THE CONCLUSION.
B.C. 764-717
Romulus reigns in conjunction with the Sabine king.--The Roman
Forum.--Growth of the city.--Bold and comprehensive
measures.--Cameria.--Difficulty with Titus Tatius.--Controversy
between Romulus and Tatius.--The difficulty at Lavinium.--Tatius
killed.--Romulus once more sole king.--Rome assumes a general
jurisdiction over other states.--Foundation of the future greatness
of Rome.--Circumstances connected with the death of Romulus.--Rumors
in circulation.--Public opinion.--Proculus's story.--The ghost of
Romulus.--The Romans satisfied.--The real truth not to be known.--The
interregnum.--A new king.
After the termination of the Sabine war Romulus continued to reign
many years, and his reign, although no very exact and systematic
history of it was recorded at the time, seems to have presented the
usual variety of incidents and vicissitudes; and yet, notwithstanding
occasional and partial reverses, the city, and the kingdom connected
with it, made rapid progress in wealth and population.
For four or five years after the union of the Sabines with the Romans,
Titus Tatius was in some way or other associated with Romulus in the
government of the united kingdom. Romulus, during all this time, had
his house and his court on the Palatine hill, where the city had been
originally built, and where most of the Romans lived. The
head-quarters of the Sabine chieftain were, on the other hand, upon
the Capitoline hill, which was the place on which the citadel was
situated that his troops had taken possession of in the course of the
war, and which it seems they continued to occupy after the peace. The
space between the two hills was set apart as a market-place, or
_forum_, as it was called in their language,--that place being
designated for the purpose on account of its central and convenient
situation. When afterward that portion of the city became filled as it
did with magnificent streets and imposing architectural edifices, the
space which Romulus had set apart for a market remained an open public
square, and as it was the scene in which transpired some of the most
remarkable events connected with Roman history, it became renowned
throughout the world under the name of the Roman Forum.
In consequence of the union of the Romans and the Sabines, and of the
rapid growth of the city in population and power which followed, the
Roman state began soon to rise to so high a position in relation to
the surrounding cities and kingdoms, as soon to take precedence of
them altogether. This was owing, however, in part undoubtedly, to the
character of the men who governed at Rome. The measures which they
adopted in founding the city, and in sustaining it through the first
years of its existence, as described in the foregoing chapters, were
all of a very extraordinary character, and evinced very extraordinary
qualities in the men who devised them. These measures were bold,
comprehensive and sagacious, and they were carried out with a certain
combination of courage and magnanimity which always gives to those who
possess it, and who are in a position to exercise it on a commanding
scale, great ascendency over the minds of men. They who possess these
qualities generally feel their power, and are usually not slow to
assert it. A singular and striking instance of this occurred not many
years after the peace with the Sabines. There was a city at some
distance from Rome called Cameria, whose inhabitants were a lawless
horde, and occasionally parties of them made incursions, as was said,
into the surrounding countries, for plunder. The Roman Senate sent
word to the government of the city that such accusations were made
against them, and very coolly cited them to appear at Rome for trial.
The Camerians of course refused to come. The Senate then declared war
against them, and sent an army to take possession of the city,
proceeding to act in the case precisely as if the Roman government
constituted a judicial tribunal, having authority to exercise
jurisdiction, and to enforce law and order, among all the nations
around them. In fact, Rome continued to assert and to maintain this
authority over a wider and wider circle every year, until in the
course of some centuries after Romulus's day, she made herself the
arbiter of the world.
Titus Tatius shared the supreme power with Romulus at Rome for several
years, and the two monarchs continued during this time to exercise
their joint power in a much more harmonious manner than would have
been supposed possible. At length, however, causes of disagreement
began to occur, and in the end open dissension took place, in the
course of which Tatius came to his end in a very sudden and remarkable
manner. A party of soldiers from Rome, it seems, had been committing
some deed of violence at Lavinium, the ancient city which AEneas had
built when he first arrived in Latium. The people of Lavinium
complained to Romulus against these marauders. It happened, however,
that the guilty men were chiefly Sabines, and in the discussions which
took place at Rome afterward in relation to the affair, Tatius took
their part, and endeavored to shield them, while Romulus seemed
disposed to give them up to the Lavinians for punishment. "They are
robbers and murderers," said Romulus, "and we ought not to shield them
from the penalty due to their crimes." "They are Roman citizens," said
Tatius, "and we must not give them up to a foreign state." The
controversy became warm; parties were formed; and at last the
exasperation became so great that when the Lavinian envoys, who had
come to Rome to demand the punishment of the robbers, were returning
home, a gang of Tatius's men intercepted them on the way and killed
them.
