THE LANDING IN LATIUM.
B.C. 1197-1190
Description of the country where AEneas landed.--The landing.--Mouth of
the Tiber.--Burning of the ships.--Italy in ancient days.--Sacrifices
offered.--Map of Latium.--Reconnoitring the country.--King Latinus.--An
embassy.--The embassy come to the capital.--The embassadors are
admitted to an audience.--Their address to king Latinus.--Latinus
accedes to AEneas's requests.--Proposal of marriage.--Lavinia and
Turnus.--The anger of Turnus at being set aside.--Lavinium.--Situation
of the Trojan territory.--The story of Sylvia's stag.--Ascanius shoots
the stag.--The resentment of Sylvia's brothers.--Sudden outbreak.--Death
of Almon.--Great excitement.--Preparation for war.--Latinus.--The
Trojans gradually gain ground.--Desire for peace.--Turnus opposes
it.--A proposal for single combat.--Result of the combat.--Marriage
of AEneas.--AEneas drowned in the Numicius.
Latium was the name given to an ancient province of Italy, lying south
of the Tiber. At the time of AEneas's arrival upon the coast it was an
independent kingdom. The name of the king who reigned over it at this
period was Latinus.
The country on the banks of the Tiber, where the city of Rome
afterward arose, was then a wild but picturesque rural region,
consisting of hills and valleys, occupied by shepherds and husbandmen,
but with nothing upon it whatever, to mark it as the site of a city.
The people that dwelt in Latium were shepherds and herdsmen, though
there was a considerable band of warriors under the command of the
king. The inhabitants of the country were of Greek origin, and they
had brought with them from Greece, when they colonized the country,
such rude arts as were then known. They had the use of Cadmus's
letters, for writing, so far as writing was employed at all in those
early days. They were skillful in making such weapons of war, and such
simple instruments of music, as were known at the time, and they could
erect buildings, of wood, or of stone, and thus constructed such
dwellings as they needed, in their towns, and walls and citadels for
defence.
AEneas brought his fleet into the mouth of the Tiber, and anchored it
there. He himself, and all his followers were thoroughly weary of
their wanderings, and hoped that they were now about to land where
they should find a permanent abode. The number of ships and men that
had formed the expedition at the commencement of the voyage, was very
large; but it had been considerably diminished by the various
misfortunes and accidents incident to such an enterprise, and the
remnant that was left longed ardently for rest. Some of the ships took
fire, and were burned at their moorings in the Tiber, immediately
after the arrival of the expedition. It was said that they were set on
fire by the wives and mothers belonging to the expedition,--who
wished, by destroying the ships, to render it impossible for the fleet
to go to sea again.
However this may be, AEneas was very strongly disposed to make the
beautiful region which he now saw before him, his final home. The
country, in every aspect of it, was alluring in the highest degree.
Level plains, varied here and there by gentle elevations, extended
around him, all adorned with groves and flowers, and exhibiting a
luxuriance in the verdure of the grass and in the foliage of the trees
that was perfectly enchanting to the sea-weary eyes of his company of
mariners. In the distance, blue and beautiful mountains bounded the
horizon, and a soft, warm summer haze floated over the whole scene,
bathing the landscape in a rich mellow light peculiar to Italian
skies.
As soon as the disembarkation was effected, lines of encampment were
marked out, at a suitable place on the shore, and such simple
fortifications as were necessary for defence in such a case, were
thrown up. AEneas dispatched one party in boats to explore the various
passages and channels which formed the mouth of the river, perhaps in
order to be prepared to make good his escape again, to sea, in case of
any sudden or extraordinary danger. Another party were employed in
erecting altars, and preparing for sacrifices and other religious
celebrations, designed on the part of AEneas to propitiate the deities
of the place, and to inspire his men with religious confidence and
trust. He also immediately proceeded to organize a party of
reconnoiterers who were to proceed into the interior, to explore the
country and to communicate with the inhabitants.
[Illustration: MAP OF LATIUM.]
