The Story of Rome From the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic | Page 8

royal grandfather. He therefore granted to them that portion of his
possessions, and there they determined to found a city.
Thus we have the origin of the Roman people. We see how the early
traditions "mixed human things with things divine," as Livy said had
been done to make the origin of the city more respectable; how Æneas,
the far-back ancestor, was descended from Jupiter himself, and how he
was a son of Venus, the goddess of love. How Romulus and Remus, the
actual founders, were children of the god of war, and thus naturally
fitted to be the builders of a nation that was to be strong and to conquer
all known peoples on earth. The effort to ascribe to their nation an
origin that should appear venerable to all who believed the stories of
the gods and goddesses, was remarkably successful, and there is no
doubt that it gave inspiration to the Roman people long after the
worship of those divinities had become a matter of form, if not even of
ridicule.
This was not all that was done, however, to establish the faith in the old
stories in the minds of the people. In some way that it is not easy to
explain, the names of the first heroes were fixed upon certain localities,
just as those of the famous British hero, King Arthur, have long been
fixed upon places in Brittany, Cornwall, and Southern Scotland. We
find at a little place called Metapontem, the tools used by Epeus in
making the wooden horse that was taken into Troy. The bow and
arrows of Hercules were preserved at Thurii, near Sybaris; the tomb of
Philoctetes, who inherited these weapons of the hero, was at Macalla,

in Bruttium, not far from Crotona, where Pythagoras had lived; the
head of the Calydonian Boar was at Beneventum, east of Capua, and
the Erymanthian Boar's tusks were at Cumæ, celebrated for its Sibyl;
the armor of Diomede, one of the Trojan heroes, was at Luceria, in the
vicinity of Cannæ; the cup of Ulysses and the tomb of Elpenor were at
Circei, on the coast; the ships of Æneas and his Penates were at
Lavinium, fifteen miles south of Rome; and the tomb of the hero
himself was at a spot between Ardea and Lavinium, on the banks of the
brook Numicius. Most men are interested in relics of olden times, and
these, so many and of such great attractiveness, were doubtless strong
proofs to the average Roman, ready to think well of his ancestors, that
tradition told a true story.
As we read the histories of other nations than our own, we are struck by
the strangeness of many of the circumstances. They appear foreign (or
"outlandish," as our great-grandparents used to say), and it is difficult
to put ourselves in the places of the people we read of, especially if
they belong to ancient times. Perhaps the names of persons and places
give us as much trouble as any thing. It seems to us, perhaps, that the
Romans gave their children too many names, and they often added to
them themselves when they had grown up. They did not always write
their names out in full; sometimes they called each other by only one of
them, and at others by several. Marcus Tullius Cicero was sometimes
addressed as "Tullius" and is often mentioned in old books as "Tully";
and he was also "M. Tullius Cicero." It was as if we were to write "G.
Washington Tudela," and call Mr. Tudela familiarly "Washington."
This would cause no confusion at the time, but it might be difficult for
his descendants to identify "Washington" as Mr. Tudela, if, years after
his death, they were to read of him under his middle name only. The
Greeks were much more simple, and each of them had but one name,
though they freely used nicknames to describe peculiarities or defects.
The Latins and Etruscans seem to have had at first only one name
apiece, but the Sabines had two, and in later times the Sabine system
was generally followed. A Roman boy had, therefore, a given name and
a family name, which were indispensable; but he might have two others,
descriptive of some peculiarity or remarkable event in his life--as
"Scævola," left-handed; "Cato," or "Sapiens," wise; "Coriolanus," of
Corioli. "Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis" means Appius of the

Claudian family of Regillum, in the country of the Sabines. "Lucius
Cornelius Scipio Africanus" means Lucius, of the Cornelian family,
and of the particular branch of the Scipios who won fame in Africa.
These were called the prænomen (forename), nomen (name),
cognomen (surname), and agnomen (added name).

II.
HOW THE SHEPHERDS BEGAN THE CITY.

The proverbs says that Rome was not built in a day. It was no