History of Rome | Page 9

had a previous existence as a
village, and that what is called its foundation was really an enlargement
of its boundaries, by taking in the ground at the foot of the Palatine hill.
The first care of Ro'mulus was to mark out the Pomoe'rium; a space
round the walls of the city, on which it was unlawful to erect buildings.
2. The person who determined the Pomoe'rium yoked a bullock and
heifer to a plough, having a copper-share, and drew a furrow to mark
the course of the future wall; he guided the plough so that all the sods
might fall inwards, and was followed by others, who took care that
none should lie the other way. 3. When he came to the place where it
was designed to erect a gate, the plough was taken up,[1] and carried to
where the wall recommenced. The next ceremony was the consecration
of the commit'ium, or place of public assembly. A vault was built under
ground, and filled with the firstlings of all the natural productions that
sustain human life, and with earth which each foreign settler had

brought from his own home. This place was called _Mun'dus_, and was
supposed to become the gate of the lower world; it was opened on three
several days of the year, for the spirits of the dead.
4. The next addition made to the city was the Sabine town,[2] which
occupied the Quirinal and part of the Capitoline hills. The name of this
town most probably was Qui'rium, and from it the Roman people
received the name Quirites. The two cities were united on terms of
equality, and the double-faced Ja'nus stamped on the earliest Roman
coins was probably a symbol of the double state. They were at first so
disunited, that even the rights of intermarriage did not exist between
them, and it was probably from Qui'rium that the Roman youths
obtained the wives[3] by force, which were refused to their entreaties. 5.
The next addition was the Coelian hill,[4] on which a Tuscan colony
settled; from these three colonies the three tribes of Ram'nes, Ti'ties,
and Lu'ceres were formed. 6. The Ram'nes, or Ram'nenses, derived
their name from Rom'ulus; the Tities, or Titien'ses, from Titus Tatius,
the king of the Sabines; and the Lu'ceres, from Lu'cumo, the Tuscan
title of a general or leader.[5] From this it appears that the three tribes[6]
were really three distinct nations, differing in their origin, and dwelling
apart.
7. The city was enlarged by Tullus Hostilius,[7] after the destruction of
Alba, and the Viminal hill included within the walls; Ancus Martius
added mount Aventine, and the Esquiline and Capitoline[8] being
enclosed in the next reign, completed the number of the seven hills on
which the ancient city stood.
8. The hill called Jani'culum, on the north bank of the Tiber, was
fortified as an outwork by Ancus Martius, and joined to the city by the
bridge; he also dug a trench round the newly erected buildings, for their
greater security, and called it the ditch of the Quirites. 9. The public
works erected by the kings were of stupendous magnitude, but the
private buildings were wretched, the streets narrow, and the houses
mean. It was not until after the burning of the city by the Gauls that the
city was laid out on a better plan; after the Punic wars wealth flowed in
abundantly, and private persons began to erect magnificent mansions.

From the period of the conquest of Asia until the reign of Augustus, the
city daily augmented its splendour, but so much was added by that
emperor, that he boasted that "he found Rome a city of brick, and left it
a city of marble."
10. The circumference of the city has been variously estimated, some
writers including in their computation a part of the suburbs; according
to Pliny it was near twenty miles round the walls. In consequence of
this great extent the city had more than thirty gates, of which the most
remarkable were the Carmental, the Esquiline, the Triumphal, the
Naval, and those called Tergem'ina and Cape'na.
11. The division of the city into four tribes continued until the reign of
Augustus; a new arrangement was made by the emperor, who divided
Rome into fourteen wards, or regions.[9] The magnificent public and
private buildings in a city so extensive and wealthy were very
numerous, and a bare catalogue of them would fill a volume;[10] our
attention must be confined to those which possessed some historical
importance.
12. The most celebrated and conspicuous buildings were in the eighth
division of the city, which contained the Capitol and its temples, the
Senate House, and the Forum. The Capitoline-hill was anciently called
Saturnius, from the ancient city of Satur'nia, of which it was the citadel;
it