by the Romans, flew in between the combatants, with their hair loose, and their ornaments neglected, regardless of their own danger; and, with loud outcries, implored their husbands and their fathers to desist. Upon this the combatants, as if by natural impulse, let fall their weapons. 16. An accommodation ensued, by which it was agreed, that Rom'ulus and Ta'tius should reign jointly in Rome, with equal power and prerogative; that a hundred Sab'ines should be admitted into the senate; that the city should retain its former name, but the citizens, should be called Qui'rites, after Cu'res, the principal town of the Sab'ines; and that both nations being thus united, such of the Sab'ines as chose it, should be admitted to live in and enjoy all the privileges of citizens of Rome. 17. The conquest of Came'ria was the only military achievement under the two kings, and Ta'tius was killed about five years after by the Lavin'ians, for having protected some of his servants who had plundered them and slain their ambassadors; so that, by this accident, Rom'ulus once more saw himself sole monarch of Rome. 18. Soon after the death of Ta'tius, a cruel plague and famine having broken out at Rome, the Camerini embraced the opportunity to lay waste the Roman territory. But Rom'ulus gave them battle, killed six thousand on the spot, and returned in triumph to Rome. He took likewise Fidenæ, a city about forty furlongs distant from his capital, and reduced the Veien'tes to submission.
19. Successes like these produced an equal share of pride in the conqueror. From being contented with those limits which had been wisely assigned to his power, he began to affect absolute sway, and to controul those laws to which he had himself formerly professed implicit obedience. The senate was particularly displeased at his conduct, as they found themselves used only as instruments to ratify the rigour of his commands. 20. We are not told the precise manner which they employed to get rid of the tyrant. Some say that he was torn in pieces in the senate-house; others, that he disappeared while reviewing his army; certain it is, that, from the secrecy of the fact, and the concealment of the body, they took occasion to persuade the multitude that he was taken up into heaven; thus, him whom they could not bear as a king, they were contented to worship as a god. Rom'ulus reigned thirty-seven years; and, after his death, had a temple built to him, under the name of Quiri'nus.
Questions for Examination.
1. What were the first proceedings of the rude inhabitants of Rome?
2. Of whom was the senate composed?
3. Who were the patricians?
4. Who were the plebeians?
5. What was the first care of the new king? In what did the Religion of Rome consist?
6. What were the laws between husband and wife, and between parents and children?
7. What were the regulations directed by Romulus?
8. What was the result of these regulations?
9. What conduct did Romulus adopt in consequence?
10. What treatment did the Sabines experience?
11. Did they tamely acquiesce in this outrage?
12. Who undertook to revenge the disgrace of the Sabines?
13. What was this stratagem, and how was its perpetrator rewarded?
14. Did the possession of the Capitoline put an end to the war?
15. What put a stop to this sanguinary conflict?
16. What were the terms of accommodation?
17. Was this joint sovereignty of long continuance?
18. Was Romulus successful in military affairs?
19. What was the consequence?
20. What was the manner of his death?
CHAPTER III.
FROM THE DEATH OF ROMULUS TO THE DEATH OF NUMA POMPILIUS, THE SECOND KING OF ROME. – U.C. 38
When pious Numa reigned, Bellona's voice
No longer called the Roman youth to arms;
In peaceful arts he bid her sons rejoice,
And tranquil live, secure from war's alarms. —Brooke.
1. Upon the death of Rom'ulus, the city seemed greatly divided in the choice of a successor. The Sab'ines were for having a king chosen from their body; but the Romans could not endure the thoughts of advancing a stranger to the throne. In this perplexity, the senators undertook to supply the place of the king, by taking the government each of them in turn, for five days, and during that time enjoying all the honours and all the privileges of royalty. 2. This new form of government continued for a year; but the plebeians, who saw this method of transferring power was only multiplying their masters, insisted upon altering that mode of government. The senate being thus driven to an election, at length pitched upon Nu'ma Pompil'ius, a Sab'ine, and their choice was received with universal approbation by the people.55
3. Nu'ma Pompil'ius, who was now about forty, had long been eminent for his piety, his justice, his moderation, and exemplary life. He was skilled in all the learning and philosophy of the Sab'ines, and lived at home at Cu'res,56 contented with a private fortune; unambitious of higher honours. It was not, therefore, without reluctance, that he accepted the dignity; which, when he did so, produced such joy, that the people seemed not so much to receive a king as a kingdom.