The party of reconnoiterers thus sent out followed up the banks of the
river, and made excursions in various directions across the fields and
plains. They found that the country was everywhere verdant and
beautiful, and that it was covered in the interior with scattered
hamlets and towns. They learned the name of the king, and also that of
the city which he made his capitol. Latinus himself, at the same time,
heard the tidings of the arrival of these strangers. His first impulse
was immediately to make an onset upon them with all his forces, and
drive them away from his shores. On farther inquiry, however, he
learned that they were in a distressed and suffering condition, and
from the descriptions which were given him of their dress and demeanor
he concluded that they were Greeks. This idea awakened in his mind
some apprehension; for the Greeks were then well known throughout the
world, and were regarded everywhere as terrible enemies. Besides his
fears, his pity and compassion were awakened, too, in some degree; and
he was on the whole for a time quite at a loss to know what course to
pursue in respect to the intruders.
In the mean time AEneas concluded to send an embassy to Latinus to
explain the circumstances under which he had been induced to land so
large a party on the Italian coast. He accordingly designated a
considerable number of men to form this embassy, and giving to some of
the number his instructions as to what they were to say to Latinus, he
committed to the hands of the others a large number of gifts which
they were to carry and present to him. These gifts consisted of
weapons elaborately finished, vessels of gold or silver, embroidered
garments, and such other articles as were customarily employed in
those days as propitiatory offerings in such emergencies. The embassy
when all was arranged proceeded to the Latin capital.
When they came in sight of it they found that it was a spacious city,
with walls around it, and turrets and battlements within, rising here
and there above the roofs of the dwellings. Outside the gates a
portion of the population were assembled busily engaged in games, and
in various gymnastic and equestrian performances. Some were driving
furiously in chariots around great circles marked out for the course.
Others were practicing feats of horsemanship, or running races upon
fleet chargers. Others still were practicing with darts, or bows and
arrows, or javelins; either to test and improve their individual
skill, or else to compete with each other for victory or for a prize.
The embassadors paused when they came in view of this scene, and
waited until intelligence could be sent in to the monarch, informing
him of their arrival.
Latinus decided immediately to admit the embassy to an audience, and
they were accordingly conducted into the city. They were led, after
entering by the gates, through various streets, until they came at
length to a large public edifice, which seemed to be, at the same
time, palace, senate-house, and citadel. There were to be seen, in the
avenues which led to this edifice, statues of old warriors, and
various other martial decorations. There were many old trophies of
former victories preserved here, such as arms, and chariots, and prows
of ships, and crests, and great bolts and bars taken from the gates of
conquered cities,--all old, war-worn, and now useless, but preserved
as memorials of bravery and conquest. The Trojan embassy, passing
through and among these trophies, as they stood or hung in the halls
and vestibules of the palace, were at length ushered into the presence
of Latinus the king.
Here, after the usual ceremonies of introduction were performed, they
delivered the message which AEneas had intrusted to them. They declared
that they had not landed on Latinus's shore with any hostile intent.
They had been driven away, they said, from their own homes, by a
series of dire calamities, which had ended, at last, in the total
destruction of their native city. Since then they had been driven to
and fro at the mercy of the winds and waves, exposed to every
conceivable degree of hardship and danger. Their landing finally in
the dominions of Latinus in Italy, was not, they confessed, wholly
undesigned, for Latium had been divinely indicated to them, on their
way, as the place destined by the decrees of heaven for their final
home. Following these indications, they had sought the shores of Italy
and the mouths of the Tiber, and having succeeded in reaching them,
had landed; and now AEneas, their commander, desired of the king that
he would allow them to settle in his land in peace, and that he would
set apart a portion of his territory for them, and give them leave to
build a city.
The effect produced upon the mind of Latinus by the appearance of
these embassadors, and by the communication which they made to him,
proved to be highly favorable. He received the presents, too, which
they had brought him, in a very gracious manner, and appeared to be
much pleased with them. He had heard, as would seem, rumors of the
destruction of Troy, and of the departure of AEneas's squadron; for a
long time had been consumed by the wanderings of the expedition along
the Mediterranean shores, so that some years had now elapsed since the
destruction of Troy and the first sailing of the fleet. In a word,
Latinus soon determined to accede to the proposals of his visitors,
and he concluded with AEneas a treaty of alliance and friendship. He
designated a spot where the new city might be built, and all things
were thus amicably settled.
