violence which his father, as a magistrate, did to his paternal feelings, terminated his life somewhat sooner. A short time after this catastrophe, a Venetian of noble rank, being on his death-bed, confessed, that, urged by private resentment, he was the murderer of the senator whose assassina tion had given rise to this tragic scene.

THE HISTORY OF ROME.

Ir it is hard to carry back our ideas of Rome from its actual state to the period of its highest splendour, it is yet harder to go back in fancy to a time still more distant, a time earlier than the beginning of its authentic history, before the art of man had completely rescued the soil of the future city from the dominion of nature. Here also it is vain to attempt accuracy in the details, or to be certain that the several features in our description all existed at the same period. It is enough if we can image to ourselves some likeness of the original state of Rome, before the undertaking of those great works which are ascribed to the late kings.

The Pomœrium of the original city on the Palatine, as described by Tacitus, included not only the hill itself, but some portion of the ground immediately below it: it did not, however, reach as far as any of the other hills. The valley between the Palatine and the Aventine, afterwards the site of the Circus Maximus, was in the earliest times covered with water; so also was the greater part of the valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline, the ground afterwards occupied by the Roman forum. But the city of the Palatine hill grew in process of time, so as to become a city of seven hills. Not the seven famous hills of imperial or republican Rome, but seven spots more or less elevated, and all belonging to three only of the latter seven hills, that is to the Palatine, the Cælian, and the Esquiline. At this time Rome, already a city on seven hills, was distinct from the Sabine city on the Capitoline, Quirinal, and Viminal hills. The two cities, although united under one government, had still a separate existence: they were not completely blended in one till the reigns of the latter kings. The territory of the original Rome during its first period, the true Ager Romanus, could be gone round in a single day. It did not extend beyond the Tiber at all, nor probably beyond the Anio; and on the east and south, where it had most room to spread, its limit was between five and six miles from the city. This Ager Romanus was the exclusive property of the Roman people, that is of the houses; it did not include the lands conquered from the Latins, and given back to them again when the Latins became the plebs, or commons of Rome.

Well may the inquiring historian exclaim, "What was Rome, and what was the country around it, which have both acquired an interest such as can cease only when the earth itself shall perish?" The hills of Rome are such as we rarely see; low in height, but with steep and rocky sides. Across the Tiber the ground rises to a greater height than that of the Roman hills, but its summit is a level unbroken line, while the heights, which opposite to Rome rise immediately from the river, under the names of Janiculus and Vaticanus, then sweep away to some distance from it, and return in their highest and boldest form at the Mons Marius, just above the Milvian bridge and Flaminian road. Thus to the west the vew is immediately bounded; but to the north and north-east the eye

ranges over the low ground of the Campagna to the nearest line of the Apennines, which closes up, as with a gigantic wall, all the Sabine, Latin, and Volscian lowlands, while over it are still distinctly to be seen the high summits of the central Apennines, covered with snow, even at this day, for more than six months in the year. South and south-west lies the wide plain of the Campagna; its level line succeeded by the equally level line of the sea, which can only be distinguished from it by the brighter light reflected from its waters. Eastward, after ten miles of plain, the view is bounded by the Alban hills, a cluster of high bold points rising out of the Campagna, on the highest of which (about three thousand feet) stood the temple of Jupiter Latiarius, the scene of the common worship of all the people of the Latin name. Immediately under this highest point lies the crater-like basin of the Alban lake; and on its nearer rim might be seen the trees of the grove of Ferentia, where the Latins held the great civil assemblies of their nation. Further to the north, on the edge of the Alban hills, looking towards Rome, was the town and citadel of Tusculum; and beyond this, a lower summit crowned with the walls and towers of Labicum, seems to connect the Alban hills with the line of the Apennines, just at the spot where the citadel of Præneste, high up on the mountain side, marks the opening into the country of the Her nicans, and into the valleys of the streams that feed the Lyris.

