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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36296-0.txt b/36296-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d93cf50 --- /dev/null +++ b/36296-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5753 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Childhood of Rome by Louise Lamprey + + + +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 included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Childhood of Rome + +Author: Louise Lamprey + +Release Date: May 31, 2011 [Ebook #36296] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF‐8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME*** + + + + + + [Illustration: Cover image] + + [Illustration: Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around the + curve.] + + + + + + THE CHILDHOOD + OF ROME + By + L. LAMPREY + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + EDNA F. HART-HUBON + + [Illustration: Printer’s sign] +BOSTON +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY +1925 + + + + + + _Copyright, 1922,_ + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + + + TO + MAITLAND C. LAMPREY + + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + +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. + +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. + +It will be observed that the forms of Latin and Italian names used in +these stories do not follow the usual classic Latin style and end in “us.” +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 “Vitalos” might have been preserved long after +such clipped forms as “Marcus” and “Marcs” 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. + +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. + + + + + + THE LIVING LANGUAGE + + + Sing a song of little words, homely parts of speech, + Phrases children use at play, songs that mothers teach,— + Who would think when Rome was new, they used that language then— + Table, chair and family, map and chart and pen? + + Sing a song of stately ways, camp and square and street, + Consuls, tribunes, governors, the legion’s myriad feet, + If those wise men so long ago had not known what to say, + All they gave us readymade we should not have to-day. + + Clear and straight and brief their talk in country or in town. + Lucid, vivid, accurate the thoughts that they set down. + Still the world is using words that bear the Roman stamp— + Coined in forum, villa, temple, market place or camp. + Still our thoughts take day by day those shapes of long ago— + If you read the dictionary you will find it’s so. + + + + + + CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE 3 + II. TEN FAMILIES 17 + III. THE SACRED YEAR 28 + IV. THE BANDITTI 40 + V. THE WOLF CUB 55 + VI. BOUNDARY LINES 68 + VII. MASTERLESS MEN 81 + VIII. THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE 94 + IX. THE SQUARE HILL 108 + X. THE KINSMEN 117 + XI. THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA 130 + XII. THE RING WALL 140 + XIII. THE SOOTHSAYERS 152 + XIV. BREAD AND SALT 161 + XV. THE TRUMPERY MAN 174 + XVI. THE GREAT DYKE 184 + XVII. THE WAR DANCE 196 + XVIII. THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN 208 + XIX. THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE 224 + XX. THE THREE TRIBES 233 + XXI. UNDER THE YOKE 243 + XXII. THE GOAT’S MARSH 251 + A ROMAN ROAD 261 + + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around _Frontispiece_ +the curve + PAGE +Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were 12 +hurrying to shelter +The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar 21 +All the young voices took up the song 33 +The people gathered in the public square 45 +Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer 59 +food to strangers +“I have seen something like this before,” he said 72 +The lad went straight down the mountainside with his 79 +wolf at his heels +The little maidens walked soberly together 96 +The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or 103 +lambs +“Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!” 132 +Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor’s 139 +crown of laurel +A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven 144 +hills +The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white 147 +cow +They sat together that night and watched the moon sail 161 +grandly over the flood +Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her 170 +through the door +Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground 178 +There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were 203 +digging +Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew 216 +His mother molded for him men and animals 235 +Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived 259 +for many years an old shepherd + + + + + + + THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME + + + + + + I + + + THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE + + +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. + +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 sometimes 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + +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 the gods +took especial care of them and would go on being kind to them so long as +proper respect was shown. + +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. + +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 “corn,” 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +“Me make basket,” announced her little sister, pulling at the withes, her +rag doll tumbling to the ground as she tried to scramble up on the wall. +“Up! up!” + +“O Felic’la (Kitty), don’t; you’ll spoil sister’s work! I’ll begin one for +you.” + +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. + +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. 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. + +Why were the sheep coming in so early? + +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. + +“You had better pick up all that and go in,” he called to them. “Pater +sent us home as quick as we could scamper. See how strange the sky is.” + +They all looked. Little Felic’la, with round eyes, dropped her basket and +pointed. + +“Giants,” said she. + +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. + +“Mater,” said Bruno, “the spring and the stream have dried up.” + +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 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. + +[Illustration: Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were hurrying + to shelter] + +Suddenly there was a crash as if the earth had cracked in two. Everything +turned black. The air was filled with smoke and dust and ashes raining +down from the sky. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +“Are you safe, Livia? And the children?” 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. + +“I was trying to catch the white heifer,” he said rather shamefacedly, +“but she got away. It’s only a scrape along the skin—let me go, Mater.” +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 whoever 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. + + + + + + II + + + TEN FAMILIES + + +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. + +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 wool and other provision for the future had been destroyed. +It was a very hard winter. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When he had done thinking, he spoke. + +“My son,” he said, “you tell me that you desire to go forth and make your +home in another land.” + +“I desire it not, my father,” said Colonus, “unless it is the will of the +gods. I have thought that it may be best.” + +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. + +“And where will you go?” was the chief’s next question. + +“That I do not know,” said Colonus. “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 forefathers. 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?” + +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. + + [Illustration: The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar] + +“There are two ways of living in a strange place, Marcus Colonus,” he +said. “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 them +away, or make them your servants. Which is your choice?” + +Colonus hesitated. “My father,” he said, “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.” + +The old chief smiled. “My son,” he said, “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 out of our people, the Ramnes, and in new power to our +gods,—and if so, surely the gods will lead you. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“Now among the people of the Long White 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. + +“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. + +“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. 