Roman History, Books I III - Titus Livius
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However, the peace with Alba did not long continue. The
dissatisfaction of the populace at the fortune of the state having
been intrusted to three soldiers, perverted the wavering mind of the
dictator; and since straightforward measures had not turned out well,
he began to conciliate the affections of the populace by treacherous
means. Accordingly, as one who had formerly sought peace in time of
war, and was now seeking war in time of peace, because he perceived
that his own state possessed more courage than strength, he stirred
up other nations to make war openly and by proclamation: for his own
people he reserved the work of treachery under the show of allegiance.
The Fidenates, a Roman colony,[26] having taken the Veientes into
partnership in the plot, were instigated to declare war and take up
arms under a compact of desertion on the part of the Albans. When
Fidenae had openly revolted, Tullus, after summoning Mettius and his
army from Alba, marched against the enemy. When he crossed the Anio,
he pitched his camp at the conflux of the rivers.[27] Between that
place and Fidenae, the army of the Veientes had crossed the Tiber.
These, in the line of battle, also occupied the right wing near the
river; the Fidenates were posted on the left nearer the mountains.
Tullus stationed his own men opposite the Veientine foe; the Albans
he posted to face the legion of the Fidenates. The Alban had no more
courage than loyalty. Therefore neither daring to keep his ground, nor
to desert openly, he filed off slowly to the mountains. After this,
when he supposed he had advanced far enough, he led his entire army
uphill, and still wavering in mind, in order to waste time, opened
his ranks. His design was, to direct his forces to that side on which
fortune should give success. At first the Romans who stood nearest
were astonished, when they perceived their flanks were exposed by the
departure of their allies; then a horseman at full gallop announced
to the king that the Albans were moving off. Tullus, in this perilous
juncture, vowed twelve Salii and temples to Paleness and Panic.
Rebuking the horseman in a loud voice, so that the enemy might hear
him plainly, he ordered him to return to the ranks, that there was no
occasion for alarm; that it was by his order that the Alban army was
being led round to fall on the unprotected rear of the Fidenates. He
likewise commanded him to order the cavalry to raise their spears
aloft; the execution of this order shut out the view of the retreating
Alban army from a great part of the Roman infantry. Those who saw it,
believing that it was even so, as they had heard from the king, fought
with all the greater valour. The alarm was transferred to the enemy;
they had both heard what had been uttered so loudly, and a great part
of the Fidenates, as men who had mixed as colonists with the Romans,
understood Latin. Therefore, that they might not be cut off from the
town by a sudden descent of the Albans from the hills, they took to
flight. Tullus pressed forward, and having routed the wing of the
Fidenates, returned with greater fury against the Veientes, who were
disheartened by the panic of the others: they did not even sustain
his charge; but the river, opposed to them in the rear, prevented a
disordered flight. When their flight led thither, some, shamefully
throwing down their arms, rushed blindly into the river; others, while
lingering on the banks, undecided whether to fight or flee, were
overpowered. Never before was a more desperate battle fought by the
Romans.
Then the Alban army, which had been a mere spectator of the fight,
was marched down into the plains. Mettius congratulated Tullus on his
victory over the enemy; Tullus on his part addressed Mettius with
courtesy. He ordered the Albans to unite their camp with that of the
Romans, which he prayed heaven might prove beneficial to both; and
prepared a purificatory sacrifice for the next day. As soon as it
was daylight, all things being in readiness, according to custom, he
commanded both armies to be summoned to an assembly. The heralds,
beginning at the farthest part of the camp, summoned the Albans first.
They, struck also with the novelty of the thing, in order to hear the
Roman king deliver a speech, crowded next to him. The Roman forces,
under arms, according to previous arrangement, surrounded them; the
centurions had been charged to execute their orders without delay.
Then Tullus began as follows: "Romans, if ever before, at any other
time, in any war, there was a reason that you should return thanks,
first to the immortal gods, next to your own valour, it was
yesterday's battle. For the struggle was not so much with enemies as
with the treachery and perfidy of allies, a struggle which is more
serious and more dangerous. For--that you may not be under a mistaken
opinion--know that it was without my orders that the Albans retired to
the mountains, nor was that my command, but a stratagem and the mere
pretence of a command: that you, being kept in ignorance that you were
deserted, your attention might not be drawn away from the fight, and
that the enemy might be inspired with terror and dismay, conceiving
themselves to be surrounded on the rear. Nor is that guilt, which I
now complain of, shared by all the Albans. They merely followed their
leader, as you too would have done, had I wished to turn my army away
to any other point from thence. It is Mettius there who is the leader
of this march: it is Mettius also who the contriver of this war is: it
is Mettius who is the violator of the treaty between Rome and Alba.
