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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:05:29 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:05:29 -0700 |
| commit | a0ccaaeed248efe4a4f45fbccdfa7503fb45f252 (patch) | |
| tree | 938bf23af2aef3f19a63bfe912f91a6e213b3974 /36296-tei | |
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diff --git a/36296-tei/36296-tei.tei b/36296-tei/36296-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..675eb36 --- /dev/null +++ b/36296-tei/36296-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,8757 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd"> +<TEI.2 lang="en"> + <teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>The Childhood of Rome</title> + <author><name reg="Lamprey, Louise">Louise Lamprey</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date value="2011-05-31">May 31, 2011</date> + <idno type='etext-no'>36296</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere + at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. + You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under + the terms of the Project Gutenberg License online at + www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl><author><name reg="Lamprey, Louise">Louise Lamprey</name></author> + <title>The Childhood of Rome</title> + <imprint> + <pubPlace>Boston</pubPlace> + <publisher>Little, Brown and Company</publisher> + <date>1925</date> + </imprint> + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en" /> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2011-05-31">May 31, 2011</date> + <respStmt> + <resp>Produced by <name>Juliet Sutherland</name> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + at http://www.pgdp.net</resp> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> + </teiHeader> + + <pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .center { text-align: center } + .italic { font-style: italic } + head { text-align: center } + .small { font-size: 75% } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + lg { margin-left: 2 } + @media txt { + .ill { display: none } + } + figure { text-align: center } + .w100 { } + .w80 { } + -w40 { } + @media pdf { + .w100 { width: 100%; page-float: 'htp' } + .w80 { width: 80%; page-float: 'htp' } + .w40 { width: 40%; page-float: 'htp' } + } + </pgStyleSheet> + </pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> +<front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> +<div> + <figure url="images/cover.jpg" rend="w80"><figDesc>Illustration: Cover image</figDesc></figure> +<pb/><anchor id="Pgii"/> + <anchor id="frontis"/> + <pgIf output="txt"><then><p rend="text-align: center">[Illustration: Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around + the curve.]</p></then> + <else><p><figure url="images/illus001.png" rend="w80; page-break-before: always"> + <head rend="ill">Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around +the curve.<lb/><hi rend="italic">Frontispiece.</hi></head> + <figDesc>Illustration: Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around the curve</figDesc> +</figure></p></else></pgIf> +</div> +<titlePage rend="center; page-break-before: always"> +<pb/><anchor id="Pgiii"/> +<docTitle> + <titlePart rend="font-size: xx-large">THE CHILDHOOD<lb/>OF ROME</titlePart> +</docTitle> + <lb/> +<byline rend="font-size: x-large"> + By<lb/> + <docAuthor>L. LAMPREY</docAuthor> +</byline> + <lb/> +<byline> +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY<lb/> +<docAuthor rend="font-size: large">EDNA F. HART-HUBON</docAuthor> +</byline> +<lb/><anchor id="illus002"/> +<figure url="images/illus002.png" rend="w40"> + <figDesc>Illustration: Printer’s sign</figDesc> +</figure> +<docImprint rend="font-size: large"> + <pubPlace>BOSTON</pubPlace><lb/> + <publisher>LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY</publisher><lb/> + <date>1925</date> +</docImprint> +</titlePage><div rend="center; page-break-before: always"> +<pb/><anchor id="Pgiv"/> +<p> +<hi rend="italic">Copyright, 1922,</hi><lb/> +<hi rend="smallcaps">By Little, Brown, and Company.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend="italic">All rights reserved</hi> +</p> + +<p rend="margin-top: 3"> +<hi rend="smallcaps">Printed in the United States of America</hi> +</p> + +</div><div rend="center; page-break-before: always"> +<pb/><anchor id="Pgv"/> + +<p><hi rend="smallcaps">to<lb/> +Maitland C. Lamprey</hi></p> + +<pb/><anchor id="Pgvi"/> + +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="vii"/><anchor id="Pgvii"/> +<index index="toc" level1="Introduction"/><index index="pdf" level1="Introduction"/> +<head>INTRODUCTION</head> + +<p> +It is scarcely necessary to say that these +stories are not meant to be taken as history, +even legendary history. The tales of the +founding of Rome and of the early life of the +Italian races are many and contradictory. It is +quite possible that future discoveries may disprove +half the theories now held on these subjects. +There must have been, however, heroic semi-savage +figures like the Romulus of the legends, and +the aim of the author has been to re-create in some +degree the atmosphere and the surroundings in +which they may have lived. +</p> + +<p> +The various customs and events introduced +here were not, probably, part of the history of +one generation. It is possible, however, that as +a tree grows from a seed, the laws of the future +city were foreshadowed and suggested in the +relations between the Romans as individuals and +between the town on the Palatine and its +neighbors. +</p> + +<p> +It will be observed that the forms of Latin +and Italian names used in these stories do not +<pb n="viii"/><anchor id="Pgviii"/>follow the usual classic Latin style and end in +<q>us.</q> It is said by some authors that the original +immigrants from whose customs and +traditions Roman civilization developed came +from Greece, and in that case such Greek forms +as <q>Vitalos</q> might have been preserved long +after such clipped forms as <q>Marcus</q> and +<q>Marcs</q> became current. Inasmuch as Italian +peasant names hardly ever end in anything but +a vowel it seems illogical to take it for granted +that in a colony of farmers, such as the men who +founded Rome, the names would all have taken +the classical Latin form at first. They would +have been much more likely to vary according to +the ancestry, dialect and intelligence of the +family. Later they would tend to a conventional +form as certain families of distinction set a +standard for others to follow and took pride in +keeping their own speech correct. +</p> + +<p> +In short, the period described here is a transition +stage, and like any age of the founding of +a new civilization, contains incongruous elements. +It has been stated that even in the great days +of the Roman Empire the number of people who +actually spoke correct classical Latin was extremely +small in proportion to the whole population +of any city. +</p> + +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="ix"/><anchor id="Pgix"/> +<index index="toc" level1="The living language"/><index index="pdf" level1="The living language"/> +<head>THE LIVING LANGUAGE</head> + +<lg> +<l>Sing a song of little words, homely parts of speech,</l> +<l>Phrases children use at play, songs that mothers teach,—</l> +<l>Who would think when Rome was new, they used that language then—</l> +<l>Table, chair and family, map and chart and pen?</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Sing a song of stately ways, camp and square and street,</l> +<l>Consuls, tribunes, governors, the legion’s myriad feet,</l> +<l>If those wise men so long ago had not known what to say,</l> +<l>All they gave us readymade we should not have to-day.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Clear and straight and brief their talk in country or in town.</l> +<l>Lucid, vivid, accurate the thoughts that they set down.</l> +<l>Still the world is using words that bear the Roman stamp—</l> +<l>Coined in forum, villa, temple, market place or camp.</l> +<l>Still our thoughts take day by day those shapes of long ago—</l> +<l>If you read the dictionary you will find it’s so.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n="x"/><anchor id="Pgx"/> + +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="xi"/><anchor id="Pgxi"/> +<index index="toc" level1="Contents"/><index index="pdf" level1="Contents"/> +<head>CONTENTS</head> + +<table rend="tblcolumns: 'r lw(25m) r'; latexcolumns: 'rp{4cm}r'"> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">CHAPTER</hi></cell> + <cell/> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">PAGE</hi></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">I.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Mountain of Fire</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg003">3</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">II.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">Ten Families</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg017">17</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">III.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Sacred Year</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg028">28</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">IV.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Banditti</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg040">40</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">V.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Wolf Cub</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg055">55</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">VI.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">Boundary Lines</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg068">68</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">VII.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">Masterless Men</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg081">81</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">VIII.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Beehive Temple</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg094">94</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">IX.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Square Hill</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg108">108</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">X.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Kinsmen</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg117">117</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XI.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Taking of Alba Longa</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg130">130</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XII.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Ring Wall</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg140">140</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XIII.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Soothsayers</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg152">152</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XIV.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">Bread and Salt</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg161">161</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XV.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Trumpery Man</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg174">174</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XVI.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Great Dyke</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg184">184</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XVII.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The War Dance</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg196">196</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XVIII.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Peace of the Women</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg208">208</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XIX.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Priest of the Bridge</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg224">224</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XX.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Three Tribes</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg233">233</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXI.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">Under the Yoke</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg243">243</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXII.</cell> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">The Goat’s Marsh</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg251">251</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right"/> + <cell><hi rend="smallcaps">A Roman Road</hi></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg261">261</ref></cell> + </row> +</table> + +<pb n="xii"/><anchor id="Pgxii"/> +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="xiii"/><anchor id="Pgxiii"/> +<index index="toc" level1="Illustrations"/><index index="pdf" level1="Illustrations"/> +<head>ILLUSTRATIONS</head> + +<table rend="tblcolumns: 'lw(55m) r'; latexcolumns: 'p{5.5cm}r'"> + <row> + <cell>Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red + around the curve</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="italic"><ref target="frontis">Frontispiece</ref></hi></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell/> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">PAGE</hi></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen + were hurrying to shelter</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus025">12</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus034">21</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>All the young voices took up the song</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus046">33</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>The people gathered in the public square</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus058">45</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>Whoever they were, it was proper at this time + to offer food to strangers</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus072">59</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell><q>I have seen something like this before,</q> he said</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus085">72</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>The lad went straight down the mountainside with + his wolf at his heels</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus092">79</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>The little maidens walked soberly together</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus109">96</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs + or lambs</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus116">103</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell><q>Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!</q></cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus145">132</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>Then they blessed him and crowned him with the + victor’s crown of laurel</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus152">139</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the + seven hills</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus157">144</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white cow</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus160">147</ref></cell> + </row> +<pb n="xiv"/><anchor id="Pgxiv"/> + <row> + <cell>They sat together that night and watched the + moon sail grandly over the flood</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus174">161</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried + her through the door</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus183">170</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus191">178</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole + they were digging</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus216">203</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus229">216</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>His mother molded for him men and animals</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus248">235</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell>Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there + lived for many years an old shepherd</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="illus272">259</ref></cell> + </row> +</table> + +</div> +</front> +<body rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="1"/><anchor id="Pg001"/> + +<head>THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME</head> + +<pb n="2"/><anchor id="Pg002"/> + + <div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="3"/><anchor id="Pg003"/> +<index index="toc" level1="I. The mountain of fire"/> + <index index="pdf" level1="I. The mountain of fire"/> +<head>I</head> + +<head>THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE</head> + +<p> +Marcia, the little daughter of Marcus +Vitalos the farmer, sat on a sheltered +corner of a stone wall, making a willow +basket. Basket weaving was one of the first +things that all children of her people learned, +and she was very clever at it. Her strong, brown +fingers wove the osiers in and out swiftly and +deftly, as a bird builds its nest. The boys and +girls cut willow shoots, and reeds, and grasses +that were good for this work, at the proper time, +and bound them together in bundles tidily, for +use later on. The straw, too, could be used for +making baskets and mats after the grain was +threshed out of it. +</p> + +<p> +A great many baskets were needed, for they +were used to hold the grain, and the beans, and +the onions, and the dried fruit, and the various +other things that a thrifty family kept stored +away for provisions. They were also used to +gather things in and to carry them in, and +some<pb n="4"/><anchor id="Pg004"/>times they took the place of dishes in serving +fruit or nuts. Almost every size and shape and +kind could be made use of somewhere. The one +Marcia was making was round and squat and +quite large, and it was to have an opening at the +top large enough to put one’s hand into easily, +and a cover to fit. +</p> + +<p> +The house in which she lived was one of the +oldest in the village on the slopes of the Mountain +of Fire. It was so old that there was no +knowing how many children had grown up in it, +but they were all of the same family,—the +family of the Marcus Vitalos Colonus who built +it in the first place. This long-ago settler was +called Colonus, the farmer, not because he was +the only farmer in the neighborhood, for everybody +worked on the land, but because he was an +unusually good one, a leader among them in the +understanding of the good brown earth and all +its ways. +</p> + +<p> +His sons after him took the name Colonus, +for among their people it was considered very +important to belong to a good family. As soon +as a man’s name was mentioned his ancestry was +known, if he had any worth the naming. The +ancestor of all this people was said to have been +Mars, the god of manhood and all manly deeds. +Their names showed this, for the common ones +<pb n="5"/><anchor id="Pg005"/>were Marcus, Mamurius, Mavor, Mamertius +and so on, with some other name added to describe +their occupations, or the place where they lived, +or some peculiar thing about them. Plautus +meant the splay-footed man; Sylvius, the man +of the forest; Marinus, the seaman,—and there +had been a Marcus Vitalos Colonus in this family, +ever since the first one. Marcia’s elder brother, +two years older than she was, had this name, but +he was usually called Marcs, for in their language +the last syllable was apt to be slurred over. +</p> + +<p> +It was very quiet in the village just now, for +all the men were off getting in the harvest. The +grain lands and the pastures were some distance +away, wherever the land was suitable for crops or +grazing. Every morning, directly after breakfast, +every one who had anything to do away from +the village went out, and usually did not come +back until supper time. It was said that the +first Marcus Vitalos was the leader who had +persuaded the people to settle down in one place +instead of moving about, driving their herds here +and there. It was said also that he began the +custom of a common meal in the middle of the +day for all the men who were working on the +land. This not only saved time and trouble, but +made them better acquainted and gave them time +to talk over and plan the work during the hottest +<pb n="6"/><anchor id="Pg006"/>part of the day. When the day’s toil was +finished, each man returned to his own house and +had supper with his family. The houses were +built, not too near together, around an open +square. The wall around the house enclosed the +sheepfold and the cattle sheds besides. The +people worked and played together for much of +the time, but there was a certain plot of ground +that came down from father to son in each family +and belonged to that family alone. Nobody else +had any rights there at all. +</p> + +<p> +The people were very careful to do everything +according to custom. Almost everything they +did had been worked out long ago into a sort +of system, which was considered the best possible +way to do it. Certain customs were always observed +because the gods of the land were said to +be pleased with them. Whether the gods had +anything to do with it or not, these children of +Mars were certainly more prosperous than most +of their neighbors, and had many things which +they might not have had if it had not been for +their careful ways. The soil of the sunshiny +mountain slopes was rich and fruitful and easy +to work; the clear mountain waters were pleasant +and wholesome, and in certain places there were +hot springs which had been found good to cure +disease. It was not strange that they believed +<pb n="7"/><anchor id="Pg007"/>the gods took especial care of them and would +go on being kind to them so long as proper +respect was shown. +</p> + +<p> +Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of +red around the curve before she began to draw it +in, and her thoughts went far and near, as +thoughts do. +</p> + +<p> +The family spent very little time indoors when +it was possible to be in the open air. The mother +sat spinning in the doorway, and the baby played +at her feet. The father was harvesting, and +Marcs was out with the sheep. The next +younger brother, Bruno they called him, had gone +fishing. Supper was in an earthen pot comfortably +bubbling over the fire. It would be +ready by the time they all came home. Marcia +had had her dinner and helped clear away before +she came out here. Although the people had +some vegetables and herbs, their main crop was +grain. It was a kind of cereal a little like wheat +and a little like barley, with a small hard kernel, +and they called it <q>corn,</q> which meant something +that is crushed or ground into meal. +When it was pounded in a mortar and then boiled +soft, it made good porridge. Boiled until it was +very thick, and poured out on a flat stone or +board to cool, it could be cut into pieces and eaten +from the hand. The children had all they +<pb n="8"/><anchor id="Pg008"/>wanted, with some goat’s-milk cheese and some +figs. Marcia could hear them laughing and +shouting as they played with the pet kid. He +was old enough now to butt the smaller ones +right over on their backs, and he did it whenever +they gave him a chance. +</p> + +<p> +Marcia was rather a silent girl, with a great +deal of long black hair in heavy braids, level black +brows over thoughtful eyes, and a square little +chin. As she began to draw in her basket at +the top, she was thinking of the stories the old +people sometimes told about a long-ago time +when their ancestors lived in another and far +more beautiful place. There the rivers ran over +sands that gleamed like sunshine, and all the land +was like a garden. The houses were larger than +any here and built of a white stone. There were +stone statues like those she and Marcs sometimes +made in clay for the children to play with, but +as large as men and women and painted to look +like life. The gods came and went among the +children of men and taught them all that they +have ever known, but much had since been forgotten. +So ran the story. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes in the heart of this mountain there +were rumblings underground, as if the thunder +had gone to earth like a badger. The old people +said then that the smith of the gods was working +<pb n="9"/><anchor id="Pg009"/>at his forge. The noises were made by his hammer, +beating out weapons for the gods. The +plume of smoke that drifted lazily up from the +deep bowl-shaped hollow in the mountain top +came from his fires. To these people the mountain +was like a great still creature, maybe a god +in disguise. The forest hung on the slopes above +like a bearskin on the shoulders of a giant. Up +higher were barren rocks and cliffs, where nothing +grew. +</p> + +<p> +Marcia looked up at the mighty crest so far +above, and then down across the valley, where +the stubble of the grain fields shone golden in +the westering sun. The river, winding away +beyond it, was bluer than the sky. She wondered +whether, if her people should ever go away, they +would tell their children how beautiful this land +was. But of course they never would go. They +had lived too long where they were ever to be +willing to leave their home on the mountain. No +other place could be like it. The floods that +sometimes ruined the lowlands never rose as high +as this; the wandering, warlike tribes that sometimes +attacked their neighbors did not trouble +them here. They belonged to the mountain, as +the chestnut trees and the squirrels did. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Me make basket,</q> announced her little sister, +pulling at the withes, her rag doll tumbling to +<pb n="10"/><anchor id="Pg010"/>the ground as she tried to scramble up on the +wall. <q>Up! up!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O Felic’la (Kitty), don’t; you’ll spoil sister’s +work! I’ll begin one for you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Kitten had got her name from her disposition, +which was to insist on doing whatever she +saw any one else doing, just long enough to make +confusion wherever she went. What with showing +the little fingers how to manage the spidery +ribs of the little basket she began, and working +out the braided border of her own basket, +Marcia’s attention was fully taken up. +</p> + +<p> +She did not even see that Marcs was driving +in the sheep until they began crowding into the +sheepfold. The walls of this, like the walls of +the house itself, were of stone, laid by that long-ago +Colonus, and as solid and firm as if they +were built yesterday. The stones were not +squared or shaped, and there was no mortar, but +they were fitted together so cleverly that they +seemed as solid as the mountain itself. They +hardly ever needed repair. The roofs, of seasoned +chestnut boughs woven in and out, seemed +almost as firm as the stonework. This place +had been settled when the farmers had to fight +wolves every year. Even now, if the wolves had +a hard winter and got very hungry, they sometimes +came around and tried to get at the sheep. +<pb n="11"/><anchor id="Pg011"/>Then the men would take their spears and long +knives and go on a wolf-hunt. But that had not +happened now for several years. +</p> + +<p> +Why were the sheep coming in so early? +</p> + +<p> +Marcs looked rather disturbed, and he was in +a hurry. Bruno too was coming home without +any fish, an unusual thing for him; and he looked +both scared and puzzled. The mother was standing +in the door, shading her eyes with her hand +and looking at the sky. Marcs caught sight of +the girls in their corner. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You had better pick up all that and go in,</q> +he called to them. <q>Pater sent us home as quick +as we could scamper. See how strange the sky +is.</q> +</p> + +<p> +They all looked. Little Felic’la, with round +eyes, dropped her basket and pointed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Giants,</q> said she. +</p> + +<p> +It did not take much imagination to see, in the +dark clouds spreading over the heavens, huge +misty figures like gigantic men, or like gods about +to descend upon the earth. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Mater,</q> said Bruno, <q>the spring and the +stream have dried up.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The father was hurrying up from the grain +fields, and the boys ran to help him manage the +frightened cattle and get the load under cover. +Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen +<pb n="12"/><anchor id="Pg012"/>were hastening to shelter. The sky was growing +darker and darker. Blue lights were wavering +in the marshy lands by the river. The fowls, +croaking and squawking in frightened haste, +huddled on to their roosts, all but Felic’la’s pet +white chicken, which scuttled for the house. +Birds were flying overhead, uttering some sort +of warnings in bird language, but there was no +understanding what they said. +</p><anchor id="illus025"/> +<figure url="images/illus025.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were hurrying to shelter</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +Suddenly there was a crash as if the earth had +cracked in two. Everything turned black. The +<pb n="13"/><anchor id="Pg013"/>air was filled with smoke and dust and ashes +raining down from the sky. +</p> + +<p> +Marcia caught up her little sister and the +baskets together and groped her way to the door. +Her mother darted out to drag them in and +barred the door against the unknown terrors outside. +The boys and their father were under the +cattle shed, with the stout timber brace against +the door; it had been made to keep out wild +beasts. In the roar of the tumult outside the +loudest shout could not have been heard. +</p> + +<p> +The terrific detonations above were heavier +than any thunder that ever rolled down the valley, +sharper than any blows of a giant hammer. +The earth trembled and rocked under foot. Then +came a pounding from all sides at once, like the +trampling of frantic herds. An avalanche of +dust and cinders came through the smoke hole +and put out the fire. Part of the roof had fallen +in, for they could hear stones tumbling down on +the earth floor. Through the opening they saw +a crimson glow spreading over the sky. Only +the beams in one corner, the corner where the +mother and her children were, still held firm. +</p> + +<p> +At last the rain of ashes was over, the stones +no longer fell, and it was light enough for them +to see each other’s faces. They had no way of +knowing how long they had crouched there in the +<pb n="14"/><anchor id="Pg014"/>dark, but they had been there all night. The +house had no windows and only one door. Now +the father and the boys were trying to get the +door open against a heap of fallen roof beams +and thatch and stones and ashes and broken +furniture. In a minute or two they got it far +enough open to let them in. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Are you safe, Livia? And the children?</q> +The man’s deep voice was shaking. But even +as he spoke he saw that they were alive and unhurt. +He took his baby boy from his wife’s +arms, and put the other arm round the two girls, +while the little boys clung to him as far up as +they could reach. Livia sprang up at the first +sight of Marcs and Bruno, for Marcs was bleeding +all down one side of his face and his shoulder, +where a stone had glanced along. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I was trying to catch the white heifer,</q> he +said rather shamefacedly, <q>but she got away. +It’s only a scrape along the skin—let me go, +Mater.</q> And before she had fairly done washing +off the blood and bandaging the cuts, he was +out from under her hands and out of doors after +Bruno. +</p> + +<p> +Cautiously they all went out, and stood outside +the wall, gazing about them. Everything as far +as they could see was gray with ashes and cinders +and stones. Here and there the woods were on +<pb n="15"/><anchor id="Pg015"/>fire. Far up toward the top of the mountain, +one tall tree by itself was burning like a torch. +An arched hole was broken out in the cliff above, +and down through it flowed a fiery river of molten +rock, like boiling honey or liquid flame, cooling +as it went. Ravines were broken out, great +slices of rock and earth had fallen or slid, and +the river, choked by fallen trees and earth and +rocks, was tearing out another channel for itself. +The very face of the earth was strange and unnatural. +</p> + +<p> +The walls of their own house and of most of +the others in the village had been wrenched and +thrown down in places by the twisting of the +earth. Then the roof had given way under the +pelting rocks. In the corner where Livia and +her children had taken shelter, one timber, a tree +trunk set deep in the ground, had held firm and +kept the roof from falling. The same thing had +happened in the narrow cattle shed. They went +on to see how their neighbors had fared. +</p> + +<p> +There was less loss of life than one might +have expected, considering that the oldest man +there had never seen anything like this. The +people were trained to obey orders and look out +for themselves. The father was the head of the +family, and in any sudden emergency the people +did not run about aimlessly but looked to +who<pb n="16"/><anchor id="Pg016"/>ever was there to give orders. The children had +each the care of some younger child or some possession +of the family. Even Felic’la, trotting +along beside Marcia, held tightly in her arms her +white chicken. The chicken was trying to get +away, but Felic’la felt that this was no time for +the family to be separated. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="17"/><anchor id="Pg017"/> +<index index="toc" level1="II. The families"/><index index="pdf" level1="II. The families"/> +<head>II</head> + +<head>TEN FAMILIES</head> + +<p> +Whatever the strange and terrible +outbreak of the Mountain of Fire +could have meant, the people had no +thought of abandoning the land. Within a few +days they were repairing or rebuilding their huts +and returning to the habits of their daily life. +Centuries might pass, more than one such +calamity might befall the village, but there would +still be men living on the same spot where their +forefathers lived, on the slopes of the Mountain +of Fire. +</p> + +<p> +All the same, a great change had taken place, +and they felt it more as time went on. They +began to see that the land that had once brought +forth food for them all would not now feed them +with any such abundance. They would be +lucky if they could secure enough food to keep +them alive. Some of the fields were burned over +by the lava stream; some were ruined by the +dammed-up river. Cattle and sheep had been +killed or had run away. Much of the grain and +<pb n="18"/><anchor id="Pg018"/>wool and other provision for the future had been +destroyed. It was a very hard winter. +</p> + +<p> +Yet rather than leave their homes and be +strangers and outcasts without a country, they +endured cold and scarcity and every kind of discomfort, +even suffering. Outside the land they +knew were unknown terrors,—races who did not +speak their language or worship their gods; soil +whose ways they did not understand, and very +likely far worse troubles than had come upon +them here. Most of the people simply made up +their minds that what must be, they must endure, +because anything else would only be a change +for the worse. +</p> + +<p> +There were a few, however, who did not +take this view. The first to suggest that some +might go away was Marcus Colonus. He spoke +of it to a little group of his friends while they +were in the forest cutting wood. Sylvius, whose +wife and children were killed when the stones fell, +and Urso the shaggy hunter, who never feared +anything, man or beast, and Muraena the metal-worker, +a restless fellow who knew that he could +get a living wherever men used plows and +weapons, all agreed that if Colonus went they +would go. If ten heads of households joined the +party, it would make a clan. But first the head +of the village must be consulted. +</p> + +<pb n="19"/><anchor id="Pg019"/> + +<p> +Old Vitalos was the grandfather of Marcus +Colonus and related in one way or another to +nearly every person in the village. When his +grandson came to him and told what he had in +mind, the old chief stroked his long white beard +and did not answer at once. He seemed to be +thinking, and he thought for a long time. +</p> + +<p> +Before written histories, or pictured records, +or even songs telling the history of a people, were +in use, the memories of the old folk formed the +only source of information that there was. As +old men will, they told what they knew over and +over again, and those who heard, even if they +did not know they were remembering it, often +remembered a story and told it over again, when +their time came. The experiences and the wisdom +that old Vitalos had gathered in the eighty +years of his useful life were stored in his mind +in layers, like silt in the bed of a river. Now he +was digging down into his memory for something +that had happened a long time ago. +</p> + +<p> +When he had done thinking, he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My son,</q> he said, <q>you tell me that you +desire to go forth and make your home in another +land.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I desire it not, my father,</q> said Colonus, +<q>unless it is the will of the gods. I have thought +that it may be best.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="20"/><anchor id="Pg020"/> + +<p> +He did not know it, but while the old man’s +mind was busy with the past, his keen old eyes +were busy with the strong, well-built figure, the +stubborn chin and the fearless eye of this man +of his own blood. Colonus walked with the long, +sure step of the man who knows where he is +going. The fingers of his hand were square-tipped +and rugged, the kind that can work. He +was Saturn’s own man, made to work the land +and produce food for his people. He would +not give up easily, nor would he be dismayed by +difficulties. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And where will you go?</q> was the chief’s +next question. +</p> + +<p> +<q>That I do not know,</q> said Colonus. <q>Yet +something I do know. The mountain folk are +not friends to us, and we should have to fight +them. Their land is all one fortress, not easy +to take. To the sea we will not go, for we know +nothing of the ways of the sea-tamers. Perhaps +our gods would not help us in those things, +which are strange to our lives. There remains +the plain beyond the marsh, where the river runs +out of the valley. I have been there only once, +but I remember it. Around it are mountains, +and the plain itself is broken by low hills, as we +have seen from our heights. In such a land we +might live according to customs of our +fore<pb n="21"/><anchor id="Pg021"/>fathers. The little hills can be defended, and if +enemies come we can see them from far off. Is +this a good plan that we make, my father?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar, +which burned in his house as in every other house +of the village; then he looked keenly at his grandson. +</p><anchor id="illus034"/> +<figure url="images/illus034.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +<q>There are two ways of living in a strange +place, Marcus Colonus,</q> he said. <q>One is, to +live after the manner of those who are born there, +obey their gods, learn their law, eat their food, +work as they do, join in their feasts and their +games. The other is to fight them, and drive +<pb n="22"/><anchor id="Pg022"/>them away, or make them your servants. Which +is your choice?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Colonus hesitated. <q>My father,</q> he said, <q>to +take the first path, I must change my nature and +become another man, which I would not do even +if I could. Here or in another country, or in the +moon if men could go there, I should be Colonus, +the farmer,—not a sailor, or a trader, or any +other man. To take the second way I must be +leader of many fighting men, and this is not possible, +since if we go we must take our wives and +children. It is in my mind, my father, that there +may be a middle way. If we hold to our own +customs and are faithful to our own gods and to +one another, surely the gods should keep faith +with us. If we hurt not the people of the land +where we go, but stand ready to defend ourselves +against any who try to attack us, they may allow +us to live as we please. If not, then must we +fight for the right to live.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The old chief smiled. <q>My son,</q> he said, +<q rend="post: none">you are wise with the wisdom of youth. Yet +sometimes that is better than the unbelief of age. +It is better to die fighting strangers than to die +by starvation, or to fall upon one another, and I +have had fear that one or the other might happen +here, for truly the land is changed. It may be +that this plan of yours shall end in new branching +<pb n="23"/><anchor id="Pg023"/>out of our people, the Ramnes, and in new power +to our gods,—and if so, surely the gods will lead +you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Now I have a story to tell you, and you will +give careful heed to it, and not speak of it lightly, +but store it away in the secret places of your +mind. Sit down here, close to me, for I do not +wish to be heard by any listener.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Many years ago, before you were born, or +ever the road was made over the marsh or the +bridge across the river, our people were at war +with a strange people from the north. My son, +whom you resemble, went to fight against them +and did not come back. Whether he died in +battle and was left on some unknown field we did +not know. We never knew, until in after years, +one who was taken prisoner with him came back, +his hair white as snow, and told what he had seen.