002 - Youthful Indiscretions

Hello, and welcome to the History of Rome. Last time we discussed the events that led up to the birth of Rome, covering the arrival of Aeneas into Italy, and the story of the twins Romulus and Remus. Today we will cover the remainder of Romulus's life, his questionable morality, and his ultimate disappearance from the world of men.

After Romulus founded the city, it became apparent that he would need to attract settlers in order to ensure its survival. To this end, he opened up the city to what could tactfully be described as colorful characters, but put simply, they were the dregs of society. Fugitives, escaped slaves, debtors, and criminals all flocked to the new town to start fresh, and Romulus welcomed them with open arms.

The first order of business in true Roman fashion was to establish an army. Romulus sifted through his new subjects and divided them into able-bodied men of military age and, well, everyone else. Most sources agree that the first legions consisted of 3,000 foot soldiers and 300 cavalry, but accounts differ as to whether there was initially just one legion or whether there were many. Soldiers in those days had to equip themselves so only well-to-do citizens could enlist, with the richest citizens serving in the cavalry because they were the only ones who could afford horses. This meant that the interests of the army were, in those early days, firmly squared with the interests of the society it defended, at least the middle and upper classes of that society. In later years, the legions were filled with mercenary soldiers, whose interests often diverged from those of the actual citizens of Rome who had long since given up fighting for themselves. Here, the seeds would be sown for civil war, decline, and ultimately destruction. But for now, Rome's army fought for the people, not against them.

From the remaining motley assembly of those not called to arms, Romulus created a council of 100 senators to help him govern, either because that number was enough for his purposes or because there were only 100 men respectable enough to be given such responsibility. The descendants of these men would become the patrician class of later Rome who would find themselves constantly at odds with the plebeian class, the descendants of the remaining unwashed masses. Rome was now ready to defend and govern itself, but there was just one problem. The new arrivals were almost entirely male. Without any women around, the dream of Rome would die after a single generation.

So delegations were sent around to the neighboring communities to ask for intermarriage rights, but wherever they went, they were refused. Fathers did not want their daughters married to the Romans, who, after all, were nothing more than a collection of despicable castoffs. The Romans resented these rejections, and so Romulus thought up a surefire way to acquire wives for his people. They would steal them.

The Romans invited all the neighboring communities to a great festival honoring Neptune. They spared no expense in preparing and promoting the celebration, and on the appointed day a great crowd filled Rome, including, famously, the Sabines. All was going well and no one suspected a thing, until Romulus suddenly gave a signal and the men of Rome seized all the visiting women they could capture. The festival was broken up and the parents of the seized women fled the city, cursing the treachery of the Romans.

The seized women were naturally horrified at their predicament, but Romulus went to them and claimed that it was their parents who were to blame because they had been too proud to wed their daughters to Roman men. Further, he said, they would all be treated better in Rome than anywhere else because the Roman men would feel obligated to work off the guilt over what they had done. Apparently this mollified the women, but it did nothing for their parents and brothers.

Attacks followed in succession from the victimized communities, but each was repelled by Romulus and the Roman forces. Finally, only the Sabines had not yet sought revenge. They waited and planned, rather than immediately taking up arms. When the time was right, the Sabines bribed a young girl to let them into the citadel of the city and took it before the Romans could react. Romulus immediately mustered his army and launched a counterattack. A brief battle was joined, but neither side could gain the upper hand.

One of the Sabine women, daughters of one side and husbands of the other, intervened, throwing themselves between the two, pleading with them to halt. Livy writes, We are mothers now, they cried. Our children are your sons, your grandsons. Do not put on them the stain of parasite. If our marriage, if the relationship between you, is hateful to you, turn your hatred against us. We are the cause of strife. On our account, our husbands and fathers lie wounded or dead, and we would rather die ourselves than live either widowed or orphaned. Their entreaties moved the opposing armies and peace was made, ultimately joining the Romans and Sabines into one political entity.

The abduction episode has lodged itself in the Western imagination, commonly referred to as the rape of the Sabine women. The event has been depicted by countless painters, including Nicolas Poussin, Jean-Paul Rubens and Pablo Picasso. Jacques-Louis David depicted the conclusion of the story in his intervention of the Sabine women. Anyone who has read Watership Down will remember that the entire second half of the book is taken up with an adventure to secure female rabbits for the new warren, no doubt taking its inspiration from the Roman example, although in that case Hazel and his followers were far more ethical in their solution.

