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THE CHAUTAUQUAN. Charles Scribner's Sons

HAVE JUST PUBLISHED:

HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE ENG-
LISH CONSTITUTION.

FOR BEGINNERS. BY DAVID WATSON RANNIE.
1 vol., 12mo, $1.

An English critic says of Mr. Rannie's book: "This is a work of first-rate merit. It is admirably full, exact and clear. I have never seen any volume which in so small a space deals so thoroughly with the subject and furnishes to the reader a guidance which, in the most difficult portions of it, he can have no difficulty in following."

The second volume opened with the October number 1881. It is enlarged from forty-eight to seventy-two pages. Ten numbers in the volume, beginning with October and closing with July. More than half the course of study for the C. L. S. C. the present year is being published in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and nowhere else, embracing: "Mosaics of History," "Christianity in Art," "Christ in Chronology," popular articles on Geology, Political Economy, Mathematics, Health at Home, Mental Science, Moral Science, together with articles on Practical Life. C. L. S. C. Notes and Letters, reports of Round-Table Conferences, Questions and THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CIVIL WAR. Answers on every book in the course of study, and reports from Local Circles will appear in every number.

A New Volume:

V. THE ANTIETAM AND FREDER

ICKSBURG.

Also lectures and sermons on popular themes from many of the foremost BY FRANCIS WINTHROP PALFREY late Colonel Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry, Brevet lecturers and preachers of the times. Brigadier General, U. S. V., etc. 1 vol, 12mo, with maps, $1.

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GEORGE BORROW'S EXCELLENT NOVEL, ENTITLED “LAVENGRO,”

Already Published in this Series:

I. THE OUTBREAK OF REBELLION.

By JOHN G. NICOLAY, Esq., Private Secretary
to President Lincoln; late Consul General
to France, etc.

II.-FROM FORT HENRY TO CORINTH.
By the Hon. M. F. FORCE, Justice of the Su-
perior Court, Cincinnati, late Brigadier
General and Brevet Major General, U. S. V.

III. THE PENINSULA.

By ALEXANDER S. WEBB, LL. D., President of the College of the City of New York; Assistant Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac, 1861-62.

IV. THE ARMY UNDER POPE.

is now being published as a serial. It is a dream or drama, the story of a By JOHN C. ROPES, Esq., member of the MiliScholar, a Gypsy, and a Priest. It is scholarly and fascinating.

The Editor's Outlook,

Editor's Note-Book,

and Editor's Table,

WILL DISCUSS THE LIVE QUESTIONS OF THE TIMES.

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tary Historical Society of Massachusetts,

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Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records. By WILLIAM H. GILDER, Second in command. 1 vol., 8vo, with maps and illustrations, $3.

LAY SERMONS.

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THE CONFLICTS OF THE AGE.
(1) An Advertisement for a New Religion.
By an Evolutionist. (2) The Confession of
an Agnostic. By an Agnostic. (3) What
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BOOKS AND READING.
WHAT BOOKS SHALL I READ, AND HOW SHALL
I READ THEM?

A complete set of the CHAUTAUQUA ASSEMBLY HERALD for 1881, containing By NOAH PORTER, LL. D., President of Yale more than sixty lectures delivered at Chautauqua. Price, $1.00.

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THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE PROMOTION OF TRUE CULTURE. ORGAN OF THE CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE.

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Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.

President, J. H. Vincent, D. D., Plainfield, N. J.
General Secretary, Albert M. Martin, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Office Secretary, Miss Kate F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J.

Counselors, Lyman Abbott, D. D.; J. M. Gibson, D. D.; Bishop H. W. Warren, D. D.; W. C. Wilkinson, D. D.

REQUIRED READING.

MOSAICS OF HISTORY.

VI.

ROME-I.

O that I had the Thracian poet's harpe,
For to awake out of th' infernall shade
Those antique Caesars, sleeping long in darke,
The which this auncient citie whilome made!
Or that I had Amphion's instrument,

To quicken with his vitall notes' accord
The stonie ioynts of these old walls now rent,
By which th' Ausonian light might be restor❜d!
Or that at least I could with pencill fine

Fashion the portraicts of these palacis,
By paterne of great Virgil's sprite divine!
I would assay by that which in me is
To build, with levell of my loftie style,
That which no hands can evermore compyle!

-Edmund Spenser.

GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY.-Italy is the central one of the three great peninsulas which project from the south of Europe into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bounded on the north by the chain of the Alps, which form a natural barrier, and it is surrounded on other sides by the sea. Its shores are washed on the west by the "Mare Inferum," or the Lower Sea, and on the east by the Adriatic, called by the Romans the "Mare Superum,' or the Upper Sea. The extreme length of the peninsula from the Alps to the Straits of Messina is 700 miles. The breadth of Northern Italy is 340 miles, while that of the southern portion is on an average not more than 100 miles. But till the time of the empire, the Romans never included the plains of the Po in Italy.*

FINAL EXTENT OF ITALY.-The name Italia was originally applied to a very small tract of country. It was at first confined to the southern portion of Calabria, and was gradually extended northward, till about the time of the Punic wars it indicated the whole of the peninsula south of the rivers Rubicon and Macra, the former separating Cisalpine Gaul and Umbria, and the latter Liguria and Etruria. Italy, properly so-called, is a very mountainous country, being filled up more or less by the broad mass of the Apennines, the offshoots or lateral branches of which, in some parts, descend quite to the sea, but in others leave a considerable space of level or low country.*

* William Smith, LL. D.

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THE GREATNESS OF ROME.-The Roman Empire in the early ages of our era embraced all the countries round the Mediterranean Sea, together with vast tracts north of the Alps, stretching in one direction as far as the Danube, and even beyond that river in its lower course, and in another as far as the Atlantic Ocean, St. George's Channel, the Solway Frith, and the North Sea. In this great empire was gathered up the sum total that remained of the religions, laws, customs, languages, letters, arts, and sciences of all the nations of antiquity which had successively held sway or predominance. It was the appointed task of the Romans to collect the product of all this mass of varied national labor as a common treasure of mankind, and to deliver it over to the ages which were to follow. When, after the lapse of centuries, Europe gradually emerged from the flood of barbarism which had overwhelmed it, and new nations were formed out of the wreck of the Roman empire, it was the treasure of ancient learning, saved by Rome, which guided the first steps of these nations toward new forms of civilized life. The language and literature of Rome had never been altogether lost and forgotten. By slow degrees the tongue of Latium was moulded into the dialects of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France. The Christian church pertinaciously clung to the old language, which was that of her ritual and of the Latin fathers. The city of Rome had become the seat of the successors of St. Peter, and her language penetrated wherever Roman Catholic missionaries preached the Gospel of Christ. It became the vehicle of all the learning of the time, the language of diplomacy, of law and government; finally, of education; and in the schools and universities of modern Europe the whole world of Latin literature was fostered into a second

life, and acquired an influence on the public mind of which every living man still in some way or other feels the effects. But the Latin literature, though great and admirable in many respects, is not the grandest product of the Roman mind. It was not original or spontaneous, and consequently not truly national. In poetry, philosophy, and history the Romans were the disciples and imitators of the Greeks. They added little of their own. Their strength and originality lay in another direction. They proved themselves masters in art of civil law and government. The Roman law possesses an intrinsic excellence which has made it the foundation of all legal study in Europe, and the model of all codes of civil law now in force. Every one of us is benefited directly or indirectly by this legacy of the Roman people, a legacy as valuable as the literary and artistic Greece. The stupendous growth of the Roman empire, and models which we owe to the great writers and sculptors of the solidity of its structure, which enabled it to last so long,. are due not so much to the courage and endurance of the Roman soldiers, or to the genius of the Roman generals, as to other causes, and chiefly to the combination of a desire for improvement with respect for established rights; in short, to political wisdom, which prefers reform to revolution, which is not dazzled by speculation on impossible per

fection, and which never sacrifices what is good in order to attain what may appear to be best. The development of the Roman constitution differs in this respect from the usual course of Greek policy, and reminds us of the spirit in which the English constitution was built up, in which whatever is new is an outgrowth and development of something old, and in which mere speculation and theoretic enthusiasm have never been able to sever the link which connects the present with the past.*

DIVISIONS OF ITALY.-The only natural division of Italy is into Northern and Southern-the former comprising the plain of the Po and the mountains inclosing it, so far as they are Italian; the latter co-extensive with the peninsula proper. It is usual, however, to divide the peninsula itself artificially into two portions by a line drawn across it from the mouth of the Silarus to that of the Tifernus. In this way a triple division of Italy is produced, and the three parts are then called Northern, Central, and Southern.+

