Afterward one king was acknowledged as the common
chief of tho united people: the two senates became
one body, and consulted for the welfare of the whole
stale: the national names of Romans and Quirites
were extended indiffercr'.
chief of tho united people: the two senates became
one body, and consulted for the welfare of the whole
stale: the national names of Romans and Quirites
were extended indiffercr'.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
Thus re-
etsed from danger, the Rhodians proceeded to fulfil
their promises, and reward those who had served them
well. Fit honours were bestowed upon the bravest
combatants among the free inhabitants, and freedom,
with citizenship, given to such of the slaves as had
deserved it. Statues were erected to Ptolemy, Ly-
fimachus, and Cassander, all of whom had assisted
them largely with provisions. To Ptolemy, whose
benefits had been by far the most conspicuous, more
extravagant honours were assigned. The oracle of
Ammon was consulted, to learn whether the Rhodians
might not be allowed to worship him as a god; and,
permission being given, a temple was actually erected
in his honour. Such instances had already occurred in
toe case of Alexander, and in that of Antigonus and
Demetrius at Athens ; but it must be remembered that
inch a practice would not bear, in Grecian eyes, the
? me unnatural and impious character which it does
ID ours, since the step was easy from hero-worship,
which had long formed an important part of their re-
ligion, to the adoration of distinguished men, even
while alive (Hist, of Greece, p. 161, scqq. -- Lilir.
Vt. Knowl. )--After mingling more or less in the vari-
ous collisions which ensued between the successors of
Alexander and their respective descendants, Rhodes
tided with the Romans, and became a valuable auxili-
ary to the rising power. In return for the important
wrrices thus rendered, it received from its new friends
the territories of Lycia and Caria; but suspicion and
distrust eventually arose, the Rhodians were deprived
of their possessions in Asia, and at last, in the reign
of Vespasian, of their freedom, and with it of the right
they had so long enjoyed of being governed by their
own laws. A new province was formed, consisting
of the islands near the coast, cf which Rhodes was the
capital, and the island henceforth became an integral
part of the Roman empire, and shared in its various
vicissitudes. In a later age, it fell into the hands'of
the knights of St. John, after they had lost possession
of Palestine, A. D. 1309. In 1480 they repelled an
ittack of the Turks, but in 1522 were compelled to
surrender the island to Soliman II. The population
ii differently estimated: Savary makes it 36,500, of
which about one third are Greeks, with an archbishop.
The capital, Rhodes, has a population of about 6000
Turks. The suburb, Ncochcrio, is inhabited by 3000
Greeks, who are not permitted to reside within the
city. The town is surrounded with three walls and a
double ditch, and is considered by the Turks as im-
pregnabl^. It has two fine harbours, separated only
by a mole. --Rhodes was celebrated for its Colossus, an
account of which will be found elsewhere. (Yid. Co-
lossus. ) Its maritime laws were also in high repute,
snd were adopted as the basis of marine law on all the
? ? coasts of the Mediterranean. Their main principles
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? ROM
ROrrtA.
one and th<< Carpathian Mountains; that in A. U. 68
tbev surprised Mcesia; in 166 carried on war against
the' Marcomanni, and in 270 were numbered among
Ibe enemies over whom Aurelian triumphed. During
(be first three centuries they occupied the southern
parts of Poland, Red Russia, and Kiovia, the very
? eats possessed by the Russians of the ninth century.
Jornandes assigns them the saint region; and the
anonymous geographer of Ravenna fixes them in Li-
thuania and the neighbouring countries. These au-
thorities are to us decisive that the Rhoxaiani and the
Russians are the same people; but, if any doubt re-
mained, it would be removed by the concurrent tes-
timony of the native chronicles, the Polish traditions,
the Byzantine historians, and the Icelandic sagas, all
of which are unanimous in applying the term Russian
to the inhabitants of the countries formerly possessed
by the Rhoxaiani. Hence, as they were the most cel-
ebrated of the original tribes, that term, by synecdoche,
became generic. (Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 5,
p. 151, SCIjq. )
Rhutkni or Rutheni, a people of Gallia Aqui-
tanica, in Narbonensis Prima. The territory was sit-
uate on either side of the Tarnis or Tarn. Scgodu-
num, now Rodcz, was their chief town. (Cos , IS. G. ,
1, l. --Flin. , 4, 19. )
Rh yndacus, a river of Asia Minor, rising in Mount
Temnus, on the northern borders of Phrygia. Pliny
states, that the Rhyndacus was formerly called Lycus,
and took its source in the lake Antynia, near Miletop-
olis; that it received the Macestus and other rivers,
and separated the province of Asia from Bithynia.
(Plin. , 5,32. ) His account, though quite at variance
with that of Strabo, is confirmed by other writers, and
especially by modern geographers, so that he alone is
to be followed. (Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 1, p. 50. )
Riooduluh, a town of Gallia Belgica, in the terri-
tory of the Treveri, and northeast of Augusta Trevero-
rum. It lay on the river Mosella, and answers to the
jiodern Real. [Toe. , Hist. , i, 71. )
Roaico or RobIgus, a deity of the Romans, wor-
shipped to avert mildew. The Robigalia were cele-
brated on the 25th of April, just before the Floralia.
(Ovid, Fast, i, 911. -^Phny, 18, i. -- TertuU. ad
Gent. , 16, 25. )
Rout, the celebrated capital of Italy and of the Ro-
man empire, situate on the Tiber, below the junction
of that river with the Anio. The history of the impe-
rial city is identified with that of the empire itself, and
may be found scattered under various heads throughout
the present volume. A much more interesting subject
of inquiry is that which relates to the authenticity
of the earlier Roman history, as it has been handed
down to us by the Romans themselves. The re-
searches of modern scholars have here produced the
most surprising results, and especially those of the
celebrated Niebuhr. I if what may be called, however,
the work of demolition, even Niebuhr himself appears
to have had several predecessors. The sceptical tem-
per of Baylc did not suffer him to acquiesce in a nar-
rative so open to a reasonable incredulity as the early
history of Rome. Beaufort's treatise on the " Uncer-
tainty of the Roman History," though it did notgo to
the bottom of the matter, was sufficiently convincing
to all persons who were not unwilling to be convinced.
His views are often false; but his arguments utterly
destroyed the credit of the received stories. Hooke
? ? endeavoured to refute him; but all that he could make
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? ROMA.
ROMA.
n 'he process, of encroaching upon what is sound, or
looting out what is wholesome and nutritious. Let it
be granted that the rape of the Sabine women is a fic-
tion, it may still be true that the Sabines became, at
one time, an element in the population of Home.
