The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the RepublicGilman, Arthur
History
The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic
Gilman, Arthur
Rome -- History -- Republic, 510-30 B.C.
Under him the nation grew still more rapidly, and others were made
subject to it, all of which good fortune was attributed to his prowess
and skill. Romulus became after a while somewhat arrogant. He dressed
in scarlet, received his people lying on a couch of state, and
surrounded himself with a body of young soldiers called _Celeres_,
from the swiftness with which they executed his orders. It was a
suspicious fact that all at once, at a time when the people had become
dissatisfied with his actions, Romulus disappeared (717 B.C.). Like
Evander, he went, no one knew where, though one of his friends
presented himself in the forum and assured the people under oath that
one day, as he was going along the road, he met Romulus coming toward
him, dressed in shining armor, and looking comelier than ever.
Proculus, for that was the friend's name, was struck with awe and
filled with religious dread, but asked the king why he had left the
people to bereavement, endless sorrow, and wicked surmises, for it had
been rumored that the senators had made away with him. Romulus replied
that it pleased the gods that, after having built a city destined to be
the greatest in the world for empire and glory, he should return to
heaven, but that Proculus might tell the Romans that they would attain
the height of power by exercising temperance and fortitude, in which
effort he would sustain them and remain their propitious god Quirinus.
An altar was accordingly erected to the king's honor, and a festival
called the Quirinalia was annually celebrated on the seventeenth of
February, the day on which he is said to have been received into the
number of the gods.
Romulus left the people organized into two great divisions, Patricians
and Clients: the former being the _Populus Romanus_, or Roman People,
and possessing the only political rights; and the others being entirely
dependent upon them. The Patricians were divided into three tribes—the
Romans (_Ramnes_), the Etruscans (_Luceres_), and the Sabines
(_Tities_, from Tatius). Another body, not yet organized, called
Plebeians, or Plebs, was composed of inhabitants of conquered towns and
refugees. These, though not slaves, had no political rights. Each tribe
was divided into ten Curiae, and the thirty Curiae composed the
_Comitia Curiata_, which was the sovereign assembly of the Patricians,
authorized to choose the king and to decide all cases affecting the
lives of the citizens. A number of men of mature age, known as the
_Patres_, composed the Senate, which Romulus formed to assist him in
the government. This body consisted of one hundred members until the
union with the Sabines, when it was doubled, the Etruscans not being
represented until a later time. The army was called a Legion, and was
composed of a contribution of a thousand foot-soldiers and a hundred
cavalry (_Equites_, Knights) from each tribe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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