Let another hereafter venture to do the like, if I do not presently
make of him a signal example to mankind." The centurions in arms stood
around Mettius: the king proceeded with the rest of his speech as he
had commenced: "It is my intention, and may it prove fortunate, happy,
and auspicious to the Roman people, to myself, and to you, O Albans,
to transplant all the inhabitants of Alba to Rome, to grant your
commons the rights of citizenship, to admit your nobles into the body
of senators, to make one city, one state: as the Alban state after
being one people was formerly divided into two, so let it now again
become one." On hearing this the Alban youth, unarmed, surrounded by
armed men, although divided in their sentiments, yet under pressure of
the general apprehension maintained silence. Then Tullus proceeded:
"If, Mettius Fufetius, you were capable of learning fidelity, and how
to observe treaties, I would have suffered you to live and have given
you such a lesson. But as it is, since your disposition is incurable,
do you at any rate by your punishment teach mankind to consider those
obligations sacred, which have been violated by you? As therefore a
little while since you kept your mind divided between the interests of
Fidenae and of Rome, so shall you now surrender your body to be torn
asunder in different directions." Upon this, two chariots drawn by
four horses being brought up, he bound Mettius stretched at full
length to their carriages: then the horses were driven in different
directions, carrying off his mangled body on each carriage, where the
limbs had remained hanging to the cords. All turned away their eyes
from so shocking a spectacle. That was the first and last instance
among the Romans of a punishment which established a precedent that
showed but little regard for the laws of humanity. In other cases
we may boast that no other nation has approved of milder forms of
punishment.[28]
Meanwhile the cavalry had already been sent on to Alba, to transplant
the people to Rome. The legions were next led thither to demolish the
city. When they entered the gates, there was not indeed such a tumult
or panic as usually prevails in captured cities, when, after the gates
have been burst open, or the walls levelled by the battering-ram, or
the citadel taken by assault, the shouts of the enemy and rush of
armed men through the city throws everything into confusion with fire
and sword: but gloomy silence and speechless sorrow so stupefied the
minds of all, that, through fear, paying no heed as to what they
should leave behind, what they should take with them, in their
perplexity, making frequent inquiries one of another, they now stood
on the thresholds, now wandering about, roamed through their houses,
which they were destined to see then for the last time. When now the
shouts of the horsemen commanding them to depart became urgent, and
the crash of the dwellings which were being demolished was heard in
the remotest parts of the city, and the dust, rising from distant
places, had filled every quarter as with a cloud spread over them;
then, hastily carrying out whatever each of them could, while they
went forth, leaving behind them their guardian deity and household
gods,[29] and the homes in which each had been born and brought up, an
unbroken line of emigrants soon filled the streets, and the sight of
others caused their tears to break out afresh in pity for one another:
piteous cries too were heard, of the women more especially, as they
passed by their revered temples now beset with armed men, and left
their gods as it were in captivity. After the Albans had evacuated the
town, the Roman soldiery levelled all the public and private buildings
indiscriminately to the ground, and a single hour consigned to
destruction and ruin the work of four hundred years, during which
Alba had stood. The temples of the gods, however--for so it had been
ordered by the king--were spared.
In the meantime Rome increased by the destruction of Alba. The number
of citizens was doubled. The Coelian Mount was added to the city, and,
in order that it might be more thickly populated, Tullus selected it
as a site for his palace, and subsequently took up his abode there.
The leading men of the Albans he enrolled among the patricians, that
that division of the state also might increase, the Tullii, Servilii,
Quinctii, Geganii, Curiatii, Cloelii; and as a consecrated place
of meeting for the order thus augmented by himself he built a
senate-house, which was called Hostilia[30] even down to the time of
our fathers. Further, that all ranks might acquire some additional
strength from the new people, he chose ten troops of horsemen from
among the Albans: he likewise recruited the old legions, and raised
new ones, by additions from the same source. Trusting to this increase
of strength, Tullus declared war against the Sabines, a nation at that
time the most powerful, next to the Etruscans, in men and arms. On
both sides wrongs had been committed, and satisfaction demanded in
vain. Tullus complained that some Roman merchants had been seized in a
crowded market near the temple of Feronia:[31] the Sabines that some
of their people had previously taken refuge in the asylum, and had
been detained at Rome. These were put forward as the causes of the
war. The Sabines, well aware both that a portion of their strength had
been settled at Rome by Tatius, and that the Roman power had also been
lately increased by the accession of the Alban people, began, in like
manner, to look around for foreign aid themselves. Etruria was in
their neighbourhood; of the Etruscans the Veientes were the nearest.