After the Sabines joined with the Romans, a power sharing agreement was reached and Romulus agreed to rule jointly with Tacius, the Sabine king. The newly integrated citizens of the city were divided into three tribes, the first being made of Romans, the second Sabines, and the third the remaining population, mostly of Etruscan origin. A hundred leading Sabines were then added to the senate, doubling its size.

Leadership thus established, Romulus formed the first great citizen assembly, the Comita Curiata. To do so, he divided the tribes further into ten curiae, naming each one after an abducted Sabine woman to honor them for their role in the peacemaking. Each curiae cast one collective vote, making for thirty total, and the assembly was tasked with electing various magistrates and enacting routine laws. Thus the original political constitution was settled. The kings reigned supreme but, from the beginning, both aristocrats and commoners were involved in the legislative and judicial functions of state. It was at this point as well that the legions doubled in size to approximately 6,000 men, a number that would stand for the remainder of the empire.

The power sharing agreement with Tacius lasted all of five years. The Sabine king, for whatever reason, assaulted some envoys from Lavinium and when he later arrived in that city for routine religious services, he was set upon by a mob and killed. Romulus, not seeking war with Lavinia and no doubt secretly welcoming the death of his rival, did nothing to avenge the death of his co-ruler. The Sabines were outraged, but fear of Romulus' power and his apparently divine mission held their tongues. Romulus now reigned supreme once again.

For the next forty years, the Romans fought continuously against hostile neighbors, usually Etruscan cities in the north. By the time of Romulus' death, he had made the Romans a power to be reckoned with.

The details of his passing confirm his status as a mythological figure. One day, seated on the throne, he was reviewing his troops and a storm kicked up. Thunder clapped and Romulus was enveloped by a cloud. When the storm dissipated, the throne was empty and Romulus was gone. The senators who stood beside him searched, but no trace of Romulus was ever found. Livy notes that Romulus was always more popular with the people than he was with the Senate and that it is entirely possible he was murdered by the senators who stood beside him. I find it part of Livy's charm that he would go out of his way to offer a more plausible explanation for the death of such an obviously fictitious character.

The life of Romulus is a convenient myth. Who founded Rome? Romulus. Where does the name come from? Romulus. Who organized the legions? Romulus. Who divided up the tribes, organized the Senate, and began the Citizens' Assembly? Romulus. Romulus. Romulus. It is possible that the stories grew from the life of a real person, but most likely Romulus was created out of necessity to answer questions later Romans had about their own past.

It seems comically naive of the Romans to believe that so much could be owed to a single man, but when we look at our own almost religious veneration of George Washington, it begins to make sense. In 500 years, will historians be reporting that George Washington was born of a cherry tree and had wooden teeth to prove it, that he flew over the Delaware River, defeated the British Army, and designed the Constitution all by himself? It seems crazy, but as time goes by, the subtleties of actual events are compressed into small digestible units. Horatio Gates has already been pushed from the collective consciousness and is known only to historians, but it was his victory at Saratoga, not Washington's, that led the French to support the revolution and thus ensure its success. That story, though, is too complicated. Most Americans don't even know how critical French involvement was, let alone that Washington had little to do with securing it. Washington beat the British. That is the story of the American Revolution. As the years pass, will the name of Madison be lost? Hamilton? Even the great Thomas Jefferson, whose fame is second to none, may yet fall under the juggernaut that is this mythical Washington, as he, like Romulus, becomes the answer to all questions about the founding of America.

Countless hands working patiently over years no doubt transformed Rome from a collection of shepherds into a regional power, but their names have been lost and their deeds have been rolled into the biography of a single mythical man.

The early days of Rome stand in stark contrast to its later greatness. To say that the mighty empire came from humble roots would be a gross understatement and entirely misleading. I have always found it odd that more was not done to alter the details of Rome's unsavory beginnings. Founded by a man who killed his own brother and was raised by a whore, the city's initial inhabitants were thieves, crooks, and beggars. Such an unappealing lot that they could not find a single woman who would have them, they resorted to kidnapping. To protect their ill-gotten wives, they then proceeded to make war on their new in-laws. There was not a single sympathetic figure in the whole bunch. You almost find yourself rooting for the Etruscans to put this rabble down and restore some decency to the world. But alas, the Romans were strong and would not be conquered, even if they were total bastards.

And this is the moral of Rome's birth. The Romans won and grew and thrived, not because they were right or good or moral or God's chosen people, but because they were strong and knew how to win in battle. Might may not make right, but it will make a thousand years' civilization.

Join me next time as we discuss Romulus's successors to the throne, Rome's religious awakening, and how the kings were finally run out of town. A transcript of this podcast and additional information can be found, as always, at thehistoryofrome.blogspot.com. thehistoryofrome.blogspot.com.