Returning nearer to Rome, the lowland country of the Campagna is broken by long green swelling ridges. The streams are dull and sluggish, but the hill sides above them constantly break away into little rock cliffs, where on every ledge the wild fig now strikes out its branches, and tufts of broom are clustering, but which in old times formed the natural strength of the citadels of the numerous cities of Latium. Except in these narrow dells, the present aspect of the country is all bare and des olate, with no trees nor any human habitation. But anciently, in the early times of Rome, it was full of independent cities, and in its population and the careful cultivation of its little garden-like farms, must have resembled the most flourishing parts of Lombardy. Such was Rome, and such its neighbourhood.

The foregoing topographical observations appear to be necessary, before the reader enters upon even a brief recital of any of those circumstances which—whether legendary or strictly true, whether fabulous or merely exaggerated—have been handed down from age to age as the veritable history of Rome. We are told, in the first place, that Æneas, after the destruction of Troy, having arrived in Italy, married Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, fifth king of the Latins, and succeeded his father-in-law, after having deprived Turnus, king of the Rutuli, first of his sceptre and then of his life. Ascanias, after the death of Æneas, his father, united with it the kingdom of Alba, of which he was the founder. We cannot, however, proceed without remarking, that whatever relates to the origin of Rome is attended with the greatest uncertainty; and that the records of some of the ancient writers are more worthy of a place in the Æneid of Virgil, than the page of history. In illustration of this remark, we shall take the liberty of quoting the "Legend of Romulus."

"Numitor was the eldest son of Procras, king of Alba Longa, and he had a younger brother called Amulius. When Procras died, Amulius seized by force on the kingdom, and left to Numitor only his share of his father's private inheritance. After this he caused Numitor's only son to be slain, and made his daughter Silvia become one of the virgins who watched the ever-burning fire of the goddess Vesta. But the god Mamers, who is called also Mars, beheld the virgin and loved her, and it was found that she was going to become the mother of children. Then Amulius order ed that the children, when born, should be thrown into the river. It happened that the river at that time had flooded the country; when, therefore

the two children in their basket were thrown into the river, the waters carried them as far as the foot of the Palatine hill, and there the basket was upset, near the roots of a wild fig tree, and the children thrown out upon land. At this moment there came a she-wolf down to the water to drink, and when she saw the children, she carried them to her care hard by, and gave them suck; and while they were there, a woodpecker came backwards and forwards to the cave, and brought them food. At last one Faustulus, the king's herdsman, saw the wolf suckling the children; and when he went up, the wolf left them and fled; so he took them home to his wife Laurentia, and they were bred up along with her own sons on the Palatine hill; and they were called Romulus and Remus.

"When Romulus and Remus grew up, the herdsmen of the Palatine hill chanced to have a quarrel with the herdsmen of Numitor, who stalled their cattle on the hill of Aventinus. Numitor's herdsmen laid an am bush, and Remus fell into it, and was taken and carried off to Alba. Bat when the young man was brought before Numitor, he was struck with his noble air and bearing, and asked him who he was. And when Remus told him of his birth, and how he had been saved from death, together with his brother, Numitor marvelled, and thought whether this might not be his own daughter's child. In the meanwhile. Faustulus and Romulus hastened to Alba, to deliver Remus; and by the help of the young men of the Palatine hill, who had been used to follow him and his brother, Romulus took the city, and Amulius was killed; and Numitor was made king, and owned Romulus and Remus to be born of his own blood. The two brothers did not wish to live at Alba, but loved rather the hill on the banks of the Tiber, where they had been brought up. So they said that they would build a city there; and they inquired of the gods by augury, to know which of them should give his name to the city. They watched the heavens from morning till evening, and from evening till morning; and as the sun was rising, Remus saw six vultures. This was told to Romulus; but as they were telling him, behold there appeared to him twelve vultures. Then it was disputed again, which had seen the truest sign of the god's favour: but the most part gave their voices for Romulus. So he began to build his city on the Palatine hill. This made Remus very angry; and when he saw the ditch and the rampart which were drawn round the space where the city was to be, he scornfully leapt over them, saving, Shall such defences as these keep your city? As he did this, Celer, who had the charge of the building, struck Remus with the spade which he held in his hand, and slew him; and they buried him on the hill Remuria, by the banks of the Tiber, on the spot where he had wished to build the city.