Though it be uncertain, with respect to the Horatii and
Curiatii, which belonged to Rome and which to Alba,
<<e may still believe that the latter city sank beneath
;ts more powerful rival. The elder Tarquin's reign
does not cease to be an historical fact, because we hear
an absurd story of an eagle uncovering his head on his
irrival at the gates of Rome. The constitution said to
hive been formed by Servius Tullius may have been
the result of longer experience and more practical wis-
dom than falls to the lot of a single reign; but it was
such t constitution as Rome did receive, and which it
was afterward enabled to bring to a state of greater per-
fection than any ancient form of government that we
IT; acquainted with. Suppose the story of Lucretia
false, we cannot deny that monarchy was abolished at
Rome, and made way for consular authority about the
time that Livy pretends, though that historian may
be wrong in giving Valerius Publicola, and not Hora-
tiu3 Barhatus, as a colleague to Brutus. (Polyb. , 2,
J3. ) The valour of Horatius Codes, and the forti-
tude of Mutius Scaevola, may be left to the admiration
of schoolboys; but the siege of Rome by Porsenna is
no idle tale invented for their amusement, though it
should he proved that the consequences of that event
were not so honourable to the Romans as Livy has
ebosen to represent them. (Tacit. , 3, 72. --Ptin. , 34,
Ml It is a disputed point whether two or five tribunes
of the people were elected at first; but does that doubt
invalidate the fact of the secession to the Mons Sa-
fer' Cancel three fourths of the Roman victories and
triumphs over the ^? qui and Volsci, will it be less
true that the former were nearly destroyed, the latter
completely subjugated 1 Say it was gold, and not the
valour of her dictator and his troops, which delivered
Rome from the Gauls; she may surely boast of having
lived to revenge herself on the barbarian foe, and of
having, by a hundred triumphs, blotted out the stain of
that transaction, and of the shameful rout on the banks
of ihe Allia. In short, though we may sometimes
pause when reading the early annals of Rome, and
hesitate what judgment to form on many of the events
which they record, there are landmarks enough to pre-
vent us from straying far from our course, and to lead us
on safely to the terra firma of her history. But we have
not the same assistance for tracing our way, nor the
sime guarantees to certify us that we are treading in the
right path, when we come to explore the truth of the
accounts on which the origin of Rome, and the actions
of its reputed founder, must mainly depend for their
credibility. On the contrary, after reading all that
Plutarch has said in the opening of his life of Romu-
lus, and all that Dionysius has collected on the sub-
ject, it is impossible not to feel convinced that the re-
ceived story of the foundation of Rome rests on very
qoestionable grounds. Here it is not merely the more
undisguised appearance of fiction, or the greater fre-
quency of the marvellous, which is calculated to awa-
ken suspicion; but it is the inconsistency and improb-
ability of ? . '-. ? whole, as an attempt to explain the first
rise and progress of unquestionably the most interest-
ing city of antiquity, which ought to startle the mind
in. ; revch the judgment of the philosopher and the
? ? critic. It is not also because these tales are to be
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? ROMA.
-r;n legend preserved by Plutarch, that Romus, ki
of the Latins, expelled the Tyrrhenians. (Pint. , Vil.
Rom. ) Such a conquest would give rise to the tradi-
tion that Rome was founded as a colony from Alba.
Palatium, the settlement on the Palatine Hill, probably
took its name from Palatium, a town of the Oscan
Aborigines, 01. the declivity of the Apennines. (Dim.
Hal. , 1, 14. )
2. Original lite, and subsequent growth of Rome.
AH traditions agree, that the original site of Rome
was on the Palatine, whether they ascribe its founda-
tion to Evander or to Romulus. The steepness of
the sides of the hill would be its natural defence; and
an one quarter it was still farther strengthened by a
swamp which lay between the hill and river, which
was afterward drained and called the Velabrum. In
the course of time dwellings sprung up around the
foot of the hill; but the Palatine must still have re-
mained the citadel of the growing town; just as at
Athens that which was the original city (iroAff) be-
came eventually the Acropolis (uxpoiro/Ur). These
suburbs were enclosed with a line, probably a rude
fortification, which the learning of Tacitus enabled
him to trace, and which he calls the pomnninn of
Romulus. (Ann , 12, 24. ) It ran under three sides
of the hill: the fourth side was occupied by the swamp
just mentioned, where ? . '. was neither needful nor pos-
sible to carry a wall. The ancient city comprised
within this outline, or, possibly, only the city on the
summit of the hill, was called by Roman antiquaries
the " Square Rome" (Roma Quadra ta. -- Enniug, ap.
Fcst. , a. r. Quadrnla Roma. -- Plut. , Vit. Rom. --
Dio Cass. , fragm. -- Dion. Hal. , 1, 88). There is
reason to suppose, that some at least of the adjacent
hills were the seat of similar settlements. The le-
gend of the twin brothers, Romans and Remus, ap-
pears to have arisen from the proximity to Rome of
a kindred town called Remoria, either on the Aven-
tine, or on an eminence somewhat "more distant to-
wards the sea. (Dion. Hal. , 1, 85. --Niebuhr, Rom.
Hilt. , vol. 1, note 618. )--The first enlargement of
Rome seems to have been effected by the addition of
the Caelian Hill, which, as we shall presently show, was
probably occupied by a different tribe from the people
of the Palatine. Dionysius speaks of Romulus as
holding both the Palatine and the Ctelian Mount (2,
? 50). The next addition to the city was the Esqui-
line Hill. The festival of Septimontium preserved
the memory of a time when Rome included only Pa-
tatium, with its adjacent regions, Velia, Cermalus, and
Fagutal; the Cselian Hill; and Oppius and Cispius,
the two summits of the Esquilinc. (Festus, 3. T. Sep-
timontium. --Niebuhr, vol. 1, p. 382. ) The Capito-
line, Quirinal, and Viminal Hills were not yet com-
prehended in the pomcerium: the Aventine was al-
ways excluded from the hallowed boundary, even when
it was substantially a part of the city. Thus we see
that the notion that Rome was built on seven hills,
was fitted originally to circumstances different from
those to which it was afterward applied. --The Quirinal
and Capitoline Hills seem to have been the seat of a
Sabine settlement, distinct from the Rome on the
Palatine, and in early times even hostile to it. The
most poetical incident in the legend of Romulus, the
rape of the Sabine virgins, involves an historical mean-
ing. It appears to refer to a time when the Romans
did not possess the right of intermarriage with some
neighbouring Sabine states, and sought to extort it by
? ? force of arms. (Niebuhr, vol. 1, p. 286. ) By the
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? ROMA.
ROMA.
people had its own king and its own senate; and tliey
only met to confer upon matters of common interest.
Afterward one king was acknowledged as the common
chief of tho united people: the two senates became
one body, and consulted for the welfare of the whole
stale: the national names of Romans and Quirites
were extended indiffercr'. ly to both divisions of the
citizens; and they were no longer distinguished as
nations, but only as tribes of the same people, under
the denomination of Ramnes and Titienses.
3. Early Roman Tribe*.
We are told that the people of Rome were divided
into three tribes; and, besides the Ramnes and Titi-
enses, a third tribe appears, who are called Luceres.
