Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/749

 KOiMA. III. Progress of the City till THS Time OF Servius Tullius. We can only pietend to give a probable account of the progress of the city under the first five kings. Tlie statements on the subject in ancient authors are divergent, though the contradiction is often rather apparent than real. In the course of his reign Ro- mulus added to his original city on the Palatine, the Capitoline hill, then called Saturnius, the Caelian, then called Querquetulanus, and the Aventine. But we must distinguish the nature of these additions. Dionysius (ii. 37) represents the Capitoline and Aventine as enclosed by Romulus with a strong for- tification consisting of a ditch and palisades, chiefly as a protection for lierdsmen and their flocks, and not as surrounded with a wall, like the Palatine. Yet it is evident from the account of the attack by the Sabines on the Capitoline (Liv. i. 11) that it must have been regularly fortified, and have had a gate. Romulus had already marked it out as the arx or ci- tadel of his future city ; and when he had defeated the Caeninenses and slain their king, he carried thither and dedicated the first spolia opima at an oak-tree held sacred by the shepherds, but which now became the site of the temple of Jupiter Feretrius (lb. c. 10). When Livy tells us that this was the first temple consecrated at Rome, he pi'obably means with the exception of those which were usually erected at the foundation of every city. That the Capitoline was a much more important hill in the time of Ronuilus than the Aventine and Caelian is also shown by the fact of his opening upon it the asylum for slaves and fugitives, in order to increase the population of his city. This asylum was situated somewhere in the hollow between the two eminences of the Capitoline, and the site retained till a late period the name of " Inter duos lucos" (lb. c. 10; Dionys. ii. 15; Strab. V. 230; Plut. Jiom. 9; Ov. Fast. iii. 431, &c.). The Capitoline hill, or Jlons Saturnius, appears then to have been a real addition to the Romulean city ; but the Aventine seems to have remained down to the time of Ancus Martins a mere rudely fortified enclosure for the protection of the shepherds. Various etymologies, all perhaps equally unsatis- factory, have been invented for the name of Aven- tinus. One legend derived it from an Alban king so called, who was buried on the hill (Liv. i. 3; Varr. L. L. v. § 43, Mull.; Paul. Diac. p. 19, Jliill.), another from a descendant of Hercules, mentioned by Virgil (^Aen, vii. 656). Servius in his commen- tary on this passage makes Aventinus a king of the Aborigines, but adds from Varro that the Aventine was assigned by Romulus to the Sabines, who named it after the Avens, one of their rivers. This account is not found in the remains which we possess of Varro, who, however (/. c), adds a few more ety- mologies to that already given. One of them, taken from Naevius, derives the name of the hill from the birds (aves) that resorted thitiier from the Tiber, to which Virgil also seems to allude {Aen. viii. 233). Varro himself thinks that it was so called " ab adveutu," because, being formerly separated from the other hills by a marsli or lake, it was necessary to go to it in boats: whilst others derived the name " ab adventu hominum," because, having upon it a temple of Diana common to all the Latin people, it was a place of great resort. But these various etymologies only prove that nothing certain was known. The preponderance of authority tends to show that ROMA. 729 the Caelian hill was also colonised in the time of Romulus. Caelius Vibennus, or Caeles Vibenna, an Etruscan general who came to the assistance of Ro- mulus against Tatius and the Sabines, had this hill assigned to him and settled upon it with his army; whence it derived its name of " Caelius," it having been previously called Querquetulanus from its woods of oak. (Varr. L. L. v. § 46, Mull.; Dionys. ii. 36; Paul. Diac. p. 44, Miill.) The traditions respecting the incorporation of this hill are, however, very va- rious. Some authors relate that it was added by Tullus Hostilius (Liv. i. 30 ; Eutrop. i. 4 ; Aur. Vict. Vir. 111. 4), others by Ancus Martins (Cic. Rep. ii. 18 ; Strab. v. p. 234) ; whilst some, again, place the arrival of Caeles as low down as the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, (^Y-ac. Ann. iv. 65; Festus, p. 355, Sliill.) The last account probably arose from some confusion between the arrival of the Tus- cans under Romulus, and a subsequent one inider the Tuscan king Tarquinius. But the sacred books relating to the Argive chapels established by Numa mention the hill under the name of Caelius (Varr. ih. § 47), and it therefore seems probable that the arrival of Vibenna must be placed under Ronmlus. This Tuscan settlement appears, however, not to have been permanent. After the death of their leader a portion of his followers incurred the suspicion of the Romans, and were renrioved from the hill to a less defensible position on the plain, apparently between the Palatine and Capitoline, where they founded the Vicus Tuscus; whilst the remainder were transferred to the adjoining hill called Caeliolus (Varr. ib. § 46). Whence also Propertius : — " Et tu, Roma, meis tribuisti praemia Tuscis Uiide hodie vicus noniina Tuscus habet; Tempore quo sociis venit Lycomedius armis, Atque Sabina feri contudit arma Tati." — (iv. 2. 49.) Here the Tuscan general is named Lycomedius, which seems to be derived from Lucumo, the name given to him by Dionysius (ii. 42, 43), and which was probably only an appellative for an Etruscan prince. The hill having been vacated by this re- moval of the Tuscans, was again colonised under a subsequent king, which in some degree reconciles the conflicting accounts : but all we shall say further about it at present is, that in the reign of Tiberius an attempt was made to change its name again, and to call it Mons Augustus, either because Tiberius had laid out a great deal of money there in repairing the damage occasioned by a fire, or from a decree of the senate, which appointed that name to be used because a statue of Tiberius had been saved from the flames. (Tac. Ann. iv. 64; Suet, Tib. 48.) But this name never came into conmion use. Legend of Tarpeia. — Porta Janualis and Temple of Janus. — The story of Tarpeia involves two or three jioints of topographical interest. It shuws that the Capitoline hill was regularly fortified, and had a gate. The deed of Tarpeia, whether treacherous or patri- otic, for there are two versions of her history, occa- sioned a change in the name of the hill. It had previously been called Mons Saturnius, from Saturn, to whom it was sacred (Fcst. p. 322); and there was a tradition that some Eleans, who had obtained their dismissal from the army of Hercules on his return from his western expedition, had been attracted to settle upon it by the resemblance of its name to that of Vipivios, a mountain of their own country. (Dionys. i. 34.) After the foundation of the Capitol