HI202 Roman History: class discussion and essay #1

Titus Livius, ab urbe condita 1.1-17:

The first essay (300-600 words), due on Wednesday, September 29^th, will ask you to analyze briefly the main themes of the opening of Livy’s History of Rome from the Foundation of the City. What are the messages Livy is attempting to convey in the first 17 chapters of book 1 – messages about the past, about the character of the Roman state and people, about his own day and even as a warning about the future?

1.1: “… he gave his right hand as a solemn pledge of friendship for the future. A formal treaty was made between the leaders and mutual greetings exchanged between the armies. Latinus received Aeneas as a guest in his house, and there, in the presence of his tutelary deities, completed the political alliance by a domestic one, and gave his daughter in marriage to Aeneas.”

1.2: “So great was the power of Etruria that the renown of her people had filled not only the inland parts of Italy but also the coastal districts along the whole length of the land from the Alps to the Straits of Messina.”

1.3: “I will not discuss the question – for who could speak decisively about a matter of such extreme antiquity? – whether the man whom the Julian house claim, under the name of Iulus, as the founder of their name, was this Ascanius or an older one than he, born of Creusa, whilst Ilium was still intact, and after its fall a sharer in his father’s fortunes. This Ascanius, where ever born, or of whatever mother – it is generally agreed in any case that he was the son of Aeneas – left to his mother (or his stepmother) the city of Lavinium, which was for those days a prosperous and wealthy city, with a superabundant population, and built a new city at the foot of the Alban hills … called ‘Alba Longa.’ ”

1.4: “But the Fates had, I believe, already decreed the origin of this great city and the foundation of the mightiest empire under heaven.”

1.6: “These pleasant anticipations [of Romulus and Remus building a city] were disturbed by the ancestral curse – ambition – which led to a deplorable quarrel over what was at first a trivial matter. As they were twins and no claim to precedence could be based on seniority, they decided to consult the tutelary deities of the place by means of augury as to who was to give his name to the new city, and who was to rule it after it had been founded.”

1.7: “[The king, Evander, a refugee from Greece] was looked up to with reverence for his knowledge of letters – a new and marvelous thing for uncivilized men.”

1.8: “After the claim of religion had been duly acknowledged, Romulus called his people to a council. As nothing could unite them into one political body but for the observance of common laws and customs, he gave them a body of laws, which he thought would only be respected by a rude and uncivilized race of men if he inspired them with awe by assuming the outward symbols of power. He surrounded himself with greater state, and in particular he called into his service twelve lictors. Some think that he fixed upon this number from the number of the birds who foretold his sovereignty; but I am inclined to agree with those who think that as this class of public officers was borrowed from the same people from whom the sella curulis and the toga praetexta were adopted – their neighbors, the Etruscans – so the number itself also was taken from them. Its use amongst the Etruscans is traced to the custom of the twelve sovereign cities of Etruria, when jointly electing a king, furnishing him each with one lictor …. He created a hundred senators; either because that number was adequate, or because there were only a hundred heads of houses who could be created. In any case they were called the ‘Patres’ in virtue of their rank, and their descendants were called ‘Patricians.’ ”

1.9: “Acting on the advice of the senate, Romulus sent envoys amongst the surrounding nations to ask for alliance and the right of intermarriage on behalf of his new community.”

1.10: “…[Romulus] marked out the site for the temple of Jupiter, and addressing the god by a new title, uttered the following invocation: ‘Jupiter Feretrius [= the subduer of enemies]! These arms taken from a king, I, Romulus a king and conqueror, bring to thee, and on this domain, whose bounds I have in will and purpose traced, I dedicate a temple to receive the spolia opima which posterity following my example shall bear higher, taken from the kings and generals of our foes slain in battle.’ Such was the origin of the first temple dedicated in Rome.”

1.13: “It was not only peace that was made [between the Romans and the Sabines], the two nations were united into one State, the royal power was shared between them, and the seat of government for both nations was Rome.”

1.15: “Throughout – whether we consider the courage he showed in recovering his ancestral throne, or the wisdom he displayed in founding the City and adding to its strength through war and peace alike – we find nothing incompatible with the belief in his divine origin and his admission to divine immortality after death.

1.16: “At length … the whole of those present hailed Romulus as ‘a god, the son of a god, the King and Father of the City of Rome.’ They put up supplications for his grace and favor, and prayed that he would be propitious to his children and save and protect them. I believe, however, that even then there were some who secretly hinted that he had been torn limb from limb by the senators – a tradition to this effect, though certainly a very dim one, has filtered down to us.”

1.16: “ ‘Go,’ said [the late, divine Romulus to Proculus Julius, a Roman with considerable authority – gravitas] ‘tell the Romans that it is the will of heaven that my Rome should be the head of all the world. Let them henceforth cultivate the arts of war, and let them know assuredly, and hand down the knowledge to posterity, that no human might can withstand the arms of Rome.’ ”

1.17: “For [the senators] passed a decree that when the people had chosen a king, his election would only be valid after the senate had ratified it by their authority. The same procedure exists today in the passing of laws and the election of magistrates …. So gratified were the people at the proposal that, not to appear behindhand in generosity, they passed a resolution that it should be left to the senate to decree who should reign in Rome.”