That they were looked upon as an important element
in the state, is manifest from the legend that Roma
was the daughter of Italus and Luceria. As the dis-
tinction of the two former tribes arose from the dif-
ference of their national origin, so we may conclude
that the Luceres were a people of a third race, and
united either by confederacy or subjection with the
other two. The origin of the Titienses is distinctly
marked: they were Sabincs. That of the first tribe,
the Ramnes, the genuine Romans of the Palatiqe, is
not so clear; but it seems probable that they belonged
to the Opican stock of the Latins. From these cir-
cumstances we might reasonably conjecture that the
third tribe, the Luceres, were the remsins of a people
of the Pelasgian race. They are always enumerated
in the third place, as the Ramnes are in the first, which
accords well with the idea that they were a conquered
and subject class. But there is evidence that points
more directly to this conclusion. Though the origin
of the Luceres was accounted uncertain by the Ro-
man historians, so that Livy does not venture to assign
a cause for their name (Lie, 1, 13), yet it was gen-
erally supposed to be derived from the Etruscan Lu-
cumo, who had fought with Romulus against Tatius.
(Varro, L. L. , 4, 9. -- Cic. , Repub. , 2, B. -- Propert. ,
4, 1, 29. )- Now " Lucumo" was only a title mista-
ken for a proper name, so that nothing could be de-
rived from it, even if the incidents of the legend were
received as historical facts. Moreover, the Etruscans,
in the infancy of Rome, had not penetrated so far to
the south. But the story becomes clear, if we admit
that we have here the customary confusion between
the Etruscans and Tyrrhenians, and that the allies of
the Ramnes of the Palatine were a Tyrrhenian or Pe-
lasgian people, a portion of the old inhabitants of La-
tum. Dionysius adds a circumstance to the legend
which confirms this hypothesis. He says that Lucu-
mo brought his Tyrrhenians from the city Solonium
(2, 37). . No such city is known to have existed; but
the level tract on the seacoast south of the Tiber,
lying between Rome on the one hand, and Laurentum
and Lavinium on the other, was called the Solonian
plain. This region Dionysius probably found men-
tioned: in some annals: this would assuredly be the
seat of Pelasgian Latins; and in this very direction
we are expressly told that the early dominion of Rome
extended most widely. (Niebuhr, vol. 1, note 739. )
The Tyrrhenian or Pelasgian origin of the Luceres
may bo deduced yet -lore clearly from the legend
which described their leader as Lucerus, king of Ar-
dea. (Festus, s. v. Luccrenses. ) If we inquire for
toe town or chief settlement of the Luceres, we shall
find reason to conjecture that it was upon the Caelian
? ? Hill. We have seen that, according to one tradition,
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? ROMA.
lependawt on individuals of the Patrician body, should
not appear in the supreme council of the state. The
Seat distinction which demands our attention is this,
at the Plebeians were still more certainly excluded
f'oia it. Even when the Plebeian state had grown up
to such magnitude and importance that it had its pe-
culiar magistrates, and was become a chief element
in the constitution of the commonwealth, even then
the Comitia Curiata were exclusively Patrician, and
the Plebeians had no part in them. The fact was, that
the distribution of the people into tribes and curiae,
and the still farther division into Gentes, or Houses,
had respect only to the original stock of the nation;
and this original stock kept itself distinct from the
body of new citizens, which was added by conquest,
or sprung up insensibly from other causes. The Cli-
ents, inasmuch as they were attached to individual
Patricians, were attached to the Gentcs; and so may
be considered, in this sense, as included in the greater
divisions of curias and tribes; although it is manifest
that they could not appear as members of the curia;,
when these were called together as the component
parts of the sovereign popular assembly. But the
Plebeians grew up as a aeparate body by the side of
the original Patrician citizens, and were never incor-
porated in their peculiar divisions. They were not
members of the Gentes, or of the curie, or of the three
tribes; consequently they had no share in the Comi-
tia Curiata; and this assembly, in which resided the
supreme power of the ctate, was, as we have already
said, exclusively Patrician. It is needless to insist
upon the importance of this distinction to a right view
of the constitution, and of its successive changes;
md, indeed, to a right notion of the whole internal
history, which, for more than two centuries, is made up
of the struggles of the Patrician and Plebeian orders.
Yet this distinction was overlooked by all the writers
on Roman history; and they suffered themselves to
ha misled by the superficial theory of Dionysius, who
(presented the government of Rome as thoroughly
letnocratica! from the very foundation of the city, and
conceived the public assembly to be composed of the
whole male population of the state, Vith the exception
if household slaves.
5. Of the Patrician Gentes or Houses.
The Patrician citizens of Rome were all compre-
hended in certain bodies which were called Gentes
(Kins or Houses). The word Kin would be the most
exact translation of Gens; but as this word is nearly
obsolete, except in particular phrases, and as the trans-
lators of Niebuhr have rendered Gens by House, the
latter term is now generally adopted. (Philol. Muse-
um, No 2, p. 348. ) The members of the same Gens
were called Gentiles. In each house were contained
several distinct families. It is probable that these
families were originally single households; but where
'. heir numbers increased, they became families in the
. vider acceptation of the term. From the etymology
of the term Gens, it is evident that a connexion by
birth and kindred was held to subsist among all the
members of the same house. The name of the house
seems always to have been derived from some mythic
hero; and intthe popular belief, the hero from whom
the house was named was regarded as a common an-
cestor. Thus the Julian house was regarded as the
progeny of Julus, the son of . (Eneas {Dion. Hal. , I, 70.
--Virg-% IRn. , 6, 789); and the Valerian house was
Jerived from Volesus, a Sabine warrior, and compan-
? ? ion of Tatius. (Dion. Hal. , 2, 46. ) Even those
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? ROM
ROMULUS.
0 Kindred of tne Gentile; the Genles were really, in
man- cases, composed of families which had no na-
tional consanguinity, but had been arbitrarily arranged
in them, will appear less strange when we remember
mat not only the Duinhcicasala, but the meanest fol-
lowers of a Highland clan, claim kindred with their
chief, although, in many cases, it may be shown, by
the strictest historical evidence, that the clief and his
blood relations are of an entirely different race from
the rest of the clan. The clansmen are Gaels or Celts,
while the chief is not unfrequenlly of Norman descent.
