Chapter I: Introduction

It is scarcely necessary to say that these stories are not meant to be taken as history, even legendary history. The tales of the founding of Rome and of the early life of the Italian races are many and contradictory. It is quite possible that future discoveries may disprove half the theories now held on these subjects. There must have been, however, heroic semi-savage figures like the Romulus of the legends, and the aim of the author has been to re-create in some degree the atmosphere and the surroundings in which they may have lived.

The various customs and events introduced here were not, probably, part of the history of one generation. It is possible, however, that as a tree grows from a seed, the laws of the future city were foreshadowed and suggested in the relations between the Romans as individuals and between the town on the Palatine and its neighbors.

It will be observed that the forms of Latin and Italian names used in these stories do not follow the usual classic Latin style and end in “us.” It is said by some authors that the original immigrants from whose customs and traditions Roman civilization developed came from Greece, and in that case such Greek forms as “Vitalos” might have been preserved long after such clipped forms as “Marcus” and “Marcs” became current. Inasmuch as Italian peasant names hardly ever end in anything but a vowel it seems illogical to take it for granted that in a colony of farmers, such as the men who founded Rome, the names would all have taken the classical Latin form at first. They would have been much more likely to vary according to the ancestry, dialect and intelligence of the family. Later they would tend to a conventional form as certain families of distinction set a standard for others to follow and took pride in keeping their own speech correct.

In short, the period described here is a transition stage, and like any age of the founding of a new civilization, contains incongruous elements. It has been stated that even in the great days of the Roman Empire the number of people who actually spoke correct classical Latin was extremely small in proportion to the whole population of any city.

THE LIVING LANGUAGE

Sing a song of little words, homely parts of speech,
Phrases children use at play, songs that mothers teach,—
Who would think when Rome was new, they used that language then—
Table, chair and family, map and chart and pen?

Sing a song of stately ways, camp and square and street,
Consuls, tribunes, governors, the legion’s myriad feet,
If those wise men so long ago had not known what to say,
All they gave us readymade we should not have to-day.

Clear and straight and brief their talk in country or in town.
Lucid, vivid, accurate the thoughts that they set down.
Still the world is using words that bear the Roman stamp—
Coined in forum, villa, temple, market place or camp.
Still our thoughts take day by day those shapes of long ago—
If you read the dictionary you will find it’s so.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE 3
II. TEN FAMILIES 17
III. THE SACRED YEAR 28
IV. THE BANDITTI 40
V. THE WOLF CUB 55
VI. BOUNDARY LINES 68
VII. MASTERLESS MEN 81
VIII. THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE 94
IX. THE SQUARE HILL 108
X. THE KINSMEN 117
XI. THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA 130
XII. THE RING WALL 140
XIII. THE SOOTHSAYERS 152
XIV. BREAD AND SALT 161
XV. THE TRUMPERY MAN 174
XVI. THE GREAT DYKE 184
XVII. THE WAR DANCE 196
XVIII. THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN 208
XIX. THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE 224
XX. THE THREE TRIBES 233
XXI. UNDER THE YOKE 243
XXII. THE GOAT’S MARSH 251
A ROMAN ROAD 261

ILLUSTRATIONS

Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around _Frontispiece_ the curve PAGE Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were 12 hurrying to shelter The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar 21 All the young voices took up the song 33 The people gathered in the public square 45 Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer 59 food to strangers “I have seen something like this before,” he said 72 The lad went straight down the mountainside with his 79 wolf at his heels The little maidens walked soberly together 96 The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or 103 lambs “Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!” 132 Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor’s 139 crown of laurel A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven 144 hills The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white 147 cow They sat together that night and watched the moon sail 161 grandly over the flood Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her 170 through the door Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground 178 There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were 203 digging Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew 216 His mother molded for him men and animals 235 Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived 259 for many years an old shepherd

THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME