Romŭlus
The name of the mythical founder of Rome. According to the popular Roman tradition,
recorded in the first book of Livy , he was the son of Mars and Ilia or Rhea Silvia, daughter
of Numitor, and was born at the same birth with Remus. Amulius, who had usurped the throne of
Alba, in defiance of the right of his elder brother Numitor, ordered the infants to be thrown
into the Tiber, and their mother to be buried alive, the doom of a vestal virgin who violated
her vow of chastity. The river happened at that time to have overflowed its banks, so that the
two infants were not carried into the middle of the stream, but drifted along the margin, till
the basket which contained them became entangled in the roots of a wild vine at the foot of
the Palatine Hill. At this time a she-wolf, coming down to the river to drink, suckled the
infants, and carried them to her den among the thickets hard by. Here they were found by
Faustulus, the king's herdsman, who took them home to his wife Laurentia, by whom they were
carefully nursed, and named Romulus and Remus. The two youths grew up, employed in the
labours, the sports, and the perils of the pastoral occupation of their foster-father. But
their royal blood could not be quite concealed. Their superior mien, courage, and abilities
soon acquired for them a decided superior
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The Capitoline Wolf.
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ity over their young compeers, and they became leaders of the youthful herdsmen in
their contests with robbers or with rivals. Having quarrelled with the herdsmen of Numitor,
whose flocks were accustomed to graze on the neighbouring hill Aventinus, Remus fell into an
ambuscade, and was dragged before Numitor to be punished. While Numitor, struck with the noble
bearing of the youth, and influenced by the secret stirrings of nature within, was hesitating
what punishment to inflict, Romulus, accompanied by Faustulus, hastened to the rescue of
Remus. On their arrival at Alba, the secret of their origin was discovered, and a plan was
speedily organized for the expulsion of Amulius and the restoration of their grandfather
Numitor to his throne. This was soon accomplished; but the twin-brothers felt little
disposition to remain in a subordinate position at Alba, after the enjoyment of the rude
liberty and power to which they had been accustomed among their native hills. They therefore
requested from their grandfather permission to build a city on the banks of the Tiber, where
their lives had been so miraculously preserved. Scarcely had this permission been granted,
when a contest arose between the two brothers respecting the site, the name, and the sovereignty of the city which they were about to found. Romulus wished it to
be built on the Palatine Hill, and to be called by his name; Remus preferred the Aventine, and
his own name. To terminate their dispute amicably, they agreed to refer it to the decision of
the gods by augury. Romulus took his station on the Palatine Hill, Remus on the Aventine. At
sunrise Remus saw six vultures, and immediately after Romulus saw twelve. The superiority was
adjudged to Romulus, because he had seen the greater number; against which decision Remus
remonstrated indignantly, on the ground that he had first received an omen. Romulus then
proceeded to mark out the boundaries for the wall of the intended city. This was done by a
plough with a brazen ploughshare, drawn by a bull and a heifer, and so directed that the
furrow should fall inward. The plough was lifted and carried over the spaces intended to be
left for gates; and in this manner a square space was marked out, including the Palatine Hill,
and a small portion of the land at its base, termed Roma Quadrata. This took place on the 21st
of April, on the day of the festival of Pales, the goddess of shepherds. While the wall was
beginning to rise above the surface, Remus, whose mind was still rankling with his
discomfiture, leaped over it, scornfully saying, “Shall such a wall as that keep
your city?” Immediately Romulus, or, as others say, Celer, who had charge of
erecting that part of the wall, struck him dead to the ground with the implement which he held
in his hand, exclaiming, “So perish whosoever shall hereafter overleap these
ramparts.”