(Maiden's Roman History, p. 123, seqq. )
Romdlio^, a patronymic given to the Roman peo-
ple from Romulus, their first king, and the founder of
the city. (Virg. , JEn. , 8, 638. )
Romulus, according to the old poetic legend, was the
son of Mars and Ilia or Rea Silvia, daughter of Numitor,
and was born at the same birth with Remus. Amulius,
who had usurped the throne of Alba, in defiance of the
right of his elder brother Numitor, ordered the infants
to be thrown into the Tiber, and their mother to be
buried alive, the doom of a vestal virgin who violated
her vow of chastity. The river happened at that time
to have overflowed its banks, so that the two infants
were not carried into the middle of the stream, but
drifted along the margin, till the basket which contain-
ed them became entangled in the roots of a wild vine
at the foot of the Palatine Hill. At this time a she-
wolf, coming down to the river to drink, suckled the
infants, and carried them to her den among the thickets
hard by. Here they were found by Faustulus, the king's
herdsman, who took them home to his wife Laurentia,
by whom they were carefully nursed, and named Romu-
lus and Remus. The two youths grew up, employed in
the labours, the sports, and the perils of the pastoral oc-
cupation of their foster-father. Rut, like the two sons
cf Cymbcline, their royal blood could not be quite con-
cealed. Their superior mien, courage, and abilities
soon acquired for them a decided superiority over
their young compeers, and they became leaders of the
youthful herdsmen in their contests with robbers or with
rivals. Having quarrelled with the herdsmen of Nu-
mitor, whose flocks were accustomed to graze on the
neighbouring hill Avenlinus, Remus fell into an am-
buscade, and was dragged before Numitor to be pun-
ished. While Numitor, struck with the noble bearing
of the youth, and influenced by the secret stirrings of
nature within, was hesitating what punishment to in-
flict, Romulus, accompanied by Faustulus, hastened to
. he rescue of Remus. On their arrival at Alba, the
secret of their origin was discovered, and a plan- was
speedily organized for the expulsion of Amulius, and
the restoration of their grandfather Numitor to his
throne. This was soon accomplished; but the twin-
brothers felt little disposition to remain in a subordi-
nate position at Alba, after the enjoyment of the rude
liberty and power to which they had been accustomed
among their native hills. They therefore requested
from their grandfather permission to build a city on
the banks of the Tiber, where their lives had been so
miraculously preserved. Scarcely had this permission
been granted, when a contest arose between the two
brothers respecting the site, the name, and the sover-
eignty o( the city which they were about to found.
Romulus wished it to be built on the Palatine Hill, and
? to be called by his name; Remus preferred the Aven-
tine, and his own name. To terminate their dispute
? ? amicably, they agreed to refer it to the decision of the
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? ROMULUS.
RO <<
->>jiu>>, and swept away the Sabincs from the gate.
The bloody struggle was renewed during several suc-
cessive days, with various fortune and great mutual
slaughter. At length,. the Sabine women who had
been carried away, and who were now reconciled to
their fate, rushed with loud outcries between the com-
batants, imploring their husbands and their fathers to
spare on each sido those who were now equally dear.
Both parties paused; a conference began, a peace was
concluded, and a treaty framed, by which tho two na-
tions were united into one, and Romulus and Tatius
Became the joint sovereigns of the united people. But,
though united, each nation continued to be governed by
its own king and senate. During the double sway of
Romulus and Tatius, a war was undertaken against
the Latin town of Cameria, which was reduced and
made a Roman colony, an 1 its people Were admitted
into the Roman state, as had been done with those
whom Romulus previously subdued. Tatius was soon
afterward slain by the people of Laurentum, because
be had refused to do them justice against his kinsmen,
who had violated tbo laws of nations by insulting their
ambassadors. The death of Tatius left Romulus sole
monarch of Rome. He was soon engaged in a war
with Fidena? . a Tuscan settlement on the banks of the
Tiber. This people he likewise overcame, and placed
in the city a Roman colony. This war, extending the
Roman frontier, led to a hostile collision with Veii, in
which he was also successful, and deprived Veii, at
that time one of the most powerful cities of Ktruria,
of a large portion of its territories, though he found that
the city itself was too strong to be taken. The reign
of Romulus now drew near its close. One day,
while holding a military muster or review of his army,
on a plain near the Lake Capra, the sky was suddenly
overcast with thick darkness, and a dreadful tempest
of thunder and lightning arose. The people fled in
dismay; and, when the storm abated, Romulus, over
whose head it had raged most fiercely, was nowhere
to be seen. A rumour was circulated, that, during the
lempest, he had been carried to heaven by his father,
the god Mars. This opinion was speedily confirmed
by the report of Julius Proculus, who declared that,
as he was returning by night from Alba to Rome,
Romulus appeared unto him in a form of more than
mortal majesty, and bade him go and tell the Romans
that Rome was destined by the gods to be the chief
city of the earth; that human power should never be
able to withstand her people ; and that he himself would
be their guardian god Quirinus. (Plut. , Vit. Rom--
Iav. , 1, 4, neqq. -- Dion. HaL, cec. )--So terminates
what may be termed the legend of Romulus, the- found-
er and first king of Rome. That such an individual
. lever exisltd is now very generally allowed, and, of
course, the whole narrative is entirely fabulous. As
to Romulus were ascribed all those civil and military
institutions of the Romans which were handed down
by immemjrial tradition; those customs of the nation
to which lio definite origin could be assigned; so to
Numa were attributed all the ordinances and establish-
ments of the national religion. As the idea of the an-
cient polity was imbodied under the name of Romu-
lus, so was the idea of the national religion under the
name of Numa. The whole story of Romulus, from
the violation of his vestal mother by Mars, till the end
of his life, when he is borne away in clouds and dark-
ness by his divine parent, is essentially poetical. In
? ? this, as in other cases, the poetical and imaginative
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? RUB
RUG
Ksxi'. is, a native ol Ameria, defended by Cicer. in the
first public or criminal '. rial in which that oratoi spoke.
The father of Roscius had two mortal enemies, of his
own name and district. During the proscriptions of
Sylia, he was assassinated one evening while return-
ing home from supper; and on the pretence that he
was in the list of the proscribed, his estate was pur-
chased for a mere nominal price by Chrysogonus, a
favourite slave, to whom Sylla had given freedom, and
whom he had permitted to buy the properly of Koscius
as a forfeiture. Part of the valuable lands thus ac-
quired was made ufer by Chrysogonus to the Roscii.
These new proprietors, in order to secure themselves
in the possession, hired one Erucius, an informer and
prosecutor by profession, to charge the son with the
murder of his father, and they, at the same time, sub-
orned witnesses, in order to convict him of the parri-
cide. Cicero succeeded in obtaining his acquittal,
and was highly applauded by the whole city for his
courage in espousing a cause so well calculated to
give offence to Sylla, then in the height of his power.
The oration delivered on this occasion is still extant,
and must not be confounded with another that has
also come down to us in defence of the tragedian
Roscius, and which involved merely a question of
civil right. (Cie. , pro Rote. Amer. )--III. Otho.
(Vid. Otho II. )
Rotomaocs, a city of Gallia Lugdunensls, at a la-
ter period the capital of Lugdunensis Sccunda. Now
Rouen. (Ptol. )
Roxana, a Bactrian female, remarkable for her beau-
ty. She was the daughter of Oxyartes, commander
of the Sogdian rock for Darius; and, on the reduction
of this stronghold by Alexander, became the wife of
the conqueror. At the death of the monarch she was
enceinte, and was subsequently delivered of a son,
who received the name of Alexander -Egus, and who
was acknowledged as king along with Philip Aridaeus.
Roxana having become jealous of the authority of
Statira, the other wife of Alexander, destroyed her by
the aid of Perdiccas; but she herself was afterward
shut up in Amphipolis, and put to death by Cassander.
(P[ut. , Vtt. AUx. --Quint. Curl. , 8, 4. --Id. , 10, 6. --
Justin, 12, 15, &. c. )
Roxolani. Vid. Rhoxolani.
