TAYLOR, WM. C. HISTORY OF ROME(1)

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1. The Romans were particularly desirous of being thought descendants
of the gods, as if to hide the meanness of their real ancestry.
_AEne'as_, the son of _Venus_ and _Anchi'ses_, having escaped from the
destruction of Troy, after many adventures and dangers, arrived in
Italy, A.M. 2294, where he was kindly received by Lati'nus, king of
the Latins, who promised him his daughter Lavin'ia in marriage.
2. Turnus, king of the _Ru'tuli_, was the first who opposed AEne'as, he
having long made pretensions to her himself. A war ensued, in which
the Trojan hero was victorious, and Turnus slain. In consequence of
this, Lavin'ia became the wife of AEne'as, who built a city to her
honour, and called it Lavin'ium. Some time after, engaging in a war
against _Mezen'tius_, one of the petty kings of the country, he was
vanquished in turn, and died in battle, after a reign of four years.
3. Asca'nius his son, succeeded to the kingdom; and to him Sil'vius, a
second son, whom he had by Lavin'ia. It would be tedious and
uninteresting to recite a dry catalogue of the kings that followed, of
whom we know little more than the names; it will be sufficient to say,
that the succession continued for nearly four hundred years in the
same family, and that Nu'mitor, the fifteenth from AEne'as, was the
last king of Alba.
Nu'mitor, who took possession of the kingdom in consequence of his
father's will, had a brother named Amu'lius, to whom were left the
treasures which had been brought from Troy. 4. As riches too generally
prevail against right, Amu'lius made use of his wealth to supplant his
brother, and soon found means to possess himself of the kingdom. Not
contented with the crime of usurpation, he added that of murder also.
Nu'mitor's sons first fell a sacrifice to his suspicions; and to
remove all apprehensions of being one day disturbed in his
ill-gotten power, he caused Rhe'a Sil'via, his brother's only
daughter, to become a vestal.
5. His precautions, however, were all frusrtrated in the event. Rhe'a
Sil'via, and, according to tradition, Mars the god of war, were the
parents of two boys, who were no sooner born, than devoted by the
usurper to destruction. 7. The mother was condemned to be buried
alive, the usual punishment for vestals who had violated their vows,
and the twins were ordered to be flung into the river Tiber. 8. It
happened, however, at the time this rigorous sentence was put into
execution, that the river had, more than usual, overflowed its banks,
so that the place where the children were thrown being distant from
the main current, the water was too shallow to drown them. It is said
by some, that they were exposed in a cradle, which, after floating for
a time, was, by the water's retiring, left on dry ground; that a wolf,
descending from the mountains to drink, ran, at the cry of the
children, and fed them under a fig-tree, caressing and licking them as
if they had been her own young, the infants hanging on to her as if
she had been their mother, until Faus'tulus, the king's shepherd,
struck with so surprising a sight, conveyed them home, and delivered
them to his wife, Ac'ca Lauren'tia, to nurse, who brought them up as
her own. 9. Others, however, assert, that from the vicious life of
this woman, the shepherds had given her the nickname of Lupa, or wolf,
which they suppose might possibly be the occasion of this marvellous
story.
10. Romu'lus and Re'mus, the twins, in whatever manner preserved,
seemed early to discover abilities and desires above the meanness of
their supposed origin. From their very infancy, an air of superiority
and grandeur seemed to discover their rank. They led, however, the
shepherd's life like the rest; worked for their livelihood, and built
their own huts. But pastoral idleness displeased them, and, from
tending their flocks, they betook themselves to the chase. Then, no
longer content with hunting wild beasts, they turned their strength
against the robbers of their country, whom they often stripped of
their plunder, and divided it among the shepherds. 11. The youths who
continually joined them so increased in number, as to enable them to
hold assemblies, and celebrate games. In one of their excursions, the
two brothers were surprised. 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.
12. 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 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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