THE KING WHO FOUGHT AND PRAYED
Like his grandfather Numa Pompilius, Ancus Marcius loved peace.
His first act after he became king was to restore the service of the
gods, which during the last reign had ofttimes been neglected. The
sacred laws of Pompilius, too, he ordered to be written on tablets of
wood and to be shown to the people.
Now among the enemies of Rome was a tribe named the Latins. The Latins,
knowing that King Ancus spent his time in prayer and in offering
sacrifices to the gods, began to plunder and destroy the country round
about Rome, thinking to go unpunished. But they soon found that the
king could fight as well as pray.
No sooner, indeed, had Ancus heard that the Latins were laying waste
his dominions, than he commanded the priests to attend to the temple
services. Then, placing himself at the head of his army, he marched
against the enemy.
The battle was fierce and long, but at length the Latins were beaten
and their towns destroyed. His prisoners the king took back with him to
Rome, bidding them make their home on the Aventine hill.
Ancus next determined to secure the command of the Tiber and to join
the Janiculum hill to Rome by throwing a wooden bridge across the
river, which was named the ‘Bridge of the Wooden Piles,’ for it was
built entirely of wood. The beams were placed loosely, one alongside
another, so that, should an enemy approach, it could be quickly taken
to pieces.
Ancus loved peace, but he could not yet lay down his arms, for he saw
that Rome ought to secure the land that lay between the city and the
sea. So he led his army against the tribes to whom this land belonged,
and, taking it from them, he built a town at the mouth of the Tiber,
which he called Ostia. And here a busy harbour was soon to be seen,
from which Roman ships set sail for the open sea.
For twenty-four years this good king reigned, and then, calm and
content as his royal grandfather, he died. His name was ever held in
honour by his people, for in time of peace he had been just, in time of
war victorious.
The children of the king were still young when their father died, so
they were left to the care of his friend, Lucius Tarquinius.