The town on the Palatine may for a long time have been in a state of
dependence on the Sabine conqueror whom tradition calls Titus Tatius;
hence he was slain during the Laurentine sacrifice, and hence also his
memory was hateful. The existence of a Sabine town on the Quirinal is
attested by the undoubted occurrence there of a number of Sabine
chapels, which were known as late as the time of Varro, and from which
he proved that the Sabine ritual was adopted by the Romans. This Sabine
element in the worship of the Romans has almost always been overlooked,
in consequence of the prevailing desire to look upon everything as
Etruscan; but, I repeat, there is no doubt of the Sabine settlement, and
that it was the result of a great commotion among the tribes of middle
Italy.
The tradition that the Sabine women were carried off because there
existed no _connubium_, and that the rape was followed by a war, is
undoubtedly a symbolical representation of the relation between the two
towns, previous to the establishment of the right of intermarriage; the
Sabines had the ascendancy and refused that right, but the Romans gained
it by force of arms. There can be no doubt that the Sabines were
originally the ruling people, but that in some insurrection of the
Romans various Sabine places, such as Antemnae, Fidenae, and others, were
subdued, and thus these Sabines were separated from their kinsmen. The
Romans, therefore, reestablished their independence by a war, the result
of which may have been such as we read it in the tradition--Romulus
being, of course, set aside--namely, that both places as two closely
united towns formed a kind of confederacy, each with a senate of one
hundred members, a king, an offensive and defensive alliance, and on the
understanding that in common deliberations the burghers of each should
meet together in the space between the two towns which was afterward
called the _comitium_. In this manner they formed a united state in
regard to foreign nations.
The idea of a double state was not unknown to the ancient writers
themselves, although the indications of it are preserved only in
scattered passages, especially in the scholiasts. The head of Janus,
which in the earliest times was represented on the Roman _as_, is the
symbol of it, as has been correctly observed by writers on Roman
antiquities. The vacant throne by the side of the _curule_ chair of
Romulus points to the time when there was only one king, and represents
the equal but quiescent right of the other people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account