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.” + +Colonus rose and bowed to the old man, and went home. + +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. But every one of them was also a good +farmer; in fact, in such migrations the settlers were most generally known +as _coloni_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _coloni_. 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. + + + + + + III + + + THE SACRED YEAR + + +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. + +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 world, and it was not likely that they would ever come +back. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Finally Flamen the priest, the man most respected in the central and +largest of the towns, spoke of an old custom called the “sacred spring.” +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 “sacred spring” their guardian god, 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + [Illustration: All the young voices took up the song] + +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 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. + +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. + +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. They also kept wild beasts from +coming too near. + +There were three groups of the young people, from three different +villages. At night they gathered in three camps; each “company” 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. + +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. + +Mauros was their leader, so far as they had 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + IV + + + THE BANDITTI + + +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. + +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 around so that he can have +a home, and this was what the Sabines wished to do. + +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. + +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. 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 +_heredium_, as it was called. + +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 +that the festivals in their honor were held in proper form. + +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. + +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 _banditti_, 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. + +There were two great festivals in the year, to 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. + + [Illustration: The people gathered in the public square] + +The other festival came in the spring, when the grass was green and the +leaves were fresh and bright, and flowers were wreathing shrubs 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 of the same red stone and looked like the head +of a little goat. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 village 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +So the summer passed, and the unconscious, happy people prayed for a good +harvest. + + + + + + V + + + THE WOLF CUB + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +His young master only laughed. “Here, Pincho!” 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 maddening +odor of meat, and it was all his master could do to hold him. + +[Illustration: Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer food + to strangers] + +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. + +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 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. + +“Why do you stay away from your own village on a holiday?” asked the child +straightforwardly. + +“We have no village,” the boy answered. “We live by ourselves.” + +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. + +“Do the sheep and the wolves live together in your country?” she asked, +watching Pincho’s wedge-shaped, savage head as he gnawed his bone. + +“No; but Pincho is not really a wolf. He is my friend.” + +“How can you be friends with a wolf?” persisted the small questioner. +“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.” + +“Pincho has never killed a sheep.” + +“Emilia, my child,” said her mother, “it is time for the dance of the +children.” And she led her little daughter away. + +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? + +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. + +This was puzzling. How could one man found a town? A town grew up where +many people came to live in one place. + +“Nay, my son,” 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. “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?” + +“We have neither father nor mother,” said the boy, but not +shamefacedly,—even a little proudly. “We were found when we were little +children by Faustulus the shepherd who is to us as a father, and we serve +him.” + +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? + +“Nay,” said Emilius, “they have eaten our salt.” + +“The shepherd sometimes prays,” the lad was saying thoughtfully. “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.” + +He held up his fist with all the fingers except the little finger doubled +in; this, with the thumb, stuck straight up. “He calls it ‘making the +horns.’ ” + +“The people across the river have many gods,” he went on cheerfully. “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 than a child, who came up out of a field which a farmer was +plowing.” + +The priest Emilius smiled. “My son,” he said kindly, “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. + +“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?” + +The lad stood up, his staff in one hand, the other in the loop of the +wolf’s collar. “We owe the shepherd our lives,” he said, with his proud +young head erect. “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.” + +His brother laughed. In a flash the lad turned on him and knocked him +down. Emilius caught him by the shoulder. + +“My boy,” he said sternly, “there must be no quarreling on a holiday. Go +back to your 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.” + +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. + + + + + + VI + + + BOUNDARY LINES + + +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. + +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 natural 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. + +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. + +The first time that Pero noticed this curiosity 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. + +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. + +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 touched by the plow or walked +on or otherwise used. This was the property of the god of boundaries, +Terminus. + +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 _termini_. The _terminus_ was a wooden pillar, +or the trunk of a small tree, set up firmly in the soil. In its planting +certain ceremonies were observed. + +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 for him, for +the line was plainly marked for all to see. + +The Cub looked down at the solemnly marching group, the white oxen, and +the setting of the posts with bright and interested eyes. + + [Illustration: “I have seen something like this before,” he said] + +“I have seen something like this before,” he said. “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 blood. Hail, +rust and the dog-star shall destroy his harvests, and his limbs shall +become sore and waste away.” + +Pero stared in astonishment. “Where did you hear all that?” he asked. + +“When I was younger I ran away and crossed the river,” said the Cub +calmly. “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. + +“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.” + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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 with his +master. The two of them were feared wherever they went, and treated with +unqualified respect. + +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. + +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 their number. But long before the men +could get up there they would have gone on. + +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. + +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. + +The lad went straight down the mountainside with his wolf at his heels and +the child on his 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— + + [Illustration: The lad went straight down the mountainside with his wolf + at his heels] + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + VII + + + MASTERLESS MEN + + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +“What can you do?” asked the youth consideringly. + +Gubbo said that he could teach tricks in knife work to almost any man; +also he could wrestle. + +“Try me,” 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 was a fair match for him. Gubbo was +taken into the band. + +“He is a brute,” said the Ram bluntly. + +“He is,” said the leader. “But he can teach you fellows something.