Rubeas Promontokium, a promontory mentioned
by Pylheas (Plin. , 4, 13), and supposed by many to
be the same with the North Cape, but shown by Man-
ner! to correspond rather to the northern extremity of
Curland. (Geogr.
etsed from danger, the Rhodians proceeded to fulfil
their promises, and reward those who had served them
well. Fit honours were bestowed upon the bravest
combatants among the free inhabitants, and freedom,
with citizenship, given to such of the slaves as had
deserved it. Statues were erected to Ptolemy, Ly-
fimachus, and Cassander, all of whom had assisted
them largely with provisions. To Ptolemy, whose
benefits had been by far the most conspicuous, more
extravagant honours were assigned. The oracle of
Ammon was consulted, to learn whether the Rhodians
might not be allowed to worship him as a god; and,
permission being given, a temple was actually erected
in his honour. Such instances had already occurred in
toe case of Alexander, and in that of Antigonus and
Demetrius at Athens ; but it must be remembered that
inch a practice would not bear, in Grecian eyes, the
? me unnatural and impious character which it does
ID ours, since the step was easy from hero-worship,
which had long formed an important part of their re-
ligion, to the adoration of distinguished men, even
while alive (Hist, of Greece, p. 161, scqq. -- Lilir.
Vt. Knowl. )--After mingling more or less in the vari-
ous collisions which ensued between the successors of
Alexander and their respective descendants, Rhodes
tided with the Romans, and became a valuable auxili-
ary to the rising power. In return for the important
wrrices thus rendered, it received from its new friends
the territories of Lycia and Caria; but suspicion and
distrust eventually arose, the Rhodians were deprived
of their possessions in Asia, and at last, in the reign
of Vespasian, of their freedom, and with it of the right
they had so long enjoyed of being governed by their
own laws. A new province was formed, consisting
of the islands near the coast, cf which Rhodes was the
capital, and the island henceforth became an integral
part of the Roman empire, and shared in its various
vicissitudes. In a later age, it fell into the hands'of
the knights of St. John, after they had lost possession
of Palestine, A. D. 1309. In 1480 they repelled an
ittack of the Turks, but in 1522 were compelled to
surrender the island to Soliman II. The population
ii differently estimated: Savary makes it 36,500, of
which about one third are Greeks, with an archbishop.
The capital, Rhodes, has a population of about 6000
Turks. The suburb, Ncochcrio, is inhabited by 3000
Greeks, who are not permitted to reside within the
city. The town is surrounded with three walls and a
double ditch, and is considered by the Turks as im-
pregnabl^. It has two fine harbours, separated only
by a mole. --Rhodes was celebrated for its Colossus, an
account of which will be found elsewhere. (Yid. Co-
lossus. ) Its maritime laws were also in high repute,
snd were adopted as the basis of marine law on all the
? ? coasts of the Mediterranean. Their main principles
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? ROM
ROrrtA.
one and th<< Carpathian Mountains; that in A. U. 68
tbev surprised Mcesia; in 166 carried on war against
the' Marcomanni, and in 270 were numbered among
Ibe enemies over whom Aurelian triumphed. During
(be first three centuries they occupied the southern
parts of Poland, Red Russia, and Kiovia, the very
? eats possessed by the Russians of the ninth century.
Jornandes assigns them the saint region; and the
anonymous geographer of Ravenna fixes them in Li-
thuania and the neighbouring countries. These au-
thorities are to us decisive that the Rhoxaiani and the
Russians are the same people; but, if any doubt re-
mained, it would be removed by the concurrent tes-
timony of the native chronicles, the Polish traditions,
the Byzantine historians, and the Icelandic sagas, all
of which are unanimous in applying the term Russian
to the inhabitants of the countries formerly possessed
by the Rhoxaiani. Hence, as they were the most cel-
ebrated of the original tribes, that term, by synecdoche,
became generic. (Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 5,
p. 151, SCIjq. )
Rhutkni or Rutheni, a people of Gallia Aqui-
tanica, in Narbonensis Prima. The territory was sit-
uate on either side of the Tarnis or Tarn. Scgodu-
num, now Rodcz, was their chief town. (Cos , IS. G. ,
1, l. --Flin. , 4, 19. )
Rh yndacus, a river of Asia Minor, rising in Mount
Temnus, on the northern borders of Phrygia. Pliny
states, that the Rhyndacus was formerly called Lycus,
and took its source in the lake Antynia, near Miletop-
olis; that it received the Macestus and other rivers,
and separated the province of Asia from Bithynia.
(Plin. , 5,32. ) His account, though quite at variance
with that of Strabo, is confirmed by other writers, and
especially by modern geographers, so that he alone is
to be followed. (Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 1, p. 50. )
Riooduluh, a town of Gallia Belgica, in the terri-
tory of the Treveri, and northeast of Augusta Trevero-
rum. It lay on the river Mosella, and answers to the
jiodern Real. [Toe. , Hist. , i, 71. )
Roaico or RobIgus, a deity of the Romans, wor-
shipped to avert mildew. The Robigalia were cele-
brated on the 25th of April, just before the Floralia.
(Ovid, Fast, i, 911. -^Phny, 18, i. -- TertuU. ad
Gent. , 16, 25. )
Rout, the celebrated capital of Italy and of the Ro-
man empire, situate on the Tiber, below the junction
of that river with the Anio. The history of the impe-
rial city is identified with that of the empire itself, and
may be found scattered under various heads throughout
the present volume. A much more interesting subject
of inquiry is that which relates to the authenticity
of the earlier Roman history, as it has been handed
down to us by the Romans themselves. The re-
searches of modern scholars have here produced the
most surprising results, and especially those of the
celebrated Niebuhr. I if what may be called, however,
the work of demolition, even Niebuhr himself appears
to have had several predecessors. The sceptical tem-
per of Baylc did not suffer him to acquiesce in a nar-
rative so open to a reasonable incredulity as the early
history of Rome. Beaufort's treatise on the " Uncer-
tainty of the Roman History," though it did notgo to
the bottom of the matter, was sufficiently convincing
to all persons who were not unwilling to be convinced.
His views are often false; but his arguments utterly
destroyed the credit of the received stories. Hooke
? ? endeavoured to refute him; but all that he could make
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? ROMA.
ROMA.
n 'he process, of encroaching upon what is sound, or
looting out what is wholesome and nutritious. Let it
be granted that the rape of the Sabine women is a fic-
tion, it may still be true that the Sabines became, at
one time, an element in the population of Home.