From thence they attracted some volunteers, whose minds were stirred
up to break the truce, chiefly in consequence of the rankling
animosities from former wars. Pay also had its weight with some
stragglers belonging to the indigent population. They were assisted
by no aid from the government, and the loyal observation of the truce
concluded with Romulus was strictly kept by the Veientes: with respect
to the others it is less surprising. While both sides were preparing
for war with the utmost vigour, and the matter seemed to turn on this,
which side should first commence hostilities, Tullus advanced first
into the Sabine territory. A desperate battle took place at the wood
called Malitiosa, in which the Roman army gained a decisive advantage,
both by reason of the superior strength of their infantry, and also,
more especially, by the aid of their cavalry, which had been recently
increased. The Sabine ranks were thrown into disorder by a sudden
charge of the cavalry, nor could they afterward stand firm in battle
array, or retreat in loose order without great slaughter.
After the defeat of the Sabines, when the government of Tullus and the
whole Roman state enjoyed great renown, and was highly flourishing, it
was announced to the king and senators, that it had rained stones on
the Alban Mount. As this could scarcely be credited, on persons being
sent to investigate the prodigy, a shower of stones fell from heaven
before their eyes, just as when balls of hail are pelted down to the
earth by the winds. They also seemed to hear a loud voice from the
grove on the summit of the hill, bidding the Albans perform their
religious services according to the rites of their native country,
which they had consigned to oblivion, as if their gods had been
abandoned at the same time as their country; and had either adopted
the religious rites of Rome, or, as often happens, enraged at their
evil destiny, had altogether renounced the worship of the gods. A
festival of nine days was instituted publicly by the Romans also on
account of the same prodigy, either in obedience to the heavenly voice
sent from the Alban Mount--for that, too, is reported--or by the
advice of the soothsayers. Anyhow, it continued a solemn observance,
that, whenever a similar prodigy was announced, a festival for nine
days was observed. Not long after, they were afflicted with
an epidemic; and though in consequence of this there arose an
unwillingness to serve, yet no respite from arms was given them by the
warlike king, who considered besides that the bodies of the young
men were more healthy when on service abroad than at home, until he
himself also was attacked by a lingering disease. Then that proud
spirit and body became so broken, that he, who had formerly considered
nothing less worthy of a king than to devote his mind to religious
observances, began to pass his time a slave to every form of
superstition, important and trifling, and filled the people's minds
also with religious scruples. The majority of his subjects, now
desiring the restoration of that state of things which had existed
under King Numa, thought that the only chance of relief for their
diseased bodies lay in grace and compassion being obtained from the
gods. It is said that the king himself, turning over the commentaries
of Numa, after he had found therein that certain sacrifices of a
secret and solemn nature had been performed to Jupiter Elicius, shut
himself up and set about the performance of those solemnities, but
that that rite was not duly undertaken or carried out, and that not
only was no heavenly manifestation vouchsafed to him, but he and his
house were struck by lightning and burned to ashes, through theanger
of Jupiter, who was exasperated at the ceremony having been improperly
performed.[32] Tullus reigned two-and-thirty years with great military
renown.
