From hence Æneas failed for Italy. He first landed at Cuma, where he confulted the oracle of the Sibyl; and accompanied by her, according to Virgil, vifited the infernal regions to procure an interview with his father. Having left Cuma, he at laft landed at Laurentum, near the mouth of the Tiber.

LATINUS, the fon of Faunus, was then king of the Aborigines. Hearing of the arrival of foreigners, he at firft determined to repel them by force; but changing his mind, he made an alliance with Aneas, and ratified it by giving him his only daughter, LAVINIA, in marriage. Aneas built a city near the place where he had landed, which he called Lavinium, from the name of his wife, Dionyf. 1. 57. 61. about two years after the deftruction of Troy, lb. 63. before Chrift, 1183. But Virgil fuppofes Aneas to have spent seven years in his voyages, En i. fin. v. 626.

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TURNUS, king of the Rutuli, to whom Lavinia had been betrothed before the arrival of Aneas, taking it amifs that a foreigner was preferred before him, made war on Latinus and Æneas. A battle was fought, in which both Latinus and Tur.... nus fell, Dionyf. i. 64. Livy fays that only Latinus was flain, i. 2. Both agree that Aneas gained the victory, and fucceeded to the crown of his father-in-law. But he, too, about four years after, fell in battle, fighting against Mezentius, king of the Tufcans, to whom Turnus er his defcendants had applied for affiftance.

Virgil gives a quite different account of this matter. He fuppofes almoft all the different ftates and petty kings of Italy to form a combination against neas, who was fupported by no alliance but that of Evander. King Latinus is represented as an old man, incapable of taking any perfonal concern in the war. After various eng gements, in which many on both fides fell, the chief of whom, on the fide of Turnus, were, Mezentius and his fon Laufus, and an illuftrious female warrior, CAMILLA; on the fide of Aneas, Nifus and Eryălus, and Pallas, the fon of Evander; it was at laft determined that Eneas and Turnus fhould decide their differences in fingle combat: Turnus falls, and Æneas obtains Lavinia as the prize of his victory.

After the death of Aneas, ASCANIUS or IULUS, his fon, fucceeded. Livy is uncertain whether he was born of Creufa or Lavinia, but fays, that by reafon of his youth he was unfit for the government, and therefore that Lavinia ruled during his minority, i. 3.; but Dionyfius takes no notice of

this. He relates that Afcanius, upon his acceffion to the throne, being befieged by Mezentius, fent propofals for an accommodation; but provoked by the intolerable terms which were offered him, among the relt, that all the wine produced in Latium should be annu lly fent into Etruria; having confecrated the fruit of the vine to Jupiter, (whence the festival, VINALIA, Ovid. Faft. iv. 877.) he made a vigorous fally in the night-time, routed the enemy, and forced Mezentius in his turn to fue for peace, which was granted him, Dionyf. i. 65.

Afcanius built a new city, called ALBA LONGA, to which he transferred the feat of government, about thirty years after the foundation of Lavinium, Ib. 66.; Liv. i. 3.

The Alban kings after Afcanius, for 400 years, Strab. v. p. 229. were, 1. Sylvius, which became a family name to all his fucceffors; 2. Latinus; 3. Alba; 4. Atys; 5. Capys; 6. Capetus; 7. Tiberinus, who being drowned in croffing the Albula, gave the name of Tiberis to the river; 8. Agrippa; 9. Romulus Sylvius; 10. Aventinus, who gave name to the mountain, being buried there; and 11. Proca, Liv. i. 3.

Dionyfius fays, that Sylvius was not the fon of Afcanius, but his brother, by Lavinia, who brought him forth in a wood, (whence his name, Quod fylvis fuit ortus in altis, Ovid. Faft. iv. 41.) in the cottage of a faithful fervant, who had privately carried her thither, left she should suffer injury from her ftepfon: that the fon of Afcanius was called IULUS, who, claiming the crown after his father's death, was fet afide by the fuffrages of the people; but as a compenfation for the lofs was invefted with the facred office of high-prieft, in feveral refpects fuperior to that of king; which priesthood continued hereditary in the Iulian family, who were the defcendants of this Iulus, to the time of Dionyfius. From that family Julius Cæfar and Auguftus were defcended, i. 70. and the frequent allufions of the poets and hiftorians of that time to their divine origin, cannot be properly understood without fome acquaintance with their lineage, Ovid. Faft. iv. 25. &c,

FOUNDATION of ROME, and its Government by Kings.

PROCA had two fons, Numitor and Amulius. To Numitor, the elder, he left the crown, to the other, his treasures.

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By means of thefe AMULIUS fupplanted his brother, and reigned in his ftead. To deprive Numitor of all hopes of offfpring, he caufed his fons to be put to death, and made his daughter Rhea Sylvia, or Ilia, a veftal virgin. She, however, became with child, Ovid. Faft. iii. 21. and to palliate her offence, gave out that it was by Mars, the god of war. She brought forth male twins, whom mulius ordered to be thrown into the running water, and herself to be caft into prifon, or, as some say, to be put to death, Dionyf. i. 79. Providentially, (forte quadam divinibus,) fays Livy, i. 4. the Tiber had overflowed its banks; fo that fubfiding, it left the veffel in which the infants were expofed on dry ground. It is faid that a fhe-wolf coming that way gave them fuck, and that Fauftulus, the keeper of the king's flock, found her licking them with her tongue. By him they were carried to his cottage, to be nurfed by his wife Laurentia, and were brought up by him as his own children.