Though it be uncertain, with respect to the Horatii and
Curiatii, which belonged to Rome and which to Alba,
<<e may still believe that the latter city sank beneath
;ts more powerful rival. The elder Tarquin's reign
does not cease to be an historical fact, because we hear
an absurd story of an eagle uncovering his head on his
irrival at the gates of Rome. The constitution said to
hive been formed by Servius Tullius may have been
the result of longer experience and more practical wis-
dom than falls to the lot of a single reign; but it was
such t constitution as Rome did receive, and which it
was afterward enabled to bring to a state of greater per-
fection than any ancient form of government that we
IT; acquainted with. Suppose the story of Lucretia
false, we cannot deny that monarchy was abolished at
Rome, and made way for consular authority about the
time that Livy pretends, though that historian may
be wrong in giving Valerius Publicola, and not Hora-
tiu3 Barhatus, as a colleague to Brutus. (Polyb. , 2,
J3. ) The valour of Horatius Codes, and the forti-
tude of Mutius Scaevola, may be left to the admiration
of schoolboys; but the siege of Rome by Porsenna is
no idle tale invented for their amusement, though it
should he proved that the consequences of that event
were not so honourable to the Romans as Livy has
ebosen to represent them. (Tacit. , 3, 72. --Ptin. , 34,
Ml It is a disputed point whether two or five tribunes
of the people were elected at first; but does that doubt
invalidate the fact of the secession to the Mons Sa-
fer' Cancel three fourths of the Roman victories and
triumphs over the ^? qui and Volsci, will it be less
true that the former were nearly destroyed, the latter
completely subjugated 1 Say it was gold, and not the
valour of her dictator and his troops, which delivered
Rome from the Gauls; she may surely boast of having
lived to revenge herself on the barbarian foe, and of
having, by a hundred triumphs, blotted out the stain of
that transaction, and of the shameful rout on the banks
of ihe Allia. In short, though we may sometimes
pause when reading the early annals of Rome, and
hesitate what judgment to form on many of the events
which they record, there are landmarks enough to pre-
vent us from straying far from our course, and to lead us
on safely to the terra firma of her history. But we have
not the same assistance for tracing our way, nor the
sime guarantees to certify us that we are treading in the
right path, when we come to explore the truth of the
accounts on which the origin of Rome, and the actions
of its reputed founder, must mainly depend for their
credibility. On the contrary, after reading all that
Plutarch has said in the opening of his life of Romu-
lus, and all that Dionysius has collected on the sub-
ject, it is impossible not to feel convinced that the re-
ceived story of the foundation of Rome rests on very
qoestionable grounds. Here it is not merely the more
undisguised appearance of fiction, or the greater fre-
quency of the marvellous, which is calculated to awa-
ken suspicion; but it is the inconsistency and improb-
ability of ? . '-. ? whole, as an attempt to explain the first
rise and progress of unquestionably the most interest-
ing city of antiquity, which ought to startle the mind
in. ; revch the judgment of the philosopher and the
? ? critic. It is not also because these tales are to be
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? ROMA.
-r;n legend preserved by Plutarch, that Romus, ki
of the Latins, expelled the Tyrrhenians. (Pint. , Vil.
Rom. ) Such a conquest would give rise to the tradi-
tion that Rome was founded as a colony from Alba.
Palatium, the settlement on the Palatine Hill, probably
took its name from Palatium, a town of the Oscan
Aborigines, 01. the declivity of the Apennines. (Dim.
Hal. , 1, 14. )
2. Original lite, and subsequent growth of Rome.
AH traditions agree, that the original site of Rome
was on the Palatine, whether they ascribe its founda-
tion to Evander or to Romulus. The steepness of
the sides of the hill would be its natural defence; and
an one quarter it was still farther strengthened by a
swamp which lay between the hill and river, which
was afterward drained and called the Velabrum. In
the course of time dwellings sprung up around the
foot of the hill; but the Palatine must still have re-
mained the citadel of the growing town; just as at
Athens that which was the original city (iroAff) be-
came eventually the Acropolis (uxpoiro/Ur). These
suburbs were enclosed with a line, probably a rude
fortification, which the learning of Tacitus enabled
him to trace, and which he calls the pomnninn of
Romulus. (Ann , 12, 24. ) It ran under three sides
of the hill: the fourth side was occupied by the swamp
just mentioned, where ? . '. was neither needful nor pos-
sible to carry a wall. The ancient city comprised
within this outline, or, possibly, only the city on the
summit of the hill, was called by Roman antiquaries
the " Square Rome" (Roma Quadra ta. -- Enniug, ap.
Fcst. , a. r. Quadrnla Roma. -- Plut. , Vit. Rom. --
Dio Cass. , fragm. -- Dion. Hal. , 1, 88). There is
reason to suppose, that some at least of the adjacent
hills were the seat of similar settlements. The le-
gend of the twin brothers, Romans and Remus, ap-
pears to have arisen from the proximity to Rome of
a kindred town called Remoria, either on the Aven-
tine, or on an eminence somewhat "more distant to-
wards the sea. (Dion. Hal. , 1, 85. --Niebuhr, Rom.
Hilt. , vol. 1, note 618. )--The first enlargement of
Rome seems to have been effected by the addition of
the Caelian Hill, which, as we shall presently show, was
probably occupied by a different tribe from the people
of the Palatine. Dionysius speaks of Romulus as
holding both the Palatine and the Ctelian Mount (2,
? 50). The next addition to the city was the Esqui-
line Hill. The festival of Septimontium preserved
the memory of a time when Rome included only Pa-
tatium, with its adjacent regions, Velia, Cermalus, and
Fagutal; the Cselian Hill; and Oppius and Cispius,
the two summits of the Esquilinc. (Festus, 3. T. Sep-
timontium. --Niebuhr, vol. 1, p. 382. ) The Capito-
line, Quirinal, and Viminal Hills were not yet com-
prehended in the pomcerium: the Aventine was al-
ways excluded from the hallowed boundary, even when
it was substantially a part of the city. Thus we see
that the notion that Rome was built on seven hills,
was fitted originally to circumstances different from
those to which it was afterward applied. --The Quirinal
and Capitoline Hills seem to have been the seat of a
Sabine settlement, distinct from the Rome on the
Palatine, and in early times even hostile to it. The
most poetical incident in the legend of Romulus, the
rape of the Sabine virgins, involves an historical mean-
ing. It appears to refer to a time when the Romans
did not possess the right of intermarriage with some
neighbouring Sabine states, and sought to extort it by
? ? force of arms. (Niebuhr, vol. 1, p. 286. ) By the
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? ROMA.
ROMA.
people had its own king and its own senate; and tliey
only met to confer upon matters of common interest.
Afterward one king was acknowledged as the common
chief of tho united people: the two senates became
one body, and consulted for the welfare of the whole
stale: the national names of Romans and Quirites
were extended indiffercr'. ly to both divisions of the
citizens; and they were no longer distinguished as
nations, but only as tribes of the same people, under
the denomination of Ramnes and Titienses.
3. Early Roman Tribe*.
We are told that the people of Rome were divided
into three tribes; and, besides the Ramnes and Titi-
enses, a third tribe appears, who are called Luceres.