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +When every man in the camp of the banditti had been cut down or +captured—and about half of them surrendered,—the victors sat down and ate +the feast prepared for the robbers. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + + + VIII + + + THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE + + +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. + +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 village, 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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: The little maidens walked soberly together] + +“What-_ever_ happened?” 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. + +Ursula, the biggest girl, laughed. “If we were crossing a river and one of +us got drowned, I suppose her fire would be lost,” she said teasingly. +“But they wouldn’t excuse us for anything short of that.” + +“But if it did go out—if all of the fires were put out?” 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. “Should we never +have a fire again, and have to eat things raw, and freeze to death, and +let the wolves eat us up?” + +“Certainly not,” answered Marcia reassuringly. “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?” + +Flavia shook her yellow head. “I never noticed.” 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. + +“They do it with the _terebra_ and the _tabula_. The _tabula_ is a flat +wooden block with a groove cut in it, and the _terebra_ 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 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 _always_ kindle a fire in that way.” + +“What if the _terebra_ and the _tabula_ were lost?” asked Flavia. + +“They would make others.” + +“If I rubbed my hands together long enough, would they be on fire?” 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. + +The girls all laughed, and Marcia answered, + +“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.” + +“What’s fever?” asked Yaya, on the other side. “Did you ever have it?” + +“No, never; but Father did once, when he was 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.” + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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? + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or + lambs] + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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! + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + IX + + + THE SQUARE HILL + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 “_palum_.” 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 “defence,”—a defence made of +pointed stakes planted in the ground. + +The earth that was dug up was always thrown inside and formed the basis of +a low earthwork 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. + +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. + +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 could +see through a little window who was coming up the hill. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 unpromising plain, if only they could have their way with +it. + +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. + +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 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 “wattle and +daub” fashion have been known to last hundreds of years. + +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 _atrium_, the middle +space, in which were the altar and the _impluvium_ 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. + +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 _pomerium_, +the space “before the wall.” In the middle was an open square which was to +the town what the _atrium_ 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + X + + + THE KINSMEN + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 same gods, and +obeyed the same laws and took responsibility. A man who did his part in +the life of such a place was a “citizen,” and the life itself was +“civilized,” 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. + +A “company” 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. “Community” 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. “Religion” 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. + +The various words for strangers outside these ties which bound them to +their own people were just as expressive. Among farmers who lived on +cleared land, within walls, the people who did not were “out of doors,” +the forest people, the “foreigners.” 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 “barbarians,”—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 “pagans,” 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. + +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 great deal more than any one thought he did. + +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. + +“My uncle,” he said at last to Marcus Colonus, when they were seated a +little apart from the others, “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.” + +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 expected. He did not see exactly where +Romulus had learned it, but it gave him a feeling of great kindness toward +his young kinsman. + +“There is no need for you to be afraid,” he said cordially. “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.” + +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 +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. + +“That is very good of you,” he said gratefully. “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—” + +And then he stopped. + +“Do you mean,” asked Colonus, “that you wish the help of our young men in +some expedition?” + +Romulus decided to risk it. “If it is wise in your eyes,” he said. + +“We are strangers in this land,” said Colonus deliberately, “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 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.” + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +“A long time ago,” Romulus began, his dark eyes fixed thoughtfully on the +leaping flames, “when my brother and I were boys, Faustulus the shepherd +took us farther from our pastures 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. + +“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. + +“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, ‘When I am a man, I will found a city in +the place where the wolf saved our lives when we were children.’ 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.” + +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. + +“And that is your secret desire?” he said, smiling. + +“That is my dream,” said Romulus. And he looked at the older man with eyes +that had a question in them. + +“If you are to found a city here,” said Colonus slowly, “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?” + +“My men will go where I go,” said Romulus briefly. “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,” the youth lifted his dark head in high confidence, “who follows +me from any other reason than because he wishes. They do not all love me,” +he added, with a grin that showed his sharp white teeth, “but I am their +leader and they will die fighting before they will yield to Amulius. + +“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 nor myself, has the +right to rule upon the Long White Mountain. + +“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?” + +Colonus nodded thoughtfully. “It would seem so.” + +“Then shall my people be your people, and your gods my gods,” 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. + +Colonus stood up and took his young kinsman by the hand. “You are of our +blood,” he said, “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.” + + + + + + XI + + + THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA + + +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 captain of +outlaws,—because they saw that in the end the war must be fought, and all +the men who could fight were needed. + +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. + +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. + +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 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: + + [Illustration: “Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!”] + +“Ai-ya! Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!” + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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’ 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +“A man who is false to one master will be false to two,” 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. + +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. + +“Ye who know what Amulius did in the days of his brother Numa,” he began, +“know now that he is dead. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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!” + +There was an instant’s pause, and then shouts of “Numa! Numa!” 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 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. + +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. + +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, + +“Tell me that I have done well, my fathers, for without your approval the +rest is nothing. Have I proved myself worthy to found our city, O ye who +know the law?” + + [Illustration: Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor’s + crown of laurel] + +Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor’s crown of laurel. +The outlaw had found his own people. + + + + + + XII + + + THE RING WALL + + +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 servant or subject, but he was +the chosen man of the gods, to do their will in the city. + +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. + +Remus did most of the talking, in fact. He was fond of raising objections +and expressing 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. + +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? + +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 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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration: A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven hills] + +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. + +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. + +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 _mundus_, 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. + +The things that were put in this trench, in a hollow called the “outfit +vault,” 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. + +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 it was kindled afresh by the use of the _terebra_ and +_tabula_, and all the other hearth fires would be lighted from it. + +[Illustration: The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white cow] + +Now came the last and most important ceremony, the tracing of the line of +the wall around the city itself,—the _urbs_, 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 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. + +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 +_portae_,—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. + +When the wall was built, a little inside this 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. + +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 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. + +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 experience 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. + +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. + + + + + + XIII + + + THE SOOTHSAYERS + + +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. + +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. + +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 brown face looked like an +old withered nutshell. She glanced up at him keenly. + +“Welcome, king,” she said. + +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 “those who tell the truth.” + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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 +places seeking protection, and were useful in various ways even if they +could only hew wood and draw water, were called after awhile the _plebs_, +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + XIV + + + BREAD AND SALT + + + [Illustration: They sat together that night and watched the moon sail + grandly over the flood] + +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 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. + +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. + +The smaller boys who had helped were very 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. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + +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? + +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. + +This was the first wedding in the colony, and as the preparations went +forward, everybody, old 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 _confarreatio_; 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. + +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; 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. + +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 meant +to make it perfectly clear that all was done in the right and proper and +fortunate way. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 “Talassio! Talassio!” 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 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. + + [Illustration: Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her + through the door] + +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 _atrium_, the middle room where the altar and 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 “libation” to the +gods of her new home. This was the _confarreatio_. 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. + +On the next day there was another feast, to celebrate the beginning of the +new home, and the wedding was over. + +“I am glad,” 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, “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.” + +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. + +“I am glad,” said Colonus, “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.” + +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 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. + + + + + + XV + + + THE TRUMPERY MAN + + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +shouted, and Ruffo said, “By Jove, there’s Toto!” + +“_Diovi_” was the general name for “the gods,” and when it is pronounced +quickly it sounds like “Jove.” The father of the gods was +“Diovis-Pater”—which in course of time became “Jupiter.” + +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. + +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. + + [Illustration: Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground] + +There were scarfs such as women wore on their 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 had been as heavy as they looked, it +would have been too great a load even for Toto’s broad shoulders. + +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. + +Pollio picked up one of the sandals and smiled. + +“My father would not think this leather fit to use,” he said in a low tone +to Bruno. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 “gravity” as a virtue and +“levity” 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. + +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, + +“My son, do you wish to be a strong man, when you grow big?” + +“Y-yes,” sniffed the little fellow dolefully. + +“You wish to be strong of soul and heart as you are in your body, so that +no one can make you do anything you are not willing to do?” + +“Yes, Father,” said the boy, with his puzzled dark eyes searching his +father’s face. + +“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.” + +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 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. + + + + + + XVI + + + THE GREAT DYKE + + +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. + +“What are they like?” asked the old man. + +“They are like no other townspeople in this valley,” said Toto decidedly. +“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. + +“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 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.” + +“Hum,” 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. “And what are their +priests?” + +“They have no priesthood dwelling in the temples,” said Toto. “Their +elders are their priests and pretend to no magical powers. They are chosen +for their wisdom. Their gods are invisible.” + +“Hum,” said Mastarna again. + +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 if his people had anything whatever that the strangers wanted. + +“You say that they build walls,” he said to Toto. “Do they build good +ones?” + +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. +“They will find out how good they are,” he said, “after twenty years of +flood and drought.” + +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 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. + +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. + +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 vineyards. 