"But Romulus found that his people were too few in numbers; so he set apart a place of refuge, to which any man might flee, and be safe from his pursuers. So many fled thither from the countries round about; those who had shed blood, and fled from the vengeance of the avenger of blood, those who were driven out from their own homes by their enemies, and even men of low degree who had run away from their lords. Thus the city became full of people; but yet they, wanted wives, and the nations round about would not give them their daughters in marriage. So Romulus gave out that he was going to keep a great festival, and there were to be sports and games to draw a multitude together. The neighbours came to see the show, with their wives and their daughters; there came the people of Cænina. and of Crustumerium, and of Antemna, and a great multitude of the Sabines. But while they were looking at the games, the people of Romulus rushed out upon them, and carried off the women to be their wives. Upon this the people of Cænina first made war upon the people of Romulus: but they were beaten, and Romulus with his own

uand slew their king Acron. Next the people of Crustumerium, and of Antemna, tried their fortune, but Romulus conquered both of them. Last of all came the Sabines, with a great army under Titus Tatius, their king. There is a hill near to the Tiber, which was divided from the Palatine hill by a low and swampy valley; and on this hill Romulus made a fortress, to keep off the enemy from his city. But when the fair Tarpeia, the daughter of the chief who had charge of the fortress, saw the Sabines draw near, and marked their bracelets and collars of gold, she longed after these ornaments, and promised to betray the hill into their hands if they would give her those bright things they wore upon their arms. So she opened a gate, and let in the Sabines; and they, as they came in, threw upon her their bright shields which they bore on their arms, and crushed her to death. Thus the Sabines got the fortress which was on the hill Saturnius; and they and the Romans joined battle in the valley between the hill and the city of Romulus. The Sabines began to get the better, and came up close to one of the gates of the city. The people of Romulus shut the gate, but it opened of its own accord; once and again they shut it, and once and again it opened. But as the Sabines were rushing in, behold there burst forth from the temple of Janus, which was near the gate, a mighty stream of water, and swept away the Sabines, and saved the city. For this it was ordered that the temple of Janus should stand ever open in the lime of war, that the god might be ever ready, as on this Jay, to go out and give aid to the people of Romulus.

After this they fought again in the valley; and the people of Romulus were beginning to flee, when Romulus prayed to Jove, the stayer of flight, that he might stay the people; and so their flight was stayed, and they turned again to battle. And now the fight was fiercer than ever: when, on a sudden, the Sabine women, who had been carried off, ran down from the hill Palatinus, and ran in between their husbands and their fathers, and prayed them to lay aside their quarrel. So they made peace with one another, and the two people became as one: the Sabines with their king dwelt on the hill Saturnius, which is called Capitolium, and on the hill Quirinalis; and the people of Romulus with their king dwelt on the hill Palatinus. But the kings with their counsellors met in the valley between Saturnius and Palatinus, to consult about their common matters; and the place where they met was called Comitium, which means 'the place of meeting.' Soon after this, Tatius was slain by the people of Laurentum, because some of his kinsmen had wronged them, and he would not do them justice. So Romulus reigned by himself over both nations; and his own people were called the Romans, for Roma was the name of the city on the hill Palatinus: and the Sabines were called Quirites, for the name of their city on the hills Saturnius and Quirinalis was Quirium. The people were divided into three tribes; the Ramnenses, and the Titienses, and the Luceres: the Ramnenses were called from Romulus, and the Titienses from Tatius; and the Luceres were called from Lucumo, an Etruscan chief, who had come to help Romulus in his war with the Sabines, and dwelt on the hill called Cælius. In each tribe there were ten curiæ, each of one hundred men; so all the men of the three tribes were three thousand, and these fought on foot, and were called a legion. There were also three hundred horsemen, and these were called Celerians, because their chief was that Celer who had slain Remus. There was besides a council of two hundred men, which was called a senate, that is, a council of elders. Romulus was a just king and gentle to his people: if any were guilty of crimes, he did not put them to death, but made them pay a fine of sheep or of oxen In his wars he was very successful, and enriched his people with the spoils of their enemies. At last, after he had reigned nearly forty years, it chanced that one day he called his people together in the field of Mars, near the Goats

