Kings of Rome and the Monarchy - Brief History


A Brief History of Rome - The Monarchy

Introduction
 The History of Rome falls into three major periods:  The Monarchy (753-510 BC), the Republic (509-27 BC), and the Empire (27 BC - 476 AD).  Some of the stories about the Monarchy are more legend than history, and the true dates of events before 300 BC are uncertain.  The stories are important for two reasons: on the one hand because they tell us what the Romans believed or wanted to believe about themselves; on the other hand the dates are also important, because many have been proven relatively accurate (within a decade or so) by archaeology or by the writings of the Greeks. 
 The Monarchy          (753-510 BC)
            If we are to make better sense of how Rome began, we ought first to understand
that Rome was not first; there was, even for the Romans, a kind of “pre-history.”  For the Romans, this meant connecting with the myths and legends of the Greeks.  So it is that when Livy begins his history, he begins with the destruction of Troy.  According to Livy,
the Trojan hero Aeneas, the son of Venus and Anchises, fled from Troy with a number of followers and came to Italy. 
            After some fighting with the native Latins, Aeneas married the Latin princess Lavinia and founded his own city of Lavinium; there Aeneas prospered for a short time.  Aeneas’ son (either Ascanius or Iulus, sometimes considered to be the same person) decided to leave Lavinium and found his own city on a ridge of Mount Alba.  This was the city of Alba Longa, and it was from here some three hundred years later that the founders of Rome were to come.
            According to legend, there were seven kings of Rome.  There were certainly more than this; the ones whose names are handed down to us (outside of Romulus, who is almost certainly a later fiction) are probably those that were remarkable for some event in their reign.  Here is a listing of the traditional seven kings along with the years of their reign:
Romulus                                       753-716 (37)
Numa Pompilius                          715-673 (40)
Tullus Hostilius                            673-638 (35)
Ancus Marcius                             638-614 (24)
Tarquinius Priscus                         614-576 (38)
Servius Tullius                               576-535 (41)
Tarquinius Superbus                     535-510 (25)

Romulus and Remus
The stories of Romulus are famous, both in literature and art.   The traditional story has it that the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia gave birth to the twins Romulus and Remus in the ancient city of Alba Longa and claimed that Mars was their father.  Rhea Silvia was thrown into prison for breaking her vow of chastity; Romulus and Remus themselves were cast out into the Tiber by the order of their great uncle, King Amulius. Fate smiles however, and the twins wash ashore.  By chance a she-wolf nurses finds them first and nursed the twins.  The shepherd Faustulus stumbles upon this miraculous scene and decides to take Romulus and Remus home.  Faustulus and his wife Acca Laurentia then raise the twins. 

Later Romulus and Remus take vengeance upon Amulius and restore their grandfather Numitor (who had been deposed by his brother Amulius) to the throne of Alba Longa.  Instead of remaining in Alba, however, the twins decide to build their own city near the area they had grown up.  The traditional date for the founding of Rome was April 21, 753 B.C. 

While Romulus and Remus were founding the city, the twins argued about which of the two should rule and name the new city.  They agreed to decide the matter via augury a testing of the will of the gods by the flight of birds.  Romulus took his position on the Palatine Hill and Remus watched for birds on the Aventine Hill.  Though Remus was the first to see birds (six eagles or vultures), Romulus saw a greater number and the omen was decided in Romulus’ favor.  Thus Rome was named after Romulus.