This of course increased the excitement and the difficulty in a
tenfold degree. Romulus immediately sent to Lavinium to express his
deep regret at what had occurred, and his readiness to do every thing
in his power to expiate the offense which his countrymen had
committed. He would arrest these murderers, he said, and send them to
Lavinium, and he would come himself, with Tatius, to Lavinium, and
there make an expiatory offering to the gods, in attestation of the
abhorrence which they both felt for so atrocious a crime as waylaying
and murdering the embassadors of a friendly city. Tatius was compelled
to assent to these measures, though he yielded very reluctantly. He
could not openly defend such a deed as the murder of the envoys; and
so he consented to accompany Romulus to Lavinium, to make the
offering, but he secretly arranged a plan for rescuing the murderers
from the Lavinians, after they had been given up. Accordingly, while
he and Romulus were at Lavinium offering the sacrifices, news came
that the murderers of the envoys, on their way from Rome to Lavinium,
had been rescued and allowed to escape. This news so exasperated the
people of Lavinium against Tatius, for they considered him as
unquestionably the secret author and contriver of the deed, that they
rose upon him at the festival, and murdered him with the butcher
knives and spits which had been used for slaughtering and roasting the
animals. They then formed a grand procession and escorted Romulus out
of the city in safety with loud acclamations.
The government of Lavinium, as soon as the excitement of the scene was
over, fearing the resentment which they very naturally supposed
Romulus would feel at the murder of his colleague, seized the
ringleaders of the riot, and sent them bound to Rome, to place them at
the disposal of the Roman government. Romulus sent them back unharmed,
directing them to say to the Lavinian government, that he considered
the death of Tatius, though inflicted in a mode lawless and
unjustifiable, as nevertheless, in itself, only a just expiation for
the murder of the Lavinian embassadors, which Tatius had instigated or
authorized.
The Sabines of Rome were for a time greatly exasperated at these
occurrences, but Romulus succeeded in gradually quieting and calming
them, and they finally acquiesced in his decision. Romulus thus became
once more the sole and undisputed master of Rome.
After this the progress of the city in wealth and prosperity, from
year to year, was steady and sure, interrupted, it is true, by
occasional and temporary reverses, but with no real retrocession at
any time. Causes of disagreement arose from time to time with
neighboring states, and, in such cases, Romulus always first sent a
summons to the party implicated, whether king or people, citing them
to appear and answer for their conduct before the Roman Senate. If
they refused to come, he sent an armed force against them, as if he
were simply enforcing the jurisdiction of a tribunal of justice. The
result usually was that the refractory state was compelled to submit,
and its territories were added to those of the kingdom of Rome. Thus
the boundaries of the new empire were widening and extending every
year.
Romulus paid great attention, in the mean time, to every thing
pertaining to the internal organization of the state, so as to bring
every part of the national administration into the best possible
condition. The municipal police, the tribunals of justice, the social
institutions and laws of the industrial classes, the discipline of the
troops, the enlargement and increase of the fortifications of the
city, and the supply of arms, and stores, and munitions of war,--and
every other subject, in fact, connected with the welfare and
prosperity of the city,--occupied his thoughts in every interval of
peace and tranquillity. In consequence of the exertions which he made,
and the measures which he adopted, order and system prevailed more
and more in every department, and the community became every year
better organized, and more and more consolidated; so that the capacity
of the city to receive accessions to the population increased even
faster than accessions were made. In a word, the solid foundations
were laid of that vast superstructure, which, in subsequent ages,
became the wonder of the world.
Notwithstanding, however, all this increasing greatness and
prosperity, Romulus was not without rivals and enemies, even among his
own people at Rome. The leading senators became, at last, envious and
jealous of his power. They said that he himself grew imperious and
domineering in spirit, as he grew older, and manifested a pride and
haughtiness of demeanor which excited their ill-will. He assumed too
much authority, they said, in the management of public affairs, as if
he were an absolute and despotic sovereign. He wore a purple robe on
public occasions, as a badge of royalty. He organized a body-guard of
three hundred young troopers, who rode before him whenever he moved
about the city; and in all respects assumed such pomp and parade in
his demeanor, and exercised such a degree of arbitrary power in his
acts, as made him many enemies. The whole Senate became, at length,
greatly disaffected.