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">In that country of which you have spoken, +where a plain stretches away toward the sea, and +is guarded with mountains and divided by a yellow +river, there are people who speak a language +like ours and are sons of Mars, as we are. Some +live in the hills and some in the plain, and some +on the Long White Mountain. Beyond the +river the people are strange in every way and +their gods are also strange and terrible.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Now among the people of the Long White +<pb n="24"/><anchor id="Pg024"/>Mountain was a chief with two sons, and when +he died the elder should have been ruler in his +place. But the younger one, an evil man, stole +into his brother’s place and killed his sons, and +forbade his daughter to marry. Here my son +was taken as a captive, and he became a servant +to that chief.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">The daughter of the elder brother was a fair +woman, and my son was a strong and comely +man, and in secret they married. Then did my +son escape, thinking to come back with an army +and bring away his wife with their twin boys. +But the wicked chief discovered what had been +done, and killed the mother and the children, and +sent a war party after my son to kill him also. +He could have escaped even then, for he crossed +a river in flood by swimming. But when they +called to him that his wife and her two sons were +dead, he returned across the river and fought +his pursuers until they killed him. Then he went +to find his beloved in that unknown country +which is neither land nor water and is full of +ghosts.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Now it is in my mind that if that evil chief +is dead, the people of his country may welcome +you among them. Or if he is not dead, and the +elder brother still lives, he may be your friend, +since we are of one race and speak one language. +<pb n="25"/><anchor id="Pg025"/>In any case it is well for you to know what has +happened there in other days, for before we plant +a field we desire to know whether wheat, or lentils, +or thistles, or salt was last sown there. I +was told also that the evil man who killed the +mother and the babes declared that the father +of the children was the god Mars himself, not +wishing that any kinswoman of his should be +known to be a wife to a captive and a stranger. +Now, my son, go, and peace go with you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Colonus rose and bowed to the old man, and +went home. +</p> + +<p> +Now the way was clear to prepare for the +emigration, and from time to time others came +to talk about it and join the company. Besides +the four men who had made the plan in the first +place, there were finally seven others,—Tullius, +who knew all the ancient laws and customs well, +Piscinus the fisherman, Pollio the leather worker, +Cossus, an old and wary fighter, the two Nasos, +quiet and able farmers (all of whose children had +the big nose that marked the family), and Calvo, +whose great-grandfather had bequeathed to his +descendants a tendency to grow bald young. +Calvo already had a little thin spot on the crown +of his head, though he was not much over thirty. +Among them they had all the most necessary +trades and could supply most things they needed. +<pb n="26"/><anchor id="Pg026"/>But every one of them was also a good farmer; +in fact, in such migrations the settlers were most +generally known as <hi rend="italic">coloni</hi> or farmers. They +had to understand the care of the land in order +to get through the first years without starving to +death, for there were no cities where they went. +</p> + +<p> +Muraena could make unusually fine weapons, +and he took care that each of the party should +be provided with the best that he could make. +The grain was chosen with care, for when they +found the place for their settlement they would +want it for seed. The finest animals were +chosen to stock the farms. The women who were +not going made gifts of their best weaving to the +housewives who were. The lads who were old +enough to fight gave especial attention to their +bows and their slings, and spent a good deal of +time practicing. +</p> + +<p> +All the men who had agreed to go had sons +and daughters except Sylvius, and most of the +children were old enough to do something to +help. They were very much excited, and secretly +most of them were rather scared. +</p> + +<p> +There was no priest in the company; that is +to say, there was no man who had nothing else +to do, for that was not the custom among the +Ramnes. They chose a man they all trusted for +this office. Tullius was chosen priest by the +<pb n="27"/><anchor id="Pg027"/><hi rend="italic">coloni</hi>. It was due to his advice that the water +jars and the leather bottles for water-carrying +were well selected, strong and numerous. It was +a hobby of his, the drinking of pure water, and +he believed it had more to do with health than any +other one thing. He also believed that the gods +do not protect the careless and the lazy. For +instance, if a man were to pray to Mars to keep +his house from being destroyed by fire, and then +burn brush on a windy day in summer, when the +wind was blowing that way, and a spark happened +to light on the thatch, Mars would not be +likely to put it out. He would let it burn. If +the gods went to the trouble of saving people from +the consequences of not using common sense, they +would show themselves to be fools, and not in the +least god-like. Tullius prayed at all proper +times, but when he was working he worked with +his head as well as with his hands. He said that +that was what heads were for. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="28"/><anchor id="Pg028"/> +<index index="toc" level1="III. The sacred year"/><index index="pdf" level1="III. The sacred year"/> +<head>III</head> + +<head>THE SACRED YEAR</head> + +<p> +In the month of spring when day and night +are equal, and the young lambs frisk on new +grass, a company of young men and girls +went slowly out from a little town on the eastern +side of a great mountain range. The long narrow +country stretching out into the sea, which +is now called Italy, is divided by this range +lengthwise into two parts, and in the earliest days +of the country the people on one side had hardly +anything to do with those on the other. On the +coast toward the sunrise were many harbors, and +seafaring men from other countries came there +sometimes to trade. On the other side, the +young people who were now setting their faces +westward did not at all know what they would +find. +</p> + +<p> +They were all of about the same age, and they +looked grave and a little anxious; some of the +girls had been crying. The day had come when +they were to leave the place where they had been +born and brought up and go into an unknown +<pb n="29"/><anchor id="Pg029"/>world, and it was not likely that they would ever +come back. +</p> + +<p> +They belonged to the Sabine people, who used +to live on the banks of the rivers not far from the +coast, and kept cattle and sheep and goats, and +raised grain and different kinds of vegetables, +and had vineyards. The land was so rich that +they had more food and other things than they +needed, and used to trade more or less with the +strangers from other countries. So many +strangers came there and settled in course of time +that the first inhabitants were crowded back toward +the mountains, away from the sea. Then +war parties of Umbrians from the north came +pushing their way into the country, and the +peaceable farming folk were obliged to retreat +still farther up the rivers into the mountain, and +clear new land and settle it. This happened all +a long time ago. It was not easy to live there, +and they were poorer than they used to be, for +so much of the land was rock and forest that they +had to spend a great deal of their time getting +it into a fit condition for either grain or cattle or +anything else. But they learned to do most +things for themselves, as mountain people do; +they were not afraid of hard work or danger, and +although they lived plainly they were comfortable. +</p> + +<pb n="30"/><anchor id="Pg030"/> + +<p> +But even here they were not let alone. About +twenty years earlier, before any of these boys +and girls were born, the Umbrian war parties +came up into the higher valleys, and the Sabines +had to fight for their very lives. They won the +war and drove back the invaders in the end, but +it began to seem that some day they would be +wiped out altogether and forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +After this war there were some hard years. +Many of the men had been killed, and the fields +had been neglected when the fighting was going +on. Where the enemy came they trampled down +and ruined the vineyards, and burned houses and +barns, and drove off the flocks and herds for their +own use. That one year of war almost ruined +the work that had been done in half a lifetime. +If they were to be obliged to spend half their +time defending what land they had, every year +would be worse than the last. +</p> + +<p> +Finally Flamen the priest, the man most respected +in the central and largest of the towns, +spoke of an old custom called the <q>sacred +spring.</q> It was a method of making sacrifice to +the gods when things came to a very evil pass +indeed. In a way it was a sacrifice, and in a +way it was a chance of saving something from +the general ruin. Flamen believed that if they +kept a <q>sacred spring</q> their guardian god, +<pb n="31"/><anchor id="Pg031"/>Mars, would help them. All this happened a +long time before the calamity that drove the emigrants +to set out from the Mountain of Fire. +There are all sorts of reasons why people change +their place of living and begin new settlements +in a strange country, but in those days it was a +much more serious matter than it is now, and it +took almost a life-and-death reason to make them +do it. +</p> + +<p> +When villages agreed to keep a sacred year, +as these finally did, they gave to the gods everything +that was born in that year. The cattle, +sheep, goats and poultry were killed in sacrifice, +when they were grown. But the children born +that spring were not killed. They were taught +that when they were old enough they were to go +out and build homes for themselves in another +land, trusting in the great and wise god Mars to +show them where to go. If this was done, even +though the Umbrians attacked the country again +and again, and killed off the people or made them +slaves, there would still be Sabine men and +women living in the old ways, somewhere in the +world. And now the time had come for them +to set out to find their new home. +</p> + +<p> +Flamen the priest gave a daughter in the year +of the sacred spring; Maurs the smith gave a +son. Almost every family in all the country +<pb n="32"/><anchor id="Pg032"/>round had a son or daughter or at least a near +relative who was going. Some of the young +people were married before the day came for +them to go; in fact, there were a great many +brides and grooms in the party. The parents +had given their children plenty of seed grain and +roots and plants, cuttings of shrubs and trees and +vines, animals and fowls to stock their farms, +provision for the journey, and whatever clothing +and other goods they could carry without the risk +of being delayed or tempting plunderers to kill +them for their riches. Everything that could be +done was done to make their great undertaking +successful. +</p> + +<p> +At daybreak on the day that had been decided +upon, the farewell ceremonies began. Hymns +were sung and a feast was held, prayers and sacrifices +were made; there were all sorts of farewell +wishes and loving hopes and instructions. Nothing, +however, could make it anything but a very +solemn occasion. The young people must go +beyond the mountains, for on this side they could +have no hope of finding any place to live. No +one knew what awaited them. But whatever +happened, no one would have dreamed of breaking +the promise made to the gods. A pledge is +a pledge, and not the shrewdest cheat can deceive +the gods, for they know men’s hearts. +</p> +<pb n="33"/><anchor id="Pg033"/> + <anchor id="illus046"/> +<figure url="images/illus046.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: All the young voices took up the song</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +Flam’na, the wife of young Mauros the maker +of swords, looked back just once as they lost +sight of the village. Then she led in the singing +of the last of the farewell songs. She had a +beautiful voice, clear and strong and sweet; her +husband’s deeper tones joined hers, and then all +the young voices took up the song as streams run +into a river. The fathers and mothers heard the +wild music of their singing floating down from the +mountain forest as they climbed the narrow trail. +They were following a path which the young men +knew from their hunting expeditions, which led +around the shoulder of the mountain to a pass +<pb n="34"/><anchor id="Pg034"/>through which they could cross and go down the +other side. Now that they were fairly on their +way, the care of the young animals they were +driving, all of them full of life and not at all +used to keeping together in strange woods, took +up most of the attention of the whole party. +</p> + +<p> +On the western slopes, as far as the hunters +had ever gone, there were no people living in +villages—only scattered woodcutters and +hunters, and here and there a poor ignorant +family in a little clearing. If they went far +enough down to reach the upper valleys of +streams or rivers, they might find just the sort +of place they wanted for their new home. +Others must have done this in the past, or there +would never have been the custom of the sacred +spring, for the emigrant parties would have been +all killed off or starved to death. The young +men said that what others had done they could +do, and they went valiantly on, chanting a marching +song. +</p> + +<p> +In these spring days, as time passed, the mornings +were earlier and the twilights later. They +lived well while their provisions lasted, and there +was game in the forest and fish in the little +streams. They always carried coals from their +camp fires to light the next fires, and in the cool +evenings the leaping flames were pleasant. +<pb n="35"/><anchor id="Pg035"/>They also kept wild beasts from coming too near. +</p> + +<p> +There were three groups of the young people, +from three different villages. At night they +gathered in three camps; each <q>company</q> which +ate bread together was made up of relatives and +friends. After they had crossed the mountain +pass and before they had gone very far on the +other side, they halted for a day to talk matters +over and decide what to do next. It was very +important now to take the right course. +</p> + +<p> +The youths gathered under a huge oak to hold +a council while their wives and sisters and cousins +busied themselves with affairs of their own. The +men would have to do the fighting, and the girls +were quite willing to leave the general plans to +them. They were a sober and serious group of +young fellows as they sat there in the dappling +sunshine. It was enough to make any man +serious. Mars had brought them so far without +any serious mishap, and he might go on protecting +them all the rest of the way; but the question +was, how to discover what was best to do. All +the ways down the mountain looked very much +alike, and yet one might lead into a country inhabited +by fierce and cruel enemies, and another +into a barren rocky waste, and another to a fertile +valley. +</p> + +<p> +Mauros was their leader, so far as they had +<pb n="36"/><anchor id="Pg036"/>one, but he called on each man in turn to say +what he thought. There seemed to be a good +deal of doubt about the wisdom of so large a +party traveling together. The chances were +against their finding a valley large enough for +all to live in. They were not likely to find so +much cleared land or good pasture in any one +place. If they were to separate, and each party +took a different direction, one or another certainly +ought to be able to find the right sort of +place. Perhaps all of them would. Even one +of the camps was strong enough to defend itself +against any ordinary enemy. They were all +young and strong, active and full of courage, and +as time went on they would be traveling lighter +and lighter, for the provisions would be eaten up +and the spare animals killed for food. They +decided to do this, to offer a sacrifice to Mars and +pray to him to direct them. The next morning +all were ready to go on and waited only for a +sign. +</p> + +<p> +Each of the gods had certain favorite animals, +birds and plants. Mars had plenty of servants +he could send to do his will, and surely he would +show them what to do. +</p> + +<p> +Flam’na stood with her cousins, watching +Mauros as he stood in the center of the silent +group under the great oak tree. The fires were +<pb n="37"/><anchor id="Pg037"/>flickering slowly down to red coals, and a little +wind blew from the west. Suddenly their lead-ox, +the wisest of the team, lifted his head and +sniffed the breeze, pawed the earth, bellowed, and +plunged down a grassy glade, followed more +slowly by the other oxen and the whole party +in that camp. The ox was one of the beasts of +Mars. Nothing could be clearer than this. +Mauros turned and waved a laughing farewell +to the other camps, and raced on to make sure +that the ox did not get out of sight. Before +they had gone very far they came to a tiny brook, +which went chuckling on as if it knew something +interesting. They followed it downward and +began to find more and more grass as the valley +widened and the trees grew less thick. Finally +they found a place where the water was good and +the soil rich, and there was room for all their +beasts to graze. They called the town they built +there Bovianum, after the ox of Mars. They +were sometimes called by their neighbors the +Bovii, the cattlemen, for herds of cattle were not +very common in that part of the country. +</p> + +<p> +In the camp to the right of this, not long after +the departure of the ox, one of the girls saw +something red moving high up on the trunk of +a tree, and pointed it out to her brother. His +eyes followed hers, and soon all the company +<pb n="38"/><anchor id="Pg038"/>gathered in the edge of the woodlands, watching +that scarlet dot among the thick leaves. Then, +with a sudden rush of little wings, a green woodpecker +flew down from the tree top and perched +on a bough just over their heads. He looked +down knowingly into the upturned, eager faces, +and with a cheery call flew away down a ravine, +and alighted again. Breathless, wide-eyed and +silent, they ventured nearer. He beat his tiny +tattoo on the bark as if he were sounding a drum, +and flew on. Now scarlet was the color of Mars, +the drum was his favorite instrument of music, +and Picus the woodpecker was his own bird. +Following their little feathered guide, they went +farther and farther north until they found a home +among the spurs of the Apennines. They called +themselves the Picentes, the Woodpecker People, +and their children all knew the story of the sacred +spring and the bird of Mars. +</p> + +<p> +The third company had no time to watch the +others, for some wolves had winded their sheep, +and the young men had to run to fight them off. +Some of them chased the skulking gray thieves +for some distance and came back with the news +that the wolves had led them southward to a +rocky height, where they could look over the tops +of the trees below and see an uncommonly fine +place for the colony. This was as plain a sign +<pb n="39"/><anchor id="Pg039"/>as one could ask for, and the whole party, in +great satisfaction and relief, went on to the home +that the wolves had found for them. The wolf +was another of the beasts of Mars. This settlement +took the name of the Herpini, the Wolf +People. +</p> + +<p> +All three of the Sabine colonies prospered and +grew strong, and although they had little to do +with each other they lived in peace with relatives +and neighbors. There came to be many villages +on the slopes of the Apennines in which the Sabine +language was spoken. This was the last +time that they were forced to keep a Sacred Year, +for the Umbrian war parties left them alone, and +perhaps did not even know where they were; and +the mountain land was pleasant and fertile, out +of the way of floods. There was no reason in +the world why the brave young couples who +founded their homes here, and worked and played +and kept holiday, and loved the green earth as +all their forefathers had loved it, should not be +prosperous and happy, and they were, for many +a long year. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="40"/><anchor id="Pg040"/> +<index index="toc" level1="IV. The banditti"/><index index="pdf" level1="IV. The banditti"/> +<head>IV</head> + +<head>THE BANDITTI</head> + +<p> +When the Sabines came to the western +side of the mountain range, they did +not try to plow much land at first. +They had to find out what the land was like. +</p> + +<p> +People who lived by pasturing their cattle and +sheep wherever it was convenient hardly ever +settled in the same place for good, because the +pasture differs from year to year even in the same +neighborhood. A hillside which is rich and green +in a wet year may be barren and dry when there +are long months with no rain. A valley that is +rich in long juicy grass in spring may be under +water later in the summer. Herdsmen need to +range over a wide country, and especially they +need this if they keep sheep. The sheep nibble +the grass down to the roots, and when they have +finished with a field there is nothing on it for any +other animal that year. But the true farmer, +who uses his land for a great many different purposes, +can shift his crops and his pasturage +<pb n="41"/><anchor id="Pg041"/>around so that he can have a home, and this was +what the Sabines wished to do. +</p> + +<p> +For a farm of this kind, a place between mountain +and plain is best, with a variety of soil and +good water supply. In such a mountain valley +as the Herpini chose, with wooded heights above +it, the roots of the trees bind the earth together +and keep the wet of the winter rains from drying +up, so that there is not often either flood or +drought, and almost always good grass is found +somewhere in the neighborhood. The people +began by raising beans and peas to dry for winter, +and herbs for flavoring, and in the summer +they had kale and other fresh vegetables. Now +and then, for a holiday, they killed a sheep or +a young goat or a calf and had a feast. The heart +and inner organs were burned on the altar for +an offering to the gods; the flesh was served out +to the people, cooked with certain herbs used +according to old rules. For vineyards and grain +fields, which needed a certain kind of soil, they +chose, after awhile, exactly the ground which +suited them, and plowed their common land, +and sowed their corn and planted their vines. +</p> + +<p> +Most of the farm land was worked by all the +people in common. This was a very old custom. +There were good reasons for it. In farming, the +work has to be done when the weather is suitable. +<pb n="42"/><anchor id="Pg042"/>The planting or haying or harvesting cannot be +put off. By working in company the men saved +time and labor, and if one happened to be ill the +land was taken care of all the same, and nothing +was lost. Also, in this way all of the land suitable +for a certain crop was used for that crop. Nobody +was wasting time and strength trying to +make rocky or barren soil feed his family, while +his strength and skill were needed on good +ground. The third and perhaps the best reason +was, that in this way the houses were not scattered, +but close together, so that no enemy could +attack any one in the village without fighting all. +The village was clean and wholesome, because no +animals were kept there except as pets. The +flocks and herds were taken care of by men and +boys trained to that work. Each man had for +his own the land around his own house, and every +year he was allowed a part of the common land +for his especial use, but he did not own it as he +owned his house and lot,—the <hi rend="italic">heredium</hi>, as it +was called. +</p> + +<p> +Everything connected with the cultivation of +the land was in the hands of twelve men chosen +for it, called the Arval Brethren, or the Brethren +of the Field. It was their work to see that all +was done according to the well-proved rules and +customs, that the gods received due respect, and +<pb n="43"/><anchor id="Pg043"/>that the festivals in their honor were held in +proper form. +</p> + +<p> +In a society where people have to depend upon +each other in this way, there is no room for a person +who will not fit in, and who expects to be +taken care of without doing his share of the +work. Here and there, in one village and +another, a boy grew up who shirked his work, +took more good things than his share and made +trouble generally. Sometimes he got over it as +he grew older, but sometimes he did not; and if +he could not live peaceably at home, he had to +be driven out to get his living where he could. +There was no place in a village ruled by the gods +for any one who did not respect and obey the +laws. +</p> + +<p> +These outlaws did not starve, for they could +get a kind of living by fishing and hunting, and +they stole from the ignorant country people and +from travelers. They were known after awhile +as <hi rend="italic">banditti</hi>, the banished men, the men who had +been driven out of civilized society. Some of +them left their own country altogether and went +down to the seashore, or into the strange land +across the yellow river. The people in the villages +did not know much about them. They +were very busy with their own concerns. +</p> + +<p> +There were two great festivals in the year, to +<pb n="44"/><anchor id="Pg044"/>do honor to the gods of the land. One was in +the shortest days of the year, early in winter. +This was the feast of Saturn. He was the god +who filled the storehouses, who sent water to +drench the earth and feed the crops, who looked +after the silent world of the roots and underground +growing things generally. When his +feast was held, the harvest was all in, the wine +was made, and it was time to choose the animals +to be killed for food and not kept through the +winter. For four or five days there was a general +jollification. No work was done except +what was necessary. There was feasting and +singing and story telling, and some of the wilder +youths usually dressed up in fantastic costumes +like earth spirits, and wound up the holiday with +dancing and songs and shouting and all sorts of +antics. Sometimes a clever singer made new +songs to the old tunes, with jokes and puns about +well-known people of the place. These songs +were always done in a certain style, and this +style of verse came to be known later as Saturnian +poetry, and the sly personal fun in them was +called satirical. It was part of the joke that the +singer should keep a perfectly grave face. +</p><anchor id="illus058"/> + <pgIf output="txt"><then> + <p rend="text-align: center">[Illustration: The people gathered in the public square]</p> + </then> + <else><p><figure url="images/illus058.png" rend="w100"> + <head rend="ill">The people gathered in the public square.</head> + <figDesc>Illustration: The people gathered in the public square</figDesc> +</figure></p></else></pgIf> +<p> +The other festival came in the spring, when +the grass was green and the leaves were fresh +and bright, and flowers were wreathing shrubs +<pb n="47"/><anchor id="Pg047"/>and hillsides like dropped garlands. It was in +honor of the beautiful open-handed goddess +called Dea Dia, or sometimes Maia. One spring +morning the children of the village could hear +the blowing of the horn in the public square, +and then they all understood that the priest was +about to give out the announcement of the festival +of Maia. They crowded up to hear, even +more excited and joyous than the older people. +</p> + +<p> +There were no books or written records; not +even a written language was known to the villagers. +The priest of the village, who kept account +of the days when ceremonies were due, +and the changes of the moon, gave out the news, +each month, of the things which were to happen. +The months were not all the same length, and no +two villages had just the same calendar. The +year was counted from the founding of the city, +whenever that was, and naturally it was not the +same in different places. The people gathered +in the public square, waiting to hear what Emilius +the priest had to tell them. +</p> + +<p> +He was a tall and noble-looking man, generally +beloved because he always tried to deal +justly and kindly with his neighbors, and was so +wise that he usually succeeded. The person who +paid him the deepest and most reverent attention +was little Emilia, his daughter, who believed +<pb n="48"/><anchor id="Pg048"/>him to be the wisest and best of men. She stood +with her mother in a little group directly in front +of him, looking up at him with her deep, serious +blue eyes, in happy pride. +</p> + +<p> +Emilia was six and a half years old. This +would be her first May festival, to remember, +for she had been ill the year before when it came, +and one’s memory is not very good before one +is five years old. Her bright gold-brown hair +curled a little and looked like waves of sunshine +all over her graceful small head. It was tied +with a white fillet to keep it out of her eyes, and +in the fillet, like a great purple jewel, was thrust +an anemone from a wreath her mother had been +making. Her mother dressed her in the finest +and softest of undyed wool, bleached white as +snow. She wore a little tunic with a braided +girdle, and over her shoulders a square of the +same soft cloth as a mantle; it looked like the +wings of a white bird as it shone in the morning +sun. On her feet were sandals of kidskin, and +around her neck was a necklace of red beads that +had come from far away. A trader brought +them from the place by the seashore where such +things were made. From this necklace hung a +round ball of hammered copper, made to open +in two halves, and inside it was a little charm +to keep off bad spirits. The charm was made +<pb n="49"/><anchor id="Pg049"/>of the same red stone and looked like the head of +a little goat. +</p> + +<p> +Emilia had never in her life known what it +was to be afraid of any one, or to see any one’s +eyes rest upon her unkindly. The world was +very interesting to her. It was filled with wonderful +and beautiful things, especially just now. +Each day she saw some new flower or bird or +plant or animal she had never seen before. +Spring in those mountains was very lovely. It +hardly seemed as if it could be the real world. +</p> + +<p> +The people were all rather fine-looking and +strong and active. They worked and played in +the open air and led healthy lives, and being well +and full of spirits, there was really no reason +why they should be ugly. +</p> + +<p> +Emilius told them when the feast of Maia +would take place. The moon, which was called +the measurer, was all they had to go by in +reckoning the year. The feast was to be the +day after it changed. Emilius repeated the +names of the Brethren of the Field, and mentioned +things that should be done to prepare for +the feast, and that was all. +</p> + +<p> +Far up on the heights of the mountain above, +in among the rocks where nothing grew except +wind-stunted trees and patches of moss and fern, +there was another settlement of which the +vil<pb n="50"/><anchor id="Pg050"/>lage people knew nothing. Two of its men happened +to be farther down the mountain than +usual, hunting, when this announcement was +made. They got up on a rock overgrown with +bushes, where they could look down into the village, +and lay watching what went on. They +were not beautiful or happy. They looked as +they lay on the rock, spying over the edge with +their hard, greedy eyes under shaggy unkempt +locks, rather like wild beasts. +</p> + +<p> +One was a runaway from this very place, and +he knew it was nearly time for the May festival. +His name was Gubbo, and he had been cast out +of the village because he was cruel. He liked to +torment animals and children; he liked to compel +others to give him what he wanted. When +finally he had been caught slashing at the favorite +ox of a man he had had a quarrel with, he had +been beaten and kicked out and told never to +come back. He had wandered about for some +years, and then joined the banditti on the mountain. +</p> + +<p> +These banditti came from many towns; some +were even of another race, of the strange people +beyond the river. There were not very many of +them, but there were enough to surprise and beat +down a much larger number if circumstances +favored. Their usual plan was not to fight in +<pb n="51"/><anchor id="Pg051"/>the open, but creep up near a place where stores +or treasure happened to be kept, when the most +skillful thieves would get in and carry off the +plunder to the hiding-place of the others, who +stood ready to fight or to act as porters, whichever +might be necessary. If they were chased, the +best runners drew off the pursuers after them +and joined the rest of the band later. +</p> + +<p> +They did not spend all or even very much of +their time in their mountain den. They had +picked this country as their headquarters because +it was largely wilderness above the farming +belt. The rocks held many caves and good +strongholds. Often they went off and were +gone for perhaps a month at a time, prowling +about distant settlements, or haunting the roads +the traders traveled. Many a luckless merchant +had been knocked on the head from behind, or +dragged out of his boat and drowned, by these +thieves, with no one to tell the tale. +</p> + +<p> +They had found the Sabines here when they +came, and it had not seemed worth while—yet—to +quarrel with them. The scattered country +folk, who went in deadly fear of the robbers and +did whatever they were told, said that the farmers +could fight, and kept watch over what they had, +and had very little but their animals and food +stores. There was no use in provoking a war +<pb n="52"/><anchor id="Pg052"/>with them. The better plan would be to terrify +them so thoroughly that they would give the +bandits anything they asked, to keep the peace. +</p> + +<p> +There was no use in upsetting these quiet folk +so that they could not work. They could be told +that unless they brought to a certain place, at +certain times, grain, cattle and other provision, +and left them for the outlaws, something terrible +would happen to them. They certainly could +not hunt the mountains over for the band, and +they could not know how many or how few there +were. This plan worked well in other places, +and it would do very well here. +</p> + +<p> +The leader, the oldest of the robbers, had once +been a slave, and he knew all the things that are +done to slaves who resist their masters. The +others were afraid of him, and there were very +few other things in the world of which they were +afraid. He listened to the report of Gubbo and +his companion, and sent them back to watch the +village during the time of the festival, see who +the chief men were, how well off the people +seemed to be, how many fighting men they had, +and where they kept their grain and other stores. +</p> + +<p> +For five days one or the other of the bandits +was always watching from the edge of the rock. +If they had been the kind of men to understand +beauty, they must have owned that the festival +<pb n="53"/><anchor id="Pg053"/>of Maia was a beautiful sight. But it only made +them angry and bitter to think that they could +not have all the comforts these people had. +Often they did not have enough to eat, and then +there would be a raid on some village, and all +the men would eat far more than was comfortable, +and drink more than was at all wise, and +the feast usually ended in a fight. This festival +in the village was not at all like that. +</p> + +<p> +The young girls had a great part in the dancing +and singing and processions of Maia. A +tall pillar, decorated with garlands and strips +of colored cloth, had been set up, and a circle +of white-robed little maidens, with wreaths of +flowers on their heads, danced around it. Little +Emilia sat sedately in the center, wand in hand, +and directed the dancing. There were stately +processions, and marching and countermarching +of white figures bearing garlands; the oxen appeared +with their horns wreathed in flowers; +blossoms were strewn all over the public square +as the day passed. The blessing of Maia was +asked upon the springing grain, now standing +like a multitude of fairy sword blades above the +brown soil; upon the bean and pea vines climbing +as fast as ever they could up the poles set for +them; upon the vineyards, every vine of which +was tended like a child; and upon the orchards, +<pb n="54"/><anchor id="Pg054"/>all one drift of warm white petals blowing on +the wind. The chestnut trees were a-bloom and +looked like huge tents with great candelabra set +here and there over them; and the steady hum of +the bees was like the drone of a chanter. +</p> + +<p> +When the day was over, and all the people were +asleep, the spies went back to the den in the rocks +and told what they had seen. +</p> + +<p> +The chief decided that these people were to +be let alone all through the summer and early +fall, until all their stores of wine and grain and +fat beasts were in, and they went afield to get +nuts in the forest. That would be the time to +strike. The child of the head priest could be +carried off, perhaps, or the son of the chief man +of the village. Then one of the country people +would be sent to tell the villagers that unless they +agreed to furnish provisions at certain times and +places, the child would be killed. That would +bring them to heel. +</p> + +<p> +So the summer passed, and the unconscious, +happy people prayed for a good harvest. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="55"/><anchor id="Pg055"/> +<index index="toc" level1="V. The wolf cub"/><index index="pdf" level1="V. The wolf cub"/> +<head>V</head> + +<head>THE WOLF CUB</head> + +<p> +The new moon was rising above a wet +waste of marsh and tussock and tasseled +reeds. A man and two boys +climbed hastily up a hill. Before them they +drove a bleating, cold, rain-wet, bewildered flock. +As any shepherd will admit, sheep are among +the silliest creatures in the world, and if there is +any way for them to get themselves into trouble +they will do it. Even so small a flock as this +had proved it abundantly. +</p> + +<p> +A dry time, when all the grass in the usual +pastures was burned brown or eaten down to the +roots, had been followed by a rainy fall and winter. +The shepherd and his two foster sons—his +wife had long been dead—left their hillside +pastures by the river and went with their flock +wherever they could find any grass. They meandered +about for some time on the great plain +that was usually too wet for sheep; that grass +was rank and sometimes unwholesome, but it +<pb n="56"/><anchor id="Pg056"/>was better than nothing. When the wet weather +began, they were on the other side, and they +edged up among the foothills of the mountains +that stood around it, wherever they could without +getting into trouble with people who had +cattle there. They would have had more difficulty +than they did if it had not been for the wolf +cub which the taller of the two boys had tamed. +He was named Pincho, and he seemed to be everywhere +at once. No sheep ever delayed for an +instant in obeying him. +</p> + +<p> +For hours they herded the tired flock up and +down, among hills and gullies, until they came +on a little hollow among bushes, out of the way +of the water, where they could stop and get a +little sleep. The man and the boys were all +three wet, cold and hungry, even hungrier than +the sheep were, for they could not eat grass; +hungrier than Pincho, who now and then caught +some sort of wild creature and ate it on the spot. +They ate what little they had left, and then one +kept watch while the others slept, by turns, in the +driest place that could be found. +</p> + +<p> +When it was light enough to see, they looked +about to find out where they were. Farther +down the slope and to one side of them was a +village, and the people there kept sheep and +also cattle. Nobody seemed to be doing much +<pb n="57"/><anchor id="Pg057"/>work, for half the men were standing about talking, +and the shrill note of a flute player came up +the hill as if it were a signal. +</p> + +<p> +The boys did not know what this meant, for +they had never been near a village on a holiday,—and +not often at any time. But the shepherd +knew; he knew that it must be a feast day, and +he told the boys that if they wished to go to the +village and see what was going on, he would +look after the sheep. They must not try to go +in unless they were asked, and they ought not to +take Pincho; some one might see him and kill +him for a wolf, not knowing that he was tame. +</p> + +<p> +But Pincho had something to say about that. +He had no intention of being left behind, and +the shepherd had to cut a thong off his sheepskin +cloak to tie up the determined beast. Then +when the boys were about two-thirds of the way +to the village, something came sniffing at their +heels, and there was Pincho, with the thong +trailing after him; he had gnawed it in two. +</p> + +<p> +His young master only laughed. <q>Here, +Pincho!