Rome: The Rise and Fall: Ancient Empires, #2

Introduction

THE ROMAN EMPIRE BEGAN with a boy named Romulus and ended with a boy named Romulus. Between the years 753 BCE and 476 CE, this magnificent empire rose in might, but died in misery.

This story is derived from the narrations of the ancient writers who themselves were eyewitnesses and it draws upon the myths that invigorated the Roman spirit. The dream that became the Roman Empire was created upon a Utopian scenario, but was vulnerable to the human frailties that besiege everyone. Hence its rise and hence its fall.

In the beginning, the Roman Empire expanded its holding to include Italy, southern France and Spain. Their original inhabitants were intelligent and educated men, knowledgeable in management and law. The Romans also trained themselves to defend what was theirs and their legions struck fear in the hearts of those who dared to defy them. They were veteran conquerors and, once they subsumed the territories in current-day Europe and those along the Adriatic Sea, they annexed areas along the Eastern Mediterranean. The Carthaginian Empire, however, ruled the sea. When their senator, Cato the Elder, leaped up in the Roman assembly and shouted Carthage must be destroyed, they sailed across the grand Mediterranean much to the chagrin of ancient pirates.

The leadership of the Roman Empire was often punctuated with assassinations, love affairs, conspiracies and old women’s visions of eagles, omens and specters. Rome had its kings, its dictators like Lucius Sulla, who filled the city with slaughter, and its emperors like the glorious Julius Caesar who came in triumph, but was felled in a pool of his own blood. Some emperors were hailed as heroes, like Titus, who helped his people weather through the eruption of a volcano and Caesar Augustus who, it was said, came to Rome when it was a city of brick and left it a city of marble. Then there was Diocletian, the emperor who was born too late.

Then the wanderers came from places far away – the Huns, the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths and many more besides. The ethnicity of the emperors changed as the migratory people annexed territories, intermarried, and became leaders of the Roman Empire themselves. Great battles were won and lost throughout the centuries, but it is only the last battle that counts.

If an empire such as Rome didn’t advance, it would retrograde. That is what happened. The Roman Empire became enmeshed in its own avarice and decadence. The people for whom the Roman Empire was built were lost in the gap between the rich and the poor. The glory that once was Rome was gone.

Chapter 1 –

LOST IN THE FOG OF ancient times between the years 1260 to 1180 BCE, Virgil, the ancient poet told the tale – It so happened that a young warrior by the name of Aeneas, who was the reputed son of the goddess Aphrodite, fought in the brutal and bloody Trojan War in Greece. Toward the end of his last bitter battle, Aeneas looked down upon his enemy, ...rais’d his arm aloft, and, at the word, drove a shining sword deep into his bosom. When Aeneas removed the blade, there was a sickly sucking sound and the long low moan of loss. Then Aeneas tallied for merely a moment, watching the warrior’s blood run over his chest and seep into the thirsty soil. Thus came the end of the great city of Troy and Aeneas had to search for a new beginning far from this field of woe.

Latium

After the war, Aeneas and his companions sailed away on a flimsy boat across the wave-wrought Adriatic Sea.  He knew he needed to leave this dark and foreboding place. As the fog cleared from the horizon, Aeneas sensed it was his destiny to find a new land here and lay the city’s first foundations. It was near the land of Latium in ancient Italia.

For many years, Aeneas’ descendants reigned as kings of Mount Alban in the 9th century BCE. Now, it came to pass that one of the Latin kings left his inheritance to his two sons, Amulius and Numitor. They split the fortune in half. Amulius took the golden treasure and hid it, while his brother used it to take possession of the land.

Amulius was greedy, however, and used his gold to scheme against his brother. Then he  took over his brother’s kingdom.  To eliminate any competition, Amulius required that Numitor’s daughter, Rhea Silvius, become a vestal virgin. The vestals weren’t permitted to have conjugal relations, so she wouldn’t bear any children, and, therefore, there would be no heirs. Despite that, she did become pregnant, but a dear friend protected her lest she suffer capital punishment for her transgression.

Rhea gave birth to boy twins during an eclipse, it is said, and that was an omen of great import. After the birth, she ordered the swineherd, Faustulus, to take the babies down to the great Tiber river and throw them in so she wouldn’t be found out. Obediently, Faustulus put the infants in a trough, and proceeded on with his task. Seeing that the Tiber River was turbulent and that the waves leaped in giant tongues he became frightened, so he left the babies in their trough, and left. According to the ancient biographer, Plutarch, a she-wolf came by and suckled the tiny infants. The legends whisper the name of the motherly wolf as being Lupercus. Several times a day, a woodpecker came in to feed them. Woodpeckers were sacred to the Latin people. After a while had passed, Faustulus was full of remorse and returned. He was astonished to see that the beasts and animals cared for the boys and they were growing strong and magnificent. Faustulus took that as a sign of godly greatness and felt that the boys had been protected from harm by the god Mars.

Romulus and Remus

Fearing reproach from the deities, Faustulus took them in, and with his wife, raised them. They named the boys Romulus and Remus – two names that come from the Latin word ruma meaning Teat because they suckled at the she-wolf’s breast. Both were tall and bore the look of nobility. According to the ancient biographer, Plutarch, Romulus exercised his judgement more and had political sagacity. He gave his neighbors the impression that he was born to command rather than obey. When the boys came of age, they wandered the territory and saw seven great hills silhouetted against the sky. They wanted to build a city there – a great city. Romulus pointed out the largest and greatest hill of all – one that was to be called Palatine Hill. Remus, however, preferred that they build the city upon the longer, flatter hill, which was later named Aventine Hill, so they argued, as many siblings do.

They wrestled and writhed violently with each other until the long red light of sunset bathed them in the color of blood. Into the night they fought until they collapsed with exhaustion. In the morning, Romulus arose, wiped the sleep from his eyes, and looked upon his brother beside him. A feeling of horror and shame raced through him when he realized that his dear brother, Remus, lay dead.

The year was 753 BCE, and that date is the year Rome was founded.

The Rape of the Sabines

Romulus settled on the great Palatine Hill and built a citadel there. He then named the other hills – Capitoline, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal and Quirinal. The land around the seven hills was marshy,  but there were many forests there that could be cleared to create farmland. Romulus was a striking man of much charm and his companions looked upon him as a leader. Romulus and his followers toiled to tame the swamps and created a settlement. He named his new city after himself – Rome. Romulus became its first king. He was wise in the business of administration and established the city’s first governmental body which he called the Senate. The people were separated into three classes – the patricians, or upper class, the plebeians, or commoners, and the slaves. Slaves were traditionally captives from captured territories, but some were tenant farmers who were paid to work the land.

Many people from the neighboring tribes joined his new community, but they were mostly men. Although they were well-disposed toward Romulus and his companions, the tribes around Rome were composed of tight-knit people but they were reluctant to let their daughters marry those men from a faraway land.

The Senate was particularly concerned about that because their community would die out with the last man standing. To resolve the issue, Romulus and his fellows visited the neighboring tribes, charmed the women and asked for their hands in marriage. Much to their chagrin, they were flatly denied.

These were desperate men so Romulus and his companions concocted a mischievous plan. They planned a great festival