On the death of Tullus, according to the custom established in the
first instance, the government devolved once more upon the senate,
who nominated an interrex; and on his holding the comitia, the people
elected Ancus Marciusking. The fathers ratified the election. Ancus
Marcius was the grandson of King Numa Pompilius by his daughter. As
soon as he began to reign, mindful of the renown of his grandfather,
and reflecting that the last reign, glorious as it had been in every
other respect, in one particular had not been adequately prosperous,
either because the rites of religion had been utterly neglected, or
improperly performed, and deeming it of the highest importance to
perform the public ceremonies of religion, as they had been instituted
by Numa, he ordered the pontiff, after he had recorded them all from
the king's commentaries on white tables, to set them up in a public
place. Hence, as both his own subjects, and the neighbouring nations
desired peace, hope was entertained that the king would adopt the
conduct and institutions of his grandfather. Accordingly, the Latins,
with whom a treaty had been concluded in the reign of Tullus, gained
fresh courage; and, after they had invaded Roman territory, returned
a contemptuous answer to the Romans when they demanded satisfaction,
supposing that the Roman king would spend his reign in indolence among
chapels and altars. The disposition of Ancus was between two extremes,
preserving the qualities of both Numa and Romulus; and, besides
believing that peace was more necessary in his grandfather's reign,
since the people were then both newly formed and uncivilized, he also
felt that he could not easily preserve the tranquility unmolested
which had fallen to his lot: that his patience was being tried and
being tried, was despised: and that the times generally were more
suited to a King Tullus than to a Numa. In order, however, that, since
Numa had instituted religious rites in peace, ceremonies relating to
war might be drawn up by him, and that wars might not only be waged,
but proclaimed also in accordance with some prescribed form, he
borrowed from an ancient nation, the AEquicolae, and drew up the form
which the heralds observe to this day, according to which restitution
is demanded. The ambassador, when he reaches the frontiers of the
people from whom satisfaction is demanded, having his head covered
with a fillet--this covering is of wool--says: "Hear, O Jupiter, hear,
ye confines" (naming whatsoever nation they belong to), "let divine
justice hear. I am the public messenger of the Roman people; I come
deputed by right and religion, and let my words gain credit." He then
definitely states his demands; afterward he calls Jupiter to witness:
"If I demand these persons and these goods to be given up to me
contrary to human or divine right, then mayest thou never permit me to
enjoy my native country." These words he repeats when he passes
over the frontiers: the same to the first man he meets: the same on
entering the gate: the same on entering the forum, with a slight
change of expression in the form of the declaration and drawing up of
the oath. If the persons whom he demands are not delivered up, after
the expiration of thirty-three days--for this number is enjoined by
rule--he declares war in the following terms: "Hear, Jupiter, and
thou, Janus Quirinus, and all ye celestial, terrestrial, and infernal
gods, give ear! I call you to witness, that this nation "(mentioning
its name)" is unjust, and does not carry out the principles of
justice: however, we will consult the elders in our own country
concerning those matters, by what means we may obtain our rights."
The messenger returns with them to Rome to consult. The king used
immediately to consult the fathers as nearly as possible in the
following words: "Concerning such things, causes of dispute, and
quarrels, as the pater patratus of the Roman people, the Quirites, has
treated with the pater patratus of the ancient Latins, and with the
ancient Latin people, which things ought to be given up, made good,
discharged, which things they have neither given up, nor made good,
nor discharged, declare," says he to him, whose opinion he asked
first, "what think you?" Then he replies: "I think that they should
be demanded by a war free from guilt and regularly declared; and
accordingly I agree, and vote for it." Then the others were asked
in order, and when the majority of those present expressed the same
opinion, war was agreed upon. It was customary for the fetialis to
carry in his hand a spear pointed with steel, or burned at the end
and dipped in blood, to the confines of the enemy's country, and in
presence of at least three grown-up persons, to say, "Forasmuch as
the states of the ancient Latins, and the ancient Latin people, have
offended against the Roman people of the Quirites, forasmuch as the
Roman people of the Quirites have ordered that there should be war
with the ancient Latins, and the senate of the Roman people, the
Quirites, have given their opinion, agreed, and voted that war should
be waged with the ancient Latins, on this account I and the Roman
people declare and wage war on the states of the ancient Latins, and
on the ancient Latin people." Whenever he said that, he used to hurl
the spear within their confines. After this manner at that time
satisfaction was demanded from the Latins, and war proclaimed: and
posterity has adopted that usage.