ISLANDS OF ITALY.-The Italian Islands are, from their size, their fertility, and their mineral treasures, peculiarly important. They constitute nearly one-fourth of the whole area of the country. Sicily is exceedingly productive both in corn and in wine of an excellent quality. Sardinia and, Corsica are rich in minerals. Even the little island of Elba is valuable for its iron. Sicily and the Lipari isles yield abundance of sulphur.†

CLIMATE AND FERTILITY.-Italy has been in all ages renowned for its beauty and fertility. The lofty ranges of the Apennines, and the seas which bathe its shores on both sides, contribute at once to temper and vary its climate, so as to adapt it for the productions alike of the temperate and the warmest parts of Europe. In the plains on either side of the Apennines corn is produced in abundance; olives flourish on the southern slopes of the mountains; and the vine is cultivated in every part of the peninsula, the vineyards of Northern Campania being the most celebrated in antiquity.+

INHABITANTS.--The inhabitants of Italy may be divided into three great classes--the Italians proper, the Ispygians, and the Etruscans, who are clearly distinguished from each other by their respective languages. (1) The Italians proper inhabited the center of the peninsula. They were divided into two branches, the Latins and Umbro-Sabellians, including the Umbrians, Sabines, Samnites, and their numerous colonies. The dialects of the Latins and the UmbroSabellians, though marked by striking differences, still show clearest evidence of a common origin, and both are closely related to the Greek. It is evident that at some remote period a race migrated from the east, embracing the ancestors of both the Greeks and Italians-that from it the Italians branched off--and that they again were divided into the Latins on the west and the Umbrians and Sabellians on the east. (2) The Ispygians dwelt in Calabria, in the extreme southeast corner of Italy. Inscriptions in a peculiar language have here been discovered, clearly showing that the inhabitants belonged to a different race from those whom we have designated as the Italians. They were doubtless the oldest inhabitants of Italy, who were driven toward the extremity of the peninsula as the Latins and Sabellians pressed farther to the south. (3) The Etruscans, or, as they called themselves, Rasena, form a striking contrast to the Latins and Sabellians as well as to the Greeks. Their language is radically different from the other languages of Italy, and their manners and customs clearly

J. A. F. W. Ihne, Ph. D. +George Rawlinson, M. A. + William Smith, LL. D.

prove them to be a people originally quite distinct from the Greek and Italian races. Their religion was of a gloomy character, delighting in mysteries, and in wild and horrible rites. Their origin is unknown. Most ancient writers relate that the Etruscans were Lydians who had migrated by sea from Asia to Italy; but this is very improbable, and it is now more generally believed that the Etruscans descended into Italy from the Rhætian Alps. It is expressly stated by ancient writers that the Rhætians were Etruscans, and that they spoke the same language; while their name is perhaps the same as that of Rasena, the native name of the Etruscans. In more ancient times, before the Roman dominion, the Etruscans inhabited not only the country called Etruria, but also the great plain of the Po, as far as

the foot of the Alps. Here they maintained their ground till they were expelled or subdued by the invading Gauls. The Etruscans, both in the north of Italy and to the south of the Apennines, consisted of a confederacy of twelve cities, each of which was independent, possessing the power of even making war and peace on its own account. In Etruria proper, Valsinii was regarded as the metropolis. Besides these three races, two foreign races also settled in the peninsula in historical times. These are the Greeks and the Gauls. (4) The Greeks planted so many colonies upon the coast of Southern Italy, that they gave to that district the name of Magna Græcia. The most ancient, and at the same time, the most northerly Greek city in Italy, was Cumæ in Campania. Most of the other Greek colonies were situated farther to the south, where many of them attained to great power and opulence. Of these, some of the most distinguished were Tarentum, Sybaris, Croton, and Metapontum. (5) The Gauls, as we have already said, occupied the greater part of northern Italy, and were so numerous and important as to give to the whole basin of the Po the name of Gallia Cisalpina. They were of the same race with the Gauls who inhabited the country beyond the Alps, and their migration and settlement in Italy were referred by the Roman historian to the time of the Tarquins.*

