Rome in the Beginning

The Roman Empire

The rise and fall of this great empire cannot fail to fascinate us for we can all see in such a story something of our own times. But of all the empires that have come and gone, none has more immediate appeal than the Empire of Rome. It pervades our lives even today: Its legacy is everywhere to be seen. Of all the peoples of the ancient world the Romans can the most easily be understood, for we are not looking just at dead ruins or serried ranks of dreary pottery in museum showcases but at real people- at intimate emotions, conflicts of loyalty, and incredible bravery; at ambition, naked power, and human failing When William Shakespeare wrote of Brutus (one of the assassins of Julius Caesar), "the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up, and say to all the World, Ð''This was a man,'" he was indirectly emphasizing just this point. We are able to distinguish and examine the complexities of Brutus's character and to appreciate him as a human being. In such intimacy lies the real excitement of the Romans. The scale of the Roman achievement is both staggering and difficult to comprehend. One could say that at its height the Empire extended across a territory 3,200 miles east to west and 2,000 miles north to south, but these mere figures mean little. The identification of individuals, famous and humble alike, and an appreciation of the scale upon which they lived, provides one theme for our study. But the essence of the story we have to tell is change.

From the very beginning the fortunes of the Roman people were inextricably bound up in a complex web of dynamic change. "Progress" is too emotive and imprecise a word to use. Psychological make-up, economic constraints, social systems and a degree of random chance- all combined to force Rome forward. The Roman genius was that it could adapt quickly to each new situation as it arose. It was for this reason that the city of Rome, which began to emerge from obscurity about 500 B.C., could direct the civilized world for almost a millennium and in its old age could give birth to an heir, Constantinople, which in turn assumed the mantle of leadership for a further millennium.

It is a salutary exercise to stand back and view the development of Rome and her Empire in a single perspective, in an attempt to isolate the major shifts and changes in her fortunes. From t he beginning the physical location of the city was very much to its advantage- an important crossing point on the north- south route which ran the length and breadth of Italy, easy access to excellent port facilities at the Tiber mouth, and an ethnic mixture among its people which combined the hardiness of the Latin hill farmers with the tough persistence of the Etruscans. What emerged were a people who prided themselves on three traditional virtues: gravity, simplicity, and piety. Perhaps more accurately we might say they were dour, without much humor or lightness, liking simplicity, certainly, and with a deeply inbred superstition. To this we might add a strong streak of ruthlessness and an ever present cruelty. Not, perhaps, qualities which would win admiration today- but in the ancient world a combination which marked Rome out for success.

Throughout the Late Bronze Age (1300- 800 B.C.) the whole of the Italian peninsula shared broadly similar culture linked, during the thirteenth and twelfth centuries, by trading contacts to the Mycenaean world of the Aegean. It is possible that dim folk memories of the period of trade lay behind the myth of Aeneas and the Trojan origins of Rome.

The period of monarchical rule, which traditionally lasted for 244 years (753-509 B.C.), is known only through myths and legends, which were brought together in a single narrative by the historian Livy who compiled his great history of Rome during the reign of Augustus. For Livy the kings played a vital part in the growth of the state. The people were at this time "a rabble of vagrants, mostly runaways and refugees [who], unrestrained by the power of the throne, would no doubly have set sail on the stormy sea of democratic politics." He saw the kings, then, as providing the necessary constraints while the disparate mass of citizens groped its way towards political maturity. It was the story of this development he attempted to tell when he wrote of the seven kings.

In the beginning of Rome there were seven kings. The first was Romulus. According to the Roman legends the city of Rome was founded by Romulus on 21 April 753 B.C. It was he, so the story goes, who instituted the festival of Septimontium that united the separate villages. Fugitives were offered asylum in Rome during his reign and were settled on the eastern slopes of the Capitol. There was, however a shortage of wives for the new settlers. The problem was overcome by inviting the neighboring tribes, including the Sabine's, to a festival and detaining their young women. On retaliation people from Caenina, Antemnae, and Crustumium attacked but were conquered and subjected to Roman rule. And the Sabine's, who had taken over the Capitol, were eventually persuaded to unite with Rome, their king Titus Tatius ruling jointly with Romulus. Further territorial expansion occurred when the right or (or west) bank of the Tiber was secured in the face of opposition from the Etruscan towns of Veii and Fidenae. Eventually the city grew to include the Capitol and Aventine hills, which were both fortified. Romulus is credited with the creation of many Roman institutions including the Senate, the army, the calendar, and the College of Augurs. Most legends see him as a great benefactor, but one version shows him as a tyrant who had to be killed by the senate. Traditionally, however, he disappeared from the world in a thick cloud, during a thunderstorm, and became a god. Soon after his death Romulus is supposed to have appeared to one of his followers. Livy records his words: "go," he said, "And tell the Romans that by heaven's will my Rome shall be capital of the world. Let them learn to be soldiers. Let them know, and teach their children, that no power on earth can stand against Roman arms." Livy, History I, I6.

The Successor of Romulus was said to have been a Sabine from the town of Curses. Numa Pompilius reign was peaceful and was not one of territorial expansion, but he is believed to have initiated the procedure of dividing newly conquered lands among the citizens. Numerous religious ceremonies are attributive to him as well as an improved method of calculating the seasons. Once Rome's neighbors had considered her not so much as a city as an armed camp in their midst threatening the general peace; now they came to revere her so profoundly as a community dedicated wholly to worship, that the mere thought of offering her violence seemed