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. + +“Caius,” said Colonus to young Cossus, “go over to the camp and find +Ruffo, and ask him to come and talk to this fellow.” + +He knew that Ruffo understood several languages and dialects, and whatever +it was that this man had come for, he wished to know it. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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 to let in strange ceremonies would +be to defile that home. + +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. + +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. + +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 they regarded with great horror when they first came. + +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 not object to +teaching any man who wished to learn all he could. + +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 _moenia_, and since it was the lowest and least skilled +labor, work of that kind later came to be known as _menial_, the work of +slaves and servants. + +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 resting 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. + + + + + + XVII + + + THE WAR DANCE + + +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. + +The question of wives for these men was a serious one. Girls were growing +up within the 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +“There is a plan, my fathers,” he said, “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. + +“Now this I do not commend, since it is not our wish to war with the +people around us. To 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. + +“In the villages on the heights—in the lower valleys of the mountain range +that lies _there_—” he waved a brown arm toward the far blue hills, “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. + +“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. + +“This therefore is my thought. I have seen,” the young chief’s dark face +was lighted by a fleeting smile, “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. + +“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, ‘Talassa! Talassa!’ + +“Have I spoken well, my father?” He looked straight at Colonus. “If ye +have a better plan, let no more be said of this.” + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were + digging] + +“Jove!” said Mamurius, a few minutes later, “Here’s something else!” 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 earth cleaned off it with grass, and it was rubbed with a +piece of leather, it almost blinded them. It was a golden shield. + +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. + +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. + +The soldiers who were to take part in the festival in this unexpected and +startling way were 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 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. + +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 “Talassa! Talassa!” +revealed that this was a revival of the ancient custom of marriage by +capture. + +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. + + + + + + XVIII + + + THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN + + +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 do now except to prophesy that it could not possibly turn out well. + +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. + +“Ruffo says,” answered Mamurius, “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.” + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +“You are the daughter of a great man,” said Romulus. “You are Emilia.” + +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. + +“Long ago,” he went on, “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.” + +“You! An outcast!” the girl cried, her eyes flashing in scorn. + +“I am of good blood, and now I rule this city. You shall rule it with me +when you will,” said the chief coolly. + +“I would rather be a slave and grind at the mill!” + +Romulus smiled. What did this girl know of a slave’s life? + +“You had better not,” he said. “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.” And he +turned and went out. + +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 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. + +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. + +At first she hoped fiercely that her people 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. + + [Illustration: Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew] + +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, and from the brink one could see for miles +across the plain. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +The Sabines spread their army all around the Roman settlement. They took +possession of a hill near by, almost as great as the Palatine. + +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. + +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 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 _what they +wore on their left arms_. + +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. + +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 _all of it_! 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. At dawn the stronghold was in Sabine hands. They had won the +first move. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Come with me!” she called, moving swiftly toward the door of the temple +of Vesta where they were gathered. “We will end this war—or die with our +men! Come to the battle field!” + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +“It is nearly a year. The time has not gone quickly.” + +“He told me,” explained Emilia, “that if after the Saturnalia I wished to +return, he would send me home.” + +“And do you wish to go home, my daughter?” asked the priest. + +Emilia looked up at Romulus. + +“I will go home,” she said, “with my husband.” + +And the news ran through the camps that Romulus had taken a Sabine bride. + + + + + + XIX + + + THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE + + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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 +“laid” roads, because they were made by laying, or spreading, new material +on the line of travel. + +The new road was a “street” built up of _strata_. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 _mansiones_,—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 _mansiones_ 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 pier building in those +days. It would be a timber bridge. + +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. + +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. + +“There is no iron in this work?” + +“None,” said Calvo. + +“The gods do not approve it?” + +“Apparently not,” said Calvo. “The fires of Jove burned two bridges for me +before I found it out. + +“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.” + +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. + +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 +observations 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. + +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. + + + + + + XX + + + THE THREE TRIBES + + +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 Rome. 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. + +Between these two great hills and a big bend in the river was a great +level space that was used for a sort of parade ground, and this was called +the Campus Martius, the field of Mars. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: His mother molded for him men and animals] + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +There was one danger, however, which nobody realized in the least. In the +great change from 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Naso said that it was all because the people had allowed strangers to come +in, and the gods were angry. + +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. + +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. + +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; 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + XXI + + + UNDER THE YOKE + + +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. + +When the children of Mars first came to this part of the world, people +called them very often the “cattle-men,” 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 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 “outfit vault” was filled at the founding of the +city, a yoke was one of the things put in. + +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. + +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 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 _salarium_,—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. + +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 shorter time than they +would if they had been left to themselves. + +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 +“the sons of the fathers.” The word “father” 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 +“patricians.” 