United States or Guyana ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
To Re'mus appeared six vultures; in the moment after, Rom'ulus saw twelve. Two parties had been formed for this purpose; the one declared for Re'mus, who first saw the vultures; the other for Rom'ulus, who saw the greater number. Each party called itself victorious; the one having the first omen, the other that which was most complete.
This gave rise to an insuperable chronological difficulty; for Troy was destroyed B.C. 1184, and Rome was not founded until B.C. 753. To remedy this incongruity, a list of Latin kings intervening between Æne'as and Rom'ulus, was invented; but the forgery was so clumsily executed, that its falsehood is apparent on the slightest inspection.
The Ram'nes, or Ram'nenses, derived their name from Rom'ulus; the Tities, or Titien'ses, from Titus Tatius, the king of the Sabines; and the Lu'ceres, from Lu'cumo, the Tuscan title of a general or leader. From this it appears that the three tribes were really three distinct nations, differing in their origin, and dwelling apart.
All authors are agreed that the Coelian hill was named from Coeles Viben'na, a Tuscan chief; but there is a great variety in the date assigned to his settlement at Rome. Some make him cotemporary with Rom'ulus, others with the elder Tarquin, or Servius Tullius. In this uncertainty all that can be satisfactorily determined is, that at some early period a Tuscan colony settled in Rome.
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.
Rom'ulus, therefore, proclaimed a feast, in honour of Neptune, 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.
Re'mus was taken prisoner, carried before the king, and accused of being a plunderer and robber on Nu'mitor's lands. Rom'ulus had escaped; but Re'mus, the king sent to Nu'mitor, that he might do himself justice. From many circumstances, Faus'tulus suspected the twins under his care to be the same that Amu'lius had exposed on the Ti'ber, and at length divulged his suspicions to Rom'ulus.
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.
This was the first hill occupied by Rom'ulus, and where he fixed his residence, and kept his court; as also did Tul'lus, Hostil'ius, Augus'tus, and all the succeeding emperors; and hence it is that the residence of princes is called Palatium or Palace. He is by some called Am'pronus.
Word Of The Day