By this event Romulus was left the sole sovereign of the city; yet he felt deep remorse at
his brother's fate, buried him honourably, and, when he sat to administer justice, placed an
empty seat by his side, with a sceptre and crown, as if acknowledging the right of his brother
to the possession of equal power. To augment as speedily as possible the number of his
subjects, Romulus set apart, in his new city, a place of refuge, to which any man might flee,
and be there protected from his pursuers. By this device the population increased rapidly in
males, but there was a great deficiency in women; for the adjoining States, regarding the
followers of Romulus as little better than a horde of brigands, refused to sanction
intermarriages. But the schemes of Romulus were not to be so frustrated. In honour of the god
Consus, he proclaimed games, to which he invited the neighbouring States. Great numbers came,
accompanied by their families, and, at an appointed signal, the Roman youth, rushing suddenly
into the midst of the spectators, snatched up the unmarried women in their arms, and carried
them off by force. The outrage was immediately resented, and Romulus found himself involved in
a war with all the neighbouring States. Fortunately for Rome, though those States had
sustained a common injury, they did not unite their forces in the common cause. They fought
singly, and were each in turn defeated; Caenina, Crustumerium, and Antemnae fell successively
before the Roman arms. Romulus slew with his own hands Acron, king of Caenina, and bore off
his spoils, dedicating them, as
spolia opima, to Iupiter Feretrius. The
third part of the lands of the conquered towns was seized by the victors, and such of the
people of these towns as were willing to remove to Rome were received as free citizens. In the
meantime, the Sabines, to avenge the insult which they had sustained, had collected
together forces under Titus Tatius, king of the Quirites. The Romans were unable to meet so
strong an army in the field, and withdrew within their walls. They had previously placed their
flocks in what they thought a place of safety, on the Capitoline Hill, which, strong as it was
by nature, they had still further secured by additional fortifications. Tarpeia, the daughter
of the commander of that fortress, having fallen into the hands of the Sabines, agreed to
betray the access to the hill for the ornaments they wore upon their arms. At their approach
she opened the gate, and, as they entered, they crushed her to death beneath their shields.
From her the cliff of the Capitoline Hill was called the Tarpeian Rock. The attempt of the
Romans to regain this place of strength brought on a general engagement. The combat was long
and doubtful. At one time the Romans were almost driven into the city, which the Sabines were
on the point of entering along with them, when fresh courage was infused into the fugitives in
consequence of Romulus vowing a temple to Iupiter Stator, and by a stream of water which
rushed out of the Temple of Ianus and swept away the Sabines from the gate. The struggle was
renewed during several successive days with various fortune and great mutual slaughter. At
length the Sabine women who had been carried away, and who were now reconciled to their fate,
rushed with loud outcries between the combatants, imploring their husbands and their fathers
to spare on each side those who were now equally dear. Both parties paused; a conference
began, a peace was concluded, and a treaty framed, by which the two nations were united into
one, and Romulus and Tatius became the joint sovereigns of the united people. But, though
united, each nation continued to be governed by its own king and Senate. During the double
rule of Romulus and Tatius a war was undertaken against the Latin town of Cameria, which was
reduced and made a Roman colony, and its people were admitted into the Roman State, as had
been done with those whom Romulus previously subdued. Tatius was soon afterwards slain by the
people of Laurentum, because he had refused to do them justice against his kinsmen, who had
violated the laws of nations by insulting their ambassadors.
The death of Tatius left Romulus sole monarch of Rome. He was soon engaged in a war with
Fidenae, a Tuscan settlement on the banks of the Tiber. This people he likewise overcame, and
placed in the city a Roman colony. This war, extending the Roman frontier, led to a hostile
collision with Veii, in which he was also successful, and deprived Veii, at that time one of
the most powerful cities of Etruria, of a large portion of its territories, though he found
that the city itself was too strong to be taken. The reign of Romulus now drew near its close.
One day, while holding a review of his army, on a plain near Lake Capra, the sky was suddenly
overcast with gloom and a tempest of thunder and lightning arose. The people fled in dismay;
and when the storm abated, Romulus, over whose head it had raged most fiercely, was nowhere to
be seen. A rumour was circulated that during the tempest he had been carried to heaven by his
father, the god Mars. This opinion was speedily confirmed by the report of Iulius Proculus,
who declared that, as he was returning by night from Alba to Rome, Romulus
appeared before him in a form of more than mortal majesty, and bade him go and tell the Romans
that Rome was destined by the gods to be the chief city of the earth; that human power should
never be able to withstand her people; and that he himself would be their guardian god
Quirinus ( Romulus;
Livy, i. 4). The traditional date of the
translation of Romulus to heaven is B.C. 716. For a criticism of the legend and its relation
to Roman history, see
Lewis, An Inquiry into the Credibility of Ancient Roman
History (1855); Ihne,
Early Rome, Engl. trans.
(N. Y.
1878); and Niebuhr's
History of Rome, vol. i. Engl. edition
(1859). In defence of the historical value of the legend, see Ampère,
Histoire Romaine à Rome (Paris, 1871).