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 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. + +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 “under the yoke” 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. + +There was a great sensation in Rome when the 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 “triumph”—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. + +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. + +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 man who was disposed to consider the rights of the _plebs_ +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. + + + + + + XXII + + + THE GOAT’S MARSH + + +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. + +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 and talked in the solar chamber, +with no witnesses but the stars. + +“They do not understand,” Romulus said thoughtfully, when they had been +all over the struggle between the two parties, from beginning to end. +“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.” + +“They are ready, some of them, to declare that a thing is wrong because +you saw it before they did,” said Calvo dryly. + +“The people are with me—I believe,” said Romulus, “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?” + +“I have always believed so,” nodded Calvo. “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 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.” + +Calvo paused, as if he were thinking how he should say what he thought, +and then went on. + +“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.” + +Romulus smiled in the way he did when he was thinking more than he meant +to say. “I shall be very strong when I am dead,” was his only comment. And +Calvo knew that it was the truth. + +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. Then Romulus told Calvo what he was going to do. + +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. + +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. + +They raised a shout as his tall figure appeared but he waved them to +silence. + +“I have not much to say,” he began, and in the still air the intense +interest of his listeners seemed to tingle like lightning before a storm, +“but much has been said which was not true. I will not waste time in +repeating lies. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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? + +“Some are angry because I divided the lands, which they gave us as a +price, among the soldiers. Yet who has better right than the men who fight +the battles? This is all of my story. Ye believe?” Then a shout arose to +the very skies,—“Romulus! Romulus! Romulus!” + +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, “Marcus!” “Caius!” “Aulus!” 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. + +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 everywhere 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. + +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 _plebs_, or +peasants, was not exactly a thing to be overlooked. That night was a black +and anxious one. + +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. + +Calvo heard the story gravely, without making any comment. + +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. + +“Do you think,” asked Calvo coolly at last, “that the gods had anything to +do with these strange appearances?” Naso could not say. + +“There have always been strange happenings about this man,” said Calvo +thoughtfully. “His very birth was strange; his appearance among us was +sudden and unexpected. What the gods send they can also take away.” + +“Do you think then,” asked Cossus, “that he was taken by the gods to +heaven?” + +“I do not know,” said Calvo. “You say you found no trace of him? But even +a man struck by lightning is not destroyed.” + +The frightened men looked at each other. + +Fabius the priest was the first to speak. + +“It is at any rate not true that we have murdered him,” he said boldly, +“and that is what men are saying in the streets.” + +“And it may be true that he has been taken by the gods,” 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 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. + +[Illustration: Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived for + many years an old shepherd] + +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. + +He never returned to Rome, but far away, in 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. + + + + + + A ROMAN ROAD + + + Once along the Roman road with measured, rhythmic stride + Marched the Roman legionaries in their valiant pride. + Men of petty towns and tribes, under Caesar’s hand, + Welded into Empire then their people and their land. + Now along that ancient road the silent motors run, + Driven by every ancient race that lives beneath the sun. + + Swarming from their barren plains, wild barbarian hordes + Wasted all the fruitful soil—then the Roman swords + Leagued with Gallic pike and sling, held the red frontier, + Saved the cradle of our folk, all that we hold dear. + Now above the towers that rise where Rome’s great eagles flew, + Circle dauntless aeroplanes to guard their folk anew. + + Gods who loved the sons of Mars found in field and wood + Altars built with reverent care—saw the work was good. + Simple, brave and generous, quick to speech and mirth; + Loving all the pleasant ways of the kindly earth; + Thus they built the stately walls that still unfallen stand. + Guarding for their ancient faith the dear, unchanging land! + + Winds and waves and leaping flames all have served our race. + Flint and bronze and steel had each their little day of grace. + But the lightning fleets to-day along our singing wires, + And the harnessed floods to-day are fuel for our fires. + Armored through the clouds we glide on swift electric wings. + Through the trenches of the hills a joyous giant sings. + Light and Flame and Power and Steel are welded into one + To serve the task set long ago,—when roads were first begun! + + + + THE END + + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + + +The following changes have been made to the text: + + page 118, “some” changed to “same” + page 233, period added after “Rome” + +Variations in hyphenation (e.g. “cattlemen”, “cattle-men”; “roadmaking”, +“road-making”) and spelling (e.g. “Caesar”, “Cæsar”) have not been +changed. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME*** + + + + CREDITS + + +May 31, 2011 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed + Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 36296‐0.txt or 36296‐0.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/2/9/36296/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one — the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/36296-0.zip b/36296-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c489108 --- /dev/null +++ b/36296-0.zip diff --git a/36296-8.txt b/36296-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f336a72 --- /dev/null +++ b/36296-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5753 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Childhood of Rome by Louise Lamprey + + + +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 included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Childhood of Rome + +Author: Louise Lamprey + +Release Date: May 31, 2011 [Ebook #36296] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME*** + + + + + + [Illustration: Cover image] + + [Illustration: Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around the + curve.] + + + + + + THE CHILDHOOD + OF ROME + By + L. LAMPREY + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + EDNA F. HART-HUBON + + [Illustration: Printer's sign] +BOSTON +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY +1925 + + + + + + _Copyright, 1922,_ + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + + + TO + MAITLAND C. LAMPREY + + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + +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. + +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. + +It will be observed that the forms of Latin and Italian names used in +these stories do not follow the usual classic Latin style and end in "us." +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 "Vitalos" might have been preserved long after +such clipped