At last one day, on occasion of a great review which took place at a
little distance from the city, there came up a sudden shower, attended
with thunder and lightning, and the violence of the tempest was such
as to compel the soldiers to retire precipitately from the ground in
search of some place of shelter. Romulus was left with a number of
senators who were at that time attending upon him, alone, on the shore
of a little lake which was near the place that had been chosen for the
parade. After a short time the senators themselves came away from the
ground, and returned to the city; but Romulus was not with them. The
story which they told was that in the middle of the tempest, Romulus
had been suddenly enveloped in a flame which seemed to come down in a
bright flash of lightning from the clouds, and immediately afterward
had been taken up in the flame to heaven.
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF ROMULUS.]
This strange story was but half believed even at first, by the
people, and very soon rumors began to circulate in the city that
Romulus had been murdered by the senators who were around him at the
time of the shower,--they having seized the occasion afforded by the
momentary absence of his guards, and by their solitary position. There
were various surmises in respect to the disposal which the assassins
had made of the body. The most obvious supposition was that it had
been sunk in the lake. There was, however, a horrible report
circulated that the senators had disposed of it by cutting it up into
small pieces, and conveying it away, each taking a portion, under
their robes.
Of course these rumors produced great agitation and excitement
throughout the city. The current of public sentiment set strongly
against the senators. Still as nothing could be positively ascertained
in respect to the transaction, the mystery seemed to grow more dark
and dreadful every day, and the public mind was becoming more and more
deeply agitated. At length, however, the mystery was suddenly
explained by a revelation, which, whatever may be thought of it at the
present day, was then entirely satisfactory to the whole community.
One of the most prominent and distinguished of the senators, named
Proculus, one who it seems had not been present among the other
senators in attendance upon Romulus at the time when he disappeared,
came forward one day before a grand assembly which had been convened
for the purpose, and announced to them in the most solemn manner, that
the spirit of Romulus had appeared to him in a visible form, and had
assured him that the story which the other senators had told of the
ascension of their chieftain to heaven in a flame of fire was really
true. "I was journeying," said Proculus, "in a solitary place, when
Romulus appeared to me. At first I was exceedingly terrified. The form
of the vision was taller than that of a mortal man, and it was clothed
in armor of the most resplendent brightness. As soon as I had in some
measure recovered my composure I spoke to it. 'Why,' said I, 'have you
left us so suddenly? and especially why did you leave us at such a
time, and in such a way, as to bring suspicion and reproach on the
Roman senators?' 'I left you,' said he, 'because it pleased the gods
to call me back again to heaven, whence I originally came. It was no
longer necessary for me to remain on earth, for Rome is now
established, and her future greatness and glory are sure. Go back to
Rome and communicate this to the people. Tell them that if they
continue industrious, virtuous, and brave, the time will come when
their city will be the mistress of the world; and that I, no longer
its king, am henceforth to be its tutelar divinity.'"
The people of Rome were overjoyed to hear this communication. Their
doubts and suspicions were now all removed; the senators at once
recovered their good standing in the public regard, and all was once
more peace and harmony. Altars were immediately erected to Romulus,
and the whole population of the city joined in making sacrifices and
in paying other divine honors to his memory.
The declaration of Proculus that he had seen the spirit of Romulus,
and his report of the conversation which the spirit had addressed to
him, constituted proof of the highest kind, according to the ideas
which prevailed in those ancient days. In modern times, however, there
is no faith in such a story, and the truth in respect to the end of
Romulus can now never be known.
After the death of Romulus the senators undertook to govern the State
themselves, holding the supreme power one by one, in regular rotation.
This plan was, however, not found to succeed, and after an interregnum
of about a year, the people elected another king.
THE END.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors, and to
ensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise,
every effort has been made to remain true to the original book.
2. The chapter summaries in this text were originally published as
banners in the page headers, and have been moved to beginning of the
chapter for the reader's convenience.
3. In the chart on page 46, detailing the original Greek alphabet, the
typesetter's appear to have missed the 7th letter, kappa. The
correction has been made, based on the discussion in "History of the
Greek Alphabet," by E. A. Sophocles, published in 1848, by George
Nichols, Boston.
End of Project Gutenberg's Romulus, Makers of History, by Jacob Abbott