There was one circumstance which exerted a powerful influence in
promoting the establishment of friendly relations between Latinus and
the Trojans, and that was, that Latinus was engaged, at the time of
AEneas's arrival, in a war with the Rutulians, a nation that inhabited
a country lying south of Latium and on the coast. Latinus thought that
by making the Trojans his friends, he should be able to enlist them as
his auxiliaries in this war. AEneas made no objection to this, and it
was accordingly agreed that the Trojans, in return for being received
as friends, and allowed to settle in Latium, were to join with their
protectors in defending the country, and were especially to aid them
in prosecuting the existing war.
In a short time a still closer alliance was formed between AEneas and
Latinus, an alliance which in the end resulted in the accession of
AEneas to the throne of Latinus. Latinus had a daughter named Lavinia.
She was an only child, and was a princess of extraordinary merit and
beauty. The name of the queen, her mother, the wife of Latinus, was
Amata. Amata had intended her daughter to be the wife of Turnus, a
young prince of great character and promise, who had been brought up
in Latinus's court. Turnus was, in fact, a distant relative of Amata,
and the plan of the queen was that he should marry Lavinia, and in the
end succeed with her, to the throne of Latinus. Latinus himself had
not entered into this scheme; and when closing his negotiations with
AEneas, it seemed to him that it would be well to seal and secure the
adherence of AEneas to his cause by offering him his daughter Lavinia
for his bride. AEneas was very willing to accede to this proposal. What
the wishes of Lavinia herself were in respect to the arrangement, it
is not very well known; nor were her wishes, according to the ideas
that prevailed in those times, of any consequence whatever. The plan
was arranged, and the nuptials were soon to be celebrated. Turnus,
when he found that he was to be superseded, left the court of Latinus,
and went away out of the country in a rage.
AEneas and his followers seemed now to have come to the end of all
their troubles. They were at last happily established in a fruitful
land, surrounded by powerful friends, and about to enter apparently
upon a long career of peaceful and prosperous industry. They
immediately engaged with great ardor in the work of building their
town. AEneas had intended to have named it Troy, in commemoration of
the ancient city now no more. But, in view of his approaching
marriage with Lavinia, he determined to change this design, and, in
honor of her, to name the new capital Lavinium.
The territory which had been assigned to the Trojans by Latinus was in
the south-western part of Latium, near the coast, and of course it was
on the confines of the country of the Rutulians. Turnus, when he left
Latium, went over to the Rutulians, determining, in his resentment
against Latinus for having given Lavinia to his rival, to join them in
the war. The Rutulians made him their leader, and he soon advanced at
the head of a great army across the frontier, toward the new city of
Lavinium. Thus AEneas found himself threatened with a very formidable
danger.
Nor was this all. For just before the commencement of the war with
Turnus, an extraordinary train of circumstances occurred which
resulted in alienating the Latins themselves from their new ally, and
in leaving AEneas consequently to sustain the shock of the contest with
Turnus and his Rutulians alone. It would naturally be supposed that
the alliance between Latinus and AEneas would not be very favorably
regarded by the common people of Latium. They would, on the other
hand, naturally look with much jealousy and distrust on a company of
foreign intruders, admitted by what they would be very likely to
consider the capricious partiality of their king, to a share of their
country. This jealousy and distrust was, for a time, suppressed and
concealed; but the animosity only acquired strength and concentration
by being restrained, and at length an event occurred which caused it
to break forth with uncontrollable fury. The circumstances were these:
There was a man in Latium named Tyrrheus, who held the office of royal
herdsman. He lived in his hut on some of the domains of Latinus, and
had charge of the flocks and herds belonging to the king. He had two
sons, and likewise a daughter. The daughter's name was Sylvia. The two
boys had one day succeeded in making prisoner of a young stag, which
they found in the woods with its mother. It was extremely young when
they captured it, and they brought it home as a great prize. They fed
it with milk until it was old enough to take other food, and as it
grew up accustomed to their hands, it was very tame and docile, and
became a great favorite with all the family. Sylvia loved and played
with it continually. She kept it always in trim by washing it in a
fountain, and combing and smoothing its hair, and she amused herself
by adorning it with wreaths, and garlands, and such other decorations
as her sylvan resources could command.