That they were looked upon as an important element
in the state, is manifest from the legend that Roma
was the daughter of Italus and Luceria. As the dis-
tinction of the two former tribes arose from the dif-
ference of their national origin, so we may conclude
that the Luceres were a people of a third race, and
united either by confederacy or subjection with the
other two. The origin of the Titienses is distinctly
marked: they were Sabincs. That of the first tribe,
the Ramnes, the genuine Romans of the Palatiqe, is
not so clear; but it seems probable that they belonged
to the Opican stock of the Latins. From these cir-
cumstances we might reasonably conjecture that the
third tribe, the Luceres, were the remsins of a people
of the Pelasgian race. They are always enumerated
in the third place, as the Ramnes are in the first, which
accords well with the idea that they were a conquered
and subject class. But there is evidence that points
more directly to this conclusion. Though the origin
of the Luceres was accounted uncertain by the Ro-
man historians, so that Livy does not venture to assign
a cause for their name (Lie, 1, 13), yet it was gen-
erally supposed to be derived from the Etruscan Lu-
cumo, who had fought with Romulus against Tatius.
(Varro, L. L. , 4, 9. -- Cic. , Repub. , 2, B. -- Propert. ,
4, 1, 29. )- Now " Lucumo" was only a title mista-
ken for a proper name, so that nothing could be de-
rived from it, even if the incidents of the legend were
received as historical facts. Moreover, the Etruscans,
in the infancy of Rome, had not penetrated so far to
the south. But the story becomes clear, if we admit
that we have here the customary confusion between
the Etruscans and Tyrrhenians, and that the allies of
the Ramnes of the Palatine were a Tyrrhenian or Pe-
lasgian people, a portion of the old inhabitants of La-
tum. Dionysius adds a circumstance to the legend
which confirms this hypothesis. He says that Lucu-
mo brought his Tyrrhenians from the city Solonium
(2, 37). . No such city is known to have existed; but
the level tract on the seacoast south of the Tiber,
lying between Rome on the one hand, and Laurentum
and Lavinium on the other, was called the Solonian
plain. This region Dionysius probably found men-
tioned: in some annals: this would assuredly be the
seat of Pelasgian Latins; and in this very direction
we are expressly told that the early dominion of Rome
extended most widely. (Niebuhr, vol. 1, note 739. )
The Tyrrhenian or Pelasgian origin of the Luceres
may bo deduced yet -lore clearly from the legend
which described their leader as Lucerus, king of Ar-
dea. (Festus, s. v. Luccrenses. ) If we inquire for
toe town or chief settlement of the Luceres, we shall
find reason to conjecture that it was upon the Caelian
? ? Hill. We have seen that, according to one tradition,
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? ROMA.
lependawt on individuals of the Patrician body, should
not appear in the supreme council of the state. The
Seat distinction which demands our attention is this,
at the Plebeians were still more certainly excluded
f'oia it. Even when the Plebeian state had grown up
to such magnitude and importance that it had its pe-
culiar magistrates, and was become a chief element
in the constitution of the commonwealth, even then
the Comitia Curiata were exclusively Patrician, and
the Plebeians had no part in them. The fact was, that
the distribution of the people into tribes and curiae,
and the still farther division into Gentes, or Houses,
had respect only to the original stock of the nation;
and this original stock kept itself distinct from the
body of new citizens, which was added by conquest,
or sprung up insensibly from other causes. The Cli-
ents, inasmuch as they were attached to individual
Patricians, were attached to the Gentcs; and so may
be considered, in this sense, as included in the greater
divisions of curias and tribes; although it is manifest
that they could not appear as members of the curia;,
when these were called together as the component
parts of the sovereign popular assembly. But the
Plebeians grew up as a aeparate body by the side of
the original Patrician citizens, and were never incor-
porated in their peculiar divisions. They were not
members of the Gentes, or of the curie, or of the three
tribes; consequently they had no share in the Comi-
tia Curiata; and this assembly, in which resided the
supreme power of the ctate, was, as we have already
said, exclusively Patrician. It is needless to insist
upon the importance of this distinction to a right view
of the constitution, and of its successive changes;
md, indeed, to a right notion of the whole internal
history, which, for more than two centuries, is made up
of the struggles of the Patrician and Plebeian orders.
Yet this distinction was overlooked by all the writers
on Roman history; and they suffered themselves to
ha misled by the superficial theory of Dionysius, who
(presented the government of Rome as thoroughly
letnocratica! from the very foundation of the city, and
conceived the public assembly to be composed of the
whole male population of the state, Vith the exception
if household slaves.
5. Of the Patrician Gentes or Houses.
The Patrician citizens of Rome were all compre-
hended in certain bodies which were called Gentes
(Kins or Houses). The word Kin would be the most
exact translation of Gens; but as this word is nearly
obsolete, except in particular phrases, and as the trans-
lators of Niebuhr have rendered Gens by House, the
latter term is now generally adopted. (Philol. Muse-
um, No 2, p. 348. ) The members of the same Gens
were called Gentiles. In each house were contained
several distinct families. It is probable that these
families were originally single households; but where
'. heir numbers increased, they became families in the
. vider acceptation of the term. From the etymology
of the term Gens, it is evident that a connexion by
birth and kindred was held to subsist among all the
members of the same house. The name of the house
seems always to have been derived from some mythic
hero; and intthe popular belief, the hero from whom
the house was named was regarded as a common an-
cestor. Thus the Julian house was regarded as the
progeny of Julus, the son of . (Eneas {Dion. Hal. , I, 70.
--Virg-% IRn. , 6, 789); and the Valerian house was
Jerived from Volesus, a Sabine warrior, and compan-
? ? ion of Tatius. (Dion. Hal. , 2, 46. ) Even those
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? ROM
ROMULUS.
0 Kindred of tne Gentile; the Genles were really, in
man- cases, composed of families which had no na-
tional consanguinity, but had been arbitrarily arranged
in them, will appear less strange when we remember
mat not only the Duinhcicasala, but the meanest fol-
lowers of a Highland clan, claim kindred with their
chief, although, in many cases, it may be shown, by
the strictest historical evidence, that the clief and his
blood relations are of an entirely different race from
the rest of the clan. The clansmen are Gaels or Celts,
while the chief is not unfrequenlly of Norman descent.
(Maiden's Roman History, p. 123, seqq. )
Romdlio^, a patronymic given to the Roman peo-
ple from Romulus, their first king, and the founder of
the city. (Virg. , JEn. , 8, 638. )
Romulus, according to the old poetic legend, was the
son of Mars and Ilia or Rea Silvia, daughter of Numitor,
and was born at the same birth with Remus. Amulius,
who had usurped the throne of Alba, in defiance of the
right of his elder brother Numitor, ordered the infants
to be thrown into the Tiber, and their mother to be
buried alive, the doom of a vestal virgin who violated
her vow of chastity. The river happened at that time
to have overflowed its banks, so that the two infants
were not carried into the middle of the stream, but
drifted along the margin, till the basket which contain-
ed them became entangled in the roots of a wild vine
at the foot of the Palatine Hill. At this time a she-
wolf, coming down to the river to drink, suckled the
infants, and carried them to her den among the thickets
hard by. Here they were found by Faustulus, the king's
herdsman, who took them home to his wife Laurentia,
by whom they were carefully nursed, and named Romu-
lus and Remus. The two youths grew up, employed in
the labours, the sports, and the perils of the pastoral oc-
cupation of their foster-father. Rut, like the two sons
cf Cymbcline, their royal blood could not be quite con-
cealed. Their superior mien, courage, and abilities
soon acquired for them a decided superiority over
their young compeers, and they became leaders of the
youthful herdsmen in their contests with robbers or with
rivals. Having quarrelled with the herdsmen of Nu-
mitor, whose flocks were accustomed to graze on the
neighbouring hill Avenlinus, Remus fell into an am-
buscade, and was dragged before Numitor to be pun-
ished. While Numitor, struck with the noble bearing
of the youth, and influenced by the secret stirrings of
nature within, was hesitating what punishment to in-
flict, Romulus, accompanied by Faustulus, hastened to
. he rescue of Remus. On their arrival at Alba, the
secret of their origin was discovered, and a plan- was
speedily organized for the expulsion of Amulius, and
the restoration of their grandfather Numitor to his
throne. This was soon accomplished; but the twin-
brothers felt little disposition to remain in a subordi-
nate position at Alba, after the enjoyment of the rude
liberty and power to which they had been accustomed
among their native hills. They therefore requested
from their grandfather permission to build a city on
the banks of the Tiber, where their lives had been so
miraculously preserved. Scarcely had this permission
been granted, when a contest arose between the two
brothers respecting the site, the name, and the sover-
eignty o( the city which they were about to found.
