The traditions respecting the origin of Rome are innumerable; some historians assert that its founder was a Greek; others, AEneas and his Trojans; and others give the honour to the Tyrrhenians: all, however, agree, that the first inhabitants were a Latin colony from Alba. Even those who adopted the most current story, which is followed by Dr. Goldsmith, believed that the city existed before the time of Rom'ulus, and that he was called the founder from being the first who gave it strength and stability. It seems probable that several villages might have been formed at an early age on the different hills, which were afterwards included in the circuit of Rome; and that the first of them which obtained a decided superiority, the village on the Palatine hill, finally absorbed the rest, and gave its name to "the eternal city". There seems to be some uncertainty whether Romulus gave his name to the city, or derived his own from it; the latter is asserted by several historians, but those who ascribe to the city a Grecian origin, with some show of probability assert that Romus (another form of Romulus) and Roma are both derived from the Greek [Greek: rome], _strength_. The city, we are assured, had another name, which the priests were forbidden to divulge; but what that was, it is now impossible to discover. We have thus traced the history of the Latins down to the period when Rome was founded, or at least when it became a city, and shown how little reliance can be placed on the accounts given of these periods by the early historians. We shall hereafter see that great uncertainty rests on the history of Rome itself during the first four centuries of its existence. FOOTNOTES: [1] It is scarcely necessary to remark that the Pelas'gi were the original settlers in these countries. [2] In all these places we find also the Tyrrhenian Pelas'gi. * * * * * CHAPTER III. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME. Full in the centre of these wondrous works The pride of earth! Rome in her glory see.--_Thomson._ 1. The city of Rome, according to _Varro_, was founded in the fourth year of the sixth _Olympiad_, B.C. 753; but Cato, the censor, places the event four years later, in the second year of the seventh Olympiad. The day of its foundation was the 21st of April, which was sacred to the rural goddess Pa'les, when the rustics were accustomed to solicit the increase of their flocks from the deity, and to purify themselves for involuntary violation of the consecrated places. The account preserved by tradition of the ceremonies used on this occasion, confirms the opinion of those who contend that Rome had a previous existence as a village, and that what is called its foundation was really an enlargement of its boundaries, by taking in the ground at the foot of the Palatine hill. The first care of Ro'mulus was to mark out the Pomoe'rium; a space round the walls of the city, on which it was unlawful to erect buildings.