4. No monarch could be more proper for them than Nu'ma, at a conjuncture when the government was composed of various petty states lately subdued, and but ill united to each other: they wanted a master who could, by his laws and precepts, soften their fierce dispositions; and, by his example, induce them to a love of religion, and every milder virtue. 5. Numa's whole time, therefore, was spent in inspiring his subjects with a love of piety, and a veneration for the gods. He built many new temples, instituted sacred offices and feasts; and the sanctity of his life gave strength to his assertion – that he had a particular correspondence with the goddess Ege'ria. By her advice he built the temple of Janus, which was to be shut in time of peace, and open in war. He regulated the appointment of the vestal virgins, and added considerably to the privileges which they had previously enjoyed.
6. For the encouragement of agriculture, he divided those lands, which Romulus had gained in war, among the poorer part of the people; he regulated the calendar, and abolished the distinction between Romans and Sabines, by dividing the people according to their several trades, and compelling them to live together. Thus having arrived at the age of fourscore years, and having reigned forty-three in profound peace, he died, ordering his body, contrary to the custom of the times, to be buried in a stone coffin; and his books of ceremonies, which consisted of twelve in Latin, and as many in Greek, to be buried by his side in another.57
Questions for Examination.
1. Upon the death of Romulus, what took place in regard to his successor?
2. How long did this order of things continue?
3. What was the character of Numa Pompilius?
4. Was Numa a monarch suited to this peculiar conjuncture?
5. Relate the acts of Numa?
6. What were the further acts of Numa?
7. What orders did he leave at his death?
CHAPTER IV.
FROM THE DEATH OF NUMA TO THE DEATH OF TULLUS HOSTILIUS THE THIRD KING OF ROME. – U.C. 82
From either army shall be chose three champions,
To fight the cause alone. —Whitehead.
1. At the death of Nu'ma, the government once more devolved upon the senate, and so continued, till the people elected Tullus Hostil'ius for their king, which choice had also the concurrence of the other part of the constitution. This monarch, the grandson of a noble Roman,58 who had formerly signalized himself against the Sab'ines, was every way unlike his predecessor, being entirely devoted to war, and more fond of enterprise than even the founder of the empire himself had been; so that he only sought a pretext for leading his forces to the field.
2. The Albans, by committing some depredations on the Roman territory, were the first people that gave him an opportunity of indulging his favourite inclinations. The forces of the two states met about five miles from Rome, prepared to decide the fate of their respective kingdoms; for, in these times, a single battle was generally decisive. The two armies were for some time drawn out in array, awaiting the signal to begin, both chiding the length of that dreadful suspense, when an unexpected proposal from the Alban general put a stop to the onset. 3. Stepping in between both armies, he offered the Romans to decide the dispute by single combat; adding, that the side whose champion was overcome, should submit to the conqueror. A proposal like this, suited the impetuous temper of the Roman king, and was embraced with joy by his subjects, each of whom hoped that he himself should be chosen to fight the cause of his country. 4. There were, at that time, three twin brothers in each army; those of the Romans were called Hora'tii, and those of the Albans Curia'tii; all six remarkable for their courage, strength, and activity, and to these it was resolved to commit the management of the combat.59 At length the champions met, and each, totally regardless of his own safety, only sought the destruction of his opponent. The spectators, in horrid silence, trembled at every blow, and wished to share the danger, till fortune seemed to decide the glory of the field. 5. Victory, that had hitherto been doubtful, appeared to declare against the Romans: they beheld two of their champions lying dead upon the plain, and the three Curia'tii, who were wounded, slowly endeavouring to pursue the survivor, who seemed by flight to beg for mercy. Too soon, however, they perceived that his flight was only pretended, in order to separate his three antagonists, whom he was unable to oppose united; for quickly after, stopping his course, and turning upon the first, who followed closely behind, he laid him dead at his feet: the second brother, who was coming up to assist him that had already fallen, shared the same fate. 6. There now remained but the last Curia'tius to conquer, who, fatigued and disabled by his wounds, slowly advanced to offer an easy victory. He was killed, almost unresisting, while the conqueror, exclaiming, "Two have I already sacrificed to the manes of my brothers, the third I will offer up to my country," despatched him as a victim to the superiority of the Romans, whom now the Alban army consented to obey.60
7. But the virtues of that age were not without alloy; that very hand that in the morning was exerted to save his country, was, before night, imbrued in the blood of a sister: for, returning triumphant from the field, it raised his indignation to behold her bathed in tears, and lamenting the loss of her lover, one of the Curia'tii, to whom she had been betrothed. This so provoked him beyond the powers of sufferance, that in a rage he slew her: but the action displeased the senate, and drew after it the condemnation of the magistrate. He was, however, pardoned, by making his appeal to the people, but obliged to pass under the yoke; an ignominious punishment, usually inflicted on prisoners of war.61
8. Tullus having greatly increased the power and wealth of Rome by repeated victories, now thought proper to demand satisfaction of the Sab'ines for the insults which had been formerly offered to some Roman citizens at the temple of the goddess Fero'nia, which was common to both nations A war ensued, which lasted some years, and ended in the total overthrow of the Sab'ines.
Hostil'ius died after a reign of thirty-two years; some say by lightning; others, with more probability, by treason.
Questions for Examination.
1. On whom devolved the government on the death of Numa, and what is the character of his successor?
2. What opportunity first offered of indulging the new king's inclinations?
3. What proposal was offered, and accepted for deciding the dispute?
4-6. Relate the circumstances which attended the combat, and the result of it.
7. What act followed the victory?
8. What conquest was next achieved?
CHAPTER V.
FROM THE DEATH OF TULLUS HOSTILIUS TO THE DEATH OF ANCUS MARTIUS THE FOURTH KING OF ROME. – U.C. 115
Where what remains
Of Alba, still her ancient rights retains,
Still worships Vesta, though an humbler way,
Nor lets the hallow'd Trojan fire decay. —Juvenal.
1. After an interregnum, as in the former case, Ancus Mar'tius, the grandson of Numa, was elected king by the people, and their choice was afterwards confirmed by the senate. As this monarch was a lineal descendant from Numa, so he seemed to make him the great object of his imitation. He instituted the sacred ceremonies, which were to precede a declaration of war;62 but he took every occasion to advise his subjects to return to the arts of agriculture, and to lay aside the less useful stratagems of war.
2. These institutions and precepts were considered by the neighbouring powers rather as marks of cowardice than of wisdom. The Latins therefore began to make incursions upon his territories, but their success was equal to their justice. An'cus conquered the Latins, destroyed their cities, removed their inhabitants to Rome, and increased his dominions by the addition of part of theirs. He quelled also an insurrection of the Ve'ii, the Fiden'ates, and the Vol'sci; and over the Sab'ines he obtained a second triumph.
3. But his victories over the enemy were by no means comparable to his works at home, in raising temples, fortifying the city, making a prison for malefactors, and building a sea-port at the mouth of the Ti'ber, called Os'tia, by which he secured to his subjects the trade of that river, and that of the salt-pits adjacent. Thus having enriched his subjects, and beautified the city, he died, after a reign of twenty-four years.
Questions for Examination.
1. Who was elected by the people after the interregnum, and what measures did he pursue?
2. In what light did his enemies consider his institutions? With what success did they oppose him?
3. What were the other acts of Ancus? How many years did he reign?