Remus was still upset over losing the right to name the city because he felt he had been cheated. So it happened that while Romulus was laying out the boundary of the city and setting up foundations for the wall, Remus began to jump back and forth over the boundary. Angered by his twin’s behavior Romulus hits Remus and kills him.  As Romulus looked down on the corpse of his brother he made the dire pronouncement: “Sic deinde quicumque alius transiliet moenia mea” (Thus then [let it be] whoever else will cross my walls, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.2).
The new city of Rome grew quickly by admitting exiles from elsewhere as citizens, but the chance for a new life drew few women.  Refused the right of intermarriage, Romulus resorted to trickery.  Having invited their neighbors to attend the inaugural games for the foundation of the city, the new Romans forcibly took wives from among those attending the games. This is commonly referred to as the "Rape of the Sabines". 
The war that follows contains too many stories to relate here (e.g., Tarpeia, Jupiter Feretrius, Jupiter Stator), but in the end the young wives themselves stood between the lines of battle and stopped the fighting.  “Better that we should die,” they said, “then live widowed or fatherless.” A compromise of a joint kingship shared between Romulus and the Sabine king Titus Tatius brought about a union of the two peoples. 
            Romulus ruled for many years.  Eventually Romulus “disappears” in a fog.
Whatever actually happened to him is unclear.  The story later told was that Romulus had been taken up to Olympus by the gods and had become the divinity Quirinus.  So it was that Romulus was worshipped in Rome as the god Quirinus in later times.           
Numa Pompilius
            After Romulus, there was a year without a king.  At the end of this ‘interregnum” period, the Senate elected the Sabine Numa Pompilius as their new king. Numa is most famous for bringing years of peace after the wars of Romulus, and for bringing religion to Rome.  Numa is said to have set the dates for public festivals, created public prayers, the worship of Vesta, and built the Regia in the Forum.  The nymph Egeria was said to be his advisor in the creation of the calendar and many of the religious institutions.
 Tullus Hostilius
            Tullus Hostilius (as his name suggests) was another warrior.  It was during his reign that Alba Longa, Rome's parent city and rival for the rule of Latium, was destroyed. This was decided by the famous duel of the triplets, the Curatii from Alba and the Horatii from Rome.  The single Horatius that survives the combat won the day for Rome.  Tullus also built the Senate House, which (in name at least) lasted all the way to 52 BC, when the mob burned the body of P. Clodius Pulcher within the building and destroyed it.
 Ancus Marcius
            Ancus is said to have built the first bridge across the Tiber at Rome (the Pons Sublicius) and to have captured the salt pits at the Tiber's mouth from the Etruscans.
According to tradition, the port city of Ostia was said to have been founded in Ancus’ reign.  Most historians believe that Ostia was founded later.
 Tarquin the Elder (Tarquinius Priscus)
            Whatever gains Ancus Marcius made against the Etruscans seem to have been short-lived, for the last three kings of Rome were all Etruscans. This agrees with both the archaeological record and the historical record we have from the Greeks.  Much of the history we have of these last three rulers is more tradition and legend than history, but the stories are worth the telling nonetheless.  They are the traditions that the Romans themselves believed, and some of these stories about famous Romans of this time period resonate with their descendants and give reason for the actions of later famous Romans. 
            According to Livy, Tarquin the Elder was the son of the famous Greek Demaratus.  Tarquin is said to have come to Rome in a wagon with his wife Tanaquil, and while en route, an eagle lifted the hat off Tarquin's head and then put it back.  Tanaquil interpreted this as foretelling his crowning as king of Rome.  Tarquin does indeed gain the throne in Rome.  It is during his reign that Rome becomes more of a city than a collection of villages.  Tarquin has the Forum drained via the Cloaca Maxima, and lays down the first stone pavement in the Forum as well.  It is under Tarquin that the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus is begun, and the building of the Circus Maximus is started.
 Servius Tullius
            The story of Servius Tullius is truly strange.  He is said to have been the son of the slave Ocrisia in the household of Tarquin, and when a child, his hair appeared to be burning without harming him (an omen that Virgil uses in the Aeneid to foretell the future greatness of Ascanius).  Tanaquil sees this omen and decides that Servius Tullius will be her husband's successor.  Years later, Tarquin the Elder is assassinated by the sons of Ancus Marcius.  Instead of immediately announcing Tarquin the Elder’s death, Tanaquil delays and has Servius work as an interim ruler while Tarquin “recovers.” Through this ruse Tanaquil engineers Servius' advance to the throne.  As king, Servius is said to have built a wall around Rome (probably an agger) and a temple to Diana on the Aventine.  Servius also is supposed to have revised the constitution and set up the army so that citizens served in a position in accordance with their wealth. 
 Tarquin the Proud (Superbus)
            According to Livy, Tarquin the Proud married one daughter of Servius Tullius, murdered her, and persuaded Servius' other daughter, Tullia, to murder her husband (Tarquin's own brother Arruns) so that they could marry.  Once married Tarquin the Proud and Tullia plotted to murder Servius Tullius himself.  This Tarquin did right in front of the Senate House!  Tullia drove up in a chariot to meet Tarquin and then drove the chariot over the body of her father.  The street where this is said to have happened was called the Vicus Sceleratus (The Road of Wickedness).
            Nonetheless, not all of his deeds were bloody. After capturing Gabii and other cities of Latium, Tarquin is said to have used the money to build (or to finish building) the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.  Still it must be said that many other events in Tarquin the Proud's reign show a similar disregard for life or common conventions of honorable behavior, and his sons follow him in their arrogance and disdain for those they deem inferior. Tarquin's the Proud's fall from power was caused by his son Sextus, who raped the noblewoman Lucretia. 