</q> he said good-humoredly, and as the +young wolf came and licked his hand he made a +loop of the trailing end and thrust his strong +brown fingers into it. And so they came up to +the edge of the village where the people were +making ready the feast,—two boys and a wolf. +</p> + +<pb n="58"/><anchor id="Pg058"/> + +<p> +The lads were both rather tall for their years, +and moved with the wild grace of creatures that +constantly use every muscle and never get stiff +or lazy. They wore only the shepherd’s tunic +of sheepskin with the wool outward, and a braided +leather girdle to hold a knife and a leather pouch. +In his left hand each held a crook, with a sharp +flint point at the other end so that it could be +used as a spear if a weapon were needed. The +taller led the wolf, which fawned and licked his +bare feet; the other, who was not quite so dark +of hair and eye, was playing on a reed pipe, taking +up the call of the pipers and weaving it into +a simple melody. For a moment the people did +not know who they could be. All the shepherd +boys in that neighborhood were known. Surely +only gods come out of the forest would be accompanied +by a wolf. +</p> + +<p> +They did not enter the village. They halted +on the outside where they could look into the +square and see what was going on, and they +stared in silent wonder, like animals. +</p> + +<p> +The fact was that they were so hungry that if +they had dared, they would have rushed on the +tables and seized the bread and meat and honey +cakes, and run away into the forest to devour +them as if they were wolves themselves. As it +was, the intelligent nose of Pincho caught the +<pb n="61"/><anchor id="Pg061"/>maddening odor of meat, and it was all his master +could do to hold him. +</p><anchor id="illus072"/> + <pgIf output="txt"><then><p rend="text-align: center">[Illustration: Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to + offer food to strangers]</p></then> + <else><p><figure url="images/illus072.png" rend="w100"> + <head rend="ill">Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to + offer food to strangers.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to +offer food to strangers</figDesc></figure></p></else></pgIf> +<p> +Whoever they were, it was proper at this time +to offer food to strangers, and if they were gods +or wood spirits this was the way to find it out. +The wife of Emilius the priest, a tall and gracious +woman, took up a flat basket-work tray +and filled it with portions of the various good +things on the nearest table. By the way they +took the food and ate it, she saw that they were +probably only hungry boys. Pincho got the +bones, but only when it was certain they were not +mutton bones. He had never been allowed to +find out what the flesh of a sheep was like. This +was a portion of a yearling calf. +</p> + +<p> +The matron’s little daughter, a straight, slender, +bright-haired child, came with her, and when +Pincho sniffed curiously at her little sandalled +feet she did not draw back, but stooped and +patted his head. The boy with the reed pipe, +when he had finished his share of the food, sidled +away toward the musicians, but the other one +stayed where he was, his arm round the shaggy +neck of the young wolf, and they asked him +questions. He explained, when they were able +to make out what he said—for he spoke in a +thick voice as the peasants did—that he and +his brother lived with a shepherd on the other +<pb n="62"/><anchor id="Pg062"/>side of the great plain. The shepherd had told +them to ask whether they might let their sheep +graze here awhile, until the water had gone down +so that they could get back. Emilius the priest +and some of the other men were there by this +time, and they said that this would be allowed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why do you stay away from your own village +on a holiday?</q> asked the child straightforwardly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We have no village,</q> the boy answered. +<q>We live by ourselves.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The little maiden knit her straight, dark, delicate +brows. People who had no village and +lived by themselves had never come to her knowledge +before. She thought it must be very dull +not to have any holidays, or playmates. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do the sheep and the wolves live together +in your country?</q> she asked, watching Pincho’s +wedge-shaped, savage head as he gnawed his +bone. +</p> + +<p> +<q>No; but Pincho is not really a wolf. He is +my friend.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>How can you be friends with a wolf?</q> persisted +the small questioner. <q>Wolves are +thieves and murderers. They kill sheep. If +they killed only the old sheep, I would not care. +The old ram with horns knocks people down. +But they kill the little lambs.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="63"/><anchor id="Pg063"/> + +<p> +<q>Pincho has never killed a sheep.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Emilia, my child,</q> said her mother, <q>it is +time for the dance of the children.</q> And she +led her little daughter away. +</p> + +<p> +The boys of the village were very curious about +Pincho. He had been caught when he was a +tiny cub and his mother had been killed. There +were two cubs, but the other one died. This one +slept at his master’s feet every night. The lad +beckoned to his brother, who began to play a +curious, jerky tune, and then the boy and the +wolf danced together, to the wonder and entertainment +of the villagers. Then in his turn the +boy began to ask questions. What was a holiday +and why did they keep it? +</p> + +<p> +The boys explained that there were many holidays +at different times. There was one in the +later days of winter called the Lupercal, in honor +of the god who protected the sheep. That was +the shepherds’ festival, and when it took place, +the young men ran about with thongs in their +hands, striking everybody who came in the +way. The day they were now keeping was +Founder’s Day, in honor of the founder of their +town. +</p> + +<p> +This was puzzling. How could one man +found a town? A town grew up where many +people came to live in one place. +</p> + +<pb n="64"/><anchor id="Pg064"/> + +<p> +<q>Nay, my son,</q> said a white-haired old man, +the oldest man in the village, who had sat down +near the group. He spoke in the language the +shepherd spoke, so that it was easy to understand +him. <q>That is nothing more than a flock of +crows or a herd of cattle that eat together where +there is food. The man who founds a city determines +first to make a home for the spirits of his +people, as a man who builds a house makes a +home for his family. His gods dwell in this +place, and he himself will dwell there when he is +dead, and his spirit is joined to theirs. Without +the good will of the spirits there is no good fortune. +How can men know what is wise to do, +or what is right, if they do not ask help of the +gods, as a child asks its father’s will? Have you +never heard this? Has your father not told +you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>We have neither father nor mother,</q> said +the boy, but not shamefacedly,—even a little +proudly. <q>We were found when we were little +children by Faustulus the shepherd who is to +us as a father, and we serve him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +This did seem rather strange. Some of the +village people drew back and whispered among +themselves. Could the lads be gods or spirits +indeed? They were strong and handsome—but +who knew what things lived in the forest? +</p> + +<pb n="65"/><anchor id="Pg065"/> + +<p> +<q>Nay,</q> said Emilius, <q>they have eaten our +salt.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The shepherd sometimes prays,</q> the lad was +saying thoughtfully. <q>He prays when he has +lost his way. I asked him once when I was very +small what he was saying, and he said that he +prayed to his god. He said the god was like a +man, but had goat’s legs and little horns under +curling hair, and played on a reed pipe. My +brother said that he had seen him in the forest, +but I never did. When the shepherd sees anything +unlucky, he makes the sign of his god—thus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He held up his fist with all the fingers except +the little finger doubled in; this, with the thumb, +stuck straight up. <q>He calls it <q>making the +horns.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The people across the river have many gods,</q> +he went on cheerfully. <q>Once I ran away and +found a boat, and went over there, to see what it +was like. The priests watch the flight of birds +for signs; and the people give a great deal of +time to fortune telling. An old witch told mine +for love, and she said that I should rule over a +great people. Then I laughed and came away, +for I knew that she must think me a fool to be +pleased with lies. She said that their laws were +taught the priests by a little man no bigger +<pb n="66"/><anchor id="Pg066"/>than a child, who came up out of a field which a +farmer was plowing.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The priest Emilius smiled. <q>My son,</q> he said +kindly, <q rend="post: none">these things are foolish and lead to +nothing. If you will stay with us and help to +tend our flocks, you shall learn of our gods, and +live as we do, sharing our work and our play. +But unless you obey our law we cannot let you +stay. The gods are not pleased when strangers +come into their sacred places.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The founder of our city is as a kind father +who watches us and sees what we do, whether it +is good or whether it is evil. Our children are +his children, and our fortunes are his care, as +they were when he was alive and ruled his people +wisely as a father. This is why we honor him. +Will you stay with us and be our herd boy?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The lad stood up, his staff in one hand, the +other in the loop of the wolf’s collar. <q>We owe +the shepherd our lives,</q> he said, with his proud +young head erect. <q>We will go back to him +and serve him until we are men. When I am a +man, I think I will found a city of my own.</q> +</p> + +<p> +His brother laughed. In a flash the lad turned +on him and knocked him down. Emilius +caught him by the shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My boy,</q> he said sternly, <q>there must be +no quarreling on a holiday. Go back to your +<pb n="67"/><anchor id="Pg067"/>own place, for you are right to cherish your foster +father. In good or bad fortune, in all places +and at all times, it is right to return kindness for +kindness, to show reverence to the old who have +cared for the young.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The villagers, puzzled, curious and a little +afraid, watched the two wild figures and their +strange companion move away into the long +shadows of the woodlands. They did not come +back when any one could see them, but about a +week later there was found at the door of the +priest a basket woven roughly but not unskillfully +of the bark of a tree, lined with fresh leaves and +filled with wild honey and chestnuts. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="68"/><anchor id="Pg068"/> +<index index="toc" level1="VI. Boundary lines"/><index index="pdf" level1="VI. Boundary lines"/> +<head>VI</head> + +<head>BOUNDARY LINES</head> + +<p> +The boy with the pet wolf did not come +again to the village where he had first +seen a holiday feast and heard what +religion was, but he saw a great deal of it for +all that. His brother never cared to go back +and seemed to take no interest in what he had +seen. +</p> + +<p> +Pero, one of the shepherds, while out looking +for stray lambs on the hills, met the youngster +and his wolf coming down with two of the woolly +black-faced truants. They had been hunting, +the boy said, and had come across these lambs +far up on the heights where lambs had no business +to be, and brought them back. When the shepherd +asked the lad his name, he said the Cub +was as good a name as any. The shepherd was +an old man and had seen many queer things in +his life and heard of queerer ones. He had +found that most frightful stories, when one came +to know the truth of them, were some quite +nat<pb n="69"/><anchor id="Pg069"/>ural incident made large in the eyes of a frightened +man. This boy might, of course, be a wood +demon, and his wolf might be another, servants +of some evil power, but the shepherd had never +seen any such beings and he did not know how +they were supposed to look. When he offered +the Cub a piece of his bannock, made with salt +and water and meal and cooked on a hot stone, +it was accepted and eaten, and Pincho the wolf +ate some of it also. Pincho would eat almost +anything. But that ought to prove that they +were no devils, for if they were they would not +have eaten the salt. +</p> + +<p> +Pero was a little lame from a fall he had had +several years ago, although he got about more +nimbly than some younger men. He found the +help of this wild youth and his wilder companion +very convenient at times. After awhile he began +to see that the Cub was very curious about the +customs of the Sabine village. He did not ask +many questions, but he would listen as long as +Pero would talk. Many a long still hour the +two spent, on the grass while the sheep grazed, +or coming slowly down the slope toward the village +at nightfall, but always, when they came near +the village gate, Pero would look around presently +and find that he was alone. +</p> + +<p> +The first time that Pero noticed this curiosity +<pb n="70"/><anchor id="Pg070"/>was one day when they were high above the village +so that they could look down on a level +stretch of land where the men were marking out +a new field. Boundary lines were very important +with any people as soon as they stopped wandering +from place to place and settled down to +work the same land, year after year. Of course, +it takes more than one season to make any plot of +ground produce all it can, and no man cares to +do a year’s work of which he gets none of the +benefit; there must be a clear understanding on +the subject of the boundary. +</p> + +<p> +In the beginning there were no writings, or +deeds, or public records to mark the line of a +farm, and the only way to protect property +rights was by ceremonies which would make +people remember the boundary lines, and the +landmarks which it was a horrible crime to move. +</p> + +<p> +Pero began by explaining that every house of +the village had to be separated from every other +house by at least two and one half feet. As +each house was a sort of family temple, the home +of the spirits of the ancestors of that family; +naturally nobody but these spirits had any right +there. Two families could not occupy the same +house any more than two persons could occupy +the same place. On the same plan, each field +was enclosed by a narrow strip of ground never +<pb n="71"/><anchor id="Pg071"/>touched by the plow or walked on or otherwise +used. This was the property of the god of +boundaries, Terminus. +</p> + +<p> +The boundary line of each field was marked by +a furrow, drawn at the time the field was marked +out for the village or the individual owner. At +certain times, this furrow would be plowed +again, the owners chanting hymns and offering +sacrifices. On this line the men were now placing +the landmarks they called the <hi rend="italic">termini</hi>. The +<hi rend="italic">terminus</hi> was a wooden pillar, or the trunk of a +small tree, set up firmly in the soil. In its +planting certain ceremonies were observed. +</p> + +<p> +First a hole was dug, and the post was set up +close by, wreathed with a garland of grasses and +flowers. Then a sacrifice of some sort was offered—in +this case a lamb—and the blood ran +down into the hole. In the hole were placed also +grain, cakes, fruits, a little honeycomb and some +wine, and burned, live coals from the hearth +fire of the home or the sacred fire of the village +being ready for this. When it was all consumed +the post was planted on the still warm ashes. +If any man in plowing the field ran his furrow +beyond the proper limit, his plowshare would +be likely to strike one of these posts. If he +went so far as to overturn it or move it, the penalty +was death. There was really no excuse +<pb n="72"/><anchor id="Pg072"/>for him, for the line was plainly marked for all +to see. +</p> + +<p> +The Cub looked down at the solemnly marching +group, the white oxen, and the setting of the +posts with bright and interested eyes. +</p><anchor id="illus085"/> +<figure url="images/illus085.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: <q>I have seen something like this before,</q> he said</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +<q>I have seen something like this before,</q> he +said. <q>Everywhere it is death to move a landmark. +In some places not posts but stones are +used. The dark people across the river say that +he who moves his neighbor’s landmark is hated +by the gods and his house shall disappear. His +land shall not produce fruits, his sons and grandsons +shall die without a roof above their heads, +and in the end there shall be none left of his +<pb n="73"/><anchor id="Pg073"/>blood. Hail, rust and the dog-star shall destroy +his harvests, and his limbs shall become sore and +waste away.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Pero stared in astonishment. <q>Where did +you hear all that?</q> he asked. +</p> + +<p> +<q>When I was younger I ran away and crossed +the river,</q> said the Cub calmly. <q rend="post: none">They are +strange people over there, not like your people. +They go down to the sea in boats. I went in a +boat also, but I did not like it. There was a +fat trader on the boat, and when we were outside +the long white waves along the shore, and +the wind came up and rocked our boat, his face +turned the color of sick grass. Perhaps my face +did also; I do not know. We were both very +sick. After that I came back to tend sheep +again, for I do not like that place.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They have a god called Turms there who is +the god of traders, and of thieves, and of fortune +tellers. They pray to him for good luck, for +they believe very much in luck. He is sometimes +seen in the shape of a beggar man with a dog +and a staff that has snakes twisted about it, and +a cap with a feather in it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Cub stood up laughing and slipped away +down under the rocks with his wolf; it almost +seemed as if he had flown. As Pero stared after +him, he remembered that the lad had an eagle +<pb n="74"/><anchor id="Pg074"/>feather in his pointed cap, and his staff had a +twisted vine around it. But the next time they +met the boy was so clearly only a boy in a sheepskin +tunic that Pero called himself an old fool +too ready to take fancies. +</p> + +<p> +The Cub had spent time enough on the other +side of the river to know something about the +people, and he had interesting things to tell. +They enjoyed bargaining and spent much time +buying and selling. They could make fine gold +work, bright-colored cloth, and brown vases with +black pictures painted on them. Their walls +were often painted with pictures. When a +trader from that country, named Toto, came to +the village, Pero remembered some of the things +he had been told. The people bought some of +his trinkets, but by what they said of them when +the brightness was worn off and the color faded, +he was not a very honest merchant. Pero remembered +then that this people had the same god +for trading and for stealing. +</p> + +<p> +The Cub said that he had been to other villages +along this mountain slope, and they seemed +to be as separate as if they were islands on a +sea of waste wilderness. They did not have +their feasts on the same day, they did not measure +time alike; in some ways they were almost +as far apart in their ideas as if they had been +<pb n="75"/><anchor id="Pg075"/>different kinds of animals. And yet they all +spoke nearly the same language and worshiped in +much the same way. If they knew each other +better and met oftener they would be all one +people, strong enough to drive away their enemies. +If he and Pero could meet in this friendly +way, surely others could. But this was a new +idea to the shepherd, and he was not used to +thinking. When the Cub saw that he did not +understand he began talking of something else. +The invisible boundary lines were too strong to +be crossed. +</p> + +<p> +Often, late at night, after Pero had gone home, +the Cub would lie on a high rock that overlooked +the village, looking down at the twinkling circle +of lights that meant altar fires in homes. Then +he would look up at the twinkling points of light +in the sky, and wonder if the gods lived there, +and if the lights were the altar fires of their +homes. If he had known that Pero once half +believed him to be a god in disguise, he would +have been very much surprised. He was only a +boy, without father, mother or home, and he +wished he knew what lay before him in the life he +had to live. +</p> + +<p> +He could keep sheep, he could hunt, he could +fight, he could run and swim better than most +boys of his age, and there was no beast, fowl, +<pb n="76"/><anchor id="Pg076"/>bird, reptile, fruit or tree in the wilderness that +he did not know. But there seemed to be no +place for him to live among men unless he was a +sort of servant. This was not to his liking. He +had never seen any man whose orders he would +be willing to obey. He had seen some who were +wiser, far wiser than he was, who could tell him +a great deal that he wished to know. But he +had never seen any to whom he would be a servant. +A servant had to do what he was told +and make himself over into the kind of person +some one else thought he ought to be. The old +woman who was a witch had told him that he was +born to rule, but he did not see how he could, +unless it was ruling to command animals. To +rule men he must live where they were, and so +far as he could see they had no place for him. +</p> + +<p> +His brother never seemed to have such +thoughts. Give him enough to eat and drink, a +fire to warm him in winter and a stream to bathe +in when the summer suns were hot, and his reed +pipe to play, and that was enough. He would +spend hours playing some tune over and over +with first one change and variation and then +another. Even the wolf, now grown large and +powerful, with his gaunt muzzle and fierce eyes, +was more of a companion than that. He was +always ready for a wrestle or a race or a swim +<pb n="77"/><anchor id="Pg077"/>with his master. The two of them were feared +wherever they went, and treated with unqualified +respect. +</p> + +<p> +One day the Cub lay on his favorite rock, hidden +by a low-sweeping evergreen bough, when +he heard shrieks and outcries. Peering over the +edge, he saw that in the edge of the woods below, +where some women and children were picking +up nuts the men had shaken down for them, something +was happening. Half a dozen fierce men +had rushed upon them and caught up one of the +children and run away, so quickly that by the +time the fathers and brothers got there no one +could say which way they had gone. They +joined some others hidden in the woods, and came +straight past the rock where the Cub was watching. +They were going to keep the child until +they got what they wanted. He could hear them +talking. The biggest man had the child on his +shoulder. Her little face, as he got a glimpse +of it, was very white, but she did not cry out. +</p> + +<p> +The boy rose and followed them with his wolf +at his heels. He knew a spring some distance +above, where he thought they would be likely to +stop for a drink. They did. They were far +enough away by this time not to fear pursuit, +and they had passed a rocky place where they +could hold the narrow trail against many times +<pb n="78"/><anchor id="Pg078"/>their number. But long before the men could +get up there they would have gone on. +</p> + +<p> +The Cub crept up, inch by inch, until he was +within a few feet of the savage, careless group +by the spring, and behind them, on a bank about +six feet high. Only the child was facing him. +He showed himself for an instant, and laid a +finger on his lips, and beckoned. She struggled +free from the man who was holding her, striking +at him with her little hands, and he laughed and +let her go. Even if she tried to run away, they +would catch her. But she only staggered unsteadily +toward the bank, as if to gather some +bright berries there. +</p> + +<p> +The instant she was clear of the group two +figures hurled themselves through the air,—a +man and a wolf, or so it seemed in the moment +or so before the thing was over. There was a +snarling, growling, breathless struggle, and then +the two strange figures were gone, and so was the +child, and the bandits were nursing half a dozen +wolf bites and various cuts on their shoulders and +arms. Some they had given each other in the +confusion, and some were from the long, keen +knife the Cub had ready when he leaped among +them. +</p> + +<p> +The lad went straight down the mountainside +with his wolf at his heels and the child on his +<pb n="79"/><anchor id="Pg079"/>shoulder, and came out on the path that led upward +just as the men from the village were coming +up. He set down the child, and with a cry +of delight she rushed into the arms of her father. +A spear hurtled through the air from the hasty +hand of one of the men, who had caught a glimpse +of a brown shoulder and a sheepskin tunic. The +Cub disappeared. He was rather disgusted. +If that was the way that the villagers repaid a +kindness— +</p><anchor id="illus092"/> +<figure url="images/illus092.png" rend="w100"> +<figDesc>Illustration: The lad went straight down the mountainside with his wolf at his heels</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +From his rock he watched them returning +with the child, all talking at once. It seemed +to him a great deal of talk about what could not +<pb n="80"/><anchor id="Pg080"/>be helped by talking. He called Pincho, and +only silence answered. He slid off the rock +and retraced his steps. When he reached the +place where he had set down little Emilia, he +found the body of his pet, quite dead, with a +spear wound straight through the heart. Then +he remembered that in the flash of time when the +spear was hurled, Pincho had sprung at the man. +He had taken the death wound meant for his +master. +</p> + +<p> +Pero never saw the boy with the wolf again. +When he heard Emilia’s story of her rescue, he +was inclined to think that they were gods after +all,—Mars himself, for all any one could say. +But the Cub, feeling much older, was far away, +and it was long before he returned to that countryside. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="81"/><anchor id="Pg081"/> +<index index="toc" level1="VII. Masterless men"/><index index="pdf" level1="VII. Masterless men"/> +<head>VII</head> + +<head>MASTERLESS MEN</head> + +<p> +The story the robbers had to tell, when +they returned to their captain, was not +a very likely one. It was so unlikely +that they took time to talk the matter over +thoroughly before attempting to face him. Perhaps +it would be better to tell a lie, if they could +concoct one that would do. The trouble was +that they could not think of any explanation for +their failure, that was likely to satisfy him any +better than the plain facts. +</p> + +<p> +Of course it seemed impossible that a man and +a wolf should be traveling peaceably in company,—to +say nothing of taking a child out of the +hands of several strong and reckless men. But +even so, where had they gone? One of the men +had been quick enough to thrust with his spear at +the wolf as he got it against the sky,—and it +went through nothing. He forgot that the +motion of an animal is usually quicker than the +human eye, on such occasions. Moreover, though +two of them went back down the path until they +<pb n="82"/><anchor id="Pg082"/>could hear the voices of the villagers, there was no +sign of man, wolf or child. The conclusion they +felt to be the only one possible was that the +villagers’ gods had come and taken the child away +from them, in the form of the wolf and the man. +In that case they must be very powerful, so +powerful that it would not be safe to attempt +anything against that village in the future. +</p> + +<p> +Gubbo, who came from that village, assured +them that its gods were powerful indeed. He +had not, when he and the other man were watching +it, seen anything like this man and wolf apparition, +and it was certainly remarkable enough +to attract attention. Neither had the country +people ever mentioned such a thing. Privately, +Gubbo did not believe much in gods, but he was +afraid of them for all that, because he was not +sure. Gubbo’s father had impressed upon him +very hard that if he did wrong, bad luck would +surely overtake him. The patience of the gods +was great, but they knew everything, and in the +end no man could escape them. Gubbo, wincing +at the pain where the wolf’s teeth had caught him, +was uncomfortably wondering whether his bad +luck had begun. There had never been any other +failure to kidnap somebody, when men were sent +to do it. Perhaps the bad luck in this case came +from the fact that one of the party was attacking +<pb n="83"/><anchor id="Pg083"/>his own relatives and friends. There would be +more bad luck when the chief of the bandits +heard of this thing. Gubbo decided to dodge +any further trouble if he could, and he lagged +behind and quietly slipped away, to find some +other way of making a living. He intended to +go on traveling for a long time, to be out of the +way of his former comrades. +</p> + +<p> +It was just as well for him that he did this, +for the men who returned to the den in the rocks +and reported to the chief had a very bad time of +it. The leader was executed, and so was the +man who had had charge of the child. Of the +other three, one died of the bite of the wolf and +the others were very ill. After that, not a man +of them could have been induced to join in an +attack against that village. The chief wisely did +not press the matter. After all, that was the +nearest village of all those in their range, and +it might not be altogether prudent to arouse the +anger of the fighting men. It might lead to discovery. +</p> + +<p> +The Cub, as he made his way back to the hut +of Faustulus, was doing a great deal of thinking. +When he was younger he had sometimes dreamed +of being captain of a band of outlaws, because +that seemed the only chance to be captain of anything, +for a fatherless boy. But he had no taste +<pb n="84"/><anchor id="Pg084"/>for kidnaping children or being a nuisance to +peaceable and kindly people. Merely to think +of those scoundrels made him hot all over. He +would have liked to follow their trail up to their +very den, for he had an idea that he knew where +it was. One day, when he and Pincho had been +hunting together, he had seen a place where men +evidently lived, and lived without any sort of +peaceful farming or other business. If that were +the den of the banditti, they could easily make +themselves the pest of the countryside, and what +they had done would be nothing to what they +could do. Although he did not himself know it, +this boy was the kind of person whose mind leaps +ahead and sees possibilities for others as well as +himself,—evil as well as good. +</p> + +<p> +One day he asked his brother how he would +like to gather the masterless men of all that +neighborhood into a band of soldiery, to live by +hunting and by fighting for any chief who would +give them their living. They were growing too +old to live much longer as they had lived. Perhaps +if they could gather followers enough, they +could go somewhere after awhile and make a +place for themselves. First they might go to +the Long White Mountain, where there was a +rather large town, and see what the prospect was +for such an undertaking. They had already +<pb n="85"/><anchor id="Pg085"/>taken part in one campaign, with some of the +boys of the neighborhood, under the names of +the Wolf and the Piper. All of the troop had +some nickname or other. There was the Ram, +whose head would crack an ordinary board in +two; the Snake, who could wriggle out of any +bonds ever tied—they had tried him time and +again; Big Foot, Flop-Ear, Long Arm, and +some others. They found the captain they had +followed before glad to use them again and give +them ordinary soldier rations. On the second +night of their life in camp, a broad-shouldered +and slightly bow-legged individual came and +asked to see the head of the band. Gubbo did +not recognize the young leader, but the latter +knew him the moment he saw him. Gubbo explained +that he had been a member of a company +of banditti, had become disgusted with their ways, +and left them. He would like to make an honest +living. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What can you do?</q> asked the youth consideringly. +</p> + +<p> +Gubbo said that he could teach tricks in knife +work to almost any man; also he could wrestle. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Try me,</q> said the Wolf, slipping out of his +heavy tunic. He enjoyed the rough-and-tumble +that followed more than he had anything since he +used to play with his wolf. This man really +<pb n="86"/><anchor id="Pg086"/>was a fair match for him. Gubbo was taken into +the band. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He is a brute,</q> said the Ram bluntly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He is,</q> said the leader. <q>But he can teach +you fellows something.</q> +</p> + +<p> +They learned a great deal from the villainous-looking +newcomer, though if he had not been a +little afraid of the young head of the troop, they +might have paid a heavy price for their learning. +The latter found out by judicious questioning +that the den was where he had supposed it was. +After a time he began to see that Gubbo was +doing his men no good. The man was cruel, +treacherous and base. Two or three times he +had played tricks which others were blamed for. +One day Gubbo heard that a merchant was coming +along the road to the mountain villages, and +at the same time he was sent on scout duty that +way. He watched in the bushes until the man +came along slowly, muffled in a long mantle, with +a donkey loaded with panniers. He seemed to +be old; his beard was white. Gubbo sprang on +him; the man turned in that instant and met him +with a knife thrust. Then the Wolf straightened +up, dropped his white goat’s-hair beard and wig, +and went back to camp. The bad luck that +Gubbo feared had got him at last, and nobody +mourned him at all. +</p> + +<pb n="87"/><anchor id="Pg087"/> + +<p> +Wolf and the Piper and their troop spent +some seasons in fighting and adventure, and then +they disappeared. It was said that they had +separated. +</p> + +<p> +This was true, but they had separated for a +purpose. If the company went together to the +lair of the banditti they might as well go blowing +trumpets and beating drums; it would be known +long before they came near. Their orders were +to go by twos and threes, and when the moon +was full to meet near a certain great rock that +overlooked the valley where the river became a +lake and then went on. One by one, as the young +leader sat watching on this rock, dark forms came +slipping through the shadows and joined him. +Last of all came his brother, who had guided +some of the party by a very roundabout way. +</p> + +<p> +When all were there, and sentinels posted, he +unfolded his plan. Above the place where they +now sat, among the tumbled rocks of a narrow +valley, was the headquarters of a most pestiferous +company of robbers. For years they had terrified +and despoiled the people of the villages, +and if any resisted they were tormented almost +beyond endurance in many different ways. The +people were expected to turn over to them at certain +times and places practically everything they +produced, except just enough for a bare living. +<pb n="88"/><anchor id="Pg088"/>Whatever the banditti did not use themselves, +they sold for things that could not be got in the +villages. The villagers never knew what they +were to be allowed to have at the end of the year, +and often they suffered for food and warm clothing; +but they stayed there because they knew +nowhere else to go. It was a miserable state of +things. +</p> + +<p> +His plan was this. They were to steal upon +this den of banditti and take it by surprise. +Gubbo had said that it was not fortified to any +extent, because the chief relied on the locality +not being known. They were to kill the chief +and such men as could not be trusted to behave +themselves if they had a chance. Perhaps some +would join the troop and abide by its rules. +They would take the stronghold for their own, +and keep it as a place to return to when they were +not busy elsewhere. Then, instead of making +enemies of the villagers or keeping them so terrified +that they dared not refuse any request, let +them make a friendly agreement. If the people +who lived in these valleys gave them a certain +tribute three or four times a year—a certain +part of the crop, whatever it was—they would +take care that there was no more plundering and +kidnaping, and the farmers could attend to their +own affairs in safety and comfort. If any enemy +<pb n="89"/><anchor id="Pg089"/>came against the people, too great for the Wolf +and his soldiers to encounter successfully, the +fighting men of the villages would be expected to +help them, but they would undertake to keep the +region clear of banditti. In return, if any one +asked whether there was a band of outlaws hiding +thereabouts, the villagers were to say that they +did not know where there were any, and that +would be the truth. +</p> + +<p> +The plan was approved, as the young chief +knew it would be. He had talked it over beforehand +with each man separately. If the people +were ungrateful enough, after the den of thieves +was broken up, not to agree to the plan proposed, +they could take their chance with other thieves, +but he thought that after what they had been +through in the last few years they would be willing +to agree to almost anything. +</p> + +<p> +As men are apt to do when they are much +feared, the banditti in the rock-walled ravine were +growing rather careless. The scouts of the +Wolf’s troop were able to follow their movements +closely. On the following night, when their +destruction was to take place, the robbers were all +in camp, having just returned from one of their +expeditions to bring up supplies. The fat calf +and the fowls and other provisions were sizzling +and stewing over great fires. There was plenty +<pb n="90"/><anchor id="Pg090"/>of new wine. From a trader’s pack some of the +younger men had got little ivory cubes with +figures engraved on the sides, and were playing +a game of chance. Their huts were furnished +rather luxuriously, with fur robes, wool garments +and gay hangings, but these, like their clothing, +were stained and injured more or less by the +fighting that usually took place over the plunder. +The chief did not care what his men did in camp +so long as they obeyed his orders. He did not +wish them to do much thinking; he preferred to +do all of that for them. He would have been +surprised indeed if he had known that some of +them did think and had almost made up their +minds that they had had enough of him and of +his methods and would go somewhere else. +</p> + +<p> +As he grew older, the robber captain was +fonder of eating and drinking, and now he sat +on a handsome ivory stool near the fire—for +the night was chilly—waiting for the meat to +be done to a turn. The cook was a stout, short, +bright-eyed man, a slave from across the river, +and there was very little that he did not know +about preparing rich dishes. +</p> + +<p> +It was a windy night. The wind howled +among the trees and down the ravine as if it were +chasing something. It was like the howling of +wolves, though there had been no wolves on that +<pb n="91"/><anchor id="Pg091"/>part of the mountain for a long time. Far to +the right of the camp there was heard a noise +like the cry of a child. Far to the left there was +a bleating like a lamb. These were the signals +arranged by the attacking force that was coming +silently through the woods, and the sentinels went +out a little way to see what a lamb and a child +could be doing up here. They were knocked +down, bound and carried off to a safe distance. +By the time supper was ready in the ravine, the +men in the woods were lying on the bank above, +all around, looking down into the stronghold. +The huts were ranged in two rows down the hollow, +with a line of fires between and the fronts +open. The entrance below was blocked by a log +gate. But the men now ready to attack the place +could climb like goats; they had all been brought +up among the hills. +</p> + +<p> +All of a sudden arrows came shooting down +on the careless banditti, and almost every one +found its mark. Down to the roofs of the huts +and to the ground came leaping figures, well +armed and fighting with the strength and skill of +trained men. Whenever they could they disarmed +and bound their men, but the leader of the +banditti was an exception to this rule. He was +killed without a chance to surrender. +</p> + +<p> +When every man in the camp of the banditti +<pb n="92"/><anchor id="Pg092"/>had been cut down or captured—and about half +of them surrendered,—the victors sat down and +ate the feast prepared for the robbers. +</p> + +<p> +Next day, when things had been cleared up +and put in order, each prisoner’s case was taken +up separately. A few, whose deeds were the +terror of the countryside, were executed. The +rest were glad enough to join the troop under +the Wolf, on probation. If they did well, they +should be full members in time. +</p> + +<p> +The people of the villages were thankful to +buy protection on the reasonable terms offered. +They did not know exactly who these men were +who had rid them of the banditti; some supposed +they were a troop of soldiers from some chief. +They almost never saw any of the band. The +tax demanded was brought to a certain place and +left there, and that was all. Emilius the priest +often wondered why these men did not ask anything +of his village, but they never did. Their +village was the only one that had hardly ever +suffered from the banditti. It was very odd. +He never connected either of these facts with the +long-ago visit of the shepherd youths and the +tame wolf. So matters went on for a year or +two. A guard was always left at the stronghold, +but the men were often absent. Merchants and +traders learned that they could get these men to +<pb n="93"/><anchor id="Pg093"/>protect them, at a price, when they were traveling +through a strange country. They had really +established a sort of patrol. The scattered +hunters and fishermen had walked in desperate +terror of the banditti, but they almost worshiped +the troopers, and they would have died rather +than reveal anything they had been told to keep +secret. When Amulius, the hoary and evil chief +of the people of the Long White Mountain, +heard of these two youths who were such excellent +fighters and whose men had so good a +reputation, he tried to find out where they were, +but he never could. For all the people of the +country seemed to know, they might come out +of the air and vanish into the clouds. It was +very mysterious. When the young leader heard +that Amulius had been trying to find him he +smiled, and did not make any comment whatever. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="94"/><anchor id="Pg094"/> +<index index="toc" level1="VIII. The beehive temple"/><index index="pdf" level1="VIII. The beehive temple"/> +<head>VIII</head> + +<head>THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE</head> + +<p> +The preparations at the village on the +Mountain of Fire were completed during +the winter, and the little company of +men, women and children made ready to go out +into the unknown world as soon as a favorable +day arrived. It was a more serious undertaking +than any they had known or even heard of before. +Even when their ancestors came to this place, +so long ago that no one could remember when it +was, it was after a lifetime of wandering; they +were not used to anything else. This company +was made up of people who had never in their +lives been more than a day’s journey from the +place where they were born, and what was more, +hardly any of their forefathers had, for generations. +</p> + +<p> +It was made still more difficult and doubtful +by the fact that they were taking their women +and children with them. There was no other +way. There was not too much to eat in the +vil<pb n="95"/><anchor id="Pg095"/>lage, as it was, and there would be less, if the +men went away for a year and left their families +to be supported. Although the men would have +preferred to go first and explore the land, the +women were privately better pleased as it was. +They felt that if their husbands were to be killed +they wanted to die too. As for the children who +were old enough to understand the situation, their +feelings were mixed. It was exciting and delightful +to be going to see new lands, and made +them feel important and responsible, but when +the time of leaving actually approached and they +began to think of never seeing their old home +again, they felt very sober indeed. +</p> + +<p> +They left the mountain on the day that was +later called the Ides of March, at the beginning +of spring, and slowly they followed the shining +river out into the valley. Two-wheeled carts +drawn by the oxen were loaded with the stores +and clothing they were able to take with them. +The fighting men had their weapons all in order. +The boys were helping drive the cattle and sheep, +and the married women had the younger children +with them. Every one who was able to walk, +walked. The eldest girl in each of the families—none +was over ten years old—had charge +of one most important thing—the fire. The +little maidens walked soberly together, feeling a +<pb n="96"/><anchor id="Pg096"/>great dignity laid upon them. Each carried a +round, strong basket lined with clay and covered +with a beehive-shaped lid of a peculiar shape. +In this were live coals carefully covered with +ashes, for the kindling of the next fire. No matter +what happened, they must not let those coals +go out. +</p><anchor id="illus109"/> +<figure url="images/illus109.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: The little maidens walked soberly together</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +<q>What-<hi rend="italic">ever</hi> happened?</q> repeated a little yellow-haired +girl, called Flavia because she was +so fair. She was the daughter of Muraena the +smith, and the youngest of the ten. +</p> + +<p> +Ursula, the biggest girl, laughed. <q>If we +were crossing a river and one of us got drowned, +<pb n="97"/><anchor id="Pg097"/>I suppose her fire would be lost,</q> she said teasingly. +<q>But they wouldn’t excuse us for anything +short of that.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But if it did go out—if all of the fires were +put out?</q> persisted Flavia, walking a little +closer to Marcia, whose word she felt that she +could trust. She had visions of a dreadful anger +of the gods,—another night of darkness and +terror like the one they all remembered. +<q>Should we never have a fire again, and have +to eat things raw, and freeze to death, and let +the wolves eat us up?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Certainly not,</q> answered Marcia reassuringly. +<q>Father told me all about that when I +was younger than you are. Don’t you remember +how they kindled the fire in the new year?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Flavia shook her yellow head. <q>I never +noticed.</q> She had been so taken up with the +chanting and the ceremonies that she had not +seen how the fire actually blazed up on the altar. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They do it with the <hi rend="italic">terebra</hi> and the <hi rend="italic">tabula</hi>. +The <hi rend="italic">tabula</hi> is a flat wooden block with a groove +cut in it, and the <hi rend="italic">terebra</hi> is a rubbing-stick that +just fits the groove. They have some very fine +chaff ready, and they move the stick very fast +in the groove until it is quite hot. Don’t you +know how warm your hands are after you rub +them together? When there is a little spark it +<pb n="98"/><anchor id="Pg098"/>catches in the chaff, and then it is sheltered to +keep it from going out, and fed with more chaff +and dry splinters until the fire is kindled. They +can <hi rend="italic">always</hi> kindle a fire in that way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What if the <hi rend="italic">terebra</hi> and the <hi rend="italic">tabula</hi> were +lost?</q> asked Flavia. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They would make others.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>If I rubbed my hands together long enough, +would they be on fire?</q> asked the child. She +did not yet see how fire could be made just by +rubbing bits of wood together. In fact, it was +so much easier to keep the fire when it was once +made that this was hardly ever done. It was +only done regularly once a year, at the beginning +of the month sacred to Mars. Then all the altar +fires were put out and the priest kindled the +sacred fire in this way afresh. +</p> + +<p> +The girls all laughed, and Marcia answered, +</p> + +<p> +<q>No, dear, it is only certain kinds of wood that +will do that. I suppose the gods taught our +people long ago which they were. The hearth +god lives in the fire, you know. I always think +it is like a living thing that will die without care. +Father says that the fire keeps away the wicked +fever spirits.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What’s fever?</q> asked Yaya, on the other +side. <q>Did you ever have it?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No, never; but Father did once, when he was +<pb n="99"/><anchor id="Pg099"/>working on the road across the marsh, before I +was born. It makes all your bones ache as if +they were broken, and you cannot keep still +because the spirits shake you all over. You grow +hot and grow cold, and have bad dreams, and +talk nonsense. Father woke up one day when +he had the fever, and said that there were great +rats coming to carry off my brother Marcs, who +was a baby then, and he tried to get up and kill +the rats, when there were none there. And +when he was well he never remembered seeing the +rats at all.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Although the children did not know it, a blazing +fire and wool clothing help to keep away the +malarial fever of a wet wilderness. The people +believed that their gods taught them to keep up +a fire, to wear clean wool garments and to drink +pure water, and it is certain that they were wise +in doing all these things religiously, as they did. +When they found a good spring on their journey +they filled their water bottles and left a little +gift there for the god of the waters. They kept +near pure running water when they could, and +away from standing water, even if they had to +go a long way round to do it. In the sudden +damps and chills of the lowlands through +which they traveled the tunics and mantles of +pure wool kept them from taking cold, and there +<pb n="100"/><anchor id="Pg100"/>was very little sickness on the journey. They +kept to their own habits of eating, and the children +were not allowed to experiment with strange +and possibly unripe fruits. +</p> + +<p> +It was a long time, however, before they came +in sight of any place that could be thought of as +a home. Most of the country they saw was not +inhabited except by a stray hut dweller here and +there, getting a miserable living as he could,—simply +because the land was not fit to live in. +They crossed a rolling plain, where the marshes +were full of unpleasant looking water, and the +air at night was full of singing, stinging insects +that drove the cattle frantic. It was not quite +so bad near the fires. The insects seemed to dislike +the smoke, or perhaps their wings could not +carry them through the strong currents of air +that the flames made around them. As soon as +possible they moved up toward the higher land, +and here at last they came in sight of the river +of the yellow waters, the great river that ran +down to the sea. Beyond that they could not +go without meeting strange people and the worship +of strange and cruel gods. +</p> + +<p> +Every night the beehive covers were taken off +the baskets, and the fires were kindled, and in +a round hut that was like a big basket lid, a +bed of coals was made ready for the next day’s +<pb n="101"/><anchor id="Pg101"/>journey. It was the duty of the ten little girls, +the guardians of the fire, to take care of this, +and they spent a great deal of time around the +miniature temple of the fire god. One or another +was always there. +</p> + +<p> +One night when they were carefully covering +the coals with fine ashes, Marcia and Tullia and +Flavia looked up and saw two strange men standing +near and looking down at them. They were +startled but not at all frightened. The strangers +would not be there if they were not friends; the +men would not allow it. The two youths did not +say anything; they watched for a few minutes, +smiling as if they liked what they saw; then they +turned away. They looked very much alike, and +walked alike, and their voices were alike; but +one was a little taller and darker than the other +and always seemed to take the lead. They were +not like the rude, ignorant, pagan people who +sometimes came to stare and beg and perhaps +to pilfer when they found some one’s back turned. +They looked like the people of Mars. But what +could they be doing away out here? +</p> + +<p> +The next day there was great news to tell. +In the first place, the fathers of the colony had +decided to stay here a few days, and let the cattle +feed, and the women wash their clothing and rest +for a little before going on. The water was +<pb n="102"/><anchor id="Pg102"/>good, and they had learned that it was a safe +part of the country, though it was too rocky and +barren to be a good place to live. But that was +the smallest part of the news. The two youths +were their own kinsmen, born of their own people, +sons of a son of the old chief who had died in a +far land many years ago. +</p> + +<p> +This was wonder enough, to be sure, but there +was more to come. The wicked uncle of the two +brothers had killed their mother and father, and +told one of his servants to take the twin boys +down to the river and drown them. They were +babies then. The servant did not like to do this. +He may have been afraid he would get into +trouble if he did it and any of their people found +it out later. He may have hated to do the cruel +work, for they were strong and handsome little +fellows. At any rate he put them in a basket +and gave the basket to a slave, telling him to +throw it into the river. +</p> + +<p> +The river was in flood just then, and its banks +were overflowed for miles on each side. There +was water everywhere, and the ground was soft +so that it was hardly possible to get down to the +real river, where the water was deep and the current +strong. If the children had been thrown +into that, they would have drowned at once. +But the slave did not take time to go all the way +<pb n="103"/><anchor id="Pg103"/>around the plain to the bank itself. He put the +basket down in the first deep pool he found and +left it to be carried down to the river, for the +flood was beginning to ebb. Instead of that the +basket lodged on a knoll and stayed there, not +very far from the banks. +</p><anchor id="illus116"/> +<figure url="images/illus116.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or lambs</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +In flood time, as Ursula had often heard her +father the hunter say, animals are sometimes so +frightened that the fierce and the timid take +refuge together on some island or rocky ridge, +without harming each other at all. This flood +had come up suddenly and drowned some of +them in their dens. A wolf that had lost her cubs +<pb n="104"/><anchor id="Pg104"/>in that way was picking her steps across the +drenched plain, when she heard a noise—two +noises—from a willow basket under a wild fig +tree. She went quietly over there and looked +in. The little creatures inside the basket were +not cubs or lambs, but they were hungry; any +one would know that from the way they squalled. +Wolf talk and man talk are quite different, but +baby talk and cub talk are understood by all +mothers. The wolf tipped the basket over with +her paw, and the little things tumbled out in the +cold and wet and cried louder than ever. Perhaps +they thought she was a big dog. At any +rate they crawled toward her, and plunged their +strong little chubby hands into her fur, and +crowed. When she lay down they snuggled close +to her warm furry side, and she licked them all +over. +</p> + +<p> +A shepherd named Faustulus came that way +when the flood had gone down, looking after a +lost sheep. He found wolf tracks, and grasping +his spear firmly, traced them to this knoll. He +found the gray wolf curled up there with the +two babies, asleep and warm and rosy, in the +circle of her big, strong body. +</p> + +<p> +The shepherd did not know just what to do. +He thought that if he tried to take the children +away from her she would fight, and they might +<pb n="105"/><anchor id="Pg105"/>be hurt, and he probably would be hurt himself. +He decided to go and get help. Later in the +day he came back with some of his friends, and +set a rude box-trap for the wolf, baited with +fresh meat from a drowned calf. When they +had trapped her they took her home and the +children also, in their basket. They kept the +wolf for some time, and she seemed quite tame; +but at last she ran away and never came back. +They fed the babies on warm milk, and the shepherd +and his wife both fell in love with them from +the very first. They heard a rumor after awhile, +whispered about secretly as such things are, that +the chief Amulius had had his two little nephews +drowned. The shepherd guessed then who the +foundlings might be, but he kept quiet about it. +The city was not too far away, and some one +might be sent even yet to kill the twins. In the +language of the country the word for river was +Rumon, and the word for an oar was Rhem. He +named the boys Romulus and Remus, and those +were all the names they had. They grew up to +be fine active fellows, afraid of nothing and good +at all manly sports. As they grew up, they +gathered other young men outside the villages +into a sort of clan, to protect the countryside +against robbers, and to fight and hunt and earn +a living in one way and another. They had a +<pb n="106"/><anchor id="Pg106"/>rocky stronghold on the mountain, where they +lived, and whenever strangers came that way, +some one was sent to see who and what they +were. That was how the two brothers came to +the camp of the colonists. +</p> + +<p> +When this remarkable story was told, there +was intense interest in the strange kinsmen. +The girls were a little afraid of them. Their eyes +were so bright and keen, their teeth so white, +and their faces so bronzed and stern that they +looked rather savage, especially in their wolf-skin +mantles and tunics. But the boys all wished that +they could join the patrol in the mountains. +</p> + +<p> +For two days the colonists remained where +they were, talking with the two brothers about the +country. At last it was settled that the very +hills where the two foundlings had grown up +would be the best place for the colony to live! +</p> + +<p> +Near the yellow river, there was a group of +seven irregular hills which had never been inhabited, +because the place was far from any town, +and the neighboring chiefs had no especial use +for it. There was good water on these hills and +pasture enough for all the herds, if the woods +were cleared off. The hills were so shaped that +they could be defended, and from those heights +they could see for miles and miles across the +plain. The wild face of Romulus changed and +<pb n="107"/><anchor id="Pg107"/>kindled as he talked, and Marcus Colonus saw +that here in this youth, his kinsman, in spite of +his adventurous and untrained life and his ignorance +of the old and time-honored ways, he had +found a true son of the Vitali, who loved his +land and his people. +</p> + +<p> +The colonists crossed the plain to the seven +hills, with the brothers guiding them, and on the +largest, which stood perhaps a hundred and fifty +feet above the river, they made their camp and +set up the beehive temple for the last time. +Here, they hoped, the sacred fire would burn +year after year, and their people find a home. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="108"/><anchor id="Pg108"/> +<index index="toc" level1="IX. The square hill"/><index index="pdf" level1="IX. The square hill"/> +<head>IX</head> + +<head>THE SQUARE HILL</head> + +<p> +The colony had chosen for their home one +of the largest of the seven hills, squarish +in form and more or less covered with +woodland. They began at once to fence it +around, to keep their beasts from wandering out +and thieves and wild beasts from getting in, for +all this country was very lonely. They had done +this sort of thing so often since they left their old +home that they did it quickly and rather easily. +It was the habit of their people to save time and +strength wherever they could, without being any +less thorough. To do a thing right, in the beginning, +saved a great deal of loss and trouble in +the end. +</p> + +<p> +While some cut down trees that grew on the +land where they intended to make their permanent +settlement, others trimmed off the branches +as fast as the trees were down, and cut the logs +to about the same length, and pointed the ends. +The boys gathered up the branches and cut firewood +from them. The brush that was not needed +<pb n="109"/><anchor id="Pg109"/>for the fires was made into loose fagots and piled +up on the logs, as they were laid along the line +where the wall was to be. This made a kind of +brush fence, not of much use against a determined +enemy but better than none at all. Even +this would keep an animal from bouncing into +the camp without being heard, and in fact most +wild beasts are rather suspicious of anything that +looks like a trap. +</p> + +<p> +When they had logs enough to begin fencing, +all placed ready for use, they dug holes along the +line they had marked out with a furrow, and +planted the logs side by side as closely as they +could, like large stakes. In any newly settled +place, where trees are plenty, this is the most +easily built fortification settlers can have, and +the strongest. A stone or earth wall takes +much longer to build. It is still called a +palisade, a wall of stakes,—just as it was +by men who built so, thousands of years ago +and called a sharpened stake a <q><hi rend="italic">palum</hi>.</q> A +fence built of boards set up in this way is called +a paling fence, and the boards are called palings. +The word fence itself is only a short word for +<q>defence,</q>—a defence made of pointed stakes +planted in the ground. +</p> + +<p> +The earth that was dug up was always thrown +inside and formed the basis of a low earthwork +<pb n="110"/><anchor id="Pg110"/>that made the palisade firmer. It was made as +high as possible from the outer side by being +built on the edge of the hilltop so that the ground +sloped away sharply from it. The pointed tops +of the logs were a foot or two too high for a man +to grasp at them and climb up, but from the inside +the defenders could mount the earthwork +and look through high loopholes. +</p> + +<p> +There was a gateway at the top of a slope that +was not so deep as the others, placed there so +that if the colonists were outside and had to run +for shelter, they could get in quickly. Almost +anywhere else, a person who tried to get in and +was not wanted would have to climb the hill under +fire from the slingers and bowmen above. He +must then get over the perfectly straight log +wall, which afforded no foothold, because all the +nubs of the branches had been neatly pared off, +and force his way over the sawlike top in the +face of men with long spears. No matter what +sort of neighbors the colonists might have, they +would think twice before they tried that. +</p> + +<p> +The gate was made as strong as possible, of +smaller tree trunks lashed together, and strengthened +on the inside by crosspieces. When it was +closed, two logs, one at the top and one at the +bottom, were laid in place across it. Some one +was always there to guard it, day and night, and +<pb n="111"/><anchor id="Pg111"/>could see through a little window who was coming +up the hill. +</p> + +<p> +Although strongholds like this had not been +necessary for many years in their old home, there +was one, built of stone in the ancient days, and +never allowed to go to ruin. It seemed very +adventurous to the boys to be erecting defences +like that for their own families. But Romulus +and Remus had told them that this would be the +only way of being quite safe. They had a great +deal that petty thieves might want to steal; and +the chief Amulius might take it into his head to +send a force to attack them, if he knew that so +large a party of strangers had come in. When +they had been there some years, and more people +had joined the colony, the seven hills could be +fortified so that nobody could take them. Colonus +himself could see that, and it gave him a +feeling of confidence and respect for his young +cousin to know that he had seen it too. +</p> + +<p> +By the time the palisade was finished, not only +most of the land within it was clear, but the material +for the huts was ready and some huts had +been built. The timber was piled as it was cut, +by the boys of the various families, on the lots +marked out for the houses. The younger children +cut reeds and grass for thatching and for +the fodder of the cattle. They did this work +<pb n="112"/><anchor id="Pg112"/>in little companies and had a very pleasant time. +Sometimes they caught fish, or shot waterfowl +with their bows and arrows, or set snares for +game. +</p> + +<p> +Later the men would gather stone for a stone +wall in place of the palisade, to run along the +same line, and then the seasoned timbers of +their log wall would still be good for building +purposes. There was a steeper and narrower +hill near the river which would make an excellent +fortress. But the thoughts of the colony now +were given to laying out farms. +</p> + +<p> +They cleared and laid out wheat fields and +orchards and vineyards as soon as they found +land suitable. As any farmer knows, the sooner +land is cultivated the more can be got out of it; +it is not work that can all be done in a year, or +two years, or three. This is especially true of +land never used before for anything but pasture, +and much of this had never been used even for +that. Sheep do not like wet ground, and both +sheep and cattle, unless they were tended constantly, +might stray into the swampy low +grounds. Drainage would help that land; when +some of it was drained it would make rich lush +meadows and golden grain fields. The land-loving +Vitali could see visions of richer crops than +any they had ever harvested, growing on that +<pb n="113"/><anchor id="Pg113"/>unpromising plain, if only they could have their +way with it. +</p> + +<p> +The children who were here, there and everywhere, +watching all that was done and helping +where they could, felt as if they were looking on +at the making of a new world. It was really almost +like a miracle—some of the ignorant marsh +folk thought it was one—when that uncultivated +hilltop, overgrown with bushes and wind-stunted +trees and with the rocky bones of it cropping +out here and there, became a trim encampment +of orderly thatched huts. The beasts grew sleek +and fat on the good fodder and grazing, and no +one had appeared so far who had any evil designs. +In fact, few persons came near them at +all. It was as if they had the new world all to +themselves. +</p> + +<p> +In the house-building the children helped considerably +after the men got the timber frames up. +Instead of building stone walls, they were going +to do what they had sometimes done before when +a wall was run up temporarily,—use mud. They +set stakes in rows along the walls, not close together +like the palisade, but far enough apart for +twigs and branches to be woven in and out between +them like a very rough basketry. When +this was done the men built a kind of pen on the +ground, for a mixing bowl, and brought lime +<pb n="114"/><anchor id="Pg114"/>and sand and clay and water, and mixed it with +tough grass into a sort of rough plaster. This +was daubed all over the walls with wooden spades +until the whole was quite covered, and when it +hardened it would be weather-proof and warm. +Small houses built in this <q>wattle and daub</q> +fashion have been known to last hundreds of +years. +</p> + +<p> +The thatched roof was four-sided, running up +to a hole in the middle to let out the smoke. +When it rained, the rain dripped in around the +edges of the hole and ran into a tank under it. +The altar with the sacred fire was at one side of +this tank, and when the room was dark the flame +was reflected in the wavering, shining depths of +the water. The space opposite the door, beyond +the altar, was where the father and mother slept, +and later it might be walled off into a private +room. Other rooms could be partitioned off +along the sides. In later times there was a +small entry or vestibule between the door and the +inner rooms. But although the other rooms +might vary in number and size and use, the +<hi rend="italic">atrium</hi>, the middle space, in which were the altar +and the <hi rend="italic">impluvium</hi> or water pool, remained the +same. It was the heart of the home. Here the +family worship was held, and this was the common +room of the family. +</p> + +<pb n="115"/><anchor id="Pg115"/> + +<p> +The plan of the encampment itself was like +the house on a larger scale. The huts were built +around the inside of the palisade, with a separating +space or belt of land that was never +plowed or built on—the <hi rend="italic">pomerium</hi>, the space +<q>before the wall.</q> In the middle was an open +square which was to the town what the <hi rend="italic">atrium</hi> +was to the house,—the common ground, where +public worship was held, announcements made, +and public affairs social or religious carried on. +Here was the beehive hut with the sacred fire, +and all other temples or public buildings there +might be would open on this square. The line +of encircling houses made a sort of inner defense +line, and even if any stranger could have climbed +the wall for purposes of robbery or spying, it +would have been hard for him to pass the houses +without being found out. +</p> + +<p> +This was the ancient way in which all the towns +of this race were built. As the towns increased +in size, other gates were opened, and streets laid +out, but always after the same general plan. +And as a family never stayed indoors when it +was possible to work or play in the open air, so +the colonists did not stay inside their wall when +they could go out on the common land and make +it fruitful. Their descendants are seldom contented +to live inside walls and streets, where they +<pb n="116"/><anchor id="Pg116"/>can have no land of their own. They find homes +outside, where they can have land to dig up and +plant and tend and watch, season after season,—and +in the thousands of years since they began to +plant and to reap, they have gone almost everywhere +in the world. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="117"/><anchor id="Pg117"/> +<index index="toc" level1="X. The kinsmen"/><index index="pdf" level1="X. The kinsmen"/> +<head>X</head> + +<head>THE KINSMEN</head> + +<p> +While the colonists were clearing the +land on the Square Hill, building huts +and laying out farms, they saw nothing +of Romulus and Remus. The old shepherd +Faustulus came up now and then to look at the +work as it went on, and plainly thought these +newcomers wonderful and superior beings. But +the wolf’s foster children were fighters, not husbandmen, +and this work was not in their line at +all. +</p> + +<p> +The fathers of the colony were not altogether +sorry that this was so. They felt that if the +hunters, woodsmen, shepherds, soldiers of fortune, +and outlawed men Romulus commanded +should happen to quarrel with peaceable people +like the settlers, it might create a very unpleasant +state of things. The brothers themselves were +friendly enough, but it was not certain whether +they could keep their men from plunder or fighting +if they tried. Such bands, so far as Colonus +<pb n="118"/><anchor id="Pg118"/>and his friends had known of them, were like a +pack of wolves,—the chiefs only held their +leadership by being stronger, fiercer and more +determined than the others. Their group of +rude huts in the forest was not at all like a civilized +town, from what they said of it, and they +never seemed to give any attention to the gods +or to worship. Perhaps they did not know much +about such things. Even those who came from +civilized places had wandered about so much that +they seemed to think one place as good as another. +They had no idea of the feeling that made their +home, to the colonists, dearer than any other +place ever could be. It was so not because it was +pleasanter, or because they had more comforts +than others, but because it was home, the place +where people knew and trusted one another and +trusted in the unseen dwellers by the fire to protect +and guide them, and to make them wise and +just in their dealings with one another. +</p> + +<p> +To the colonists there was a very great difference +between the ways of different people. The +words they used showed it. Civil life began +when men lived in a city, but this was not a +large settlement of miscellaneous persons, but +a permanent home of men who all worshiped the +<anchor id="corr118"/><corr sic="some">same</corr> gods, and obeyed the same laws and took +responsibility. A man who did his part in the +<pb n="119"/><anchor id="Pg119"/>life of such a place was a <q>citizen,</q> and the life +itself was <q>civilized,</q> the life of men who served +one another and the whole community—men, +women and children—looking out for its future +as they would for the prosperity of their own +family. In fact, such a body of people usually +began with a group of relatives, as this one had. +Without this dependence on one another to do +the right thing, there could not be civilization. +</p> + +<p> +A <q>company</q> was a group who were so far +friends as to eat bread together. This in itself +was a proof of a sort of friendship, for in eating +a man had to lay down his weapons and be more +or less off guard; when men ate together they +were all off guard for the time. <q>Community</q> +meant a group of families or persons bound together +by kindred or friendship or common interest, +and stronger for being bound together, +as a bundle of sticks is stronger than separate +sticks can be. <q>Religion</q> meant something +stronger still, the binding together of people who +felt the same sort of ties to the unseen world, +who worshiped in the same way, and loved the +same sweet, old, familiar prayers and chants, and +believed in the same unseen rulers of life and +death. +</p> + +<p> +The various words for strangers outside these +ties which bound them to their own people were +<pb n="120"/><anchor id="Pg120"/>just as expressive. Among farmers who lived +on cleared land, within walls, the people who did +not were <q>out of doors,</q> the forest people, the +<q>foreigners.</q> Among a people who all spoke +the same language, the thick-tongued country +people, whose ideas were few, like their needs and +their occupations, were the <q>barbarians,</q>—the +babblers. And in a place like the settlement +they were making now, a little island of orderly, +intelligent life in a waste of almost uninhabited +wilderness, the scattered hut dwellers were the +<q>pagans,</q> the people of the waste. But almost +every word that meant a civilized family or town +had in it the idea of obligation. People must +see that they could not be lawless and have any +civil life at all. Civil life meant living together +and living more or less by rules that were meant +for the comfort and welfare of all. +</p> + +<p> +Now the wild followers of Romulus could +surely not be united by any such law as this. +They fought as if Mars himself had taught them, +the country folk said; but the worship of this god +of manhood meant a great many things besides +fighting. No settlement could be strong where +the men were free to fight one another, knew +nothing of self-control, made no homes. Just +how much Romulus understood of this, Colonus +was not sure. As it proved, he understood a +<pb n="121"/><anchor id="Pg121"/>great deal more than any one thought he did. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, as they always came and went, the +twins appeared one day at the gate of the palisade +and were made very welcome. It happened to be +a feast day, the feast of Lupercal, which came in +midwinter, and the fact was that Romulus had +found this out and had come that day on purpose. +He was always interested in sacrifices, omens, +and old customs. Remus had brought his pipes, +and while he played for the dancers some wild +music that none of them had ever heard, Romulus +came over to the older men. He was rather +quiet for a long time, watching all that went on, +and his eyes turned often to the fire on the altar. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My uncle,</q> he said at last to Marcus Colonus, +when they were seated a little apart from the +others, <q>I came here to tell you the desire of my +heart, and now that I am here, I feel afraid. +There is much in the world that I have never seen +and do not know. With you, I feel like a little +boy who has everything yet to learn.</q> +</p> + +<p> +This was a surprise to Colonus, and it was a +pleasant one. This young man, who had fought +his way to power and leadership at an age when +most boys are still depending on their fathers for +advice in everything, had somehow learned to be +gentle and reverent, and not too sure of himself. +This was a thing that Colonus could not have +<pb n="122"/><anchor id="Pg122"/>expected. He did not see exactly where Romulus +had learned it, but it gave him a feeling of +great kindness toward his young kinsman. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is no need for you to be afraid,</q> +he said cordially. <q>We are all your friends +here. We owe you much for your aid and +counsel. You are of our blood. This is your +home whenever you come among us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The young leader stole a quick look from his +keen, dark eyes at the older man. He had +opened the conversation with that speech, not because +he did not mean it, for he did; he felt very +rude and ignorant among these kinsfolk of his, +with their kindly, pleasant ways, and practical +wisdom, and unconscious dignity. He was perfectly +honest in saying that. But he said it just +then because he wished to find out how Colonus +felt toward him, and how far he could count on +his approval and support in a plan he had. It +would be better not to ask for help at all than to +ask for it and be refused. The young chief of +outlaws was proud. He was also wise, with the +sagacity of a wild thing that has had to fight for +life against all the world from birth. He never +had really trusted anybody. The weak who were +afraid to oppose him might do it if they dared. +The strong must not be allowed to see his weakness +or they would take the advantage. The old +<pb n="123"/><anchor id="Pg123"/>shepherd was kind, but he did not always see +danger. Strength and kindness did not go together +in Romulus’ experience. Even when he +and his men were protecting the mountain villages, +doing for them what they could not do for +themselves, the people never let them forget that +they were outlawed men. Because they did not +live inside the walls and do just as the farmers +did, they could not be called civilized. But these +men here were his kinsmen, and they seemed +different. Some instinct told him that with Colonus +it would be better not to pretend to be wise +and strong, but to ask advice. +</p> + +<p> +<q>That is very good of you,</q> he said gratefully. +<q>But I am not, after all, really one of you. I +was not brought up as your sons have been. I +cannot be sure that they would trust me as my +own men do. If I were sure—</q> +</p> + +<p> +And then he stopped. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do you mean,</q> asked Colonus, <q>that you +wish the help of our young men in some expedition?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Romulus decided to risk it. <q>If it is wise in +your eyes,</q> he said. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We are strangers in this land,</q> said Colonus +deliberately, <q>and we must be careful what +we do. You had better tell me exactly what the +plan is, for I cannot judge in the dark. If I +<pb n="124"/><anchor id="Pg124"/>think it is not good I will say so, and we will let +the matter drop and say no more. If it seems +wise I will speak of it to Tullius the priest and +the other men, and do all I can to help you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He suspected that Romulus had some plan for +making war against his wicked uncle and winning +back the place that he and his brother had +been robbed of. He wished to know more of the +young man’s ways of thinking and acting before +he made any promises. It might be a very good +thing if Amulius were overthrown, for he was +feared and hated even by his own people. The +colonists were not strong enough to do it themselves, +and it was not their quarrel, but it was a +very grave question whether they would not have +to fight the soldiers of Amulius sooner or later. +He had never troubled the few scattered shepherds +and hunters by the riverside, but a settlement +like theirs, if it grew and was prosperous, +might attract his attention. +</p> + +<p> +It was natural enough for Romulus to desire +to overthrow the man who had cast him out of +his rightful place, but whether he could do it was +another matter. The young men would not +make any trouble about joining him in his war if +they were allowed to, for he was already a sort of +hero among them. But if they drifted into the +vagabond godless life of the outlaws in the forest, +<pb n="125"/><anchor id="Pg125"/>it would be very unfortunate indeed. The only +possible way in which the settlement by the river +could hold its own was by standing together and +keeping the old proved discipline. The lads had +never done any real fighting, and it would be a +great experience for them. Everything would +depend on the leader under whom they fought, +and Colonus did not really know much about him. +</p> + +<p> +Very often conversation goes on without the +use of words. This is so in animals, who seem to +understand each other without any talk at all. +There is more or less of it even among modern, +civilized men. The two kinsmen were not so far +from the wild life of their ancestors that they did +not see through each other to some extent. +Romulus knew well enough that the colonists +ruled their lives by ancient customs, and by what +they could learn of the will of the gods. A man +like Marcus Colonus would naturally have some +questions to ask of a young fellow who paid no +more attention to old rules and ceremonies than +a wild hawk. The youth intended to answer as +many of these questions as he could, before they +were asked. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A long time ago,</q> Romulus began, his dark +eyes fixed thoughtfully on the leaping flames, +<q rend="post: none">when my brother and I were boys, Faustulus +the shepherd took us farther from our pastures +<pb n="126"/><anchor id="Pg126"/>than we had ever been before. We came to a +place after much wandering, where all the people +were making holiday. When we asked, being +still youths and curious, what holiday it was, they +said it was the day of the founding of the city.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">They knew the name and the history of the +founder of the city, who came from a far country +with his people, and was led by a wolf to the place +where the city was to be. Although he had long +been dead, he was remembered and loved. The +priest said that his spirit was often with them and +blessed them when they did right. He was to +them a kind father, who never forgets his children.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then, not understanding how one man could +found a city, I asked the priest, and he told me +that the city was not a mere crowd of people, +but the home of the gods and of the ancestors of +the people, as a house is the home of a man. The +unseen dwellers by the fireside require not great +houses, but when the fire is kept burning they +love it as do the living. Then I watched and +saw the processions, and the dancing, and heard +the chanting of songs and the sacred music, and +all that was done in honor of the founder. I +saw that the city was the home of a man, living +or dead, forever and ever. Then I said, <q>When +I am a man, I will found a city in the place where +<pb n="127"/><anchor id="Pg127"/>the wolf saved our lives when we were children.</q> +My brother laughed, and I, being angry, knocked +him down. I wanted to kill him in that moment. +But the priest told me that there must never be +quarreling on a feast day, because it brought ill +luck. I was afraid that the founder of the city +saw me and was angry. I went away. But +from that time I have always wished to found a +city in this place, and for that reason I was glad +when your people came and I could lead them +here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Colonus found this story a touching one. It +showed a reverence and affection for the things +he had not known, which he was glad to see in +this strong young man. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And that is your secret desire?</q> he said, +smiling. +</p> + +<p> +<q>That is my dream,</q> said Romulus. And he +looked at the older man with eyes that had a +question in them. +</p> + +<p> +<q>If you are to found a city here,</q> said Colonus +slowly, <q>Mars must lead you as he leads us. If +our young men fight in your battles, your men +must come and live with us and worship our gods +and obey our laws. That is what a city means. +How will these things be, Romulus, son of the +Ramnes, son of the wolf?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>My men will go where I go,</q> said Romulus +<pb n="128"/><anchor id="Pg128"/>briefly. <q>This also is in my mind, my uncle, and +you shall tell me whether it is a wise plan or the +hasty vision of youth. There are many in the +army of Amulius, my uncle, who hate him as +much as they fear him. He suspects that we are +the children he tried to murder, and will try to +hunt us down and make the people we have protected +betray us. Perhaps they will fight for +themselves if they will not fight for us; I do not +know. But there is not one among my men,</q> +the youth lifted his dark head in high confidence, +<q>who follows me from any other reason than +because he wishes. They do not all love me,</q> he +added, with a grin that showed his sharp white +teeth, <q rend="post: none">but I am their leader and they will die +fighting before they will yield to Amulius.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">If then I lead my men boldly against Amulius, +not waiting for him to be ready, not staying +until he sends his slaves to hunt me down, not +letting him hear of our coming till we are there, +I think that we may succeed, and then will the +land be freed. He himself is old and has not +led men to war for many years. I think that +many in his army will refuse to fight against us, +and others will yield without much fighting, and +when we have come and taken his city, the people +who obey him now will be glad. But my grandfather +is still alive, and he, and not my brother +<pb n="129"/><anchor id="Pg129"/>nor myself, has the right to rule upon the Long +White Mountain.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>When my grandfather is again ruler where +he has the right, then would I come here and +found my own city in my own place where the +she-wolf saved our lives. Was she not the servant +of Mars?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Colonus nodded thoughtfully. <q>It would +seem so.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then shall my people be your people, and +your gods my gods,</q> said Romulus, his clear voice +cutting the rest like the call of a trumpet. The +young people on the other side of the square +looked curiously at the two, the young man and +the older one, so deep in talk, and Remus, laughing, +began to play again. It was a sweet and +piercing measure that set all their feet flying. +</p> + +<p> +Colonus stood up and took his young kinsman +by the hand. <q>You are of our blood,</q> he said, +<q>and your fight is our fight. We have talked +of this among us, and have thought that perhaps +you would do this. I think that our council will +be of one mind with me in this matter. The gods +guide you, my son.</q> +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="130"/><anchor id="Pg130"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XI. The taking of Alba Longa"/> + <index index="pdf" level1="XI. The taking of Alba Longa"/> +<head>XI</head> + +<head>THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA</head> + +<p> +Never in his life had Romulus felt in +his own soul the strength of kinship as he +felt it after the colonists agreed to join +their forces with his. He had made his men into +a fighting force when courage was almost the only +virtue they had, but there was no natural comradeship +between them as a whole. Here were +men of his own people, welded together by all +the ties of a boyhood and manhood spent together +in one place, and they were ready to stand by him +to the death. It seemed to give him a strength +more than human. Remus was his brother, but +he too was different and did not understand. He +was no dreamer; he would have been content to +go on all his life a shepherd boy or a soldier. But +these men understood; they looked down the road +of the years to come and planned for their children +and grandchildren. That was why they +were willing to let their sons go to fight against +the tyrant Amulius under a stranger and a +cap<pb n="131"/><anchor id="Pg131"/>tain of outlaws,—because they saw that in the +end the war must be fought, and all the men who +could fight were needed. +</p> + +<p> +There were anxious days in the settlement by +the yellow river, after the young men marched +away. Even if Romulus won the victory, perhaps +there would be some who would not come +back. And if he failed, the first the colonists +would know of it would be an army coming to +kill or enslave them all. +</p> + +<p> +Not quite a month after the departure of the +little fighting force the watchmen on the wall saw +far away on the plain a single running figure. +At first they could not be sure who it was. The +word flew about the colony and soon the people +were gathered wherever they could get a view of +the running man. It was toward evening; the +long shadows stretched over the level ground, and +the red sunset made the still waters look like pools +of blood. Everything was very quiet. They +could hear the croak and pipe of the frogs, far +below at the foot of the hill. +</p> + +<p> +On and on came the racing figure, and now he +had caught sight of the people on the hill, for he +lifted his arm and waved to them again and +again. It was good tidings; that was the meaning +of his gesture in their signal language. +Many hastened to meet him, but the path down +<pb n="132"/><anchor id="Pg132"/>the hill was a winding one and those who stayed +where they were heard the news almost as soon. +The runner was Caius Cossus, who always outstripped +every other lad of his age in the races, +and when he came to the foot of the hill he +shouted: +</p><anchor id="illus145"/> +<figure url="images/illus145.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: <q>Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!</q></figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +<q>Ai-ya! Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus +forever!</q> +</p> + +<p> +His mother began to cry for joy and pride. +The other women did not dare to yet. They did +not allow themselves to be really glad until the +small boys came scampering in ahead of their +elders, to be the first to tell. Amulius was dead +<pb n="133"/><anchor id="Pg133"/>and Numa ruled in his place, and not one of their +own men had been killed. Cossus reached the +gate carried on men’s shoulders, for he was almost +worn out. He had had nothing to eat for several +hours, and had been running all the last part +of the way, to get home before it was too dark +to see. +</p> + +<p> +Caius Cossus lived to be very old, and his long +life brought him much honor and happiness, but +never again, so long as he lived, did he have so +glad a triumph as when he came in at the gate +of the little, rude town by the river, and told the +story of the fight at Alba Longa to the fathers +and mothers who had the best right to be proud +of it. It was the first battle the young men of +the colony had ever been in, and a great deal +would have depended on it in any case. They +were strangers, with their reputation for courage +and coolness all to make. +</p> + +<p> +When the young messenger had had a chance +to get his breath and some food and drink—and +the best in the place was none too good for him—he +told the story of the campaign from the +beginning. +</p> + +<p> +Romulus had separated his force into three +companies and sent them toward Alba Longa by +three roads and in small groups, not to attract +attention, until they were within a few hours’ +<pb n="134"/><anchor id="Pg134"/>march of the town of the chief. Here they +halted, and some of the outlaw band came up with +them, carrying new shields and weapons that had +been hidden in a cave until the time came to use +them. The place of meeting was a wild rocky +place where not even goats could have found +pasture, and here Romulus made a brief speech +giving them their orders. Fortune, he said, +always favored those who were loyal to the gods. +Amulius was loyal to nothing; he was a liar, a +thief and a coward, and the invisible powers of +heaven were arrayed against him. He was not +afraid that any of his followers would offend the +gods. Whatever else they had done, they had +not bullied the weak or robbed the poor, or turned +their backs on the strong, or violated the holy +places of any city. They were to go forward +in the faith that the stars of heaven would fight +for them and against the armies of Amulius. +</p> + +<p> +Some of the country people were there to serve +as guides. There was a way around the city +to the back, where the wall was not so high, and +Remus and his party would go first and come +around that way. The colonists were to swing +to the left, where a road branched off, and come +up toward the gate where the barracks were. +Romulus himself with his own men would attack +the main gate just after dawn and push his way +<pb n="135"/><anchor id="Pg135"/>in while the troops were partly distracted to the +left and to the rear. When he gave the signal, +a triple drum roll, the colonists were to give back +as if they were retreating, and follow his men in +at the main gate and bar it after them. He +would send a part of his men toward the west +gate to take the troops in the rear, and if they +could drive the enemy out and hold that gate, +the city would be in Romulus’ hands. +</p> + +<p> +It all went as it was planned. The headlong +rush of the young chief and his men, who were +as active and sinewy as cats, took them through +the main gate and over the walls almost at the +same moment. They had brought slim tree +trunks with the nubs of the branches left on, for +ladders, and rawhide ropes on which they could +swarm up over the walls in half a dozen places at +a time. The soldiers were completely taken by +surprise, and many surrendered at once. The +invaders were in the public square and pushing +into the palace of the chief almost before the bewildered +and terrified people found out what had +happened. Romulus himself was the first to +enter the private rooms of Amulius, and there he +found the old chief dying from a spear wound in +the breast. The captain of his guard had killed +him and then offered his sword to Romulus in +the hope of being the first to gain favor. +</p> + +<pb n="136"/><anchor id="Pg136"/> + +<p> +<q>A man who is false to one master will be +false to two,</q> said Romulus, with a flash like +lightning in his dark eyes. He ordered the captain +bound and turned over to his grandfather, +when he should arrive, for judgment. This was +not the sort of timber he wanted for an army. +If the captain had surrendered, it would have +been very well, but to kill his master in his room, +unarmed, for a reward, was black treachery, and +it was not the young chieftain’s plan to encourage +either traitors or cowards. +</p> + +<p> +From the steps of the palace he sent the triple +drum roll sounding through the gray light of a +rainy morning, and heard it answered by the battle +shout of the young men of the colony, as +they came charging into the gate, and by the +shrill piercing music of the pipes from the company +Remus led. The three companies met in +the square, keeping order and rank as if it were a +game, and as they saw their leader standing in +the doorway in the red flame of the torches, they +shouted the triple shout of victory. Standing +there in his armor, above the savage confusion, +the white faces of the people uplifted to him from +the crowded streets, he looked every inch a chieftain. +He beckoned his brother to his side, and +lifted his sword, and all was still. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ye who know what Amulius did in the days +<pb n="137"/><anchor id="Pg137"/>of his brother Numa,</q> he began, <q rend="post: none">know now that +he is dead.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Ye who know that he killed his own sons for +fear they should grow up and rebel against him, +fear him no more, for he is dead.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Ye who have been bowed down with the burden +of his cruelty and his greed, rise up and stand +straight like men, for he is dead.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Ye, the gods of his fathers and mine, who +know what he was in his lifetime, I call on ye to +judge whether his slayer did well to kill him, for +he is dead.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Ye, the people of the Long White Mountain, +who have heard the name of Romulus and the +name of Remus, know now that we are the children +whom he would have slain after he had killed +our father and our mother, and that we were +saved by a wolf of Mars to live and rule our own +people now that Amulius is dead.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ye, the people of Alba Longa, of the ancient +home of our race, take Numa for your chief now, +and be loyal to him and serve him, for he who +took the right from him is dead!</q> +</p> + +<p> +There was an instant’s pause, and then shouts +of <q>Numa! Numa!</q> broke from the people. +If Romulus had claimed the place for himself +they would have shouted his name just as readily, +but this was not Romulus’ plan at all. The +<pb n="138"/><anchor id="Pg138"/>headship of this people belonged to his grandfather +Numa, and there was no question about +it. Until the old man was dead, he was the +rightful chief, and for his grandsons to push into +his place would simply be the same high-handed +robbery Amulius had committed. The brothers +were his heirs, and they could wait and rule over +their own city until they had the right to rule +here. +</p> + +<p> +This did away with the last bit of resistance. +The remainder of the army was only too glad to +surrender, and messengers were sent off to tell +Numa the good news and bring him home in triumph +to his own place. When they had welcomed +him, they would come to the hill beside the +river and found their own city. +</p> + +<p> +It was a day long to be remembered when the +Romans returned, the young men marching +lightly with laughter and singing, their young +leaders in the van. The people went out to meet +them with music and rejoicing, and there was a +great feast in the colony. But to Colonus the +most precious moment of that day—not even +excepting the first sight of his own son Marcus—was +that in which the young and victorious +Romulus came to him where he stood with Tullius +the priest, and knelt before them, saying, +</p> + +<p> +<q>Tell me that I have done well, my fathers, +<pb n="139"/><anchor id="Pg139"/>for without your approval the rest is nothing. +Have I proved myself worthy to found our city, +O ye who know the law?</q> +</p><anchor id="illus152"/> +<figure url="images/illus152.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor’s crown of laurel</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +Then they blessed him and crowned him with +the victor’s crown of laurel. The outlaw had +found his own people. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="140"/><anchor id="Pg140"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XII. The ring wall"/><index index="pdf" level1="XII. The ring wall"/> +<head>XII</head> + +<head>THE RING WALL</head> + +<p> +In the weeks that followed the slaying of +Amulius, Romulus sat many hours each day +with the older men, consulting and planning. +He was very quick to understand all that he +heard and saw, and very anxious not to leave out +the least ceremony proper to the founding of the +city. Each one of these ceremonies had a meaning. +The founder of the city was to the community +what the father of a family was to his +household; he was a sort of high priest. It was +a strange experience for the wild young chief +of a band of men of no family,—outlaws and +almost banditti. From a forest lair with no temple +and no altar he had come to a town where the +altar was the heart of everything. From expeditions +planned and directed by himself, in +which his will was the only law, he was now to be +the head of a life in which everything was guided, +more or less, by customs so old that no one could +say where they came from. He was no man’s +<pb n="141"/><anchor id="Pg141"/>servant or subject, but he was the chosen man of +the gods, to do their will in the city. +</p> + +<p> +The fathers of the city saw more and more +clearly the difference between the two brothers. +Remus did not, apparently, take any interest in +the traditions and the ceremonies so strange to +him and so familiar to the colonists. Romulus +had been leader in all their expeditions, not because +he tried to make himself first and crowd +his brother down into second place, but because +his men would follow him anywhere, and they +did not seem to have the same faith in Remus. +Moreover, Remus did not seem to care to be a +leader. He never sat, silent, planning and working +out a way to do what seemed impossible, as +Romulus did. Romulus was not a great talker +unless at some especial time when he had something +it was necessary to say. He was in the +habit of thinking a matter over very thoroughly +before he said anything at all about it. People +wondered at his lightning-like decisions in an +emergency, but the men who knew him best knew +that he had often come to them privately beforehand, +and talked the whole thing over, without +their knowing what he was after until the time +came. +</p> + +<p> +Remus did most of the talking, in fact. He +was fond of raising objections and expressing +<pb n="142"/><anchor id="Pg142"/>doubts, and Romulus once said with a smile that +this made him very useful, because if Remus +could not pick a hole in his plans no one could. +It was better to know all the weak points beforehand, +instead of finding them out by making +a failure. This dream of founding a city, in any +case, was none of Remus’; it was the dream of +Romulus, and his doing. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore the Romans were surprised when +Remus objected to the choice of the Square Hill +for the sacred city. In his opinion the one next +to it, which had been named the Aventine, the +hill of defense, because that was where the soldiers +had encamped, would be the place. There +was no sign that the Square Hill was favored by +the gods. If Romulus considered signs and +omens so important, how could he be so sure that +he had the right to choose the place himself? +</p> + +<p> +Romulus’ black brows drew together. He had +not thought of it in that way. He had intended +to choose, so far as he could be certain of it, the +very place where he and his brother were found +by the shepherd, for the sacred enclosure which +would be the heart of the city. He had talked +with Tullius, who thought this entirely right; +the almost miraculous rescue of the two children +was a sign, if any were needed. But Remus recalled +the custom that the priesthood beyond the +<pb n="143"/><anchor id="Pg143"/>river had, and that was also found among the +Sabines, of watching the flight of birds for a +sign. He challenged Romulus to make sure in +this way. Let each of the brothers take his position +at sunrise on the site selected by himself and +remain there through the day. Whichever saw +an omen in the flight of birds should have the +right to choose the place for the city. To this +Romulus agreed. It might have been partly for +the sake of peace, for he knew of old that when +Remus became possessed of an idea he could be +very eloquent about it. In addition to this, if the +omens did favor the Square Hill, there could be +no question then,—and he believed they would. +</p> + +<p> +It was a still day, late in spring, and most of +the birds had already flown northward on their +usual migration. For a long time none appeared. +Then Remus gave a shout. He saw +winging their way slowly but steadily a flock of +vultures,—six in all. If that were the only +flight observed during the day, it would seem that +the Aventine was the right hill, after all. The +sun began to sink and cloud over. Then from +the mountains where Romulus had gathered his +troop, and on which his eyes were resting, arose +a dark moving spot that spread into a cloud of +outspread wings,—vultures again, and many of +them. There were twelve altogether. The +<pb n="144"/><anchor id="Pg144"/>huge birds came sailing on wide-stretched, dusky +pinions directly over the village of huts, noiselessly +as the clouds. When they had passed, +the sun came out again and shot rays of dazzling +splendor across the hill, so that the people’s eyes, +following the strange flock, could not bear the +light. The gods had spoken, and the Square +Hill was the chosen place. +</p><anchor id="illus157"/> + <pgIf output="txt"><then><p rend="text-align: center">[Illustration: A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven hills]</p></then> + <else><p><figure url="images/illus157.png" rend="w100"><head rend="ill">A PLAN OF ROME IN CLASSICAL TIMES, SHOWING THE +SEVEN HILLS.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven hills</figDesc> +</figure></p></else></pgIf> +<pb n="145"/><anchor id="Pg145"/> +<p> +On what would now be called the twenty-first +of April, the day when the sun passes from the +sign of the Ram into the sign of the Bull, in the +beginning of the month sacred to Dia Maia, the +goddess of growth, the city was founded. +</p> + +<p> +The first rite was one of purification. Fire, +which cleanses all things, was called upon to make +pure every one who was to take part in the ceremonies +of the day. The father of the city stood +with Romulus near a long heap of brushwood. +With a coal from the altar fire Romulus lighted +the pile and leaped across the flame, followed by +the others in turn. +</p> + +<p> +Then around the spot where Faustulus had +always said he found the children, Romulus dug +a small circular trench. The space inside this +was called the <hi rend="italic">mundus</hi>, the home of the spirits. +Here the ancestors of all these people who had +left their old homes might find a new home, a +place where they would still be remembered and +honored, a sort of sacred guest chamber in the +life of the new city. These invisible dwellers by +the altar would see their children’s children and +all their descendants keeping the good old customs +and the ancient wisdom from dying out, +just as they showed their ancestry in their eyes +and hair and gait and way of speaking. +</p> + +<p> +The things that were put in this trench, in a +<pb n="146"/><anchor id="Pg146"/>hollow called the <q>outfit vault,</q> were all symbols +of the life of the people. First Romulus himself +threw into it a little square of sod that he had +brought from the courtyard of the house where he +was born, on Alba Longa. Each of the fathers +of the colony in turn threw in a piece of sod +they had brought from their old homes on the +Mountain of Fire. This, like so many things +in old ceremonies, was a bit of homely poetry. +When a man was obliged to leave the place where +he was born he took with him a little of the sod. +Even to-day we find people taking from their +old homes a root of sweetbriar, or a pot of shamrock +or heather, a cutting of southernwood or of +lilac. The look and the smell of it waken in +them a love that is older than they are, that goes +back to some unknown forefather who brought it +from a still older place, perhaps, centuries ago. +To the people of long ago this feeling was part +of religion. +</p> + +<p> +Together with the earth there were placed in +the circle some of the grain, the fruit, the wine, +and all the other things that made a part of the +life of the people. Finally an altar was built +in the center of it, and a fire was lighted there +from coals brought by the young girls. This +was the hearth fire of the spirits and was never to +be allowed to go out except once a year. Then +<pb n="147"/><anchor id="Pg147"/>it was kindled afresh by the use of the <hi rend="italic">terebra</hi> +and <hi rend="italic">tabula</hi>, and all the other hearth fires would +be lighted from it. +</p><anchor id="illus160"/> +<figure url="images/illus160.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white cow</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +Now came the last and most important ceremony, +the tracing of the line of the wall around +the city itself,—the <hi rend="italic">urbs</hi>, the home of the people. +This of course had all been decided upon beforehand, +and the places for the gates had been fixed. +Romulus wore the robes of a priest, and his head +was veiled by a kind of mantle, in order that +during the ceremony he might not see anything +that would bring bad fortune. The copper plow +was drawn by a white bull and a white cow, the +finest of all the herd. As he turned the furrow +<pb n="148"/><anchor id="Pg148"/>he chanted the prayers which he had learned from +Tullius, and the others, following in silence, +picked up such clods of earth as dropped outside +the furrow and threw them within, so that these, +having been blessed by this ceremony, should +not be trodden by the feet of any stranger. One +of the strictest rules of ancient religions was that +whatever was sacred, or made so by having been +blessed, should be treated with as much reverence +as if it were alive. It should never, of course, +be trodden upon or defiled. +</p> + +<p> +When he came to the places where the gates +were to be, Romulus lifted the plow and carried +it over. These openings in the furrow were +called the <hi rend="italic">portae</hi>,—the carrying places. Of +course, where there was a gate, the soil must be +trodden by many feet, and there the furrow was +interrupted. It is not known where all of these +gates were, but the one called Porta Mugionis, +the Gate of the Cattle, out of which the herds +were driven to pasture, was where the Arch of +Titus stands in the Rome of to-day. The Porta +Romana was the river gate and there were others +leading to the common land to the other hills. +This first enclosure was afterwards sometimes +called Roma Quadrata,—the square city by the +river. +</p> + +<p> +When the wall was built, a little inside this +<pb n="149"/><anchor id="Pg149"/>furrow, the wall also would be sacred. Nobody +would be allowed to touch it, even to repair it, +without the leave of the priest in whose charge +it was. On both sides of it, within and without, +a space would be left where no plow was used +and no building allowed. There was a good +practical reason for these rules about the wall, +though they were so time-honored that no one +gave any thought to that. The danger of a city +being taken was considerably lessened, when it +was an unheard-of thing for any one to be near +the wall for any reason. No spy could get over +it without attracting attention. The foundations +also would be much less likely to be undermined +if the land next them were not used at all. +</p> + +<p> +No human being among the lookers-on who +reverently followed the procession around this +city that was to be, could have told what thoughts +and feelings filled the soul of Romulus. Perhaps +he felt the solemnity of it even more than +he would if he had been accustomed to all these +beliefs from childhood. Things that he had +dreamed of, things that he had seen from a distance +as an outlaw and a vagabond, were part +of the scene in which he was now the central +figure. He had the sensitive understanding of +others’ feelings and thoughts which a man gains +when he has had to depend on his instincts in +<pb n="150"/><anchor id="Pg150"/>matters of life and death. The intense reverence +and solemn joy of all these grave fathers of +families, these gentle and kindly women, these +children with their wide, wondering eyes, and +the youths and maidens in all their springtime +gladness were like wine of the spirit to him. He +felt as they felt, and all the more because it was +so new and strange a thing in his life. The very +words of the chant, the smell of the earth as the +plowshare turned it, had a sort of magic for him. +It was exciting enough for those who looked on, +but their feeling was gathered in his, like light +in a burning glass. +</p> + +<p> +When the circle was all but completed something +happened which no one could have foreseen. +Remus had followed all that was done with a +rather mocking light in his eye. He did not believe +in the least what these people believed. +Suddenly he stepped past the others, and with a +jeering laugh leaped across the furrow. If he +had stabbed his brother to the heart, it could not +have made more of a sensation. It was a deliberate, +wilful insult to everything that religion +meant to these people. All Romulus’ hot temper +and his new reverence for the ways of his +forefathers blazed up in an instant, and he struck +his brother to the earth with a blow. Even one +single blow from his hard fist was not an +expe<pb n="151"/><anchor id="Pg151"/>rience to be coveted, but Remus would not have +been more than stunned if his head had not struck +on the copper plowshare. He lay quite still. +He was dead. Whether the gods themselves +had willed that he should die, or whether it was +chance, the blow killed him. +</p> + +<p> +There were places where such an act as that of +Remus would have been punished with death, +but Romulus did not know that. He had struck +out as instinctively as a man might knock down +a ruffian who insulted his wife. Such an insult +might not be a physical injury, but the intention +would be enough to warrant punishment. The +older men of the colony were inclined to think +that the gods had done the thing. Romulus himself +did not. He never got over it, though he +never spoke of it. That day took the boyish +carelessness out of his eyes and set a hard line +about his mouth. It was the proudest and most +sacred day of his life, and now it was the saddest. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="152"/><anchor id="Pg152"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIII. The soothsayers"/><index index="pdf" level1="XIII. The soothsayers"/> +<head>XIII</head> + +<head>THE SOOTHSAYERS</head> + +<p> +After the founding of the city and the +tragic ending of the day, Romulus went +away, no one knew exactly where. He +was gone for some time, He told Marcus Colonus +that he was going to Alba Longa, where +some of his men still were as a garrison for Numa. +But he did not stay there many days. +</p> + +<p> +Although he was the founder and in one way +the ruler of his city, this did not mean that he +was obliged to stay there to settle all its problems. +Most of them were solved by the common law and +common sense of the colonists. Their ruler had +no authority over them contrary to custom, and +custom would apply in one way or another to +almost everything they did. Hence the young +man was free to go wherever he saw fit. +</p> + +<p> +The fancy took him to cross the river and see +the old woman who had told him when he was a +boy that he was to be the ruler of a great people. +He found her still alive, though so old that her +<pb n="153"/><anchor id="Pg153"/>brown face looked like an old withered nutshell. +She glanced up at him keenly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Welcome, king,</q> she said. +</p> + +<p> +Just how much she had heard of his life from +traveling traders and vagabonds, no one can say, +but she seemed to know a great deal about it. +She told him that when he returned to his own +country, if he followed certain landmarks and +dug in the ground at a certain point near the river +bank some distance from Rome, he would find +an altar and a shield of gold. The shield, she +said, had fallen from heaven, and was intended +for him, because he was the especial favorite of +Mars, the god of war. He did not take this +very seriously, but he found himself much interested +in the ways of this strange people. Their +priests knew how to measure distances, and mark +out squares, and consult the stars. Their metal +workers, dyers and potters knew how to make +curious and precious things. The fortune tellers +had a great reputation all over the country. +Their name, soothsayers, meant <q>those who tell +the truth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The old woman told him that it was a great +mistake for those who were born under a certain +star to try to get away from their fate. If a man +were born to be a ruler and a commander of men, +it was useless for him to try to make himself a +<pb n="154"/><anchor id="Pg154"/>farmer or a trader. It would be far better for +him to keep to what he could do well, and buy +of others what he needed. This struck Romulus +as directly opposed to the ways of the villagers +as he had seen them. They made for themselves +everything they possibly could, and all of them +were farmers. He began to wonder where their +future would lead them. A man like Colonus, +or Tullius, or Muraena, or Calvo knew enough +to direct other men. There was not one of the +ten who came out from the Mountain of Fire who +was not far superior to most of the people in the +country round about. They were quite as fit +to be rulers of a tribe as he was; in fact, they +were more so, in many ways. But if they had +stayed where they were born, they would have +gone on to the end of their days, working with +their hands, and owning only their share of the +common crop and the flocks and herds of the +village. Here in the land beyond the river it was +different. The powerful nobles and the priesthood +ruled, and other men served. +</p> + +<p> +In talking with the soothsayers, he heard a +great deal about the influence of the stars. The +priests also put great faith in this. They divided +the sky into twelve parts, or houses, as they called +them, and each of these was ruled by some star +named after a god. In the course of the year +<pb n="155"/><anchor id="Pg155"/>the sun passed through each house, or sign, in +turn. If a man were born in the house of the +Ram, which was ruled by Mars the red planet, +he would be like Mars,—a warrior, bold and +fearless, and not afraid to venture into new fields +and to do things that other men had not done +before. If he were born in that sign when the +planet was in it with the sun, he would be more +a son of Mars in every way. If Venus, the +planet which ruled love, were also in the sign, +he would be ruled by reason even in his love +affairs, and his marriage and his wars would be +more or less connected. All these things, according +to the soothsayers, were true of Romulus. +</p> + +<p> +Romulus was acute enough to see that these +people knew him for a chief, and that some of +what they told him was flattery; but he was not +sure how much of it was. He had not wandered +about his world for twenty-odd years without +seeing the difference in people. He knew that +the great art of ruling men successfully lies in +understanding their different characters and not +expecting of any person what that person cannot +do. The rules of the villages were very well for +a small place, where all of the people were related. +But how would they fit such a miscellaneous collection +of people as seemed likely to gather in the +town by the river? His mind was gradually +<pb n="156"/><anchor id="Pg156"/>getting at the problem of governing such a town +in such a way that instead of being a little island +of civilization in a sea of wilderness, it would be +a center of civilization in a country inhabited by +all sorts of people who would look up to it and +be ruled and influenced by it. Such an idea, to +Colonus, to Emilius in the Sabine village, or +even to the old chief Numa on Alba Longa would +have seemed wildly impossible. It seemed to +Romulus that if a band of outlaws had been +welded into an effective fighting troop as he had +welded them, a country might be made up of a +great many different sorts of persons living +peaceably together. He grinned as he thought +of such a man as his old captain, Ruffo, obeying +all the customs of the colony and giving his whole +mind to the tilling of the soil and the raising of +cattle. It would be like trying to harness a wolf, +or stocking a poultry yard with eagles. The +thing could not be done. And yet, when it came +to keeping order, Ruffo was wise and just and +kind. +</p> + +<p> +One thing he could see very clearly, and that +was that for a long time yet the colonists would +have to give especial attention to disciplined warfare. +He wished that there were more of them. +If they ever had a quarrel with the dark Etruscans +beyond the river, it would be a fight for +<pb n="157"/><anchor id="Pg157"/>life, for the Etruscans outnumbered them ten to +one. It would be well to trade with them so far +as they could, but there again the customs of the +colonists were against him. There was not much +that they wished to buy. +</p> + +<p> +When he left the land beyond the river, he +paid a farewell visit to the old witch, and she told +him again that he was born to rule. He hoped +that he was. +</p> + +<p> +When he came back to the Square Hill, he +found the fathers of the colony confronting a new +problem, which they had no tradition to help +them settle. The problem was what to do with +the new settlers who were coming in for protection +and in the hope of getting a living, but who +were not of their own people. Often they had +not intelligence enough to understand what the +colonists meant by their customs. This was +something that Romulus had expected. He had +his answer ready. He said that there was a god +of whom he had heard, called Asylos, who protected +homeless persons and serfs who had escaped +from cruel masters, and that they might +set apart a space outside the walls and dedicate +it to this god. There his own soldiers could live, +and there would be a place for any one who came +who would work for a living. And this was +done. The people who came in from various +<pb n="158"/><anchor id="Pg158"/>places seeking protection, and were useful in +various ways even if they could only hew wood +and draw water, were called after awhile the +<hi rend="italic">plebs</hi>, the men who helped to fill the town. There +was so much to do, and so little time to do it, that +every pair of hands was of value. It would not +do to let every one who came become a citizen, an +inhabitant of the city, because that might destroy +all comfort and order within the walls. But the +town grew much faster when it became known +that any man not a criminal could get a living +there. +</p> + +<p> +Another circumstance that made it grow was +that the country people and the villagers from +farther up the river began to bring down what +they had to sell. Sometimes the Etruscans +bought of them, and sometimes the Romans did. +It was the last riverside settlement before the +boats went down to the sea, and it began to be a +trading as well as a farming place not many +years after the colonists settled there. +</p> + +<p> +Trading was favored because farming did not +altogether supply the needs of the people. Now +and then the river rose and flooded their land. +The only part of the country they could absolutely +depend on as yet was the group of seven +hills, where they kept their herds and flocks. +One year, when their grain was ruined, they had +<pb n="159"/><anchor id="Pg159"/>to send across the river and buy some of the +Etruscans, in exchange for wool and leather +and weapons. Within the first ten years every +one of the colonists had discovered that men who +make their home in a new land must change their +ways more or less if they are to live. While they +are changing the land, the land changes them. +The children of these people would not be exactly +the same when they grew up as they would +have been if they had stayed in their old home. +Their children’s children would be still more different. +It is possible that a ruler who had not +grown up as Romulus had, making his own laws +and habits and managing men more or less by instinct, +might have been bewildered and frightened. +Whatever came up, he always had some +expedient ready, and whatever strange specimen +of human nature cropped out in the soldiers, or +the traders, or the pagans, he had always seen +something like it before. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of ten years the town on the Square +Hill had spread out into a collection of villages +and huts in which almost every kind of human +being to be found in that region might have been +seen, somewhere. On the Palatine Hill lived the +original ten families and some of their kindred +who had joined them. On the Aventine were +barracks for the soldiers, and also on the steep +<pb n="160"/><anchor id="Pg160"/>narrow hill near the river. Clusters of huts here +and there on the plain showed where hunters +and fishermen lived, who came up the hill sometimes +with what they had to sell, or came to buy +weapons of the smiths. In the hollow called the +Asylum lived the runaway serfs from Alba +Longa, fishermen from the river bank, pagans +and foresters from a dozen places. When there +was a feast, all of these various kinds of families +learned something of the worship of Mars, or +Maia Dia, or Saturn, or Pales, or Lupercus. +They all knew something about the laws of the +colony, because the rulers took care that any offense +against public order was punished. It was +not a good place for thieves or brawlers or idlers. +There was the beginning of a common law. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="161"/><anchor id="Pg161"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIV. Bread and salt"/><index index="pdf" level1="XIV. Bread and salt"/> +<head>XIV</head> + +<head>BREAD AND SALT</head> + <anchor id="illus174"/> +<figure url="images/illus174.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: They sat together that night and watched the moon sail grandly over the flood</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +The children who had come to the Square +Hill learned to know one another very +well in those first years of the colony. +There were about a dozen of the older ones who +were nearly the same age, and they shared more +responsibility than children do in a more settled +community. When the river rose suddenly, and +<pb n="162"/><anchor id="Pg162"/>all the animals had to be hustled at a minute’s +notice to the highest part of the hills out of the +way of the waters, Marcs the son of Colonus, +and Mamurius the son of the metal worker +Muraena were old enough to be treated almost +as if they were men. They sat together that +night and watched the moon sail grandly over the +flood, and talked of all the things that boys do +talk of when they begin to look forward into the +future. +</p> + +<p> +It was a wild and lonely scene. The rising of +the flood had covered the plain for miles, although +in many places the waters were not deep. The +seven hills stood up like seven islands in an +ocean, and although neither of the boys had ever +seen an ocean, they knew that it must be something +like this. The hill where they had driven +their scrambling goats was high and steep and +rocky and had been partly fortified. It was a +natural stronghold, standing up above the group +as the head of a crouching animal rises above the +body. All the hills were crowned with circles of +twinkling fires, and on the highest point of each +was a beacon fire which was used for signals. +Each had signaled to the others that all was +right, and now there was nothing to do but wait +for the morning. +</p> + +<p> +The smaller boys who had helped were very +<pb n="163"/><anchor id="Pg163"/>much excited at first, and danced around the fires +gleefully, and ate their supper with a great appetite; +but they went to sleep quite soon afterward. +The two older lads were the only ones awake +when the moon rose, and it seemed as if they were +the only people awake in the whole world. In the +safe and orderly and protected life of their childhood +they had never seen anything like this, or +been given so much responsibility. For some +hours no one had known how much farther the +waters would rise, and all the boats had been kept +ready, and the men had made rafts, to save what +they could if the river should sweep over the last +refuge. But evidently it was not going to do anything +like that. It had stopped rising already. +Faustulus the old shepherd, who had lived among +these hills ever since he was a boy, said that once +in a few years they had a flood like this, but that +it never in all his recollection had gone more than +a few inches higher. +</p> + +<p> +These two boys had always been good friends, +for they were just unlike enough for each to do +some things the other admired. Marcs was like +his father, square-set and strong and rather silent. +Mamurius was a little taller and slenderer, +and very clever with his hands. He could invent +new ways to do things when it was necessary and +when the old ways were impossible. He had +<pb n="164"/><anchor id="Pg164"/>never built a boat before he and Marcs made +theirs the summer before, but he had shaped a +steering oar that was better than the one he +copied. On this night they found themselves +somehow closer together than they had ever been +before, and they promised each other always to +be friends, to work and fight for each other as for +themselves as long as they lived. +</p> + +<p> +The girls also had their responsibilities, which +made them rather more capable and sure of +themselves than they might have been if they +were not the children of colonists. After the +flood went down it left things wet and unwholesome +for some weeks, and a fever broke out, of +which some of the people died. Mamurius’ +mother, and Marcia’s two little brothers, and +two girls in the family of Cossus died of it, and +at one time hardly a family had more than one +or two well persons. Marcia was watching over +her mother, who was very ill, when Mamurius +came to the door with a basket of herbs and +gave her a handful. He said that he had asked +Faustulus whether he did not know of some medicine +for the fever. Faustulus told him that there +were certain herbs in his hut which his wife used +to prepare in a drink, and this drink helped the +fever. Mamurius had brewed the drink and +given it to his father, and taken some himself, +<pb n="165"/><anchor id="Pg165"/>and it had done them both good. The old shepherd +stood in considerable awe of the colonists, +who knew so many things that he did not, and +he would never have thought of suggesting anything +to them himself. +</p> + +<p> +One night Muraena the metal worker came to +the house of Colonus, and sat down with the head +of the house under a fig tree by the door and +talked with him. The two had been friends for +many years, and now, he said, the time had come +to make the friendship even closer by an alliance +between the two houses. He had long observed +the goodness and dutiful kindness of Colonus’s +daughter Marcia, and it was his wish that now +she was come to an age to be married, she might +be his own daughter. He had reason to believe +that his son would be glad to marry her. What +did Colonus think about it? +</p> + +<p> +Colonus had no objection whatever. That +night he went in and called Marcia to him, and +told her kindly that Mamurius the metal worker’s +son had been proposed for her husband, and that +it would be most pleasing to both families if the +marriage could be arranged. It was a surprise +to Marcia, but not at all an unpleasant one, and +she went to sleep that night a very happy girl. +</p> + +<p> +This was the first wedding in the colony, and +as the preparations went forward, everybody, old +<pb n="166"/><anchor id="Pg166"/>and young, took a great deal of interest in it. +Marcia never knew she had so many friends. +Everybody seemed to wish her well and approve +of the marriage. The wooden chest Marcs had +made for her, and Bruno had carved and painted, +began to fill with webs of linen and wool, the +gifts of her mother and the other matrons, and +some that had been spun and woven by Marcia +herself. She could see from the door the house +that was to be her home, as its fresh, new walls +arose day by day. And at last the day arrived +for the <hi rend="italic">confarreatio</hi>; as it was called, the wedding +ceremony, the eating of bread. Like the +other ceremonies in the religion of the people, +this was very old, so old that the beginning of +it was not known. The reason of some of the +things that were done had been forgotten. +Marcia could just remember going to one wedding +when she was a little girl before they left +the Mountain of Fire. All the colonists who +went out were already married and had children, +and until now none of the children were old +enough to begin a new home. +</p> + +<p> +There was always a certain meaning in the +eating of salt together; it is so in all the ancient +races. Salt was not like food that any two men +might eat together, like animals, where they +found it. It was part of the household stores; +<pb n="167"/><anchor id="Pg167"/>it was eaten by families living in houses. In +some places it was not easy to come by, and it +was the one thing necessary to a really good meal, +whatever else there was to eat. When a man +was invited to share a meal with salt in it, it +meant that he was invited to the table and was +more or less an equal. People who were simply +fed from the stores of the farmer prepared their +own food in their own way, often without salt. +It was said that the wood spirits, the gods of the +wilderness, of whom nobody knew much except +that they were mischievous and tricky, could +always be known by the fact that salt to them +was like poison; they could not eat it at all. +</p> + +<p> +When a bride left her own home to go to that +of her husband, it was a very solemn proceeding, +because she said farewell to her own family, the +spirits of her ancestors, and the gods of her +father’s hearth, and became one of her husband’s +family, a daughter of his father. All that was +done was based more or less on this idea. A girl +who ran away from home without her father’s +knowledge could not expect to be blessed by her +ancestors, the unseen dwellers by the fireside. +A woman who came into another home without +the permission of the spirits who dwelt there +could not hope to be happy; bad luck would certainly +follow. The wedding ceremonies were +<pb n="168"/><anchor id="Pg168"/>meant to make it perfectly clear that all was done +in the right and proper and fortunate way. +</p> + +<p> +The day was chosen by Tullius the priest, and +was a bright and beautiful day, not long after +the feast of Maia. The ceremonies began at +dawn. Before sunrise Tullius was scanning the +sky to make sure that the day would be fair and +that no evil omen was in sight. Felic’la, who +hovered around her sister with adoring eyes, +thought she had never seen Marcia look so beautiful. +She was in white, with a flame-colored veil +over her head, and her hair had been, according +to the old custom, parted with a spear point into +six locks, arranged with ribbons tied in a certain +way to keep it in place. Her tall and graceful +figure was even more stately than usual in the +white robe she wore, and her great dark eyes +were like stars. +</p> + +<p> +When the guests were all at the house, Marcus +Colonus offered a sacrifice at the family altar and +pronounced certain ancient words, explaining +that he now gave his daughter to the young +Mamurius and set her free from every obligation +that kept her at home. When the sacrifice was +over, the guests wished the young couple happiness, +and the marriage feast began. There +was no one in the whole village who did not have +reason to remember the rejoicings on the day +<pb n="169"/><anchor id="Pg169"/>when the daughter of Colonus was married, for it +was the richest feast that had ever been given +in the colony. The house was decorated with +wreaths and the best of the wine was served, and +all the dainties the Roman women knew how to +make were to be found upon the table. Marcia +sat among her maidens like a young goddess +among priestesses; they were all eager to show +her how dear she was to them and how glad they +were that she was happy. There was not a child +in the village who did not think of her as a kind +elder sister. Now she herself was to be served +and made happy, and for that day she was the +most important person in the eyes of all those +who had been her playmates. +</p> + +<p> +At last the rejoicings at the home of Colonus +were over, and it was time for the wedding procession. +Attended by the young girls near her +own age, the bride was taken from her mother’s +arms by the bridegroom, and the whole party +moved in procession toward the new home. In +advance went torch bearers, and the children +scattered flowers for her feet to tread upon as +she passed. Every one was singing or shouting +<q>Talassio! Talassio!</q> The flute players were +making music, and the bridegroom scattered +handfuls of nuts for which the boys scrambled. +When they reached the door of the new house +<pb n="170"/><anchor id="Pg170"/>Marcia poured a little oil upon the doorposts, and +wound them with wool which her own hands had +spun. Then Mamurius lifted her in his strong +arms and carried her through the door. +</p><anchor id="illus183"/> +<figure url="images/illus183.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her through the door</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +Exactly why this was part of the marriage +ceremony is not known. Some think it was because +a bride must not be allowed to stumble on +the threshold, for that would be unlucky. But +it was more likely to mean that she was brought +by her husband into the house to join in the worship +of the spirits of the home, and so did not +come in without an invitation. As she stood in +the <hi rend="italic">atrium</hi>, the middle room where the altar and +<pb n="171"/><anchor id="Pg171"/>the family table were, she received the fire +and water of the family worship and reverently +lighted the first fire ever kindled on that hearth. +She and Mamurius repeated together the prayers +that thousands of young couples had repeated +since first their people had homes. Then they +ate together a flat cake made with the corn +blessed by the priest, and Marcia poured a little +of the marriage wine upon the fire as a sacrifice +of <q>libation</q> to the gods of her new home. +This was the <hi rend="italic">confarreatio</hi>. They felt as if the +silent, burning fire that lighted the dusky little +room were trying to tell them that their simple +meal was shared by the gods themselves, and +that the blessing of all Mamurius’ forefathers +was on the bride that he had brought home to be +the joy of his house. +</p> + +<p> +On the next day there was another feast, to +celebrate the beginning of the new home, and +the wedding was over. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am glad,</q> said Marcia’s mother to her husband +when they went home that night, leaving +their daughter and young Mamurius standing +together at their own door, <q>that everything +went so well, without a single unlucky or unhappy +thing to spoil the good fortune. Marcia +well deserves to be happy,—but I shall miss her +every day I live.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="172"/><anchor id="Pg172"/> + +<p> +She sighed, and Felic’la looked rather sober. +She knew very well that they would all miss +Marcia, but she determined in her careless little +heart to be a better girl and do so much for her +mother and brothers that when her turn came, +they would all be sorry to see her go. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am glad,</q> said Colonus, <q>for more than one +reason. I have been rather anxious for fear that +in this new place our young people would not +remember the old ways as they might if they had +grown up in our old home. It was important +to have the first wedding one that they would +all remember with pleasure, and wish to follow +as an example. I am very glad Marcia has so +good a husband. Mamurius is a youth who will +go far and be a leader among the young men. +I suppose that now they will all be thinking of +marriage.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There were, in fact, several other marriages in +the colony within a year or two, but nobody who +was at that first wedding ever forgot it. Marcia +was often called upon to tell how the garlands +were made, and just how much honey they put +in the cakes for the feast, and how the other little +matters were arranged that all seemed to be +managed exactly right. In fact, that wedding +set a fashion and a standard, and as Marcia’s +father was shrewd enough to see, it is a good thing +<pb n="173"/><anchor id="Pg173"/>in a new community to have the standards rather +high. There was nothing in what Marcia and +Mamurius did that other people could not follow +if they chose, but the simple comfort and grace +of their way of living did mean that they cared +enough for their home to take it seriously. Girls +who might not have thought much about cleanliness, +thrift, cheerfulness and beauty began to +see, when they visited Marcia, how pleasant it +was to have a home like hers. She did not tell +them so; she was herself, and that was enough. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="174"/><anchor id="Pg174"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XV. The trumpery man"/><index index="pdf" level1="XV. The trumpery man"/> +<head>XV</head> + +<head>THE TRUMPERY MAN</head> + +<p> +One autumn day a little while after the +harvest, a squat, brown man with large +black eyes under great arched eyebrows +set in a large head, and with unusually muscular +shoulders and arms, was paddling slowly in a +small boat across the yellow river. As he crossed +he looked up attentively at the range of hills near +the riverside, now partly covered with wooden +huts. It was his experience that villages were +good places to trade. They were especially so +when, as now, pipes were sounding and the people +were keeping holiday in honor of some god. +He had gone to many places with his wares, but +he had not as yet visited the town by the river. +He was not even quite sure of its name. Some +called it Rumon and some Roma. The people +of his race were not very quick of ear, and often +pronounced letters alike or confused them when +they sounded alike,—as o and u, or b and p, or +t and d. He himself was called Utuze, Otuz, or +<pb n="175"/><anchor id="Pg175"/>Odisuze, or Toto, according to the place where +he happened to be. He came from Caere, the +Etruscan seaport near the mouth of the river. +</p> + +<p> +He had landed on this bank when he went up +the river and approached the men from the settlement +when they were working on their lands outside +the walls, but they did not pay much attention +to him. He could not tell whether they did +not want his wares, or were suspicious, or simply +did not understand what he was talking about. +Now he was going to find out,—for he was of a +persistent nature. Perhaps there would be some +one at the festival who could speak both his language +and theirs and tell them what he wanted to +say. Then it would be easy. +</p> + +<p> +On a glittering chain around his neck he carried +a metal whistle, or trumpet, that could be +heard a long distance and would pierce through +most other noises as a needle pierces wool. On +his back he carried in a sack a great variety of +small things likely to please women and girls and +children. He had learned a very long time ago +that however shrewd a man may be, he will buy +very silly things and pay any price you like for +them when he is persuaded that they will please +a girl. He also knew that men will buy things +for their wives that no sensible woman ever buys +for herself, and that if children cry for a toy long +<pb n="176"/><anchor id="Pg176"/>enough, they often get it. But the most important +thing was, he knew, that a man who can attract +attention to himself, no matter how he does +it, generally sells more goods than one who depends +only on the usefulness of what he has to +sell. Therefore, when he set out on these trading +journeys, he put on the most gorgeous and gay-colored +clothes he could find, decorated with +bright-colored figures, embroidered, and fringed +or fastened with little glittering beads and ornaments +such as he carried in his pack. Shining +things were easier to sell than other things, as +they were easier to look at. The peddler had +given careful attention to selecting his stores, and +Mastarna, the fat merchant from whom he got +them, helped him. He wished to know more of +these people in the town by the river. +</p> + +<p> +The squealing of the peddler’s trumpet reached +the ears of the soldiers, who were having a good +time in their own way. They had their own +games and frolics and feats of strength, and +some of the young men from the town were there +to look on and perhaps to join. Urso the +hunter’s son, and Marcus and Bruno the sons of +Colonus, and little Pollio the son of the sandal +maker, were all there, and when they heard the +trumpet they sprang to their feet. But Ruffo +the captain of the guard laughed, and the others +<pb n="177"/><anchor id="Pg177"/>shouted, and Ruffo said, <q>By Jove, there’s +Toto!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><hi rend="italic">Diovi</hi></q> was the general name for <q>the gods,</q> +and when it is pronounced quickly it sounds like +<q>Jove.</q> The father of the gods was <q>Diovis-Pater</q>—which +in course of time became <q>Jupiter.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The peddler had been in their camp in the days +before the town by the river was thought of, and +when he saw them, he came up the path grinning +broadly, and they grinned back. They explained +to the boys of the colony that he came from +across the river and dealt in all sorts of things +that were not made at all on this side, and some +that were brought from the seashore. Toto +spread out his gay cloth on the ground and began +to lay out his wares. +</p> + +<p> +Through long practice he knew just how to +place them so that they would show most effectively, +and many a customer wondered why +the trinket did not look as well when he got it +home as it had before he bought it. The colors +in the painted cloth were combined in old, old +patterns worked out according to laws as certain +as the laws of music, and everywhere was +the gilding that set off the colors and seemed to +make them brighter and richer. +</p><anchor id="illus191"/> +<figure url="images/illus191.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +There were scarfs such as women wore on their +<pb n="178"/><anchor id="Pg178"/>heads, and fillets for the hair, and girdles and +veils. There were necklaces and bracelets and +rings and brooches and pins. There were boxes +of sweetmeats, and metal cups and spoons, and +curious little images of men and animals, and +strings of beads, and charm strings, and hollow +metal cases for charms, that could be hung around +the neck, and pottery toys, and trinkets of all +kinds. It seemed impossible that so much merchandise +of so many different kinds could have +been packed in that bag, or that a man could have +carried it, after it was packed. If the things +<pb n="179"/><anchor id="Pg179"/>had been as heavy as they looked, it would have +been too great a load even for Toto’s broad +shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +The Roman boys had never seen anything like +this before, but they did not show any great curiosity. +One of the things that the people of Mars +taught their children, without ever saying it in +so many words, was not to be in a hurry to talk +too much in strange company. They were +brought up to feel that they were the equals of +any one they were likely to meet and need not +be in haste to make new friends. This feeling +gave them a certain dignity not easily upset. +In fact, dignity is merely the result of respecting +yourself as a person quite worthy of respect, and +not feeling obliged to insist on it from other +people. The colonists had it. +</p> + +<p> +Pollio picked up one of the sandals and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My father would not think this leather fit +to use,</q> he said in a low tone to Bruno. +</p> + +<p> +Marcus was looking at a pin of a rather pretty +design and wondering how Flavia, his betrothed, +would like it, when it bent in his fingers. That +pin had not been made for the handling of young +men with hands so muscular as his. Marcus +paid for the pin and tossed it into the river. He +had no intention of making a gift like that to +any one. +</p> + +<pb n="180"/><anchor id="Pg180"/> + +<p> +When they handled the charm necklaces they +saw from the lightness that what looked like gold +was not gold. It was so with all the peddler’s +stock. The soldiers, seeing that the boys from +the colony did not think the stuff worth buying, +did not buy much themselves, nor did they drink +much of his wine. +</p> + +<p> +Ruffo said after Toto had gone that he did +not always carry such a collection of trash as +he had to-day. Sometimes he sold excellent fish-hooks +and small tools. Marcus said that if he +bought anything, he wanted a thing that was +worth buying, and they began to throw quoits at +a mark. +</p> + +<p> +Marcus had seen traders before and dealt with +them, but for some reason this peddler’s pack +set him thinking. In their way of living a farmer +made most of his own tools, and wishing them to +last as long as possible, he made them well. It +was the same with the baskets, the linen, the wool +and the leather work, and the other things made +at home. It was the same with the work done in +the smithy of Muraena. He wished to have a +reputation among his neighbors for making fine +weapons. The men always put the greater part +of their time on their farms, and since they had +been in this new country, their planning and contriving +how to make the soil produce more and +<pb n="181"/><anchor id="Pg181"/>more had been far more exciting than ever before. +Each year a little more of the marsh or the +waste land would be drained and cleared; each +year the flocks and herds would be larger and +more huts would be built. They were founding +a new people. +</p> + +<p> +In view of these great thoughts of the future, +the glittering trinkets of the man with the +trumpet looked small and worthless. Marcus +began to see what was meant by the elders when +they spoke of <q>gravity</q> as a virtue and <q>levity</q> +as a rather foolish vice. Life depended very +much on the way one took things; to take important +things lightly, or give valuable time and +thought to worthless objects left a man with the +chaff on his hands instead of the good grain. +</p> + +<p> +Something his father had told him a long time +ago, when he was a little boy, came into Marcus’s +mind. It was when he wanted something very +much, and being little, cried because he could not +have it and made himself quite miserable. His +father came in just then and watched him for a +minute or two. Then he said, +</p> + +<p> +<q>My son, do you wish to be a strong man, +when you grow big?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Y-yes,</q> sniffed the little fellow dolefully. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You wish to be strong of soul and heart as +you are in your body, so that no one can make +<pb n="182"/><anchor id="Pg182"/>you do anything you are not willing to do?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes, Father,</q> said the boy, with his puzzled +dark eyes searching his father’s face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then, my son, remember this: the strong +man is the man who can go without what he +wants. If you cannot do without a thing you +want, without being unhappy, you are like a boy +who cannot walk without a crutch. If you can +give up, without making a ridiculous ado about +it, whatever it is not wise for you to have—if +you can be happy in yourself and by yourself +and stand on your own feet—then you are +strong. In the end you will be strong enough +to get what you really want. The gods hate a +coward.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Now in the long shadows of the fading day, as +he heard the far sound of the peddler’s trumpet +down the river, Marcus found a new meaning +in his father’s words. He saw that those who +wasted what they had earned by hard work on +that rubbish would end by having nothing at all, +because they were caught by the color and the +shine of things made to tempt them. What was +there in all that collection that was half as beautiful +as a golden wheat field? What ornament +that could be worn out or broken was equal to +the land itself, with its treasure of fleecy flocks +and sleek cattle, and roof trees under which happy +<pb n="183"/><anchor id="Pg183"/>children slept? The treasure of the world was +theirs already, in this plain that was theirs to +make fruitful and beautiful, and people with +prosperous villages. That was the real estate; +the other was a shadow and a sham. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="184"/><anchor id="Pg184"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVI. The great dyke"/><index index="pdf" level1="XVI. The great dyke"/> +<head>XVI</head> + +<head>THE GREAT DYKE</head> + +<p> +Although Toto did not find his first +visit to the Seven Hills very profitable, +he had much that was interesting to tell +Mastarna when he returned. The two had a +long talk in their strange rugged language with +its few vowel sounds. Mastarna was most interested +in the gods of these strangers. If he +could find out what they did to bring good luck +and ward off misfortune, he could have charms +and lucky stones made to sell to them. If he +knew what their gods were like, he could have +images of these carved in wood or molded in clay +or cast in metal. But Toto could tell him very +little about these questions. The soldiers at the +camp had no altars and no regular worship at +all, and they moved from place to place and did +not keep any place sacred. But these people on +the Square Hill seemed very religious. They +behaved as if they had settled down there to stay +forever. +</p> + +<pb n="185"/><anchor id="Pg185"/> + +<p> +<q>What are they like?</q> asked the old man. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are like no other townspeople in this +valley,</q> said Toto decidedly. <q rend="post: none">They are not +like the herdsmen who wander from place to place +and sleep in tents, or the hunters who live alone +in huts, or the fishermen by the river or the +sailors by the seashore. They are tall and +straight and strong and very active, because they +work all the time. They work mostly on their +land. When they are not plowing, or digging, +or cutting grain, or cutting wood, or making +things, they are working to make themselves +stronger. They run and leap and throw heavy +weights; they hurl the spear and shoot arrows at +a mark. They stand in rows and go through +motions all together, and march to and fro, and +play at ball. They do everything that is possible +to make themselves good soldiers; even the boys +begin when they are small to play at these games.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And that is not all. The women work also, +but not as slaves. The matrons go here and there +as they choose, and see eye to eye with their husbands, +and manage the household as the men +manage the farm. The men sit in council, but +each man speaks of his work in private to his +wife, and she advises with him. They do not +have slaves to wait on them; even their great men +work with the others in the field. No one is +<pb n="186"/><anchor id="Pg186"/>ashamed to work with his hands. They build +their own houses and their own walls; they breed +their own cattle. If there should be a sheep +gone from the flock, or a heifer strayed from the +herd, they would know it and search until the +thief was found.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hum,</q> said the old man thoughtfully. He +was thinking that this must be a strong and valiant +people, and that if they increased in the +valley of the yellow river they might become very +powerful. <q>And what are their priests?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They have no priesthood dwelling in the +temples,</q> said Toto. <q>Their elders are their +priests and pretend to no magical powers. They +are chosen for their wisdom. Their gods are +invisible.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hum,</q> said Mastarna again. +</p> + +<p> +The people to whom he and Toto belonged +were called at one time and another Tuscans or +Etruscans by others, but they called themselves +the Ras, or Rasennae. They had some towns +in the mountains beyond the plain where these +strangers were. They held most of the country +on their side of the rivers, as far north as the river +Arno, and they had always lived there, so far +as they knew themselves or any one else could +say. They were different in almost every way +from these strangers of the hills. He wondered +<pb n="187"/><anchor id="Pg187"/>if his people had anything whatever that the +strangers wanted. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You say that they build walls,</q> he said to +Toto. <q>Do they build good ones?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Toto grinned. He was nothing of a builder +himself, but even he could see the difference between +the rude stone laying and fencing of the +strangers, and the scientific, massive masonry +and arched drains of his own country. <q>They +will find out how good they are,</q> he said, <q>after +twenty years of flood and drought.</q> +</p> + +<p> +In fact, the worst enemy the colonists had met +thus far was water. They were used to mountain +slopes with good drainage. They knew how +to keep a field from being gutted by mountain +freshets, and how to repair roadways and build +drains that would carry off the water. They +were strong and clever at fitting stones into the +right place for walls, and they could dam up a +stream for a fishpool or a bathing place. But +this sort of country was all new to them. It +was not exactly a marsh and not so swampy as +it became in later centuries, but at any time it +might become a marsh full of ponds and stagnant +streams, and remain so for weeks at a time. +This was bad for the grain and worse for sheep, +and unhealthy for human beings. During the +next rainy season after Toto’s visit, the farmers +<pb n="188"/><anchor id="Pg188"/>had a very unhappy time. They discovered that +too much water is almost if not quite as much a +nuisance as too little. In a dry time it is sometimes +possible to carry water from a distance, +but in a wet time there is nowhere to put the +water that is not wanted, and many of their +ditches were choked up with débris, and their +grain was washed away. +</p> + +<p> +Mastarna was full of patience. He let them +toil and soak and chill and sweat until he thought +they would welcome a suggestion from almost +any quarter. Then he and a man he knew, a +stone worker called Canial, took a boat and went +across the river to a point where three or four +of the colonists were prying an unhappy ox out +of the mire. The strength, determination and +skill with which they conducted the work were +worthy of all admiration. But it would have +been far better if the land could have been +drained and protected by a solid dyke. +</p> + +<p> +Canial looked the bank over with a shrewd, +experienced eye, and said that if he had the work +to do, he would dig a ditch there, and there, and +there; here he would build a covered drain lined +with tilework; and in a certain hollow under the +hill he would have an arched waterway, so that +flood water would run through instead of tearing +at the foundation of the terrace below the +vine<pb n="189"/><anchor id="Pg189"/>yards. But he saw no signs that these men in +their building made any use of arches. He +jumped ashore and splashed through the pools, +which were almost waist-deep in some places, up +to where the ox was standing panting, wild-eyed +and nearly exhausted with fright and struggle. +Canial squatted down by a rivulet. He did +not know the language of the colonists and they +did not know his, but no words were needed for +what he wanted to explain. He made a miniature +drain rudely arched over with mud-plastered +stones while they stood there watching. That +could be done, as well with, a six-inch brook as +with a river. It did not take the Romans ten +minutes to see that he knew more about such +matters than they did. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Caius,</q> said Colonus to young Cossus, <q>go +over to the camp and find Ruffo, and ask him +to come and talk to this fellow.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He knew that Ruffo understood several +languages and dialects, and whatever it was that +this man had come for, he wished to know it. +</p> + +<p> +Ruffo knew enough of the language Canial +spoke to be able to make out his meaning, and +he told Colonus that the stone worker wished to +come and live in Rome. He would show them +how to drain their land and bridge their streams. +Mastarna would tell them that he was a man of +<pb n="190"/><anchor id="Pg190"/>honesty and ability. His reason for leaving his +own country was a personal one; he had had a +quarrel with the head priest of his village because +the priest wished to interfere in his family affairs +and make Canial’s daughter the wife of his +nephew, against her will. There was no safety +or comfort in his part of the country when the +priesthood had a grudge against a man. +</p> + +<p> +There were others in the Roman settlement +who had fled there for reasons of much the same +kind as Canial’s—men who had been robbed of +their inheritance, slaves escaped from cruel masters, +homeless men, and men who for one reason +or another had found themselves unsafe where +they lived before. But this was the first family +which had wished to come from beyond the river. +The others all came from places where the public +worship was not entirely unlike that of the +Romans themselves and the people were of the +same race in the beginning. This was a departure +from that rule. +</p> + +<p> +If it had not been for the dyke-building problem, +Colonus would probably have said no at +once. But that would have to be settled before +the town grew much larger than it was, or they +would have to change their way of life altogether. +They were a people who hated to be crowded. +They would need land, and land, and more land, +<pb n="191"/><anchor id="Pg191"/>if they continued to live on the Seven Hills. +They must have grain for the cattle and themselves, +and pasturage for the beasts, room for +orchards and gardens, room for the villages of +those who tilled their fields. Canial seemed to +think that it would be quite possible to prevent +the plain from being flooded, with proper stonework +and drains, but it would need a man +thoroughly used to the work to direct it. Colonus +could see that Canial was probably that man. +Every suggestion he made was practical and +good, and he knew things about masonry that it +had taken his ancestors generations to learn. +Colonus finally said that he would talk it over +with the other men of the city and give him an +answer on a certain day. +</p> + +<p> +Ruffo did not know anything of the gods the +people of Canial worshiped, except that they +were unlike the Roman gods and seemed to be +very much feared. They had a god Turms, who +was rather like the Roman Terminus, who protected +traders and kept boundaries. They had a +smith of the gods, called Sethlans, and a god +of wine and drunkenness called Fuffluns. +</p> + +<p> +No person, of course, could be allowed to +bring the worship of strange gods into the sacred +city. The very reason of the founding of the +city was to make a home for their own gods, and +<pb n="192"/><anchor id="Pg192"/>to let in strange ceremonies would be to defile +that home. +</p> + +<p> +It was finally decided that Canial and some +of his countrymen who wished to come with him +should have a place of their own, which was afterward +known as the Street of the Tuscans. It +was a place which no one had wished to occupy +before, because it was so wet, but Canial and his +friends had no difficulty in draining it. The +only condition he made was that traders should +be allowed to come and go and supply his family +and friends with whatever they needed. +Women, he said, did not like a strange place +much as it was, and he should have no peace at +home if his wife were obliged to learn new +methods of housekeeping. +</p> + +<p> +The only condition that Marcus Colonus and +his friends made was that the strangers should +do nothing against the law of the settlement, or +against the Roman gods, and this they readily +agreed to. Canial said that the priests in his +country demanded so much in offerings that a +man was no better than a slave, working for them. +</p> + +<p> +All this happened while Romulus was away, +but when he returned he said that the decision +was a wise one. It privately rather amused him +to see how in this new country the colonists were +led to allow the beginning of new customs which +<pb n="193"/><anchor id="Pg193"/>they regarded with great horror when they first +came. +</p> + +<p> +Before another rainy season, the Etruscans +and the Romans, working together, had made a +very fair beginning on the dyking and draining +of the worst of the marshes and the bridging of +bad places. Canial understood how to mix +burned lumps of clay containing lime and iron, +and lime and sand, and water, in such a way +that when the muddy paste hardened it was like +stone itself. Tertius Calvo, who happened to +be there when this was done, tried it by himself. +Although what he made was not entirely a failure, +it did not behave as it did under the hands of +Canial. Without saying anything—indeed, he +could say nothing, for he knew not a word of the +strangers’ language—Tertius watched and +measured and experimented with small quantities +until he found out the exact proportions and +methods Canial used. The bit of wall he built +finally was very nearly as good as Canial’s own +work. Calvo was good at laying stones, and had +very little to learn in that line from any stranger. +This mortar, as they found in course of time, +would stand heat and cold and water and seemed +to become harder with exposure. By using the +best quality of material the work was improved. +There was no secret about it; indeed, Canial did +<pb n="194"/><anchor id="Pg194"/>not object to teaching any man who wished to +learn all he could. +</p> + +<p> +The greatest debt they owed to their new +settlers was the low round arch, built with stones +set in mortar in such a way that the greater the +weight, the firmer the arch would be. Another +Etruscan trick was plastering over the side of a +drain or a bank with a mixture of small stones +stirred thickly into mortar like plums in a pudding. +The best of this new way of working was +that it could be done so quickly. A great deal +of the work could be done by stupid and ignorant +laborers under the direction of those who knew +how to direct. Men whom they could not employ +in any sort of skilled labor could help here. +Such men were glad enough to come for an +allowance of food and drink. A certain task was +set them, and they had their living for that; if +they did more, they had an extra allowance. The +task was called <hi rend="italic">moenia</hi>, and since it was the +lowest and least skilled labor, work of that kind +later came to be known as <hi rend="italic">menial</hi>, the work of +slaves and servants. +</p> + +<p> +The change in the face of the plain in the +following years was almost like magic. The +colonists built dykes to keep the river from overflowing; +they built drains to carry off the heavy +rains; they built culverts; they built bridges +rest<pb n="195"/><anchor id="Pg195"/>ing on solid arches; and they made one great +drain which carried off so much of the overflow +water that it made the Square Hill and most of +the land around it safe. In fact, a part of every +year thereafter was given to the improvement +and protection of newly cleared farmlands by +stonework. People came from a great distance +to see the dyke they built, for nothing like it had +been done on that side of the river. The people +in the lowlands villages, relieved from the fear +of floods, were proud to call themselves the servants +of the Romans. In those early years a +beginning was made of the great engineering +work that was to endure for centuries. The +people of the Square Hill were doing on a very +small scale what nobody had done before them +in that part of the world. In their masonry and +their farming they gave all their poorer neighbors +reason to be glad they were located where they +were. It was a peaceful conquering of village +after village. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="196"/><anchor id="Pg196"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVII. The war dance"/><index index="pdf" level1="XVII. The war dance"/> +<head>XVII</head> + +<head>THE WAR DANCE</head> + +<p> +When the country had grown peaceful, +and there was no more need, for the +time, of sending out warlike expeditions, +it began to be seen that the soldiers who +had come in with Romulus or had joined the +troops later must have something to do. Romulus +talked the matter over seriously with the +fathers of the colony. If these men were to +settle down as citizens, taking part in the life of +the city—and some of them wished to do so—they +ought to have homes; they needed wives. +The family life of this people was the very heart +of their religion and their society. The father +was high priest in his family. The public worship +was only a greater family worship, in which +all had a part, old and young, living and dead. +The gods themselves were often present unseen +to receive prayers and offerings,—so the people +believed. +</p> + +<p> +The question of wives for these men was a +serious one. Girls were growing up within the +<pb n="197"/><anchor id="Pg197"/>palisade on the Square Hill, but so were young +men. There would be hardly enough brides for +all the youths of their own generation, even if +every girl found a husband. Aside from the +fact that the parents would not like to see their +daughters married to strangers of whom they +knew nothing, the young folk themselves would +be likely to object. Although theoretically, marriages +were made by the elders without the girls +having anything to say about it, human nature +was much the same there as anywhere. In practice, +the bride had some choice and the groom +some independence. Any woman married +against her will can make life so unpleasant for +her husband and her husband’s relatives that common +sense would lead a parent to avoid such a +result. Care was taken to keep a young girl +from knowing any men who would be unsuitable. +A man did not ask any youth into his house to +meet his daughters, on the spur of the moment. +He met a great many men at the midday meal +which the men ate together, whom he would not +think of asking to a family supper. He knew a +great many with whom he would not eat at all. +</p> + +<p> +Here and there a soldier found a wife among +the country people, but this did not usually turn +out very well. The daughters of herdsmen and +hut dwellers were not trained in the arts which +<pb n="198"/><anchor id="Pg198"/>made a woman dear to a civilized husband. Colonus +and his friends wished the wives of the +growing settlement to be women who would add +to the wealth of their homes and not spoil it,—who +would love their homes and their husbands, +and bring up their children wisely, and live in +peace and friendliness with the other women. +The question which had come up was more important +now than it might be later. A great +deal depended on beginning with the right +families. The men now coming in would be the +fathers of the future Rome, and on the way in +which their sons were brought up the prosperity +and godliness of the people might rest. +</p> + +<p> +Another possibility was in sight, and it was +too nearly a probability to look very pleasant. +The soldiers could get wives across the river +among the Rasennae. But that would be a +dangerous plan—dangerous perhaps to the men +themselves and certainly to the colony. Women +of a strange land, of a race so old and strong +as the dark people seemed to be—a country +where there was a secret council of priests who +knew all sorts of things that the people did not—such +women, married to settlers in the colony, +would be a constant danger. They would learn +from their husbands all that went on; they might +persuade them to worship the strange gods; they +<pb n="199"/><anchor id="Pg199"/>might help to break down defences against the +unknown power of the foreign priesthood. That +was a plan not to be thought of for a minute. +</p> + +<p> +Romulus sat listening and thinking, with his +chin on his strong, brown hand, and his bright +dark eyes gazing straight at the altar fire. +When the others had said what they thought, he +spoke. That was his way. He had perhaps begun +in that way because he was not sure he knew +all the proper forms of speech or all the matters +that ought to be considered in ruling the affairs +of this people. Now that he was well acquainted +with all these, he still wanted to hear what every +one else had to say, before speaking himself. +This was becoming in a man still so young, and +it was also wise. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is a plan, my fathers,</q> he said, <q rend="post: none">but +I do not know whether you will think that it is +the right one. Very long ago, I have heard, our +people used to take their wives by capture. In +those days a man never went openly to ask for +his bride. He stole into the village by night +with an armed guard, choosing his closest friends +to go with him. Then suddenly seizing upon the +maid he carried her off, and she became dead to +her own family, and one of his people.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Now this I do not commend, since it is not +our wish to war with the people around us. To +<pb n="200"/><anchor id="Pg200"/>raid their towns as did the men of old time, and +steal their maidens, would lead to never-ending +war. The custom is an old one and long given +up, and I do not like to return upon a road that +I have traveled, or dig up old bones.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>In the villages on the heights—in the lower +valleys of the mountain range that lies <hi rend="italic">there</hi>—</q> +he waved a brown arm toward the far blue hills, +<q rend="post: none">the people who dwell there are worshippers of +our gods, and their ways are as the ways of this +colony, O my fathers. Their women spin, they +weave, they grind grain, they tend bees, they keep +the household fire alive and bright, they are fair +and pure. These are fit wives for our soldiers—or +for any man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">In some of these villages were we known, +for we were there in the old days. They are not +walled villages, they are scattered among the +valleys, and they have little to do with one another +or with strangers. It is in my mind that +if their women were married here, we and they +might be one people. Then all the Seven Hills +would be ours, and we and they together would +be a strong nation. But well I know that they +would never consent to give their daughters to +strangers.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>This therefore is my thought. I have seen,</q> +the young chief’s dark face was lighted by a +<pb n="201"/><anchor id="Pg201"/>fleeting smile, <q rend="post: none">that sometimes the will of a +young maid is not wholly that of the old men +and women of her people. Forgive me, O ye +elders, if I speak foolishly, but I think that some +of these Sabine girls might not themselves be +unwilling to mate with my men. Would it be +so great a crime to take wives from those villages +despite the will of the priests and elders, if the +maidens themselves became in time content? +Suppose now that I send my men as messengers, +to invite these people to a festival on the day +when the Salii, the Leapers, have their games +and their feast. They also have fraternities like +ours; there is a fraternity of the Luperci, and the +Salii, and others, among the Sabines. Let their +young men contend with ours in the games, and +their people join with ours for the day. They +are not compelled to come. If they dislike and +distrust us, they will stay in their villages. But +if it is as I think, many will come.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Then when all are gathered together, and +weapons are laid for the games, let our young +men, at a given signal, seize each his chosen +maiden and bring her back within our walls to +be his wife. In token that they are not to be +slaves but honorable wives, whose work is to spin, +let our young men shout as they go, <q>Talassa! +Talassa!</q></q> +</p> + +<pb n="202"/><anchor id="Pg202"/> + +<p> +<q>Have I spoken well, my father?</q> He +looked straight at Colonus. <q>If ye have a better +plan, let no more be said of this.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But there was no better plan; in fact, there +seemed to be no other plan at all. Romulus +knew this very well. There was nothing in this +idea that was offensive to the general opinion +in those days. It was not so very long since +marriage by capture was the usual way of getting +wives. If the Sabine girls were brought into the +colony the soldiers would be sure of having wives +with the customs and the same gods of the other +matrons. If they were brought in a company +and lived in the same quarter of the town, they +would form a little society of their own. It +would not be a life entirely new and strange. +</p> + +<p> +It was decided that the plan should be tried. +If any of the messengers did a little courting in +the villages, nothing was said of it. +</p> + +<p> +The place chosen for the festival was a plain +where there would be room for all the games and +the feasting and the ceremonies. Romulus and +some of the young men went out there a few +days before the appointed date to level off the +ground, arrange seats for the public men, and +make ready. In removing a bowlder which +would be in the way of racers, and smoothing the +ground, Tertius Calvo found his pick striking +<pb n="203"/><anchor id="Pg203"/>on something strange. He dug down a little +way and unearthed a flat stone which seemed to +be the top of an altar. He called the others to +look, and Romulus caught his breath with a +queer gasp. He remembered something. +</p><anchor id="illus216"/> +<figure url="images/illus216.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were digging</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +<q>Jove!</q> said Mamurius, a few minutes later, +<q>Here’s something else!</q> There was a gleam +of bright metal in the hole they were digging. +The altar, a small square one of a whitish stone, +was lifted out, and then something struck with +a muffled clang against Mamurius’ spade. They +were all excitedly gazing by that time, and when +the round metal thing was lifted out, and the +<pb n="204"/><anchor id="Pg204"/>earth cleaned off it with grass, and it was rubbed +with a piece of leather, it almost blinded them. +It was a golden shield. +</p> + +<p> +Where it had come from, no human creature +knew. Nothing else like it was ever found in +that neighborhood. It may have belonged to +some Etruscan nobleman in far-off days, when +a battle was fought on that plain; it may have +been part of the plunder of some city; but there +it was, and the decoration showed that it was +made by a smith who worshiped Mars. Reverently +the young men carried it back to Rome, +after they had set up the altar on the field where +they found it. It seemed like a sign that the +gods approved what they were doing. It was +hung up in the temple, and was considered the +especial property of the Salii, or Leapers, the +young men who danced the war dance, for it was +they who had found it. But Romulus told +none of them of the witch’s prophecy that +he would find an altar and a shield in just this +place. +</p> + +<p> +The day appointed for the feast was fair, and +early in the morning the mountain people could +be seen coming across the plain or camped near +the field. +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers who were to take part in the festival +in this unexpected and startling way were +<pb n="205"/><anchor id="Pg205"/>very far from being the same rude outlaws who +had followed their young leader to the Long +White Mountain. They had been living within +the bounds of a civilized settlement, and the life +had had its effect on them. They had seen men +handle the spade and the plough as if they were +weapons, and treat the earth as if it were the +most interesting thing in the world to study. +They had seen how interesting it was to change +the face of the land, to make a wild and dreary +waste into a rich farming country, to fight flood +and fire and other mighty natural enemies,—and +win. They had seen, though at a distance, +the gracious manners and gentle ways of the +matrons, the sweetness and dignity of the young +girls. They had fought and worked side by side +with the young men who were proud to be the +sons of such fathers. Many of the outlaws had +had ancestors who were strong and brave and +intelligent. They had the sense to see that if +they joined this new settlement they would have +a place and a power. And last but not least there +was a great deal of wholesome comfort in the life +of this place. To men who had slept unsheltered +in cold and rain, who had worn sheepskins and +wolfskins, who had gone without food, often for +days, and never had a really good meal unless +they had unusual luck, the life of the colonists +<pb n="206"/><anchor id="Pg206"/>was a revelation. Good beds, fresh vegetables, +well-cooked meats, cakes made with honey, were +luxuries they appreciated. The dress of the +people was simple enough; a tunic for working, +and over that for warmth or holiday dignity the +large square of undyed wool called a toga; a +pair of sandals for the feet, a cap or helmet for +the head, a leather girdle and pouch. But it was +a long way better than rawhide. In short, these +young fellows had discovered that they liked a +civilized life. They were a very fine looking +company as they marched down the hill from +their barracks and went with their long, swinging +stride over the plain to the place where the +strange, little old altar stood. +</p> + +<p> +The games went on, and at the height of the +gayety and excitement there was a sudden +trumpet call, and all was in confusion. Each +soldier seized a Sabine maiden and carried her off +as if she were a child. The men who were not so +burdened formed a rear guard. The older +people were already on their way home. Some +of them did not know what had happened. Before +anything could be done by the startled and +angry Sabine men, the soldiers were inside the +walls of the city and the shout of <q>Talassa! +Talassa!</q> revealed that this was a revival of the +ancient custom of marriage by capture. +</p> + +<pb n="207"/><anchor id="Pg207"/> + +<p> +The Sabines were angry enough to go to war, +But they could do nothing that night, for a successful +war would need preparations. There +was a parley, and Romulus himself informed the +commissioners that the weddings would take +place with all due ceremony, and that in the +meantime the girls were in the city, under the +care of matrons of the best families, and would +be given the best of care and provided with all +things necessary for a bride. Let there be no +mistake about this: if any attempt were made +to recapture the Sabine girls the soldiers would +fight. They had got their brides, and they +meant to keep them. It was a sleepless night in +the town by the riverside, but in the morning the +Sabines were seen returning to their mountains. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="208"/><anchor id="Pg208"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVIII. The peace of the women"/> + <index index="pdf" level1="XVIII. The peace of the women"/> +<head>XVIII</head> + +<head>THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN</head> + +<p> +It is not to be understood that all the people +on the Square Hill approved of the capture +of the Sabine girls. It did not seem to +them, of course, as it would to the society of +to-day, because they considered that a girl ought +to marry, in any case, as her elders thought best +that she should. But Tullius the priest, and +three or four of the other older men, were very +doubtful about the wisdom of angering the Sabine +men by such a proceeding. Naso and his +brother objected to the capture because they had +never heard of such a thing. They were men +whose minds never took kindly to any sort of +new idea. When they made their great move +and left their old home, they seemed to have +exhausted all the ability to change that they had. +They held to every old custom they had ever +heard of, as a limpet holds to a rock. But the +thing was done, and there was nothing they could +<pb n="209"/><anchor id="Pg209"/>do now except to prophesy that it could not possibly +turn out well. +</p> + +<p> +The women of the colony were curious to know +how far the Sabine marriage customs were like +their own, and whether the wedding would mean +to these girls what it would to a Roman wife. +Marcia asked her husband about it on the night +of the festival, when the confusion had quieted +somewhat. The watch-fires of the Sabines could +be seen far away on the plain, and in the stronghold +on the Capitoline Hill the sentinels were +keeping watch against any sudden attack. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ruffo says,</q> answered Mamurius, <q>that they +have the same customs as ours, in the main. The +girls are taking it very quietly. I think they +stopped being frightened when they found they +were to be in the care of your mother and the +other matrons in the guest house. You know +Romulus has ordered that no maiden shall be +married against her will. If she remains here +until after the Saturnalia without making any +choice, she shall be sent back in all honor to her +own people. There are none among the girls +who are betrothed to men of their villages.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Marcia was glad to hear that. During the +following days she and the other young matrons +of the colony visited the captive girls and took +care that they lacked nothing in clothing and +<pb n="210"/><anchor id="Pg210"/>little comforts. The matrons and the older men +had stood firm in insisting that all possible respect +should be shown these maidens, just as if +they were daughters of the colony. If they were +to defend the soldiers’ action as a necessary and +wise measure and not a mere savage raid, this +was necessary. Otherwise the Sabine men would +have a right to feel that they could revenge themselves +by carrying off Roman women as slaves, +and nobody would be safe. It was much better +to delay the weddings for a few days, see what +the mountain people were going to do, and give +the girls a chance to become a little accustomed +to their new surroundings. Naso and some of +the other men thought Romulus had gone rather +far in promising that the girls should be sent +home if they wished to go after a certain time, +but he would not move an inch from that position. +He had his reasons. +</p> + +<p> +After two or three days the scouts came in to +report that the Sabines had gone back to their +villages to gather their forces. It would take +time to do this, and meanwhile the wedding preparations +went forward. +</p> + +<p> +The town on the Square Hill was larger and +finer than any of the mountain villages, and after +the first shock and fright of their capture passed, +many of the girls began to think that what had +<pb n="211"/><anchor id="Pg211"/>happened was not so bad, after all. They all +knew something about Romulus and his mountain +troop, and many of his soldiers had been +in the villages at one time and another on +some errand. Apparently these half-outlawed +fighters had become great men in the new settlement. +They had a quarter of their own, in which +they had built houses for their brides, shaded by +some of the forest trees that were left when the +land was cleared, and furnished with many things +not known in the mountain villages. It was also +true, and Romulus had known all along that it +was, that many of his men had known something +of the Sabine maidens, and would have married +in the villages before, if they could. Considering +that the elders of the villages would never have +consented to such a thing, this was the only way +it could possibly be brought about. It had +seemed to him better to make it a sort of state +affair than to encourage among the soldiers the +idea that they could individually raid the villages +and carry off the wives they chose without any +religious authority at all. Romulus heard a +great many confidential secrets from his men, +one by one, that would have surprised those who +did not know them. He believed that if it could +be managed so that they could settle down in the +quarter which was their own, and have homes of +<pb n="212"/><anchor id="Pg212"/>their own, they would be as good citizens as any +in Rome. But he did not waste time in trying, +by argument, to make Tullius and Naso and the +other colonists believe this. +</p> + +<p> +The public square was swept and made clean, +and the walls of all the houses hung with garlands. +The Roman matrons, old and young, had +taken from their thrifty stores of home-woven +linen and wool, robes and veils and mantles for +the strangers, and provided the wedding feast +with as much care as if each one of them had a +daughter who was going to be married. In fact, +according to Roman faith and law, these girls +were daughters of Rome as soon as they became +wives of Roman men, and had as much right in +all public worship and festivals as if they had +been born on the Palatine Hill. Since they +could not be given away by their own fathers, +it had been decided that they should be treated +as daughters of the city, and the ten original +fathers of the colony should be as their fathers. +</p> + +<p> +The procession came out into the square a little +after daybreak, and here the wedding feast was +set forth. The maidens were veiled and dressed +in white, and attended by the young Roman girls +as bridesmaids, and the soldiers were drawn up +in military order. The feasting and singing and +dancing went on in the usual way, and toward +<pb n="213"/><anchor id="Pg213"/>the end of the day the procession formed again +and went down the slope toward the huts of the +soldiers. At the door of each hut the man to +whom it belonged claimed his bride; she lighted +the hearth fire, and poured out the libation, and +ate of the bride cake with her husband. It was +a strange wedding day, but it seemed to have +ended happily, after all. +</p> + +<p> +There was only one girl who refused to have +any part in the ceremonies. When the rest of +the Sabine maidens left the guest house, she remained. +She was still there when a little before +sunset Romulus came back to the square and +entered the room where she sat. +</p> + +<p> +She was a tall and lovely creature, the +daughter of the priest Emilius, and Ruffo the +captain had carried her off, but she would have +nothing to say to him. He had consoled himself +with the daughter of one of his old comrades. +Her great eyes blazed as she met the look of the +young chief, and she held her head high, but she +did not speak. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are the daughter of a great man,</q> said +Romulus. <q>You are Emilia.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was surprising that he should know her +name, but his knowing who she was made it all +the greater insult that she should have been carried +off by force. +</p> + +<pb n="214"/><anchor id="Pg214"/> + +<p> +<q>Long ago,</q> he went on, <q>I saw you, a little +maid, when I was a poor shepherd boy. Your +mother was kind to me and gave me meat and +wine. Your father reproved me when I in my +ignorance would have offended the gods. As +you were then, so you are now,—beautiful as +a flower, fierce as a wolf, Herpilia, the wolf-maiden. +You are the mate for me, and when I +saw you at the festival, I knew it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You! An outcast!</q> the girl cried, her eyes +flashing in scorn. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am of good blood, and now I rule this city. +You shall rule it with me when you will,</q> said +the chief coolly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I would rather be a slave and grind at the +mill!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Romulus smiled. What did this girl know of +a slave’s life? +</p> + +<p> +<q>You had better not,</q> he said. <q>But you +need not do either. If after the Saturnalia you +wish to go back to your father’s house, you shall +go. But you cannot know much about us until +you have seen how we live.</q> And he turned and +went out. +</p> + +<p> +Emilia did not know exactly what to make of +this behavior. She had made up her mind that +if they tried to make her the wife of one of these +strangers, she would stab herself with the knife +<pb n="215"/><anchor id="Pg215"/>she carried in her bosom, or throw herself into +the river. But as the days went on and she saw +no more of Romulus, or any other youth, she +was still more puzzled. She never connected +him with the lad in the wolfskin tunic who had +rescued her from the banditti many years before. +Many stray shepherd boys had been fed in their +village at one time or another. The Sabines +themselves had never known that the strange +rescuer of the child and the leader of the mountain +patrol were one and the same. In fact, +they had come to believe that the little Emilia had +been saved by Mars himself, in human guise. +Romulus had never told of the matter, even to +his own men or to his brother. +</p> + +<p> +The young girls who tended the sacred fire +now formed a kind of society by themselves, like +the fraternities of the men. Emilia was allowed +to sit with them and spin and sew, and she lived +in the house of Marcus Colonus, all of whose +children were now married. She heard a great +deal about Romulus from time to time, but he +never came near her. Sometimes she saw him +marching at the head of his men, or sitting with +the elders of the people on some public occasion. +But he never looked her way, or sent her any +word beyond what he had already said. +</p> + +<p> +At first she hoped fiercely that her people +<pb n="216"/><anchor id="Pg216"/>would gather an army and come against the +insolent invaders and destroy them, but as time +went on, she began to hope that they would not. +A war with this race would be long and bitter, +for they were not the kind to yield. This town +would never be taken but by killing all the men +who could fight, and burning the houses, and +enslaving the women and children,—and the +women were kind to her. +</p><anchor id="illus229"/> +<figure url="images/illus229.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +The settlement was now so large that it covered +several of the hills, and the high steep hill that +stood up like the head of a crouching animal, the +Capitoline, had been strongly fortified. On one +side it descended almost straight like a precipice, +<pb n="217"/><anchor id="Pg217"/>and from the brink one could see for miles across +the plain. +</p> + +<p> +The captain of the guard there was one of +Romulus’s old comrades, Tarpeius by name. +He had a daughter who often spent some hours +with the other maidens, on the Palatine, spinning +and gossiping, and singing old songs. She was +very curious about Emilia’s people and said that +her mother had been a Sabine girl. She expressed +great admiration for everything about +Emilia—her bright abundant hair, her beautiful +eyes, her clear white skin, her graceful hands and +feet, and her clothes. Especially she admired +the band of gold Emilia wore on her left wrist. +She was like an inquisitive and rather impertinent +child. +</p> + +<p> +The bracelet was a gift from Emilia’s father; +he had ordered it from an Etruscan trader; it had +been made especially for her. Whenever she +looked at it, she felt as if it were a pledge that +some day she should see him again and visit her +old home. +</p> + +<p> +One day late in the autumn there was a commotion +in the town, and the sound of many +marching feet. From the plain below came +shouting, and the far-off sound of drums and +pipes. Emilia’s heart jumped. The Sabine +army was on the way! +</p> + +<pb n="218"/><anchor id="Pg218"/> + +<p> +Villagers came flying from a distance, wild +with fright, and begging to be protected within +the walls. Some had taken time, scared as they +were, to drive in their beasts and bring the grain +they had just finished threshing. Their men +joined the defenders, and the women and children +were sheltered among the townspeople, +many of whom were relatives. +</p> + +<p> +The Sabines spread their army all around the +Roman settlement. They took possession of a +hill near by, almost as great as the Palatine. +</p> + +<p> +It began to seem after a time as if the siege +might last indefinitely. The Roman fortifications +were strong and well manned, and they had +plenty of provision. Now that the marsh was +drained, only a most unusual flood would drive +away the enemy, and they did not seem inclined +to storm the hills, even if they could. Matters +might have gone on so much longer but for the +thoughts in the head of a girl. +</p> + +<p> +Tarpeia, the daughter of the captain of the +guard, watched eagerly the Sabine captains, and +saw the gleam of the ornaments they wore. One +night she slipped out by a way she knew and +crept past the Roman guards into the Sabine +camp. She had learned something of their talk +from Emilia and easily made herself understood. +She told Tatius the Sabine general, when they +<pb n="219"/><anchor id="Pg219"/>brought her to him, that she would open the +gates of the stronghold to his men for a reward. +She would do it if they would give her <hi rend="italic">what they +wore on their left arms</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +Tatius looked at the willowy figure and the +common, rather pretty face with its greedy eyes +and eager smile, and agreed, with a laugh. +Tarpeia returned to the stronghold, and that +night, when the darkness was thickest, she slid +past the sleepy guard and unbarred the gates, +and waited. +</p> + +<p> +Tatius had no respect for traitors, though he +was willing to make use of them when they came +and offered him the chance. He reasoned that +a girl clever and wicked enough for this would +betray him and his own men just as quickly as +she betrayed her father and his people. He told +his men to give her exactly what he had promised +her—what they wore on their left arms, and +<hi rend="italic">all of it</hi>! As they rushed past her and she drew +back a little toward a hollow in the hill, Tatius +first and the others after him flung at her not +only their bracelets, but the heavy oval shields +they carried on their left arms, beating her down +as if she had been struck by a shower of stones. +The garrison, taken by surprise, had no chance. +Brave old Tarpeius died fighting, without knowing +what had become of his treacherous daughter. +<pb n="220"/><anchor id="Pg220"/>At dawn the stronghold was in Sabine hands. +They had won the first move. +</p> + +<p> +Now indeed the two armies must join battle, +with the odds against the Romans. They met in +a level place between the two hills but not so low +as the plain, and the fighting was fierce enough. +The Sabine and Roman women watched from the +walls of the Palatine, and the Sabine girls, some +of them with babies in their arms, were crying +as if their hearts would break. Whichever army +won, they would mourn men who loved them, for +their fathers and brothers were fighting against +their husbands. +</p> + +<p> +The line of fighting surged to and fro. A +stone from a sling struck Romulus on the head, +and stunned him. The Romans gave back, +fighting every inch of the way. Romulus came +to himself and tried to rally them, but in vain. +He flung up his arms to heaven and uttered a +desperate prayer to Jupiter, Father of the Gods, +to save Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Emilia could not bear it any longer. She +stood up among the other Sabine women, her +eyes bright and her face as white as a lily, and +spoke to them quickly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Come with me!</q> she called, moving swiftly +toward the door of the temple of Vesta where +they were gathered. <q>We will end this +war—<pb n="221"/><anchor id="Pg221"/>or die with our men! Come to the battle field!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The women guessed what she meant to do, +and with a soft rush like a flock of birds, they +went past the guards and out of the gates, down +over the hillside, between the armies, which had +halted an instant for breath. With tears and +soft little outcries they flung themselves into the +arms of their fathers and brothers in the Sabine +army, and some sought out their husbands begging +them to stop the fighting, and not to make +them twice captives by taking them away from +their homes. A more astonished battle line was +probably never seen than the Sabine front. The +Romans on the other side of the field were nearly +as much taken aback. +</p> + +<p> +There is no denying that most of the men felt +rather silly. There could be no more fighting +without leading the women and babies back to the +town, and they probably would not stay there. +It dawned on the Sabines all at once that if the +women who were now wives of the Romans were +contented where they were, and loved their husbands, +it would be cruel as well as senseless to +force them back to their mountain villages. The +war stopped as soon as the generals on both sides +could frame words of some dignity to express +their feelings. Emilia’s father, when he found +that his daughter was unharmed, and had been +<pb n="222"/><anchor id="Pg222"/>treated during the past year like an honored +guest, declared that there should be peace without +delay. The conclusion of the whole matter was +an agreement to form an alliance. The Sabines +and the Romans were to share the Seven Hills +and rule together. All the customs common to +both should be continued, and each settlement +should have freedom to govern itself in the customs +peculiar to itself. +</p> + +<p> +Romulus came toward Emilia and her father +about sunset, after the wounded had been made +comfortable and the treaty agreed upon. They +were in the doorway of the priest’s tent. The +Roman general looked very tall and handsome +and full of authority. His shining helmet and +shield, short sword, and light body armor of metal +plates overlapping like plumage were as full of +proud and warlike strength as the wings of an +eagle. He bowed before the two; then he looked +at the maiden. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is nearly a year. The time has not gone +quickly.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He told me,</q> explained Emilia, <q>that if +after the Saturnalia I wished to return, he would +send me home.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And do you wish to go home, my daughter?</q> +asked the priest. +</p> + +<p> +Emilia looked up at Romulus. +</p> + +<pb n="223"/><anchor id="Pg223"/> + +<p> +<q>I will go home,</q> she said, <q>with my husband.</q> +</p> + +<p> +And the news ran through the camps that +Romulus had taken a Sabine bride. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="224"/><anchor id="Pg224"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIX. The priest of the bridge"/> + <index index="pdf" level1="XIX. The priest of the bridge"/> +<head>XIX</head> + +<head>THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE</head> + +<p> +In the customs of the people who founded the +town by the river, there was no act of life +which did not have some ancient rule or tradition +connected with it. There was a right way +and a wrong way to do everything. In all the +important work of life, such as the care of the +sheep and cattle, the sowing of the fields and the +making of wine, certain elders among the men +were chosen to take charge of the management, +decide on what day the work was to commence +and take care that all was done as it ought to be. +In this new life in a strange place the colonists +found that some kinds of work that used not to +be very important became so because things were +changed. This was the case with the priest who +had charge of the public ways,—the gates, the +roads and the walls. In their old home this +was not a very important office, because the walls +almost never needed anything done to them, and +<pb n="225"/><anchor id="Pg225"/>the roads were all made long ago. Tertius +Calvo, who was the pontifex or roadmaker, was +a quiet man and never had much to say, but in +this place he had more to do than almost any +other public officer in the city. +</p> + +<p> +Calvo was a good mason and understood +something of what we should call now civil engineering. +He had judgment about the best +place to lay out a road and the proper stone to +choose for masonry. As the town grew, and the +farming lands about it were cleared, and more +and more persons became interested in the town +by the river, Calvo, in his quiet way, was one of +the busiest of men. +</p> + +<p> +He got on very well with the miscellaneous +laboring force that he could command, and +partly by signs, partly in a mixture of the two +languages, he learned to talk with the stonemason +Canial quite comfortably. Gradually, as they +were needed, roads were made in different directions +over the plain, and always in much the same +way. They were as straight as they could be +without taking altogether more time and labor +than could be given, and they were usually carried +across streams and bogs instead of going +around. Calvo enjoyed working out ways to +do this. If the plain had been really boggy he +might not have been able to do as much as he did, +<pb n="226"/><anchor id="Pg226"/>but it was not really a marsh. It was a more +or less level area lying so little above the bed +of the river that the rise of a foot or two in the +waters changed its aspect until the Romans began +draining it. The people were astonished to +see how much more quickly they could reach the +river over one of Calvo’s roads than they could +over the old, winding, up-and-down paths. The +road was built with a track in the middle higher +than the edges, to let the water drain off, and this +track was more solid than the edges and far more +solid usually than the land on each side the road. +There was no need for the highway to be very +wide, for most of the travel was on foot. After +a time people began to call the new roads the +<q>laid</q> roads, because they were made by laying, +or spreading, new material on the line of travel. +</p> + +<p> +The new road was a <q>street</q> built up of +<hi rend="italic">strata</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +There was never much trouble in getting men +to work on these highways after they saw the +convenience of them. They could not have built +them for themselves, because they had not +Calvo’s eye for the right place or his knowledge +of every kind of stone and other road material. +The roads led out from Rome like the spokes of +a wheel, but Calvo did not build any roads from +town to town. He said it was better not to. +</p> + +<pb n="227"/><anchor id="Pg227"/> + +<p> +There came to be a proverb that all roads lead +to Rome. Calvo’s object in roadmaking was +to make it easy for outsiders to reach the city and +return. He was not concerned about their +visiting one another. The natural result was +that Rome got all the trade of a growing country. +</p> + +<p> +Another consequence of Calvo’s road-making +system was that it would have been very difficult +for the outlying settlements to join in any attack +against Rome itself, because they could not reach +their neighbors half as easily as they could reach +Rome. Calvo saw—what most generals have to +see if they are to have any success in fighting—that +wars are won by the feet as well as the weapons +of an army. The quicker they march and +the less strength they have to expend on getting +from one place to another, the better the soldiers +will fight. It came to be almost second nature +for any Roman to look out that the roads were in +good condition, and a general on the march took +care that he did not go too far into an unknown +country without leaving a good road over which +to come back. +</p> + +<p> +In the course of their wandering about, before +they found a place for their home, the colonists +had not only learned the importance of good +water but had found out where some of the +springs and wells were. Here and there, as he +<pb n="228"/><anchor id="Pg228"/>discovered a good place for a camp, Calvo caused +a rude shelter to be built, where any Roman could +find a place to sleep and make a fire. On some +of the roads he and Romulus took counsel together +and planned the erection of a kind of barrack, +so that if they sent a company of troops out +that way there would be a place which they could +occupy as a shelter, and if necessary hold against +an enemy. They were not exactly houses, or +forts; they were known as <hi rend="italic">mansiones</hi>,—places +where one might remain for a night or two. The +practical use of these places proved so great that +the plan was never given up, and <hi rend="italic">mansiones</hi> were +built at the end of each day’s march, in later ages, +wherever the Roman army went. But in the beginning +there was only a rough shelter like the +khans of Eastern countries,—walls and roofs, to +which men brought their own provisions and bedding, +if they had any. People had these places +of refuge long before there was any such thing as +a tavern or hotel known in the world. +</p> + +<p> +It began to be seen in course of time that the +Priesthood of the Highways, or the bridges—for +about half Calvo’s work here was bridge +building—was one of the most necessary of all. +Before he died he had four others to assist him, +and was called the Pontifex Maximus, the high +pontiff, and greatly revered for his wisdom. He +<pb n="229"/><anchor id="Pg229"/>had met and talked with and commanded so many +different sorts of people, both intelligent and +ignorant, and had solved so many different problems, +for no two places where a highway is built +are alike, that there were very few questions on +which he did not have something worth saying. +The standard he set was kept up. A road, when +built, was built to last, and so was a bridge. +</p> + +<p> +But the greatest work of Tertius Calvo, and +the one which perhaps made more difference in +the history of his people than any other, was an +undertaking which he put through when he and +most of the other fathers of the colony were quite +old men. It was the bridge across the river. +</p> + +<p> +At the point where the Seven Hills are situated, +the river is about three hundred feet wide, +but there is an island in it which makes a natural +pier. Here Calvo suggested a bridge, to take +the traffic from the other side of the river and +bring it directly to Rome instead of letting it +come across anywhere in boats. Such a bridge, +moreover, would make it easier to hold the river, +in case of war, against an enemy coming either +up stream or down. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed like a stupendous enterprise, and +even those who had seen most of Calvo’s work did +not see how he was going to do it. The river was +twenty feet deep, and that was too deep for any +<pb n="230"/><anchor id="Pg230"/>pier building in those days. It would be a timber +bridge. +</p> + +<p> +More or less all the city took part in building +that bridge. There were large trees to be cut +down and their logs hauled from distant places, +and shaped to fit into one another. There was +stonework to be done at each end of the span, and +on each side of the island. By the time this work +was planned, the people were using iron more or +less, and found it very convenient for many +things; but Calvo set his foot down; not a bit of +iron was to be used in his bridge. It was to be +all wood, resting on stone foundations. Some of +those who had worked with him remembered then +that he never did use iron in such work. The +younger men thought he must have reason to suppose +that the gods were not pleased with iron. +</p> + +<p> +Romulus had known Calvo for a great many +years, although they had never been exactly intimate. +As they stood together, watching the +work go on, Romulus said in a tone that no one +but Calvo could hear. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is no iron in this work?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>None,</q> said Calvo. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The gods do not approve it?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Apparently not,</q> said Calvo. <q rend="post: none">The fires of +Jove burned two bridges for me before I found +it out.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="231"/><anchor id="Pg231"/> + +<p> +<q>Also I have found that iron and water are +bad friends, and in a bridge, which hangs above +water, the bolts would rust. Finally, a thing +which is all timber, put together without the use +of anything else, does not grow shaky with time, +but settles together and is firmer. There are +some things a man does not learn until he has +watched the ways of building for fifty years, and +I have done that.</q> +</p> + +<p> +If Calvo had been like some men of his day, he +would have thought, when his bridges were +burned, that the gods were angry with him for +omitting some ceremony. But he was a man who +noticed all that he saw and put two and two together; +and he noticed in the course of time that +lightning was much more likely to strike where +iron was. He observed the path of it once when +it did strike, and saw that it ripped the wood all +to splinters and set it on fire trying to get at the +iron, which it melted. +</p> + +<p> +It is of course true that iron expands and +shrinks with heat and cold, and when iron bolts +are used in wood, the iron and the wood do not +fit as well together after a few seasons, on this +account. So Calvo planned his bridges without +iron, and they were all made of dovetailed +wooden timbers, as many old wooden bridges +were which remain to this day. Calvo’s +observa<pb n="232"/><anchor id="Pg232"/>tions about his bridges tended to make others +think as he did. No iron was ever used in any of +the temples or sacred buildings of Rome, even +long after it was in common use for weapons, +tools and other things. +</p> + +<p> +The way in which the bridge over the Tiber was +built was much like the way in which Cæsar built +bridges, hundreds of years later. It was so constructed +that if necessary it could be removed at +short notice. It was never struck by lightning +or burned, and it remained until—long after +Calvo was dead—another pontiff built a new +and greater bridge, using all his knowledge and +all else that had been learned in five generations. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="233"/><anchor id="Pg233"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XX. The three tribes"/><index index="pdf" level1="XX. The three tribes"/> +<head>XX</head> + +<head>THE THREE TRIBES</head> + +<p> +The hill on which the Sabines settled +took its name from their word for themselves, +Quirites, the People with the +Spears. It came to be known as the Quirinal. +The level place between this hill and the Palatine, +where the treaty was made, was called the +Comitium,—the place where they came together. +Here in after years was the Forum, the place for +public debate on all questions concerning the +government of <anchor id="corr233"/><corr sic="Rome">Rome.</corr> Any open place for public +discussion was called a forum—there were nineteen +in different parts of Rome at one time—but +this one was the great Forum Romanum, where +the finest temples and the most famous statues +were. Assemblies of the people, or of the fraternities, +to vote on public questions were also called +by the name of Comitium. +</p> + +<p> +Between these two great hills and a big bend +in the river was a great level space that was used +<pb n="234"/><anchor id="Pg234"/>for a sort of parade ground, and this was called +the Campus Martius, the field of Mars. +</p> + +<p> +Romulus himself lived with his wife Emilia in +a house which he built on the slope of the Palatine +near the river and not far from the bridge, at +a point sometimes called the Fair Shore. Here +he had a garden, fig trees and vines, and beehives; +and here he used to sit at evening and +watch the flight of the birds across the river. +His little son, whom he called Aquila as a pet +name, because an eagle perched upon the house +on the night the boy was born, used to watch with +wondering eyes his father’s ways with live creatures +of all kinds. A countryman who tended +the garden, who had been a boy on the Square +Hill when Romulus was a tall young man, said +that they used to get Romulus to find honeycombs +and take them out, because bees never +stung him. +</p> + +<p> +Aquila had a little plot of his own, where he +planted blue flowers, which bees like, and raised +snails of the big, fat kind found in vineyards. +He was like his mother’s people, a born gardener. +The countryman, Peppo, made little wooden toys +for him, and among them was a little two-wheeled +cart with a string harness, which Aquila attached +to a team of mice, but he had to play with that +out of doors, because his mother would not have +<pb n="237"/><anchor id="Pg237"/>the mice in the house. He had also a set of +knuckle-bones which the children played with as +children now play with jackstones. His mother +molded for him men and animals and even whole +armies of clay, so that he could play at war with +spears of reeds, and demolish mud forts with +stones from his little sling. +</p><anchor id="illus248"/> + <pgIf output="txt"><then><p rend="text-align: center">[Illustration: His mother molded for him men and animals]</p></then> + <else><p><figure url="images/illus248.png" rend="w100"> + <head rend="ill">His mother molded for him men and animals.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: His mother molded for him men and animals</figDesc></figure></p></else></pgIf> +<p> +He heard many stories,—some from his father, +some from his mother and some from Peppo. +He liked best the story of his father’s pet wolf, +and always on the feast of Lupercal and the other +feast days of Mars he and his mother went to put +garlands on the little stone that was raised to the +memory of Pincho, in one corner of the garden. +</p> + +<p> +The city was now ruled by three different +groups of elders, from the three different races of +settlers. They were generally known as the +three tribes, and the public seat of the three rulers +was called the tribunal. The oldest tribe, of +course, was the Ramnian, the people who had +come from the Mountain of Fire to Rome. The +Tities were the Hill Romans or the Sabines, and +the Luceres, the People of the Grove, were the +tribe that had collected where the soldiers settled +and the outsiders who were neither Ramnians nor +Sabines lived. There were three great fraternities—the +Salii or men of Mars on the Palatine, +the Salii on the Quirinal, a Sabine branch of +<pb n="238"/><anchor id="Pg238"/>the same worship, and the new priesthood of the +whole people, whose priest was called the Flamen +Dialis, the Lighter of the Fire of Jove. +</p> + +<p> +Besides these fraternities there were two important +groups of men who were not exactly +rulers, but were chosen because of their especial +knowledge. These were the six Augurs, who +were skilled in watching and explaining omens, +and the Bridge Builders, the Priesthood of the +Bridge, who were skillful in measuring and constructing +and building. There were five of these, +the head priest being called the Pontifex Maximus +or High Pontiff. +</p> + +<p> +Instead of being a large and rather straggling +town growing so fast that it was hard to know +how to govern it, Rome was really taking on the +look of an orderly and prosperous city. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes, when the children of the first colonists +looked back at the simple village life they +could just remember, and then looked about them +at the many-colored life that had gathered on the +Seven Hills, it seemed to them almost like another +world. Yet in their homes they still kept +the old customs and the old worship, and the servants +they had gathered about them were very +proud of being part of a Roman household. +</p> + +<p> +There was one danger, however, which nobody +realized in the least. In the great change from +<pb n="239"/><anchor id="Pg239"/>farm life to city life, the mere crowding together +of people is a danger. The fever which had +broken out in the early days of the settlement +broke out again. This time it swept away lives +by the hundred. The poor people were frightened +almost out of their wits, and ran out of +their houses and spread the disease before any +one understood that it could be caught. Emilia +had a maid who came back from a visit to her +brother on the Quirinal and died before morning. +In less than a week Emilia herself and her little +son were dead also, and Romulus was left alone. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing seemed able to harm him. He went +among the poorest, and by his fearless courage +kept them from going mad with fear. When the +fever passed his hair had begun to turn from +black to gray. +</p> + +<p> +He heard somewhere of the drink that Faustulus +the shepherd had taught Mamurius how to +make when the sickness came before, and he remembered +other things Faustulus had said of the +fever. When the pestilence was gone, he called +the fathers of the city together, and they took +counsel how to keep it from coming back. +</p> + +<p> +Tullius, who was now an old man, said that in +his opinion bad water was the cause of much sickness. +The fever began in a part of the city +where there was no drainage. +</p> + +<pb n="240"/><anchor id="Pg240"/> + +<p> +Naso said that it was all because the people had +allowed strangers to come in, and the gods were +angry. +</p> + +<p> +Romulus made no comment on that. He did +not know, himself, whether the gods were displeased +and had sent the sickness, but he was sure +of one thing. It could do no harm to take all +possible means of preventing it. +</p> + +<p> +Mamurius said, and Marcus Colonus upheld +him, that in the old days on the Mountain of Fire, +where the people had plenty of good water and +bathed often, they seldom had any sickness. +Calvo observed quietly that baths were not impossible +even here; it was only a question of building +them and conducting the water they had into +fountains. An Etruscan he had once known said +that he had seen it done in a city larger than this. +</p> + +<p> +After the death of his wife and child Romulus +seemed to feel that he was in a way the father of +all his people, more especially of the people who +were outside the ordinary fraternities and families +of the old stock. He set his own servants +and followers at work, under the direction of +Calvo, and with the help of some of the other +citizens who thought as he did, a beginning was +made on a proper water-supply and a system of +public baths. He set the young men to exercising +and racing, keeping themselves in condition; +<pb n="241"/><anchor id="Pg241"/>he urged all who could to go out into the country, +form colonies, or at least have country houses. +It was the nature of Romulus to look at things, +not as they affected himself alone, but as they +would affect all the people. If Emilia could die +of fever, if his son could die, in spite of all his +care, any man’s wife and child could. There was +no safety for one but in the safety of all. He +thought that out in the same instinctive way that +he had reasoned about the robbers. It was not +enough to clear out a robbers’ den, or to escape +illness once. What he set himself to do was to +stop the evil. When Naso objected that the +gods alone could do that, Romulus did not argue +the matter. His own opinion was that if men depended +upon the gods to do anything for them +that they could do for themselves, the gods would +have a good right to be angry. A man might as +well sit down under a tree and expect grain to +spring up for him of itself, and the sheep to come +up to him and take off their fleeces, and the +grapes to turn into wine and fill the vats without +hands, as to expect the gods to take care of him +if he used no judgment. +</p> + +<p> +None of the Romans, in fact, were really great +believers in miracles. They did all they could +in the way of ceremony and worship, but they +took good care to do also everything that they +<pb n="242"/><anchor id="Pg242"/>had found by experience produced results. Romulus +had the practical nature of his people. +He had heard a great deal of miracles at one time +and another, but he had ceased to expect them to +happen. It would be quite as great a miracle as +could be expected if three different tribes of people +succeeded in building up a city without civil +war. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="243"/><anchor id="Pg243"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XXI. Under the yoke"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXI. Under the yoke"/> +<head>XXI</head> + +<head>UNDER THE YOKE</head> + +<p> +Many years had passed since the colonists +first came to the Seven Hills, and +Rome was now the city from which a +large extent of country on both sides of the river +was ruled. Romulus had inherited the land of +his ancestors on the Long White Mountain, and +village after village, town after town, had found +it wise to come under his rule. The way in which +he managed these new possessions was rather +curious and very like himself. He let them rule +themselves and settle their own affairs so far as +their own local customs and people were concerned, +and so far as these did not contradict the +common law of Rome. +</p> + +<p> +When the children of Mars first came to this +part of the world, people called them very often +the <q>cattle-men,</q> because cattle were not at all +common there. Many of the customs both of the +Romans and the Sabines came about because they +kept cattle and used them. This made it possible +for them to cultivate much more land than they +<pb n="244"/><anchor id="Pg244"/>could have farmed without the oxen, and it also +rather tied them down to one place, for after cultivating +land to the point where it would grow a +good crop of grain, nobody of course would wish +to abandon it. They had a god called Pales who +protected the herds and was said to have taught +the people in the beginning how to yoke and use +cattle, and the long-horned skulls were hung up +around the walls of the early temples and served +to hang garlands from on a feast day. When +the <q>outfit vault</q> was filled at the founding of +the city, a yoke was one of the things put in. +</p> + +<p> +In a certain way, all the scattered villages and +peoples which gradually joined the new colony, +although keeping their own land and homes, were +rather like oxen. They were not equal to the +colonists in wisdom or skill or ability to direct +affairs. They could work, and they could fight +for their wives and children;—but cattle can +work and fight. Without some one to govern +and teach them, they would belong to any one +who happened to be strong enough to make himself +their master. +</p> + +<p> +The use of the yoke was the one great thing +in which the Roman farmer differed from these +pagans and peasants, and he could teach them +that. It was the thing which would make the +most difference in their lives, in comfort and +<pb n="245"/><anchor id="Pg245"/>plenty and skill. A man must be more intelligent +to work with animals and control them than +to dig up a plot of ground with his own hands. +It struck Romulus, therefore, that the yoke +would be a good symbol to use when Rome took +possession of such a village. A great deal of the +ceremony used in the daily life of the ancient people +was a sort of sign language. When something +important changed hands, the buyer and +the seller shook hands on it in public. When a +man was not a slave nor exactly a servant, but a +member of the household who did something for +which he was paid, he was paid in salt, because he +could be invited to eat salt with his master, and +this pay was called <hi rend="italic">salarium</hi>,—salary. When +Rome took formal possession of a place, the men +passed under a yoke, as a sign that now they belonged +to the men who used oxen, and worked +as they did and for them. +</p> + +<p> +Whenever it was possible, some Roman families +were sent to such places to live among the +people and show them Roman ways. There +were always some who were willing to do this, because +they could have more land and better houses +in that way than in the older town, which was +getting rather crowded. In this way, the widely +scattered towns and villages and farms ruled by +Rome became more or less Roman in a much +<pb n="246"/><anchor id="Pg246"/>shorter time than they would if they had been left +to themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Life in such a growing country, made up of a +great many different sorts and conditions of people, +is not by any means simple. The Romans +themselves were aware of this before the first settlers +were old men. As the sons of these colonists +became men, they were proud to call themselves +<q>the sons of the fathers.</q> The word +<q>father</q> was used in the old way, which meant +that every father of a family in a village was the +head of that family. The head of the house was +a ruler simply because he was the oldest representative +of his race. In the same way the houses +built by the first families within the palisade, on +the Square Hill, were called palaces, and the hill +itself the hill of the palaces, the Palatine. The +families of those first colonists were known, after +a while, as the <q>patricians.</q> After the Sabines +came, there were two groups of settlers of the +same race, one on the Square Hill and the other +on the hill called the Quirinal, the Hill of the +Spears. The Palatine settlers sometimes called +themselves the Mountain Romans, and the others +the Hill Romans. The people who had settled +in the place Romulus called the Asylum lived +among groves of trees, and they were called the +People of the Grove, the Luceres. But all these +<pb n="247"/><anchor id="Pg247"/>citizens of Rome itself considered themselves superior +to the outsiders, who had sometimes been +conquered and sometimes been glad to join Rome +for protection. The Romans were beginning to +be very proud of the town they had made. +</p> + +<p> +The Tuscans beyond the river, however, did +not all feel this pride in belonging to Rome. The +town of the Veientines, especially, objected to the +idea of Tuscans being <q>under the yoke</q> of these +strangers. When the Romans took the town of +Fidenæ, the Veientines were very indignant, +though they did not come to the help of their +neighbors, and presently they claimed that Fidenæ +was a town of their own and set out to make +war against the Romans. Romulus promptly +took the field and won the war. Although he +was now growing old, and his hair was white as +silver, he fought with all his old fire and sagacity, +and the Tuscans were glad to make terms. They +offered to make peace for a hundred years, but +that was not quite enough for Romulus. They +had begun the war, and he meant to make them +pay for it. When the matter was finally settled, +they agreed to give to Rome their salt works on +the river and a large tract of land. While the +talk was going on, fifty of their chief men were +kept prisoners in the camp of Romulus. +</p> + +<p> +There was a great sensation in Rome when the +<pb n="248"/><anchor id="Pg248"/>news of the peace was made known. The army +paraded through the streets, with the prisoners +and the spoils of various kinds, and there was +great rejoicing. It was the first celebration of +a victory by a <q>triumph</q>—called by that name +because many of those who took part in the +parade were leaping and dancing to the sound of +music. Then Romulus proceeded to divide the +land he had taken from the Tuscans among the +soldiers who had taken part in the war. He sent +the Tuscan hostages home to their people. +</p> + +<p> +Without intending to do it, Romulus aroused +a great deal of ill feeling by these two things that +he did. The patricians formed a sort of senate—a +body of elders—for the government of +Rome, and it seemed to them that they should +have been consulted about the hostages and the +division of land. No one knew but the Tuscans +might rise up again against Rome, and in that +case these men ought to be here to serve as a +pledge. Moreover, the land belonged not to +Romulus personally but to the city, and the senate +ought to have had the dividing of it. It was +time to settle whether Rome was to be governed +by one man, or by the elders of the people, as in +the days of old. It was not fit that men should +hold land who were not descended from land-holders. +</p> + +<pb n="249"/><anchor id="Pg249"/> + +<p> +Not all the elders, or senators, took this view. +It really never had been decided how far a general +who took command in a war had a right to +dictate in the outcome of it. Generally speaking, +in a war, the men who fought took whatever +they could lay their hands on. They plundered +a city when they took it, and each man had what +he could carry away. In this case the city of the +Veientines had not been plundered, because the +rulers surrendered and asked for peace before +Romulus had a chance to take it. The land +which had been given up was a kind of plunder, +and the general had a right to divide it. This +was the view of Caius Cossus and Marcus Colonus +and his brother, and some of the others in the +senate. But Naso—who never had enough +land—and some of his friends, who never were +satisfied unless they had their own way, had a +great deal to say about the high-handed methods +of the veteran general, the founder of the city. +They said that he treated them all as if they were +under the yoke, and that this was insulting to +free-born Romans. In short, the time had come +when all of the men who wished for more power +than they had were ready to declare that Romulus +was a tyrant. It was quite true that he was the +only man strong enough to stand in their way if +he chose. It was also true that he was the only +<pb n="250"/><anchor id="Pg250"/>man who was disposed to consider the rights of +the <hi rend="italic">plebs</hi> and the outsiders who were not citizens, +and had according to ancient custom no right to +share in the governing of the city at all. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="251"/><anchor id="Pg251"/> +<index index="toc" level1="XXII. The goat’s marsh"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXII. The goat’s marsh"/> +<head>XXII</head> + +<head>THE GOAT’S MARSH</head> + +<p> +Public opinion in Rome was like a whirlpool. +The currents that battled in it +circled round and round, but got nowhere. +Calvo, the last of the older men who had been +fathers of the people when Romulus founded the +city, began to wonder if at last the downfall of +the chief was near. He could not see how one +man could make peace between the factions, or +how he could dominate them by his single will. +But it was never the way of the veteran pontiff to +talk, when talk would do no good, and he waited +to learn what Romulus would do. +</p> + +<p> +What Romulus did was to visit him one night +at his villa, alone and in secret. He had sent his +servant beforehand to ask that Calvo would arrange +this, and when some hours later a tall man +in the dress of a shepherd appeared at the gate, +the old porter admitted him without question, +and there was no one in the way. The two sat +<pb n="252"/><anchor id="Pg252"/>and talked in the solar chamber, with no witnesses +but the stars. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They do not understand,</q> Romulus said +thoughtfully, when they had been all over the +struggle between the two parties, from beginning +to end. <q>They do not see that the thing which +must be done is the thing which is right, whether +it be by my will or another’s.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are ready, some of them, to declare that +a thing is wrong because you saw it before they +did,</q> said Calvo dryly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The people are with me—I believe,</q> said +Romulus, <q>the soldiers, and the common folk—but +they have no voice in the government. Yet +are they men, Tertius Calvo,—many of them +children of Mars as we are. Am I not bound to +do what is right for them, as well as for the +dwellers within the palaces?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have always believed so,</q> nodded Calvo. +<q>When a man makes a road or a bridge, he does +not make it for the strong and powerful alone; +it is even more for the weak, the ignorant and +those who cannot work for themselves. If the +gods meant not this to be so, they would arrange +it so that the sun should shine only on a few, and +the rest should dwell in twilight; they would give +rain only to those whom they favor, and good +water only to the chosen of the gods. But the +<pb n="253"/><anchor id="Pg253"/>world is not made in that way. Therefore we +who are the chosen of the gods to do their will +on earth should be of equal mind toward all—men, +women and children.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Calvo paused, as if he were thinking how he +should say what he thought, and then went on. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Whether men are high or low, Romulus, +founder of the city, they have minds and they +think, and the gods, who know all men’s souls, +hear their unspoken thoughts as well as ours. +Therefore it is not a small thing when many believe +in a man, for their belief, like a river, will +grow and grow until it makes itself felt by those +who hold themselves as greater. I have seen this +happen when a good man whom all men loved +came to die. He was greater after his death than +when he was alive, for the grief and the love of +the poor encompassed his spirit and made it +strong.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Romulus smiled in the way he did when he was +thinking more than he meant to say. <q>I shall be +very strong when I am dead,</q> was his only comment. +And Calvo knew that it was the truth. +</p> + +<p> +Romulus was now fifty-eight years old, and +Calvo was seventy-two. Both of them were +thinking that it would not be many years when +they would both, perhaps, be talking together in +the world of shadows as they were talking now. +<pb n="254"/><anchor id="Pg254"/>Then Romulus told Calvo what he was going to +do. +</p> + +<p> +This talk took place a little after the beginning +of the fifth month, which the Romans called +Quintilis, but which we call July. In this month +the sun is hot and the air is sluggish and damp, +and in the year when these things happened it +was more so than usual. The heralds announced +in the market place, one sultry morning, that +there would be a meeting of all the people at a +place called the Goat’s Marsh some miles outside +the city. Romulus would there tell publicly why +he sent back their hostages to the Tuscans and +how the lands were to be divided among the +soldiers. No longer would the people have to +depend on what was said by one and another, he +would tell them himself. Partly out of curiosity, +partly with the determination that they too would +speak, the greater part of the patricians also +went to hear. +</p> + +<p> +The Goat’s Marsh was no longer a marsh, but +it had kept its name partly because of the fig +orchards, which bore the little fruits called the +goat figs. There was a plain at the foot of a +little hill, which made it a good place for any +public meeting, and the country people for miles +around crowded in to see Romulus and to hear +him speak. +</p> + +<pb n="255"/><anchor id="Pg255"/> + +<p> +They raised a shout as his tall figure appeared +but he waved them to silence. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have not much to say,</q> he began, and in the +still air the intense interest of his listeners seemed +to tingle like lightning before a storm, <q rend="post: none">but much +has been said which was not true. I will not +waste time in repeating lies.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Ye know that the Tuscan cities were here +before we came, and that their people are many. +We cannot kill them or drive them away, if we +would. They are our neighbors.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">We made war against them and we beat +them, and took their city Fidenæ and their city +Veii. Before we made peace they had to pay us +certain lands. Before peace was made and the +price paid, there were sons of their blood in our +power, whom we kept as a pledge that they were +willing to pay the price. That was all. They +were not guilty of any crime against us. They +were here to show that their people meant to keep +faith. When peace was made I sent them back.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">If we had kept them, if we had slain them, +if harm had come to them, then the wrong would +have been on our side, and we should have had +another war. Why should there be war between +neighbors? Is not friendship better than hatred?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Some are angry because I divided the lands, +which they gave us as a price, among the soldiers. +<pb n="256"/><anchor id="Pg256"/>Yet who has better right than the men who fight +the battles? This is all of my story. Ye +believe?</q> Then a shout arose to the very skies,—<q>Romulus! +Romulus! Romulus!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the clouds grew black, and lightnings +flashed through them. Just as Naso was +rising to speak, a tremendous clap of thunder +shook the earth, or so it seemed. Winds swept +suddenly down from the mountains and howled +across the plains, carrying away mantles and curtains +and boughs of trees in their flight. The +crowd broke up in confusion, and the patricians +were heard calling in distress, <q>Marcus!</q> +<q>Caius!</q> <q>Aulus!</q> for in the darkness they +could not see their friends a rod away. They +hastened to whatever shelter they could find, and +sheets of rain poured from the clouds. It was +one of the most terrific tempests any one there +present had ever known. It did not last long—perhaps +an hour—but when it was over Romulus +was nowhere to be seen. +</p> + +<p> +The people had scattered in all directions, but +the patricians had managed to keep together. +When the storm was over, they did not know at +first that Romulus had disappeared, but presently +one after another of the common people was +heard asking where he was, and no one could be +found who knew. The people searched +every<pb n="257"/><anchor id="Pg257"/>where without finding so much as the hem of his +mantle. It began to be whispered that he had +been killed and his body hidden away, and black +looks were cast upon the public men in their white +robes. +</p> + +<p> +They themselves were perhaps more perplexed +and worried than any one else, for they saw what +the people thought. It began to dawn upon +them that the united opinion of hundreds of men, +even though of the despised <hi rend="italic">plebs</hi>, or peasants, +was not exactly a thing to be overlooked. That +night was a black and anxious one. +</p> + +<p> +On the following morning, Naso, Caius Cossus, +and some other leaders came to see Calvo and ask +his opinion of the mystery. He had not been +at the Goat’s Marsh the day before, nor had +Cossus and others of the friends of the vanished +chief. All the men who had been there, of the +upper class, were enemies of Romulus. It +was a most unpleasant position for them. +</p> + +<p> +Calvo heard the story gravely, without making +any comment. +</p> + +<p> +The storm had not been nearly so severe in +Rome; in fact it was not much more than an +ordinary summer storm. But when Naso told +of it he described it as something beyond anything +that could be natural. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do you think,</q> asked Calvo coolly at last, +<pb n="258"/><anchor id="Pg258"/><q>that the gods had anything to do with these +strange appearances?</q> Naso could not say. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There have always been strange happenings +about this man,</q> said Calvo thoughtfully. +<q>His very birth was strange; his appearance +among us was sudden and unexpected. What +the gods send they can also take away.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do you think then,</q> asked Cossus, <q>that he +was taken by the gods to heaven?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I do not know,</q> said Calvo. <q>You say +you found no trace of him? But even a man +struck by lightning is not destroyed.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The frightened men looked at each other. +</p> + +<p> +Fabius the priest was the first to speak. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is at any rate not true that we have murdered +him,</q> he said boldly, <q>and that is what men +are saying in the streets.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And it may be true that he has been taken +by the gods,</q> said Naso eagerly. They went +out, still talking, and Calvo smiled to himself. +He did not know just what had happened, but +Romulus had told him that after this last appearance +to the people he was going away, never +to come back. Apparently that was what he had +done. It did not surprise the old pontiff at all +when he heard, an hour or two after, that Fabius +had made a speech and told the people that Romulus +had been taken bodily to the skies, in the +<pb n="259"/><anchor id="Pg259"/>midst of the crashing and flaring of the thunder +and lightning, and that he would no more be seen +on earth. There were some unbelievers, but +after a time this was quite generally thought to +be true. +</p><anchor id="illus272"/> +<figure url="images/illus272.png" rend="w100"> + <figDesc>Illustration: Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived for many years an old shepherd</figDesc> +</figure> +<p> +It had the effect of settling all quarrels at +once. When they had time to think it over, both +factions agreed that Romulus was right. They +could see it themselves. Within a few years his +memory was better loved, more powerful, and +more closely followed in all his ways and sayings +than ever he had been in life. +</p> + +<p> +He never returned to Rome, but far away, in +<pb n="260"/><anchor id="Pg260"/>a cavern on a mountain height, there lived for +many years an old shepherd who became very +dear to the simple people around him. He had +a servant named Peppo who loved him well and +whom he treated more as a son than as a slave. +He had a little plot of ground which he cultivated, +with nine bean-rows and various kinds +of herbs, and a row of beehives stood near the +entrance to his cave. There was nothing he +could not do with animals, and the birds used to +come and perch on his fingers and his shoulders +and head, and sing. Even the wolves would not +harm him, and one year a mother fox brought +up a litter of four cubs within a few yards of his +door. The young people used to come to him +to get him to tell their fortunes, and if he advised +against a thing they never went contrary to what +he said. When he died and was buried, his servant +returned to the place from which he came, +and then Tertius Calvo, who was by that time +a very old man, learned certainly where Romulus +the founder of Rome had gone. But he +kept the story to himself. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="261"/><anchor id="Pg261"/> +<index index="toc" level1="A Roman road"/><index index="pdf" level1="A Roman road"/> +<head> +A ROMAN ROAD +</head> + +<lg> +<l>Once along the Roman road with measured, rhythmic stride</l> +<l>Marched the Roman legionaries in their valiant pride.</l> +<l>Men of petty towns and tribes, under Caesar’s hand,</l> +<l>Welded into Empire then their people and their land.</l> +<l>Now along that ancient road the silent motors run,</l> +<l>Driven by every ancient race that lives beneath the sun.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Swarming from their barren plains, wild barbarian hordes</l> +<l>Wasted all the fruitful soil—then the Roman swords</l> +<l>Leagued with Gallic pike and sling, held the red frontier,</l> +<l>Saved the cradle of our folk, all that we hold dear.</l> +<l>Now above the towers that rise where Rome’s great eagles flew,</l> +<l>Circle dauntless aeroplanes to guard their folk anew.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Gods who loved the sons of Mars found in field and wood</l> +<l>Altars built with reverent care—saw the work was good.</l> +<l>Simple, brave and generous, quick to speech and mirth;</l> +<l>Loving all the pleasant ways of the kindly earth;</l> +<pb n="262"/><anchor id="Pg262"/><l>Thus they built the stately walls that still unfallen stand.</l> +<l>Guarding for their ancient faith the dear, unchanging land!</l> +</lg> + + <lg> +<l>Winds and waves and leaping flames all have served our race.</l> +<l>Flint and bronze and steel had each their little day of grace.</l> +<l>But the lightning fleets to-day along our singing wires,</l> +<l>And the harnessed floods to-day are fuel for our fires.</l> +<l>Armored through the clouds we glide on swift electric wings.</l> +<l>Through the trenches of the hills a joyous giant sings.</l> +<l>Light and Flame and Power and Steel are welded into one</l> +<l>To serve the task set long ago,—when roads were first begun!</l> +</lg> + +<p rend="margin-top: 3; center"> +THE END +</p> + </div></body> + <back> +<div rend="page-break-before:right; x-class: boxed"> + <index index="pdf" level1="Transcriber's Note"/><index index="toc" level1="Transcriber’s Note"/> + <head>Transcriber’s Note</head> + + <p>The following changes have been made to the text:</p> + <list> + <item><ref target="corr118">page 118</ref>, <q>some</q> changed to <q>same</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr233">page 233</ref>, period added after <q>Rome</q></item> + + </list> + <p>Variations in hyphenation (e.g. <q>cattlemen</q>, <q>cattle-men</q>; + <q>roadmaking</q>, <q>road-making</q>) + and spelling (e.g. <q>Caesar</q>, <q>Cæsar</q>) + have not been changed.</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter"/> + </div> + </back> + </text> +</TEI.2> diff --git a/36296-tei/images/cover.jpg b/36296-tei/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..db5d8ea --- 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