INSTITUTIONS OF THE RACES IN ITALY.-Upper Italy on either bank of the Po was the dwelling-place of the Gallic race, who were divided into many tribes and states, and possessed numerous cities, both in the fertile plains and on the sea-coast. Central Italy was inhabited by many small tribes, a part of which had dwelt in the land from time immemorial, and might be looked upon as the aborigines of the country; whilst others had wandered hither from abroad. To the latter class belonged the remarkable family of the Etruscans, to the former the sturdy race of the Sabelli, who were again divided into numerous warlike and freedom-loving tribes, among whom the Samnites, the Sabines, and the qui, were the most distinguished. The Latins, a powerful rustic tribe on the south of the Tiber, were a mixed race, composed of natives and immigrants, to which, after the conquest of Troy, a Trojan race, under the conduct of Eneas, is said to have united itself. The coast of Lower Italy was covered with Greek colonies; the inland parts were the seat of warlike tribes of Sabelline origin, Samnites, Campanians, Lucani. Campania, with its vineyards and cornfields, is one of the most beautiful and fertile spots on the globe, and was chosen accordingly by the Romans for the erection of their magnificent villas. Of all these races, that of the Etruscans is the most worthy of remark. They formed a confederation of twelve independent cities, of which Care, Tarquinii, and Perusia, in the neighborhood of the Trasimenian lake, Clusium and Veii, are the best known. The separate cities were governed by an aristocratic priesthood. The nobles (Lucumos) elected the head of the confederation, the insignia of whose William Smith, LL. D.

office were an ivory chair, a purple mantle, and axes inclosed in bundles of rods (fasces) such as were afterwards borne before the Roman consuls. The Etruscans were a religious people, and paid great observance to predictions derived from the sacrifice of animals (auspices), and the flight of birds (auguries). They were proficient in the art of founding, and in working earth or metals, and their skill in architecture is attested by the existing remains of gigantic walls, and the ruins of temples, dykes, roads, etc. The innumerable vessels of clay and cinerary urns (Etruscan vases), ornamented with paintings, which are dug out of the earth, are evidence of the diligence of the Etruscans in arts and manufactures. But the oppressive power of the aristocracy, which proved destructive to the freedom and energy of the middle and lower classes, was the occasion of the early decay and extinction of the arts of culture among the people. The Sabines, Samnites, and other tribes of Sabelline origin, led a simple and temperate life in open or only slightly fortified towns. They loved the pastoral life, agriculture and war, and looked upon their freedom as their greatest blessing. From time to time, they celebrated a sacred spring, during which the newly-born cattle were offered in sacrifice, and the children who came into the world in the course of the year left their country as colonists, on arriving at the age of twenty. The Latins dwelt in thirty cities, which were united together in a confederation of which Alba Longa was the head. Agriculture and civil freedom flourished among them; their religion was founded upon the worship of nature, and bore a relation to the cultivation of the soil. The seed-god Saturn, and his spouse Aps (the abundance flowing from the earth), were among their deities. The venerable goddess, Vesta, whose sacred and perpetual fire was watched by twelve virgins (vestals), was also one of the native deities of the Latins. The representatives of the union held their meetings in a wood on the Albanian hills.*

ing its construction, as in modern times English and French have imitated each other, and first translating, and then imitating its literature, as early English dealt with French and with Italian.*

THE CITY OF ROME.-The city of Rome lay in the central part of the peninsula of Italy, on the left bank of the Tiber, and about fifteen miles from its mouth. Its situation was upon the borders of three of the most powerful races in Italy, the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans. Though originally a Latin town, it received at an early period a considerable Sabine population, which left a permanent impression upon the sacred rites and religious institutions of the people. The Etruscans exercised less influence upon Rome, though it appears nearly certain that a part of its population was of Etruscan origin, and that the two Tarquins represent the establishment of an Etruscan dynasty at Rome. The population of the city may therefore be regarded as one of mixed origin, consisting of the three elements of Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans, but the last in much smaller proportion than the other two. That the Latin element predominated over the Sabine is also evident from the fact that the language of the Romans was a Latin and not a Sabellian dialect.+

ROMAN SUCCESS IN WAR.-The comparative sterility of the territory encouraged the warlike spirit of the early Romans, whose frequent wars seem to have been undertaken oftener for the sake of booty than in just self-defence. It is possible, too, that the unhealthiness of the surrounding district at certain seasons of the year may have served as a barrier to ward off attacks, when other resources failed. The remoteness of the sea and the want of a good port was a protection from the numerous pirates who infested the Tyrrhenian waters. But it was especially the situation of Rome in the middle of the peninsula, cutting off the northern from the southern half, which enabled her to divide her enemies, and to subdue them separately. Lastly, the similarity of race, which bound the Romans by the ties of blood and common customs to the Latins, the Samnites, the Campanians, Lucanians, and in fact to all the indigenous races of Italy, enabled them to repel the invasions of their non-Italian enemies, the Gauls and the Carthaginians, and to appear in the light of champions and protectors of Italy. When in the time of the first historical inroad of the Gauls, the onset of these barbarians had been broken by the brave defenders of the Capital, Rome rose from her ashes as by a second birth to the title to preeminence among all the peoples of Italy; and when the proud and able Hannibal was foiled before the same walls, Rome in a still more signal and decisive manner fought at the head of the Italians against the common foe.