Romulus wished it to be built on the Palatine Hill, and
? to be called by his name; Remus preferred the Aven-
tine, and his own name. To terminate their dispute
? ? amicably, they agreed to refer it to the decision of the
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? ROMULUS.
RO <<
->>jiu>>, and swept away the Sabincs from the gate.
The bloody struggle was renewed during several suc-
cessive days, with various fortune and great mutual
slaughter. At length,. the Sabine women who had
been carried away, and who were now reconciled to
their fate, rushed with loud outcries between the com-
batants, imploring their husbands and their fathers to
spare on each sido those who were now equally dear.
Both parties paused; a conference began, a peace was
concluded, and a treaty framed, by which tho two na-
tions were united into one, and Romulus and Tatius
Became the joint sovereigns of the united people. But,
though united, each nation continued to be governed by
its own king and senate. During the double sway of
Romulus and Tatius, a war was undertaken against
the Latin town of Cameria, which was reduced and
made a Roman colony, an 1 its people Were admitted
into the Roman state, as had been done with those
whom Romulus previously subdued. Tatius was soon
afterward slain by the people of Laurentum, because
be had refused to do them justice against his kinsmen,
who had violated tbo laws of nations by insulting their
ambassadors. The death of Tatius left Romulus sole
monarch of Rome. He was soon engaged in a war
with Fidena? . a Tuscan settlement on the banks of the
Tiber. This people he likewise overcame, and placed
in the city a Roman colony. This war, extending the
Roman frontier, led to a hostile collision with Veii, in
which he was also successful, and deprived Veii, at
that time one of the most powerful cities of Ktruria,
of a large portion of its territories, though he found that
the city itself was too strong to be taken. The reign
of Romulus now drew near its close. One day,
while holding a military muster or review of his army,
on a plain near the Lake Capra, the sky was suddenly
overcast with thick darkness, and a dreadful tempest
of thunder and lightning arose. The people fled in
dismay; and, when the storm abated, Romulus, over
whose head it had raged most fiercely, was nowhere
to be seen. A rumour was circulated, that, during the
lempest, he had been carried to heaven by his father,
the god Mars. This opinion was speedily confirmed
by the report of Julius Proculus, who declared that,
as he was returning by night from Alba to Rome,
Romulus appeared unto him in a form of more than
mortal majesty, and bade him go and tell the Romans
that Rome was destined by the gods to be the chief
city of the earth; that human power should never be
able to withstand her people ; and that he himself would
be their guardian god Quirinus. (Plut. , Vit. Rom--
Iav. , 1, 4, neqq. -- Dion. HaL, cec. )--So terminates
what may be termed the legend of Romulus, the- found-
er and first king of Rome. That such an individual
. lever exisltd is now very generally allowed, and, of
course, the whole narrative is entirely fabulous. As
to Romulus were ascribed all those civil and military
institutions of the Romans which were handed down
by immemjrial tradition; those customs of the nation
to which lio definite origin could be assigned; so to
Numa were attributed all the ordinances and establish-
ments of the national religion. As the idea of the an-
cient polity was imbodied under the name of Romu-
lus, so was the idea of the national religion under the
name of Numa. The whole story of Romulus, from
the violation of his vestal mother by Mars, till the end
of his life, when he is borne away in clouds and dark-
ness by his divine parent, is essentially poetical. In
? ? this, as in other cases, the poetical and imaginative
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? RUB
RUG
Ksxi'. is, a native ol Ameria, defended by Cicer. in the
first public or criminal '. rial in which that oratoi spoke.
The father of Roscius had two mortal enemies, of his
own name and district. During the proscriptions of
Sylia, he was assassinated one evening while return-
ing home from supper; and on the pretence that he
was in the list of the proscribed, his estate was pur-
chased for a mere nominal price by Chrysogonus, a
favourite slave, to whom Sylla had given freedom, and
whom he had permitted to buy the properly of Koscius
as a forfeiture. Part of the valuable lands thus ac-
quired was made ufer by Chrysogonus to the Roscii.
These new proprietors, in order to secure themselves
in the possession, hired one Erucius, an informer and
prosecutor by profession, to charge the son with the
murder of his father, and they, at the same time, sub-
orned witnesses, in order to convict him of the parri-
cide. Cicero succeeded in obtaining his acquittal,
and was highly applauded by the whole city for his
courage in espousing a cause so well calculated to
give offence to Sylla, then in the height of his power.
The oration delivered on this occasion is still extant,
and must not be confounded with another that has
also come down to us in defence of the tragedian
Roscius, and which involved merely a question of
civil right. (Cie. , pro Rote. Amer. )--III. Otho.
(Vid. Otho II. )
Rotomaocs, a city of Gallia Lugdunensls, at a la-
ter period the capital of Lugdunensis Sccunda. Now
Rouen. (Ptol. )
Roxana, a Bactrian female, remarkable for her beau-
ty. She was the daughter of Oxyartes, commander
of the Sogdian rock for Darius; and, on the reduction
of this stronghold by Alexander, became the wife of
the conqueror. At the death of the monarch she was
enceinte, and was subsequently delivered of a son,
who received the name of Alexander -Egus, and who
was acknowledged as king along with Philip Aridaeus.
Roxana having become jealous of the authority of
Statira, the other wife of Alexander, destroyed her by
the aid of Perdiccas; but she herself was afterward
shut up in Amphipolis, and put to death by Cassander.
(P[ut. , Vtt. AUx. --Quint. Curl. , 8, 4. --Id. , 10, 6. --
Justin, 12, 15, &. c. )
Roxolani. Vid. Rhoxolani.
Rubeas Promontokium, a promontory mentioned
by Pylheas (Plin. , 4, 13), and supposed by many to
be the same with the North Cape, but shown by Man-
ner! to correspond rather to the northern extremity of
Curland. (Geogr.
