After many adventures, Aeneas reached Italy and established a new home for the Trojans at Lavinium (named after his wife, Lavinia). His son, Ascanius, founded the town of Alba Longa. A long line of kings followed him, until the rule of Proca. The elder of Proca’s two sons was Numitor, and he was driven out by his brother, Amulius. Subsequent events are described by the Roman historian, Livy (59 b.c. - a.d. 17), in a work traditionally known as Ab Urbe Condita Libri.

pulsō frātre Amulius rēgnat. addit scelerī scelus: stirpem frātris
virīlem interēmit, frātris fīliae Reae Silviae per speciem honōris,
cum Vestālem eam lēgisset, perpetuā virginitāte spem partūs
adimit.

sed dēbēbātur, ut opīnor, fātīs tantae orīgō urbis maximīque 5
secundum deōrum opēs imperiī prīncipium. vī compressa Vestālis
cum geminum partum ēdidisset, seu ita rāta seu quia deus auctor
culpae honestior erat, Martem incertae stirpis patrem nuncupat.
sed nec dī nec hominēs aut ipsam aut stirpem ā crūdēlitāte rēgiā
vindicant: sacerdōs vīncta in custōdiam datur; puerōs in 10
prōfluentem aquam mittī iubet. forte quādam dīvinitus super rīpās
Tiberis effūsus lēnibus stagnīs et posse quamvīs languidā mergī
aquā īnfantēs spem ferentibus dabat. ita velut dēfunctī rēgis
imperiō in proximā alluviē, ubi nunc fīcus Rūminālis est -
Rōmulārem vocātam ferunt - puerōs expōnunt.15

1What two crimes did Amulius commit?

2What part does fate play in the story?

3What happened to Rea Silvia? How did she explain the result?

4What two things did the king do to her?

5What effect did the flooding of the Tiber have on the people assigned to get rid of the infants? Where were the babies exposed?

6What view does Livy seem to take of Rea Silvia’s explanation in line 8? How does the reader gain that impression?

vastae tum in hīs locīs sōlitūdinēs erant. tenet fāma cum fluitantem
alveum, quō iam expositī erant puerī, tenuis in siccō aqua
dēstituisset, lupam sitientem ex montibus quī circā sunt ad
puerīlem vāgītum cursum flexisse; eam submissās īnfantibus adeō
mītem praebuisse mammās ut linguā lambentem puerōs magister5
rēgiī pecoris invēnerit (Faustulō fuisse nōmen ferunt); ab eō ad
stabula Larentiae uxōrī ēdūcandōs datōs. sunt quī Larentiam
vulgātō corpore “lupam” inter pastōrēs vocātam putent: inde
locum fābulae ac mīrāculō datum.

The she-wolf on a coin.

1When the shallow water had receded, where was the basket?

2Why did the wolf happen to be nearby? What two things did she do for the babies?

3Who was Faustulus? Where did he take the babies?

ita genitī itaque ēdūcātī, cum prīmum adolēvit aetās, nec in
stabulīs nec ad pecora segnēs vēnandō peragrāre saltūs. hinc
rōbore corporibus animīsque sūmptō iam nōn ferās tantum
subsistere, sed in latrōnēs praedā onustōs impetūs facere,
pastōribusque rapta dīvidere et cum hīs crēscente in diēs grege 5
iuvenum sēria ac iocōs celebrāre.

1When the infants had become young men, what kinds of things did they do?

2As other people joined them how did they expand their activities?

The following questions relate to Parts I – III:

1List phrases which emphasize the villainy of the usurper, Amulius.

2Why does Livy mention more than once that Numitor’s daughter was a Vestal?

3List words that show Livy presenting this story as overseen by the gods.

4How does Livy emphasize the vulnerability of Romulus and Remus by the description of the place where they were exposed? How would this description compare with the Forum in Livy’s Rome?

5Infants exposed at birth were expected to die of starvation or be killed by wild animals. However, the wolf in this story reverses the reader’s expectations. List the words that present the wolf sympathetically.

6In Part II (line 9) fābulae ac mīrāculō is an example of hendiadys: the use of two nouns to describe something where we might expect a noun and adjective. We might translate this as “a wonderful story.” What effect does this literary device have here?

7How does Livy try to ensure that the reader likes Romulus and Remus?

The Tiber today in central Rome.

Romulus and Remus eventually restored their grandfather, Numitor, to the throne and killed Amulius. The young men then decided to found their own city.

ita Numitōrī Albānā rē permissā Rōmulum Remumque cupīdō
cēpit in iīs locīs ubi expositī ubique ēdūcātī erant urbis condendae.
et supererat multitūdō Albānōrum Latīnōrumque; ad id pastōrēs
quoque accesserant, quī omnēs facile spem facerent parvam
Albam, parvum Lāvīnium prae eā urbe quae conderētur fore. 5
intervēnit deinde hīs cōgitātiōnibus avitum malum, rēgnī cupīdō,
atque inde foedum certāmen coortum ā satis mītī prīncipiō.
quoniam geminī essent nec aetātis verēcundiā discrīmen facere
posset, ut dī quōrum tūtēlae ea loca essent auguriīs legerent quī
nōmen novae urbi daret, quī conditam imperiō regeret, Palātium 10
Rōmulus, Remus Aventīnum ad inaugurandum capiunt.

1Where did Romulus and Remus want to found their city?

2Why was there a hope that the new city would be larger than both Alba Longa and Lavinium?

3What was the foedum certāmen?

4What problem did Romulus and Remus have in naming the new city?

5With whose help did they resolve this problem?

6Where did each young man go to take the auspices?

