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John H. Haaren’s Complete Famous Men Series. John H. Haaren
Читать онлайн.Название John H. Haaren’s Complete Famous Men Series
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781515444091
Автор произведения John H. Haaren
Жанр Документальная литература
Издательство Ingram
King Tatius agreed, and Tarpeia opened the gate. As the Sabines strode past the silly maiden each threw at her, not his bracelet, but his shield.
The shield then used was round or oblong and made of bronze, or of wicker-work or ox-hide covered with metal plates. It had two handles at the back, and the soldier held it with his left hand and arm so that he could move it up or down to save his head or breast from blows.
Tarpeia stood in amazement as the heavy shields began to pile up around her. One struck her, and then another and another. At last she fell to the ground and was soon crushed to death.
When the soldiers saw that Tarpeia was dead, they took up the shields they had thrown at her. Then they hurled her body from the top of a great rock that was near the gate she had opened. The rock was afterwards known as the Tarpeian Rock, and for hundreds of years the punishment for traitors in Rome was to be thrown from this rock.
As soon as they passed the fortress the Sabines ran down the Saturnian Hill to make an attack on Rome. But Romulus and his band of warriors bravely came out of the city to drive back the enemy. The two forces met in the valley, and then a fierce battle began.
But while they were fighting a crowd of excited women came running from the city. They were the Sabine women whom the Romans had carried off. Some of them had their infants in their arms and they rushed between the lines of soldiers and begged that the fight should stop.
“Do not fight any more for us,” they said to their fathers and brothers. “We love the Romans we have married. They have been good to us, and we do not wish to leave them.”
Of course, this settled the matter. Romulus had a talk with King Tatius, and they agreed not to fight any more. They also agreed that the two nations should be as one. They joined their governments and their armies, and each of the kings had equal power.
Soon afterwards King Tatius died. Then Romulus ruled alone for nearly forty years. He was a wise and just king, and did a great deal of good for his people. He established a body called the Senate, to help him in important affairs of government. It was called the Senate from senex, the Latin word for an old man. It was formed of the chiefs or old men of the earliest settlers in Rome. The descendants of those settlers were called patricians, or fathers, from the Latin word pater, a father. They were the nobles, or upper class, in Rome. The ordinary citizens were called plebeians, from plebs, the Latin word for the common people.
Romulus took care to train up the young Romans to be good soldiers. Outside the city, along the bank of the Tiber, there was a great plain which in later times was called Campus Martius, or Field of Mars. Here the Roman soldiers were drilled. They were taught how to use the spear and the javelin and the sword and the shield. They were also exercised in running and jumping, and wrestling and swimming, and carrying heavy loads. Thus the young men were made fit to bear the hardships of war and to fight and win battles for their country.
It is related that in his old age Romulus suddenly disappeared from the earth. He called his people together on a great field one day, and while he was speaking to them a violent storm came on. The rain fell in torrents, and the lightning and thunder were so terrible that the people fled to their homes.
When the storm was over the people went back to the field, but Romulus was nowhere to be found. Then it was said that his father, the god Mars, had taken him up to the clouds in a golden chariot.
Next morning at early dawn a Roman citizen named Julius saw a figure descending from the heavens. It had the appearance of Romulus, and it approached Julius and said:
“Go and tell my people that it is the will of the gods that Rome shall be the greatest city of the world. Let them be brave and warlike, and no human power shall be able to conquer them.”
Afterwards the Romans worshiped Romulus as a god. They worshiped him under the name Quirinus, which was one of the names of the god Mars, and they built a temple to him on a hill which was called the Quirinal Hill.
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