The Road to the Republic                (510 BC)
             The history of Rome's Republic begins and ends with civil war.  As mentioned above, the event that spawned the revolution that became Rome's Republic was the rape of Lucretia by Sextus, the son of Tarquin the Proud.  Lucretia was the wife of Tarquinius Collatinus, and she was remarkable both for her beauty and the proud and proper way she carried out her matronly duty.  Once Sextus met Lucretia, he lusted for her.  Sextus therefore came to her house at evening on a day when he knew Lucretia’s husband was away.   In accord with the rules of hospitality, Lucretia offered Sextus a place to stay for the evening and he was conducted to the guest bedroom for the night. 
            During the night, Sextus sneaked into Lucretia’s room and forced her to give in to his desires.  Lucretia felt so shamed by her acquiescence to the forced demands of Sextus that, after revealing the truth to her husband (Tarquinius Collatinus), her father (Lucretius), and her kinsman (Lucius Junius Brutus), she killed herself with a dagger thrust to the heart.  The men around her had been assuring Lucretia that the crime would not go unpunished, trying to persuade her that she was not at fault; her sudden suicide left them stunned.  After a few moments silence, Brutus drew the dagger from her wound, and in a burst of eloquence swore by the gods to destroy the entire family of the Tarquins by whatever means he could command. 
            The sudden oration from Brutus took his companions by surprise, for Brutus for many years had feigned clumsiness and stupidity to seem less dangerous to the Tarquins, and thus more likely not to be put to death as a threat.  It was as though the gods themselves had inspired Brutus, and so Lucretius and Collatinus quickly swore to join Brutus’ quest to rid Rome of the Tarquins and of all kings forever.  Together the men carried Lucretia's body to the Forum and there explained to the outraged crowd that gathered what had happened.  It proved the proverbial straw upon the camel's back, and the mob violence it fomented forced the Tarquins to flee for their lives.   Ever after the family of the Junii Bruti were renowned as the standard-bearers of freedom, opposed to all tyranny and oppression.  This reputation was to have serious repercussions in the ages to come.

The Republic             (509-27 BC)
A New Government:  Consuls Replace The Kings
            After the Tarquins were gone, Rome needed a government.  The senate originally set up by Romulus and enlarged by later kings still existed, but they had mainly existed as an advisory council to the king, and in recent years had barely served that purpose.  In place of the king, Brutus proposed to have two officers called consuls.  These men would be elected each year and would lead the army and serve as a leader of the senate as well.  By having two men instead of one, no single man's whim could oppress the state, and by
limiting the time of office to a single year, none could abuse power for long.  The two men first elected to the consulship were none other than L. Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus.

            The Romans embraced this idea quickly and clung tenaciously to it for nearly 500 years.  For many of these years it served them well.  As time passed, the Romans created several other offices to fulfill needs as they arose.  By the time of Julius Caesar (100 BC), there were five important officers elected yearly: consuls, praetors, quaestors, aediles, and tribunes.  Every five years Romans also elected two censors who were to make an official count of the people (a census) and to make the official list of those eligible for the senate.  The two consuls led the armies, proposed laws and conducted business in the senate.  The eight praetors served as judges in the courts, the twenty quaestors served in the treasury, the four aediles cared for temples and other public buildings and the ten tribunes were to protect the plebs from abusive treatment at the hands of the patricians.

Tarquin’s return
            After he had retreated safely to Etruria, Tarquin the Proud began to plot to regain his kingship.   The former king first tried treachery.  Not all within Rome were pleased by the revolution and the new republic.  As it happened, the family of the Tarquins had left Rome so swiftly that they had abandoned much of their personal property as well.  Tarquin therefore sent ambassadors to Rome to seek restitution for their land and restoration of their property.  The consuls and the Senate debated over the issue before them.  On the one hand they did not want to give a reason for war by withholding the property of the Tarquins, and on the other hand, they did not want to supply wealth that their enemy could use against them in war.    
            While the Senate debated on the issue, Tarquin’s ambassadors took the opportunity to remain in Rome and see if there were enough people within to support
a counter-revolution.  Among the young nobility they found just such a group.  Meanwhile the Senate had resolved to return the Tarquin’s property to them.  The ambassadors, under the guise of preparing transport for the property with which they were to return, continued their preparations for the counterrevolution.  When they were prepared to go, the ambassadors took with them letters that detailed both the members and means of the conspiracy.