Ancus, having intrusted the care of sacred matters to the flamen
and other priests, set out with an army freshly levied, and took
Politorium, a city of the Latins, by storm: and following the example
of former kings, who had increased the Roman power by incorporating
enemies into the state, transplanted all the people to Rome. And since
the Sabines had occupied the Capitol and citadel, and the Albans the
Coelian Mount on both sides of the Palatium, the dwelling-place of
the old Romans, the Aventine was assigned to the new people; not long
after, on the capture of Tellenae and Ficana, new citizens were added
to the same quarter. After this Politorium, which the ancient Latins
had taken possession of when vacated, was taken a second time by force
of arms. This was the cause of the Romans demolishing that city that
it might never after serve as a place of refuge for the enemy. At
last, the war with the Latins being entirely concentrated at Medullia,
the contest was carried on there for some time with changing success,
according as the fortune of war varied: for the town was both well
protected by fortified works, and strengthened by a powerful garrison,
and the Latins, having pitched their camp in the open, had several
times come to a close engagement with the Romans. At last Ancus,
making an effort with all his forces, first defeated them in a pitched
battle, and, enriched by considerable booty, returned thence to Rome:
many thousands of the Latins were then also admitted to citizenship,
to whom, in order that the Aventine might be united to the Palatium,
a settlement was assigned near the Temple of Murcia.[33] was likewise
added not from want of room, but lest at any time it should become a
stronghold for the enemy. It was resolved that it should not only be
surrounded by a wall, but also, for convenience of passage, be united
to the city by a wooden bridge, which was then for the first time
built across the Tiber. The fossa Quiritium, no inconsiderable defence
in places where the ground was lower and consequently easier of
access, was also the work of King Ancus. The state being augmented
by such great accessions, seeing that, amid such a multitude of
inhabitants (all distinction of right and wrong being as yet
confounded), secret crimes were committed, a prison [34] was built
in the heart of the city, overlooking the forum, to intimidate the
growing licentiousness. And not only was the city increased under this
king, but also its territory and boundaries. After the Mesian forest
had been taken from the Veientines, the Roman dominion was extended as
far as the sea, and the city of Ostia built at the mouth of the Tiber;
salt-pits were dug around it, and, in consequence of the distinguished
successes in war, the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius was enlarged.
In the reign of Ancus, Lucumo,[35] a wealthy and enterprising man,
came to settle at Rome, prompted chiefly by the desire and hope of
high preferment, which he had no opportunity of obtaining at Tarquinii
(for there also he was descended from an alien stock). He was the son
of Demaratus, a Corinthian, who, an exile from his country on account
of civil disturbances had chanced to settle at Tarquinii, and having
married a wife there, had two sons by her. Their names were Lucumo
and Arruns. Lucumo survived his father, and became heir to all his
property. Arruns died before his father, leaving a wife pregnant. The
father did not long survive the son, and as he, not knowing that
his daughter-in-law was pregnant, had died without mentioning his
grandchild in his will, the boy who was born after the death of his
grandfather, and had no share in his fortune, was given the name of
Egerius on account of his poverty. Lucumo, who was, on the other
hand, the heir of all his father's property, being filled with high
aspirations by reason of his wealth, had these ambitions greatly
advanced by his marriage with Tanaquil, who was descended from a very
high family, and was a woman who would not readily brook that the
condition into which she had married should be inferior to that in
which she had been born. As the Etruscans despised Lucumo, as being
sprung from a foreign exile, she could not put up with the affront,
and, regardless of the natural love of her native country, provided
only she could see her husband advanced to honour, she formed the
design of leaving Tarquinii. Rome seemed particularly suited for that
purpose. In a state, lately founded, where all nobility is rapidly
gained and as the reward of merit, there would be room (she thought)
for a man of courage and activity. Tatius, a Sabine, had been king
of Rome: Numa had been sent for from Cures to reign there: Ancus was
sprung from a Sabine mother, and rested his title to nobility on the
single statue of Numa.[36] Without difficulty she persuaded him,
being, as he was, ambitious of honours, and one to whom Tarquinii was
his country only on his mother's side. Accordingly, removing their
effects, they set out for Rome. They happened to have reached the
Janiculum: there, as he sat in the chariot with his wife, an eagle,
gently swooping down on floating wings, took off his cap, and hovering
above the chariot with loud screams, as if it had been sent from
heaven for that very purpose, carefully replaced it on his head,
and then flew aloft out of sight. Tanaquil is said to have joyfully
welcomed this omen, being a woman well skilled, as the Etruscans
generally are, in celestial prodigies, and, embracing her husband,
bade him hope for a high and lofty destiny: that such a bird had come
from such a quarter of the heavens, and the messenger of such a god:
that it had declared the omen around the highest part of man: that it
had lifted the ornament placed on the head of man, to restore it to
him again, by direction of the gods. Bearing with them such hopes and
thoughts, they entered the city, and having secured a dwelling there,
they gave out his name as Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. The fact that he
was a stranger and his wealth rendered him an object of attention
to the Romans. He himself also promoted his own good fortune by his
affable address, by the courteousness of his invitations, and by
gaining over to his side all whom he could by acts of kindness, until
reports concerning him reached even to the palace: and that notoriety
he, in a short time, by paying his court to the king without truckling
and with skilful address, improved so far as to be admitted on a
footing of intimate friendship, so much so that he was present at all
public and private deliberations alike, both foreign and domestic;
and being now proved in every sphere, he was at length, by the king's
will, also appointed guardian to his children.