Mosaic of wolf and twins.

priōrī Remō augurium vēnisse fertur, sex vulturēs; iamque
nūntiātō auguriō cum duplex numerus Rōmulō sē ostendisset,
utrumque rēgem sua multitūdō cōnsalūtāverat: tempore illī
praeceptō, at hī numerō avium rēgnum trahēbantur. inde cum
altercātiōne congressī certāmine īrārum ad caedem vertuntur; ibi 5
in turbā ictus Remus cecidit. vulgātior fāma est lūdibriō frātris
Remum novōs trānsiluisse mūrōs; inde ab īrātō Rōmulō, cum
verbīs quoque increpitāns adiēcisset, “sīc deinde quīcumque alius
trānsiliet moenia mea,” interfectum. ita sōlus potītus imperiō
Rōmulus; condita urbs conditōris nōmine appellāta.10

1Which brother received the first augury? What was the first augury?

2What was the second augury?

3How did the followers of each brother respond to the omens?

4How did the altercation end?

5Outline the vulgātior fāma.

6What did Romulus say?

7What were the two results of Romulus’ action?

The following questions relate to Parts IV–V:

1What do the words sua multitūdō (V, line 3) suggest about the two brothers by this time?

2Give reasons why you think the second version of the death of Remus became vulgātior (V, line 6)?

3Do you think Livy thought one version was more likely than the other? Explain why you think so.

4List the verbs and verb forms associated with Remus in V. What do you notice about them in comparison with those associated with Romulus? Explain what Livy achieves by this word choice.

The following questions relate to Parts I–V:

1To what earlier events in the story do the words avitum malum, rēgnī cupīdō (IV, line 6) refer?

2Etiological myths explain causes or origins. Find three examples in Livy’s story. Where in the story of Daedalus and Icarus did Ovid use etiology?

3Livy presents the foundation and history of Rome as important and as overseen by the gods. In doing this, he provides many details, some of which add color and interest to his tale, while others reveal his skepticism. Find examples of (a) his vivid narration and (b) his skepticism.

4What is there about the story of Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome that has made these stories so memorable? What other myths or legends could be compared with this story?

The Palatine above the Roman Forum.

In his introduction to Ab Urbe Condita Libri, Livy wrote:

quae ante conditam condendamve urbem poeticis magis decora fabulis quam incorruptis rerum gestarum monumentis traduntur, ea nec adfirmare nec refellere in animo.

The things that happened before the city [Rome] was founded or its founding was planned, are handed down more as ornaments for stories from the poets than in the genuine memorials of what was done. These things I do not intend to affirm or refute.

Livy was writing about events seven hundred years before he lived, and he admits from the start that these events are probably more legend than history. So it is perfectly natural that in his writing he includes various versions of the same event. After all, as he says elsewhere in his introduction, history is rērum gestārum memoria: the memory of what has been done. We can record the memory of the past; the actual events of the past are more elusive.

The growth of Rome, from its very humble beginnings to a world power, is an important topic. Reading any history, according to Livy, is a serious occupation, because history provides readers with exempla, patterns of conduct, for individuals and for states, to imitate or avoid. The memory of the Roman past that he records illustrates the changes that growth and prosperity in society bring, until we (the Romans) have reached the point when nec vitia nostra nec remedia patī possumus (we can endure neither our vices nor their remedies).

All through his history, Livy’s focus is on the people who made things happen: in other words, the people who provide the exempla. For example, he tells the story of the three brave Horatii brothers (from Rome) who fought the three Curiatii brothers (from Alba Longa), and the resulting peace between the two towns, broken by the treachery of the Alban leader. The Romans decided to destroy Alba Longa and transfer the people to Rome. The last scene at Alba Longa presents the background noise during the destruction of the town, and, in the foreground, shows the grieving people, looking their last on their homes, everywhere silentium triste ac tacita maestitia (mournful silence and silent sorrow).

Tacitus in his Annals and Agricola, and Suetonius in his Lives of the Twelve Caesars (all of which have served as sources for some of the stories you have read) do the same. It is Tacitus’ picture of the successor of Augustus, Tiberius: cautious, grim, brooding, and resentful, that is still our image of this emperor. In the Agricola, at the same time as he honors his father-in-law, Agricola, soldier and administrator, he presents Domitian: watchful, suspicious, envious. Suetonius, as the title shows, tells the stories of the emperors and their effect on Rome and the empire. None of these historians includes sections on the economic or social conditions of the times. It is the people who create their history.

Livy, Tacitus, and Suetonius consulted a variety of sources. Unlike modern historians, however, ancient historians (both Roman and Greek) did not record those sources in footnotes or bibliographies. They might refer to them in passing, or hint at various versions, but their aim was to produce as dramatic, as serious, as cynical (in the case of Tacitus), as psychologically convincing, in other words as vivid a picture of the event as they could. This might extend to a character in the history giving a speech in which he was quoted as saying the kinds of things that he would have been most likely to say on the occasion being described. A modern historian would find such writing of history scandalous. An ancient historian would not. This is why such histories are works of literature as much as records of the past. In reading them, we savor the style as much as the content. It is a rewarding experience.

AMatch the meaning to the English derivative.

1to rateato drive away

2to intervenebto consider, esteem

3to vindicatecto continue to live

4to flexdto clear from criticism

5to repulseeto come between

6to subsistfto mirror an image

7to reflectgto bend

BGive a meaning for each of the following English derivatives of flectere:

1reflector

2deflect

3inflection

4circumflex

5inflexible

6genuflect

CMatch the Latin word to the word opposite in meaning.

1foedusaquia

2quoniambcēlāre

3intervenīrecāmittere

4potīrīdiungere

5quamvīsequamquam

6vulgārefiūcundus

The two sides of a silver denarius showing (left) Caesar and an augur’s
staff, and (right) Juno.