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Pool; when, all on a sudden, there arose a dreadful storm, and all was dark as night; and the rain, and thunder and lightning, were so terrible, that all the people fled from the field, and ran to their several homes. Al last the storm was over, and they came back to the field of Mars, but Romulus was nowhere to be found; for Mars, his father, had carried him up to heaven in his chariot. The people knew not at first what had become of him; but when it was night, as one Proculus Julius was coming from Alba to the city, Romulus appeared to him in more than mortal beauty, and grown to more than mortal stature, and said to him, Go, tell my people that they weep not for me any more; but bid them be brave and warlike, and so shall they make my city the greatest in the earth.' Then the people knew that Romulus was become a god; so they built a temple to him, and offered sacrifice to him, and worshipped him evermore by the name of the god Quirinus."

But to quit the hyperbole of legendary lore and speak in plain terms, it amounts to this—Romulus, the grandson of Numitor, king of the Latins, joined with his brother Remus in an attempt to re-establish his grandfather in the possession of his throne, and Amulius, the usurper, was put to death. Having thus far succeeded, the two young heroes next assem bled a number of the lowest orders of the people, and built a city on the Aventine hill, to which Romulus gave his name; and soon after becoming jealous of his brother, caused him to be assassinated.

We turn to the pages of Dr. Arnold, who, after referring those who desire to go deeply into the whole question, to the immortal work of Niebuhr,' very justly observes, that "the first question in the history of every people is, what was their race and language? the next, what was the earliest form of their society, their social and political organization!" "The language of the Humans was not called Roman, but Latin. Politically, Rome and Latium were clearly distinguished, but their language appears to have been the same. This language is different from the Etrus can, and from the Oscan; thus the Romans are marked out as distinct from the great nations of central Italy, whether Etruscans, Umbrians, Sabines, or Samnites. On the other hand, the connection of the Latin language with the Greek is manifest. Many common words, which no nation ever derives from the literature of another, are the same in Greek and Latin; the declensions of the nouns and verbs are, to a great degree, similar. It is probable that the Latins belonged to that great race which, in very early times, overspread both Greece and Italy, under the various names of Pelasgians, Tyrsenians, and Siculians. It may be believed, that the Hellenians were anciently a people of this same race, but that some peculiar circumstances gave to them a distinct and superior character, and raised them so far above their brethren, that, in after ages, they disclaimed all connection with them. But in the Latin language there is another element besides that which it has in common with the Greek. This element belongs to the languages of central Italy, and may be called Oscan. The terms relating to agriculture and domestic life are mostly de rived from the Greek part of the language; those relating to arms and war are mostly Oscan. It seems, then, not only that the Latins were a mixed people, but that they arose out of a conquest of the Pelasgians by the Oscans; so that the latter were the ruling class of the united nation, the former its subjects. The Latin language, then, may afford us a clue to the origin of the Latin people, and so far to that of the Ro inans. But it does not explain the difference between Romans and Latins, to which the peculiar fates of the Roman people owe their origin. We must inquire, then, what the Romans were which the other Latins were not; and as language cannot aid us here, we must have recourse to other assistance, to geography and national traditions. And thus, at the same ume, we shall arrive at an answer to the second question in Roman his