[Illustration: SILVIA'S STAG.]
One day when Ascanius, AEneas's son, who had now grown to be a young
man, and who seems to have been characterized by a full share of the
ardent and impulsive energy belonging to his years, was returning from
the chase, he happened to pass by the place where the herdsman lived.
Ascanius was followed by his dogs, and he had his bow and arrows in
his hand. As he was thus passing along a copse of wood, near a brook,
the dogs came suddenly upon Sylvia's stag. The confiding animal,
unconscious of any danger, had strayed away from the herdsman's
grounds to this grove, and had gone down to the brook to drink. The
dogs immediately sprang upon him, in full cry. Ascanius followed,
drawing at the same time an arrow from his quiver and fitting it to
the bow. As soon as he came in sight of the stag, he let fly his
arrow. The arrow pierced the poor fugitive in the side, and inflicted
a dreadful wound. It did not, however, bring him down. The stag
bounded on down the valley toward his home, as if to seek protection
from Sylvia. He came rushing into the house, marking his way with
blood, ran to the covert which Sylvia had provided for his
resting-place at night, and crouching down there he filled the whole
dwelling with piteous bleatings and cries.
As soon as Tyrrheus, the father of Sylvia, and the two young men, her
brothers, knew who it was that had thus wantonly wounded their
favorite, they were filled with indignation and rage. They went out
and aroused the neighboring peasantry, who very easily caught the
spirit of resentment and revenge which burned in the bosoms of
Tyrrheus and his sons. They armed themselves with clubs, firebrands,
scythes, and such other rustic weapons as came to hand, and rushed
forth, resolved to punish the overbearing insolence of their foreign
visitors, in the most summary manner.
In the mean time the Trojan youth, having heard the tidings of this
disturbance, began to gather hastily, but in great numbers, to defend
Ascanius. The parties on both sides were headstrong, and highly
excited; and before any of the older and more considerate chieftains
could interfere, a very serious conflict ensued. One of the sons of
Tyrrheus was killed. He was pierced in the throat by an arrow, and
fell and died immediately. His name was Almon. He was but a boy, or at
all events had not yet arrived at years of maturity, and his premature
and sudden death added greatly to the prevailing excitement. Another
man too was killed. At length the conflict was brought to an end for
the time but the excitement and the exasperation of the peasantry were
extreme. They carried the two dead bodies in procession to the
capital, to exhibit them to Latinus; and they demanded, in the most
earnest and determined manner, that he should immediately make war
upon the whole Trojan horde, and drive them back into the sea, whence
they came.
Latinus found it extremely difficult to withstand this torrent. He
remained firm for a time, and made every exertion in his power to
quell the excitement and to pacify the minds of his people. But all
was in vain. Public sentiment turned hopelessly against the Trojans,
and AEneas soon found himself shut up in his city, surrounded with
enemies, and left to his fate. Turnus was the leader of these foes.
He, however, did not despair. Both parties began to prepare vigorously
for war. AEneas himself went away with a few followers to some of the
neighboring kingdoms, to get succor from them. Neighboring states are
almost always jealous of each other, and are easily induced to take
part against each other, when involved in foreign wars. AEneas found
several of the Italian princes who were ready to aid him, and he
returned to his camp with considerable reinforcements, and with
promises of more. The war soon broke out, and was waged for a long
time with great determination on both sides and with varied success.
Latinus, who was now somewhat advanced in life, and had thus passed
beyond the period of ambition and love of glory, and who besides must
have felt that the interests of his family were now indissolubly bound
up in those of AEneas and Lavinia, watched the progress of the contest
with a very uneasy and anxious mind. He found that for a time at
least it would be out of his power to do any thing effectual to
terminate the war, so he allowed it to take its course, and contented
himself with waiting patiently, in hopes that an occasion which would
allow of his interposing with some hope of success, would sooner or
later come.