THE LATIN LANGUAGE.- Latin is a member of that
great family of languages called Indo-European, and also,
but less properly, Indo-Germanic, or Áryan. This family
embraces the Sanskrit, Persian, Lithuanian, Greek, with
its modern representative, Romaic, Latin, and its modifica-
tions of the Romance tongues, Celtic, German, and English.
These languages, for the most part, present striking resem-
blances, in words, in inflections, and in general grammatical
structure. In former times it was customary to regard the
Latin language as descended, and that very directly, from the
Greek, and real or fancied connections were traced out be-
tween nearly all the Latin and Greek words. Others who
discovered in the Latin language words and forms which oc-
cur in the German and the Celtic, were led to believe that the
Latin was largely derived from the Celtic. But in resolv-
ing such a question there are very great difficulties. How
are we to know whether the Celtic or the Latin form is the
older? We may generally receive the statements of the
Romans themselves, as to the origin of certain words which
they discussed, but as we have no monuments of Celtic
earlier than the seventh century of our era, how is modern
research to decide whether the Celtic word is an old col-plicable in the political conflicts of the present day.

lateral form of the Latin, or was actually carried by the
Romans in their conquests and deposited among the strange
people. While in some cases one of these views might be
correct, and in some cases the other, we can only assert
with confidence that the Latin belongs to the same family
as the above, but more closely resembling the Greek in its
oldest elements than any other member, and afterwards, in
historic times, following the development of the Greek,
adopting words from it with no change of form, or only
such as convenience or regard for analogy required, imitat-
* Dr. George Weber.

CLAIMS OF ROMAN HISTORY.-The history of the Roman people has surely many claims on our attention. It is to a certain extent the history of every modern nation, in its earlier stages, and it contains lessons of policy, which even after so many centuries are instructive, and may prove ap

AUTHENTICITY OF EARLIER ROMAN HISTORY.-The

early history of Rome is given in an unbroken narrative by the Roman writers, and was received by the Romans themselves as a faithful record of facts. But it can no longer be regarded in that light. Not only is it full of marvellous tales and poetical embellishments, of contradictions and impossibilities, but it wants the very foundation upon

*Professor Charles Short,

+ William Smith, LL. D.
J. A. F. W. Ihne, Ph. D.

which all history must be based. The reader, therefore, must not receive the history of the first four centuries of the city as a statement of undoubted facts, though it has unquestionably preserved many circumstances which did actually occur. It is not until we come to the war with Pyrrhus that we can place full reliance upon the narrative as a trustworthy statement of facts.*

EARLY GOVERNMENT OF ROME.-The known points of the early constitution are the following: (a) The form of government was monarchical. A chief called "rex," i. e., “ruler,” or “director,” stood at the head of the state, exercising a great, though not an absolute, power over the citizens. (b) The monarchy was not hereditary, but elective. When the king died there was an "interregnum." The direction of affairs was taken by the Senate or Council, whose ten chief men (Decem Primi) exercised the royal authority, each in his turn, for five days. It belonged to the Senate to elect, and to the people to confirm the king. (c) Under the king, was, first of all, an hereditary nobility (patricii), members of certain noble families, not deriving their nobility from the king, but possessing it by immemorial descent. (d) All the males of full age belonging to the nobility possessed the right of attending the public assembly (comitia), where they voted in ten bodies (curic), each composed of the members of ten houses. (e) Every change of law required the consent of both the Senate and the Assembly. (f) In addition to the members of the "gentes," the early Roman state contained two other classes. These were the clients and the slaves. The slaves resembled persons of their class in other communities; but the clients were a peculiar institution. They were dependents upon the noble "houses," and personally free, but possessed of no political privileges, and usually either cultivated the lands of their "patrons," or carried on a trade under their protection. They resembled to a considerable extent the "retainers" of the middle ages. Under this constitution Rome flourished for a period which is somewhat vague and indefinite, without the occurrence of any important change. According to one tradition, a double monarchy was tried for a short time, in order that the two elements of the state-the Roman and the Sabines-might each furnish a ruler from their own body. But the experiment was not tried for very long. In lieu of it we may suspect that for a while the principle of alternation was employed, the Romans and the Sabines each in their turn furnishing a king to the community.+