Brutus and the Price of Treason
            Unfortunately for the conspirators, a slave named Vindicius revealed the plot to the Senate.  The Senate ordered that the ambassadors be arrested.  From the letters that the ambassadors carried the whole plot was crushed and its members brought to judgment in chains.  The young men who had participated were taken before the two consuls, beaten with rods from the fasces and executed in public.  Among those who had joined the conspiracy to bring Tarquin the Proud back to Rome were two sons of L. Junius Brutus himself, Titus and Tiberius.  Brutus sat presiding over the execution as consul, pained by the death of his own sons, but resolved to see the laws followed faithfully.
As Livy puts it “Leges surdam rem, inexorabilem esse  (“the laws are a deaf affair, unable to be moved by entreaty” Ab Urbe Condita, 2.3.4)

Rome Under Siege:  The Heroes Horatius Cocles and Mucius Scaevola
            Unable to regain his kingdom by treachery, Tarquin resorted to open war.    Since he had but a fragment of the army he could once call upon, Tarquin appealed to the Etruscan cities for help.  First to aid him were Veii and Tarquinii.  The battle (Silva Arsia) that followed was a narrow victory for the Romans, but the consul Brutus himself died, together with Arruns, the son of Tarquin the Proud.  The two consuls who took power after this battle were P. Valerius Publicola and M. Horatius Pulvillus.

            After his loss at Silva Arsia, Tarquin tried again.  This time he asked for aid from Lars Porsenna, the Etruscan king of Clusium.  Porsenna agrees to help, and with his army marches upon Rome.  The attack takes the fortress on the Janiculan Hill by surprise, and the Roman soldiers run towards the city in a disorganized retreat.  Only the courage of Horatius Cocles preserved Rome.  Horatius Cocles (“One-Eye”) was on guard duty at the
Sublician Bridge, when the first retreating Romans came running towards the safety of the city. 

            Rather than running and saving himself, Horatius not only stood his ground but he persuaded some of the fugitives to begin cutting down the Sublician Bridge behind.  As Horatius stood his ground some of those who had been retreating (Livy mentions
Sp. Lartius and T. Herminius), ashamed of their behavior, joined him in defending the bridge.  Together they stopped the advancing Etruscans as their fellow Romans cut down the bridge.  Eventually Horatius stood alone. As the bridge crashed down behind him Horatius Cocles jumped into the Tiber and swam to safety.

            Although Horatius’ bravery had saved Rome from sudden assault, the city was now under siege.  The Senate had wisely stockpiled food for the city, but the number of people was too great for the supply to hold out long, and the daily danger and confined spaces would eventually take its toll.  So it was that a brave young man, Gaius Mucius, came to the Senate with a plan.  The Senate approved and Gaius Mucius swam the Tiber and entered the camp of the enemy, taking with him his dagger alone, concealed beneath his cloak.  As the young man waited, alone amid such a crowd of enemies, Gaius looked for King Porsenna, the man he planned to kill.  “For if I kill him” he thought to himself “the leaderless army will depart!”

            Unfortunately for Gaius, he could not tell which man was the King.  Fearing to ask which was Porsenna lest he should give himself away, Gaius Mucius watched carefully for his chance.  The pay was being distributed that day, and Gaius decided that the man who gave out the money must be the Porsenna.  Gaius Mucius was mistaken and he killed the wrong man, a mere paymaster instead.    Unable to escape, Gaius was disarmed and brought before Lars Porsenna for questioning.  When Gaius Mucius refused to answer Porsenna with anything more than veiled threats, the King brought a brazier filled with red-hot coals near.   Porsenna made it plain that he was going to torture the young Roman unless Gaius made it clear just what sorts of plots there were against the Etruscan King.

            Gaius’ response was to say “Behold for yourself how cheaply those who see great glory hold their own bodies” and then to thrust his right hand into the midst of the coals and hold it there until consumed.  Porsenna was astonished.  He set Gaius Mucius free, commenting that he wished he had men as brave as Mucius fighting for him.  Mucius in reply says “What you could not obtain by threats I will give you in kindness.  300 young men of Rome have sworn to kill you.  Mine was the first lot, the rest will be with you, each in their own turn.”  It will not surprise you to learn that Lars Porsenna decided to make peace with Rome quickly and depart thence.  Tarquin the Proud is forced to relinquish his hopes of regaining his kingdom and instead of returning to Rome, he ends his days in the court of Aristodemus of Cumae.


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