forms as "Marcus" and "Marcs" 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. + +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. + + + + + + THE LIVING LANGUAGE + + + Sing a song of little words, homely parts of speech, + Phrases children use at play, songs that mothers teach,-- + Who would think when Rome was new, they used that language then-- + Table, chair and family, map and chart and pen? + + Sing a song of stately ways, camp and square and street, + Consuls, tribunes, governors, the legion's myriad feet, + If those wise men so long ago had not known what to say, + All they gave us readymade we should not have to-day. + + Clear and straight and brief their talk in country or in town. + Lucid, vivid, accurate the thoughts that they set down. + Still the world is using words that bear the Roman stamp-- + Coined in forum, villa, temple, market place or camp. + Still our thoughts take day by day those shapes of long ago-- + If you read the dictionary you will find it's so. + + + + + + CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE 3 + II. TEN FAMILIES 17 + III. THE SACRED YEAR 28 + IV. THE BANDITTI 40 + V. THE WOLF CUB 55 + VI. BOUNDARY LINES 68 + VII. MASTERLESS MEN 81 + VIII. THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE 94 + IX. THE SQUARE HILL 108 + X. THE KINSMEN 117 + XI. THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA 130 + XII. THE RING WALL 140 + XIII. THE SOOTHSAYERS 152 + XIV. BREAD AND SALT 161 + XV. THE TRUMPERY MAN 174 + XVI. THE GREAT DYKE 184 + XVII. THE WAR DANCE 196 + XVIII. THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN 208 + XIX. THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE 224 + XX. THE THREE TRIBES 233 + XXI. UNDER THE YOKE 243 + XXII. THE GOAT'S MARSH 251 + A ROMAN ROAD 261 + + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around _Frontispiece_ +the curve + PAGE +Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were 12 +hurrying to shelter +The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar 21 +All the young voices took up the song 33 +The people gathered in the public square 45 +Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer 59 +food to strangers +"I have seen something like this before," he said 72 +The lad went straight down the mountainside with his 79 +wolf at his heels +The little maidens walked soberly together 96 +The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or 103 +lambs +"Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!" 132 +Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor's 139 +crown of laurel +A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven 144 +hills +The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white 147 +cow +They sat together that night and watched the moon sail 161 +grandly over the flood +Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her 170 +through the door +Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground 178 +There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were 203 +digging +Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew 216 +His mother molded for him men and animals 235 +Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived 259 +for many years an old shepherd + + + + + + + THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME + + + + + + I + + + THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE + + +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. + +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 sometimes 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + +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 the gods +took especial care of them and would go on being kind to them so long as +proper respect was shown. + +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. + +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 "corn," 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"Me make basket," announced her little sister, pulling at the withes, her +rag doll tumbling to the ground as she tried to scramble up on the wall. +"Up! up!" + +"O Felic'la (Kitty), don't; you'll spoil sister's work! I'll begin one for +you." + +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. + +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. 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. + +Why were the sheep coming in so early? + +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. + +"You had better pick up all that and go in," he called to them. "Pater +sent us home as quick as we could scamper. See how strange the sky is." + +They all looked. Little Felic'la, with round eyes, dropped her basket and +pointed. + +"Giants," said she. + +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. + +"Mater," said Bruno, "the spring and the stream have dried up." + +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 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. + +[Illustration: Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were hurrying + to shelter] + +Suddenly there was a crash as if the earth had cracked in two. Everything +turned black. The air was filled with smoke and dust and ashes raining +down from the sky. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"Are you safe, Livia? And the children?" 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. + +"I was trying to catch the white heifer," he said rather shamefacedly, +"but she got away. It's only a scrape along the skin--let me go, Mater." +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 whoever 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. + + + + + + II + + + TEN FAMILIES + + +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. + +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 wool and other provision for the future had been destroyed. +It was a very hard winter. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When he had done thinking, he spoke. + +"My son," he said, "you tell me that you desire to go forth and make your +home in another land." + +"I desire it not, my father," said Colonus, "unless it is the will of the +gods. I have thought that it may be best." + +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. + +"And where will you go?" was the chief's next question. + +"That I do not know," said Colonus. "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 forefathers. 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?" + +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. + + [Illustration: The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar] + +"There are two ways of living in a strange place, Marcus Colonus," he +said. "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 them +away, or make them your servants. Which is your choice?" + +Colonus hesitated. "My father," he said, "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." + +The old chief smiled. "My son," he said, "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 out of our people, the Ramnes, and in new power to our +gods,--and if so, surely the gods will lead you. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"Now among the people of the Long White 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. + +"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. + +"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. 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." + +Colonus rose and bowed to the old man, and went home. + +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. But every one of them was also a good +farmer; in fact, in such migrations the settlers were most generally known +as _coloni_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _coloni_. 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. + + + + + + III + + + THE SACRED YEAR + + +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. + +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 world, and it was not likely that they would ever come +back. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Finally Flamen the priest, the man most respected in the central and +largest of the towns, spoke of an old custom called the "sacred spring." +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 "sacred spring" their guardian god, 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + [Illustration: All the young voices took up the song] + +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 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. + +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. + +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. They also kept wild beasts from +coming too near. + +There were three groups of the young people, from three different +villages. At night they gathered in three camps; each "company" 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. + +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. + +Mauros was their leader, so far as they had 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + IV + + + THE BANDITTI + + +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. + +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 around so that he can have +a home, and this was what the Sabines wished to do. + +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. + +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. 