History of Rome | Page 8

thousand years. These numbers bear evident traces of
superstitious invention; and the legends by which these cities are
successively deduced from the first encampment of Æne'as, are at
variance with these fanciful periods. The account that Alba was built by
a son of Æne'as, who had been guided to the spot by a white sow,
which had farrowed thirty young, is clearly a story framed from the
similarity of the name to Albus (white,) and the circumstance of the
city having been the capital of the thirty Latin tribes. The city derived
its name from its position on the Alban mountain; for Alb, or Alp,
signifies lofty in the ancient language of Italy, and the emblem of a sow
with thirty young, may have been a significant emblem of the dominion
which it unquestionably possessed over the other Latin states. The only
thing that we can establish as certain in the early history of La'tium is,
that its inhabitants were of a mixed race, and the sources from whence
they sprung Pelasgic and Oscan; that is, one connected with the Greeks,
and the other with some ancient Italian tribe. We have seen that this
fact is the basis of all their traditions, that it is confirmed by the
structure of their language, and, we may add, that it is further proved by
their political institutions. In all the Latin cities, as well as Rome, we
find the people divided into an aristocracy and democracy, or, as they
are more properly called, Patricians and Plebeians. The experience of
all ages warrants the inference, which may be best stated in the words

of Dr. Faber: "In the progress of the human mind there is an invariable
tendency not to introduce into an undisturbed community a palpable
difference between lords and serfs, instead of a legal equality of rights;
but to abolish such difference by enfranchising the serfs. Hence, from
the universal experience of history, we may be sure that whenever this
distinction is found to exist, the society must be composed of two races
differing from each other in point of origin."
The traditions respecting the origin of Rome are innumerable; some
historians assert that its founder was a Greek; others, Æneas and his
Trojans; and others give the honour to the Tyrrhenians: all, however,
agree, that the first inhabitants were a Latin colony from Alba. Even
those who adopted the most current story, which is followed by Dr.
Goldsmith, believed that the city existed before the time of Rom'ulus,
and that he was called the founder from being the first who gave it
strength and stability. It seems probable that several villages might
have been formed at an early age on the different hills, which were
afterwards included in the circuit of Rome; and that the first of them
which obtained a decided superiority, the village on the Palatine hill,
finally absorbed the rest, and gave its name to "the eternal city".
There seems to be some uncertainty whether Romulus gave his name to
the city, or derived his own from it; the latter is asserted by several
historians, but those who ascribe to the city a Grecian origin, with some
show of probability assert that Romus (another form of Romulus) and
Roma are both derived from the Greek [Greek: rômê], strength. The
city, we are assured, had another name, which the priests were
forbidden to divulge; but what that was, it is now impossible to
discover.
We have thus traced the history of the Latins down to the period when
Rome was founded, or at least when it became a city, and shown how
little reliance can be placed on the accounts given of these periods by
the early historians. We shall hereafter see that great uncertainty rests
on the history of Rome itself during the first four centuries of its
existence.
FOOTNOTES:

[1] It is scarcely necessary to remark that the Pelas'gi were the original
settlers in these countries.
[2] In all these places we find also the Tyrrhenian Pelas'gi.
* * * * *
CHAPTER III.
THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME.
Full in the centre of these wondrous works The pride of earth! Rome in
her glory see.--_Thomson._
1. The city of Rome, according to Varro, was founded in the fourth
year of the sixth Olympiad, B.C. 753; but Cato, the censor, places the
event four years later, in the second year of the seventh Olympiad. The
day of its foundation was the 21st of April, which was sacred to the
rural goddess Pa'les, when the rustics were accustomed to solicit the
increase of their flocks from the deity, and to purify themselves for
involuntary violation of the consecrated places. The account preserved
by tradition of the ceremonies used on this occasion, confirms the
opinion of those who contend that Rome