ROMULUS and REMUS, for fo they were afterwards namcd, being thus miraculoufly preferved, when they grew up, are faid to have difcovered marks of their being fprung from a nobler origin than was thought. Inftead of loitering among the folds, they used to traverfe the forefts in hunting, and not only to encounter wild beafts, but also to attack robbers loaded with booty, and to divide the prey among the fhepherds. In one of these excurfions Remus was taken and brought before Amulius. He was chiefly charged with having carried off plunder from the lands of Numitor. He was therefore given up to Numitor to be punished. In the mean time Fauftulus, who had hitherto paffed as their father, alarmed at the danger of Remus, difcovered to Romulus the secret of their birth; and from certain circumstances, Numitor almost recognized Remus for his grandfon. In fhort, Amulius is flain, and Numitor restored to the throne.

Romulus and Remus refolved to build a city in those places where they had had been brought up. Not only their former companions, but also a number of Albans and others joined them. To determine which of them should found and govern the new city, they had recourfe to omens. A difpute having arifen about this matter, and in confequence a fcuffle, Remus was flain. The common ftory is, that he was killed by Romulus, for having in derifion leapt over his new walls; or by one Celer, who had the charge of building the walls, Dionyf. i. 87.; Liv. i. 6.; Ovid. Faft. iv. 837..

ROME

ROME was founded about 753 years before the birth of Chrift. After the city was built, as Dionyfius informs us, Romulus affembled the people to fettle their form of government. He himself was unanimously elected King. The people were divided into three tribes, and each tribe into ten curia or parifhes. The chief of a tribe was called TRIBUNUS, a tribune; and of a curia, CURIO. The land was alfo divided into thirty equal parts, to answer to the number of curia. These parts were diftributed by lot. A certain portion, however, was first exempted, fufficient to defray the expences of facred rites and temples, and alfo for public exigencies. The people, in point of rank, was divided into two orders, Patricians, or nobility; and Plebeians, or common people; connected together as patrons and clients. It was ordained that the Patricians fhould perform facred things, and take care of the ftate; that the Plebeians fhould cultivate the ground, and exercife mechanic trades or handicrafts, Dionyf. ii. 9. A third order was afterwards added, called Equites, or Knights. From each tribe were raised a thoufand foot foldiers and an hundred horse. These were called a legion. An hundred fenators were chosen to form the public council; each tribe, and each curia, nominated three, which made ninety-nine. Romulus completed the number by nominating a prefident.

Particular attention was paid to facred rites. The most important were performed by the King himself. He acted as prieft, judge, and general. He was diftinguifhed by a parti cular dress called toga prætexta, (a white woollen robe, fringed with purple,) and twelve officers, called lictors, who went before him, carrying each on his fhoulder a bundle of rods, with an axe ftuck in the middle of them. The fenate confulted about the things which the King laid before it. Senators were diftinguished by a broad ftripe of purple on the breaft of their tunic. The people alone, in their affemblies, called Comitia, had the power of enacting laws, choofing magiftrates, and declaring war. The army was under the command of the King. The chief officers of the foot were called tribunes, and under them centurions, or commanders of hundreds; of the cavalry, prafects, and under them decurions, or commanders of tens. mulus chofe 300 choice men to guard his perfon, whom he Cailed Celeres, and their commander, Prafect of the Celeres, Dionyf. ii. 3.— 15.

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To encreafe the number of citizens, Romulus opened an afilum or fanctuary, where fugitives of every kind from all quarters might be fecure. To procure wives for his fubjects, he

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fent ambaffadors round the neighbouring ftates to request an alliance; but his proposals were every where rejected with difdain. Romulus therefore, by a decree of the fenate, ordered a festival to be proclaimed in honour of Neptune, and prepared to celebrate the games with all poffible magnificence. Many came from the neighbouring towns, with their wives and children, to fee not only the games, but also the new city. While the minds of thefe ftrangers were intent on the spectacle, the Roman youth, upon a signal given, carried off the virgins, as Dionyfius fays, to the number of 683, 7. ii. c. 30. The parents fled home in trepidation.

A fierce war enfued. If all the states had united their forces together, Rome would have been ruined. But their refentment was too violent to brook delay. The Caninenfes therefore, alone, made an inroad on the Roman territory. Romulus marched against them, routed them in battle, and having flain their King Acron, prefented his fpoils, called spolia opima, to Jupiter, to whom he built a temple, under the name of Jupiter Feretrius, which was the first temple built at Rome. This was the origin of the barbarous custom of triumphs

Romulus was next attacked by the Antemnates, and then by the Cruftumini, both of whom he likewife eafily conquered'; and, instead of destroying the captives, according to the favage custom of that age, he admitted them into the freedom of the city; which ufage proved one of the chief foundations of the Roman greatnefs.

The laft and most dangerous war was from TATIUS, king of the Sabines; who, having led his army to Rome, got poffeffion of the Capitol, by the treachery of Tarpeia, the daughter of Sp. Tarpeius who commanded it. Several fierce combats took place between the Palatine and Capitoline hills, mostly with equal fuccefs. At laft, when the armies of both nations were drawn up and prepared for a decifive engagement, the Sabine women, whofe wrongs had occafioned the war, rushed in between them, in the garb of fuppliants, imploring their parents and husbands to drop their refentment, and not stain themfelves by mutual flaughter. The generals and armies on both fides were moved. A conference enfued; and they not only concluded an alliance, but made one state out of two. It was agreed that Romulus and Tatius fhould reign jointly, and with

The Spolia Opima, or the spoils of the general of the enemy flain by the general of the Romans, were only twice obtained afterwards, 1. by A. Cornelius Coffus, who flew Lar Tolumnius, king of the Vejentes, a. u. 318; and 2. by M. Claudius Marcellus, who flew Viridomarus, king of the Gauls, a. u. 530.

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