The History of Rome, Books I to VIII | Page 4

of the new city, and then considering that the Trojan power
was increasing much more than was altogether consistent with the
safety of the neighbouring states, without reluctance joined his forces
in alliance with the Rutulians. Æneas, in order to conciliate the minds
of the Aborigines to meet the terror of so serious a war, called both
nations Latins, so that they might all be not only under the same laws,
but also the same name. Nor after that did the Aborigines yield to the
Trojans in zeal and fidelity towards their king Æneas; relying therefore
on this disposition of the two nations, who were now daily coalescing
more and more, although Etruria was so powerful, that it filled with the
fame of its prowess not only the land, but the sea also, through the
whole length of Italy, from the Alps to the Sicilian Strait, though he
might have repelled the war by means of fortifications, yet he led out
his forces to the field. Upon this a battle ensued successful to the Latins,
the last also of the mortal acts of Æneas. He was buried, by whatever
name human and divine laws require him to be called,[8] on the banks
of the river Numicius. They call him Jupiter Indiges.

[Footnote 8: Æneas, being now deified, could not be called by his
human name; and in speaking of his being buried, it would be improper
to name him by his divine title. ---- Indigetem. He is called by
Dionysius [Greek: Chthonios Theos].]
3. Ascanius, the son of Æneas, was not yet old enough to take the
government upon him; that government, however, remained secure for
him till the age of maturity. In the interim, the Latin state and the
kingdom of his grandfather and father was secured for the boy under
the regency of his mother (such capacity was there in Lavinia). I have
some doubts (for who can state as certain a matter of such antiquity)
whether this was the Ascanius, or one older than he, born of Creusa
before the fall of Troy, and the companion of his father in his flight
from thence, the same whom, being called Iulus, the Julian family call
the author of their name. This Ascanius, wheresoever and of whatever
mother born, (it is at least certain that he was the son of Æneas,)
Lavinium being overstocked with inhabitants, left that flourishing and,
considering these times, wealthy city to his mother or step-mother, and
built for himself a new one at the foot of Mount Alba, which, being
extended on the ridge of a hill, was, from its situation, called Longa
Alba. Between the founding of Lavinium and the transplanting this
colony to Longa Alba, about thirty years intervened. Yet its power had
increased to such a degree, especially after the defeat of the Etrurians,
that not even upon the death of Æneas, nor after that, during the
regency of Lavinia, and the first essays of the young prince's reign, did
Mezentius, the Etrurians, or any other of its neighbours dare to take up
arms against it. A peace had been concluded between the two nations
on these terms, that the river Albula, now called Tiber, should be the
common boundary between the Etrurians and Latins. After him Sylvius,
the son of Ascanius, born by some accident in a wood, ascends the
throne. He was the father of Æneas Sylvius, who afterwards begot
Latinus Sylvius. By him several colonies, called the ancient Latins,
were transplanted. From this time, all the princes, who reigned at Alba,
had the surname of Sylvius. From Latinus sprung Alba; from Alba,
Atys; from Atys, Capys; from Capys, Capetus; from Capetus, Tiberinus,
who, being drowned in crossing the river Albula, gave it a name
famous with posterity. Then Agrippa, the son of Tiberinus; after

Agrippa, Romulus Silvius ascends the throne, in succession to his
father. The latter, having been killed by a thunderbolt, left the kingdom
to Aventinus, who being buried on that hill, which is now part of the
city of Rome, gave his name to it. After him reigns Proca; he begets
Numitor and Amulius. To Numitor, his eldest son, he bequeaths the
ancient kingdom of the Sylvian family. But force prevailed more than
the father's will or the respect due to seniority: for Amulius, having
expelled his brother, seizes the kingdom; he adds crime to crime,
murders his brother's male issue; and under pretence of doing his
brother's daughter, Rhea Sylvia, honour, having made her a vestal
virgin, by obliging her to perpetual virginity he deprives her of all
hopes of issue.
4. But, in my opinion, the origin of so great a city, and the
establishment of an empire next in power to that of the gods, was due
to the Fates. The vestal Rhea, being