DIVISIONS OF ROMAN HISTORY.-It simplifies our investigation of the long period of Roman history when we know that when the Gauls sacked the city, 389 B. C., they destroyed all the records, and that the trustworthy history really begins no earlier than 281 B. C. We may consider that there are three periods to be remembered: mythical and traditional age of the Kings, 753-510 B. C.; (II) The heroic age of the Republic, 510-27 B. C.; and (III) The golden age of the Emperors, 27 B. C.-455 A. D.‡

(I) The

ROME UNDER THE KINGS.-We are told by an old legend, that King Numitor, of Alba Longa, a successor to the Trojan Eneas, was deprived of his crown by his brother Amulius, and his daughter, Rhæa Silvia, placed among the sacred virgins of Vesta, that she might remain unmarried and without offspring. But when she bore the twins Romulus and Remus to the god Mars, her cruel uncle commanded the children to be exposed on the banks of the Tiber, where, however, they were discovered and brought up by shepherds. Informed by an accident of the mystery

*William Smith, LL. D. *George Rawlinson, M. A. *Gilman's General History,

of their birth and the fate of their grandfather, they restored the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor, and then founded Rome on the Palatine hill, on the left bank of the Tiber. The rising walls of the city are said to have been stained by the blood of Remus, who was slain in a quarrel by his brother. When the little town was built, Romulus attracted inhabitants by declaring it a place of refuge for fugitives. But as the fugitives had no wives, and the neighboring people hesitated to give them their daughters in marriage, Romulus arranged some military games, and invited the neighbors as spectators. At a given signal, every Roman seized upon a Sabine virgin and carried her off into the city. This outrage gave rise to a war between the Sabines and the new colony. The two armies were already opposed to each other, when the abducted virgins rushed between the combatants, and put an end to the strife by declaring that they would share the fate of the Romans. A treaty was arranged, in consequence of which the Sabines who dwelt on the Capitoline hill agreed to unite themselves in a single community with the Latins, who lived on the Palatine, and the Etruscans, who lived on the Cælian bill. It was decided further, that the Sabine king, Titus Tatius, should share the government with Romulus; and that a Latin and a Sabine should be elected alternately from the Senate to the office of king. Romulus disappeared from the earth in an unknown manner, and received divine honors under the name of Quirinus. The citizens from this time bore the name of Quirites, conjointly with that of Romans. The warlike Romulus was succeeded by the wise Sabine, Numa Pompilius, who reduced the rising state to order by his laws and religious institutions, and improved and civilized the inhabitants. He built temples and established a form of religious worship, increased the number of priests, and made regulations respecting sacrifices and divinations. He dedicated a temple at the entrance of the forum to Janus Bifrons, the god who presides over the beginning of everything, both in time and space. The doors of this temple were open in time of war, and closed during peace. As the Greeks confirmed their law by the means of oracles, so Numa maintained that he had derived his system of religion from conversations with the nymph Egeria, who had a wood sacred to her on the south of Rome. The two following kings, Tullus Hostilius, the Latin, and Ancus Martius, the Sabine, enlarged the territory of the little state by successful wars; so that four other hills were added to the three before mentioned, and gradually supplied with inhabitants. For this reason, Rome is called the seven-hilled city. Under Tullus Hostilius the Romans engaged in a war with Alba Longa. Just as the armies were about to engage, it was agreed to decide the fate of the two cities by a combat between three brothers, the Horatii and the Curiatii, chosen from each of the parties. Two of the champions of the Romans had already fallen, when the victory was decided in their favor by the cunning and bravery of the third, and the possession of Alba Longa fell at once into their hands. The city was destroyed, and the inhabitants transplanted to Rome. The same fortune happened to many other cities in the neighborhood during the reign of Ancus Martius. The conquered citizens settled in Rome, where they received houses and small estates, but were not admitted to the privileges of the elder citizens. The latter from this time were called "patricians," the new comers bore the name of "plebeians." Ancus Martius founded the seaport of Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber. The last three kings, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus, belonged to the Etruscan race, as is evident from the buildings they erected, and the Etruscan institutions they introduced into Rome. The elder Tarquin laid the foundation of the vast structure of the Capitol, which was completed by his son, Tarquinius Superbus, in accordance

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