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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