THE FOUNDATION OF ROME, THE ETERNAL CITY
By Matthew V. Grieco
April 21, 753 B.C. is the traditional founding date of the City of Rome by the twins Romulus and Remus. Few at the time took notice of their small collection of thatched huts, let alone could have predicted that from such a humble seedling would grow the greatest and most enduring realm the world has seen. First ruled by kings, Rome evolved into a Republic by 509 B.C., and was transformed into the Principate or Empire in 27 B.C. At its greatest extent, the Roman Empire encompassed all or a portion of 49 modern-day countries.
The Romans themselves traced the origin of their city to the Trojan War (1182 B.C.). Different versions of the story were told as early as the 5th century B.C., but the definitive account was related by the poet Virgil in his epic, the Aeneid.
Virgil (full name, Publius Vergilius Maro), was born in the town of Andes, near Mantua, in 70 B.C. Rome’s greatest poet labored for years on the story of Rome’s greatness, her destiny portended by her heroic origins. In 19 B.C., as he lay dying, Virgil ordered the destruction of his manuscript, which he considered to be unfinished. Fortunately, the Emperor Augustus overruled those instructions, and saved a work that would influence every ensuing generation.
The Aeneid takes its name from its main character, Aeneas, a Trojan warrior who was the son of Venus, goddess of love; according to Homer’s Illiad, he was the equal of Hector and fought Achilles. At the conclusion of the Trojan War, the Greeks gain entry to the city by means of the artifice of the wooden horse. As the Greeks rampage and slaughter, Aeneas, dutifully bearing his aged father Anchises on his shoulders and piously carrying the images of his household gods, manages to lead a band of survivors to escape by ship. They wander the Mediterranean for years, undergoing countless tribulations, including divine storms, hostile tribes, the savage Harpies, the giant Cyclopes, the perilous Scylla and Charybdis, and even a descent into the underworld. They stop off in Carthage, where Aeneas has a romantic encounter with Queen Dido which does not end on good terms, and thus sows the seeds for the future Punic Wars and Hannibal’s enmity.
Eventually, Aeneas lands on the coast of Latium (modern Lazio). More battles await, but he does forge alliances, marry a local princess (Lavinia, daughter of Latinus), and found a city (Lavinium). His son (Ascanius) later establishes the city of Alba Longa, ruled by a line of twelve kings, the last of whom is Numitor. Numitor’s daughter, Rhea Silivia, becomes a Vestal Virgin, but is ravished by Mars, god of war, as a result of which she gives birth to Romulus and Remus. Numitor is deposed by a jealous brother (Amulius), who tosses the twins into the Tiber River in an effort to eliminate them as rival claimants to the throne. However, a she-wolf (sacred to Mars) rescues the infants and suckles them, until they are adopted by a kindly shepherd (Faustulus) and his wife (Acca Larentia).
When the boys grow up, they gather a group of exiles and other outcasts, avenge their grandfather, and then found the city of Rome (753 B.C.). Romulus establishes a settlement on the Palatine hill, the subsequent site of the aristocracy (the patricians or optimates) and later the emperors. Remus sets up camp on the Aventine hill, where the lower class (the plebeians) would reside. Remus unwisely mocks Romulus, who kills him in a rage; Rome would earn many monikers, most famously the Eternal City, but alas, it would never be known as the City of Brotherly Love.
Romulus had another problem on his hands; his colony consisted almost entirely of men, and thus faced poor prospects for expansion, or even survival. He invited the Sabines, a tribe living on the nearby Quirinal hill, to a feast. When the besotted male guests fell asleep, the Romans abducted the Sabine women, who, it turned out, preferred Roman men to Sabine ones. And so, they bequeathed to us the tradition whereby the groom carries the bride over the portal on the nuptial night.
As we have seen, Rome started as a tiny city-state, and her rise was not inevitable. Rome was dealt many setbacks; on numerous occasions, the universal opinion was that she would not last. The manner in which the Romans faced adversity was the key to their greatness and their ultimate triumph.
The Romans simply refused to accept defeat. There were many wars, most notably that with Hannibal, in which the entire Roman army was wiped out. Any other society of the time would have immediately sued for peace. The Romans, instead, raised another army and sent it into the field. If that army was also annihilated, they would raise yet another army, and would continue to do so until victory was theirs. Wars could last thirty years, yet the Romans – the entire citizenry, not just the government – never despaired. In fact, the Romans celebrated their defeats more than their triumphs, and so they never forgot their sacrifices.
Grim in war, the Romans were magnanimous in victory. Defeated peoples were generally welcomed into the State on an equal basis; eventually, citizenship was extended to all inhabitants of the empire. Somewhat akin to our Federal-State system, localities were mostly free to govern themselves in matters that did not affect the central government. Religious freedom was the norm, although there were several short, and violent, periods of persecution. The roads and the seas were made safe for travel and trade. The great achievements of the Romans in law, building, and the arts, and the benefits of being a part of Rome, were evident to all. Indeed, the barbarians who repeatedly attacked, for the most part, wanted to gain entry, not destroy Rome.
One dark side of Rome should be mentioned. Like all ancient societies, the Romans had slavery. The best that can be said is that it was less insidious than the later American slavery, because it was not based on race (or ethnicity or religion), and because upward social mobility was possible; manumission was common, and freed slaves and their descendants could, and often did, attain wealth and status.
Although 476 A.D. is the schoolbook date marking the fall of Rome, with the deposition of the last Emperor, Romulus Augustulus (ironically named after Rome’s first King and first Emperor), the eastern portion of the Empire endured until 1453, as what we term the Byzantine Empire; in fact, the “Byzantines” referred to themselves as Romoi (Romans), and that is why the Ottoman rulers, who conquered Constantinople and reigned until 1922, listed among their honorifics, Emperor of Rome.
In 800 A.D. Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III; the Holy Roman Empire was formally proclaimed in 962, and continued until its dissolution in 1806 by Napoleon, who himself had taken the Roman appellation Consul before asking the Pope to crown him Emperor. The titles Kaiser and Czar are the German and Russian translations for Caesar, and Russia even claimed to be the Third Rome (the Second being Constantinople).
Under the Popes, Rome’s moral and spiritual sway has never ceased, and has even expanded. Rome’s influence also persists in the fields of law, government, language, literature, art, architecture, and many others. Truly, Rome is the Eternal City.