Such an occasion did come; for after the war had been prosecuted for
some time it was found, that notwithstanding the disadvantages under
which the Trojans labored, they were rather gaining than losing
ground. There were in fact some advantages as well as some
disadvantages in their position. They formed a compact and
concentrated body, while their enemies constituted a scattered
population, spreading in a more or less exposed condition over a
considerable extent of country. They had neither flocks nor herds, nor
any other property for their enemies to plunder, while the Rutulians
and Latins had great possessions, both of treasure in the towns and of
rural produce in the country, so that when the Trojans gained the
victory over them in any sally or foray, they always came home laden
with booty, as well as exultant in triumph and pride; while if the
Latins conquered the Trojans in a battle, they had nothing but the
empty honor to reward them. The Trojans, too, were hardy, enduring,
and indomitable. The alternative with them was victory or destruction.
Their protracted voyage, and the long experience of hardships and
sufferings which they had undergone, had inured them to privation and
toil, so that they proved to the Latins and Rutulians to be very
obstinate and formidable foes.
At length, as usual in such cases, indications gradually appeared that
both sides began to be weary of the contest. Latinus availed himself
of a favorable occasion which offered, to propose that embassadors
should be sent to AEneas with terms of peace. Turnus was very much
opposed to any such plan. He was earnestly desirous of continuing to
prosecute the war. The other Latin chieftains reproached him then with
being the cause of all the calamities which they were enduring, and
urged the unreasonableness on his part of desiring any longer to
protract the sufferings of his unhappy country, merely to gratify his
own private resentment and revenge. Turnus ought not any longer to
ask, they said, that others should fight in his quarrel; and they
proposed that he should himself decide the question between him and
AEneas, by challenging the Trojan leader to fight him in single combat.
Latinus strongly disapproved of this proposal. He was weary of war and
bloodshed, and wished that the conflict might wholly cease; and he
urged that peace should be made with AEneas, and that his original
design of giving him Lavinia for his wife should be carried into
execution. For a moment Turnus seemed to hesitate, but in looking
towards Lavinia who, with Amata her mother, was present at this
consultation, he saw, or thought he saw, in the agitation which she
manifested, proofs of her love for him, and indications of a wish on
her part that he and not AEneas should win her for his bride.
He accordingly without any farther hesitation or delay agreed to the
proposal of the counsellor. The challenge to single combat was given
and accepted, and on the appointed day the ground was marked out for
the duel, and both armies were drawn up upon the field, to be
spectators of the fight.
After the usual preparations the conflict began; but, as frequently
occurs in such cases, it was not long confined to the single pair of
combatants with which it commenced. Others were gradually drawn in,
and the duel became in the end a general battle. AEneas and the Trojans
were victorious, and both Latinus and Turnus were slain. This ended
the war. AEneas married Lavinia, and thenceforth reigned with her over
the kingdom of Latium as its rightful sovereign.
AEneas lived several years after this, and has the credit, in history,
of having managed the affairs of the kingdom in a very wise and
provident manner. He had brought with him from Troy the arts and the
learning of the Greeks, and these he introduced to his people so as
greatly to improve their condition. He introduced, too, many
ceremonies of religious worship, which had prevailed in the countries
from which he had come, or in those which he had visited in his long
voyage. These ceremonies became at last so firmly established among
the religious observances of the inhabitants of Latium, that they
descended from generation to generation, and in subsequent years
exercised great influence, in modeling the religious faith and worship
of the Roman people. They thus continued to be practiced for many
ages, and, through the literature of the Romans, became subsequently
known and celebrated throughout the whole civilized world.
At length, in a war which AEneas was waging with the Rutulians, he was
once, after a battle, reduced to great extremity of danger, and in
order to escape from his pursuers he attempted to swim across a
stream, and was drowned. The name of this stream was Numicius. It
flowed into the sea a little north of Lavinium. It must have been
larger in former times than it is now, for travelers who visit it at
the present day say that it is now only a little rivulet, in which it
would be almost impossible for any one to be drowned.
The Trojan followers of AEneas concealed his body, and spread the story
among the people of Latium that he had been taken up to heaven. The
people accordingly, having before considered their king as the son of
a goddess, now looked upon him as himself divine. They accordingly
erected altars to him in Latium, and thenceforth worshiped him as a
God.