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 +_heredium_, as it was called. + +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 +that the festivals in their honor were held in proper form. + +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. + +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 _banditti_, 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. + +There were two great festivals in the year, to 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. + + [Illustration: The people gathered in the public square] + +The other festival came in the spring, when the grass was green and the +leaves were fresh and bright, and flowers were wreathing shrubs 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 of the same red stone and looked like the head +of a little goat. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 village 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +So the summer passed, and the unconscious, happy people prayed for a good +harvest. + + + + + + V + + + THE WOLF CUB + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +His young master only laughed. "Here, Pincho!" 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 maddening +odor of meat, and it was all his master could do to hold him. + +[Illustration: Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer food + to strangers] + +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. + +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 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. + +"Why do you stay away from your own village on a holiday?" asked the child +straightforwardly. + +"We have no village," the boy answered. "We live by ourselves." + +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. + +"Do the sheep and the wolves live together in your country?" she asked, +watching Pincho's wedge-shaped, savage head as he gnawed his bone. + +"No; but Pincho is not really a wolf. He is my friend." + +"How can you be friends with a wolf?" persisted the small questioner. +"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." + +"Pincho has never killed a sheep." + +"Emilia, my child," said her mother, "it is time for the dance of the +children." And she led her little daughter away. + +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? + +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. + +This was puzzling. How could one man found a town? A town grew up where +many people came to live in one place. + +"Nay, my son," 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. "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?" + +"We have neither father nor mother," said the boy, but not +shamefacedly,--even a little proudly. "We were found when we were little +children by Faustulus the shepherd who is to us as a father, and we serve +him." + +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? + +"Nay," said Emilius, "they have eaten our salt." + +"The shepherd sometimes prays," the lad was saying thoughtfully. "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." + +He held up his fist with all the fingers except the little finger doubled +in; this, with the thumb, stuck straight up. "He calls it 'making the +horns.' " + +"The people across the river have many gods," he went on cheerfully. "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 than a child, who came up out of a field which a farmer was +plowing." + +The priest Emilius smiled. "My son," he said kindly, "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. + +"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?" + +The lad stood up, his staff in one hand, the other in the loop of the +wolf's collar. "We owe the shepherd our lives," he said, with his proud +young head erect. "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." + +His brother laughed. In a flash the lad turned on him and knocked him +down. Emilius caught him by the shoulder. + +"My boy," he said sternly, "there must be no quarreling on a holiday. Go +back to your 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." + +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. + + + + + + VI + + + BOUNDARY LINES + + +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. + +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 natural 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. + +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. + +The first time that Pero noticed this curiosity 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. + +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. + +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 touched by the plow or walked +on or otherwise used. This was the property of the god of boundaries, +Terminus. + +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 _termini_. The _terminus_ was a wooden pillar, +or the trunk of a small tree, set up firmly in the soil. In its planting +certain ceremonies were observed. + +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 for him, for +the line was plainly marked for all to see. + +The Cub looked down at the solemnly marching group, the white oxen, and +the setting of the posts with bright and interested eyes. + + [Illustration: "I have seen something like this before," he said] + +"I have seen something like this before," he said. "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 blood. Hail, +rust and the dog-star shall destroy his harvests, and his limbs shall +become sore and waste away." + +Pero stared in astonishment. "Where did you hear all that?" he asked. + +"When I was younger I ran away and crossed the river," said the Cub +calmly. "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. + +"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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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 with his +master. The two of them were feared wherever they went, and treated with +unqualified respect. + +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. + +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 their number. But long before the men +could get up there they would have gone on. + +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. + +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. + +The lad went straight down the mountainside with his wolf at his heels and +the child on his 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-- + + [Illustration: The lad went straight down the mountainside with his wolf + at his heels] + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + VII + + + MASTERLESS MEN + + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +"What can you do?" asked the youth consideringly. + +Gubbo said that he could teach tricks in knife work to almost any man; +also he could wrestle. + +"Try me," 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 was a fair match for him. Gubbo was +taken into the band. + +"He is a brute," said the Ram bluntly. + +"He is," said the leader. "But he can teach you fellows something." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +When every man in the camp of the banditti had been cut down or +captured--and about half of them surrendered,--the victors sat down and ate +the feast prepared for the robbers. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + + + VIII + + + THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE + + +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. + +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 village, 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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: The little maidens walked soberly together] + +"What-_ever_ happened?" 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. + +Ursula, the biggest girl, laughed. "If we were crossing a river and one of +us got drowned, I suppose her fire would be lost," she said teasingly. +"But they wouldn't excuse us for anything short of that." + +"But if it did go out--if all of the fires were put out?" 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. "Should we never +have a fire again, and have to eat things raw, and freeze to death, and +let the wolves eat us up?" + +"Certainly not," answered Marcia reassuringly. "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?" + +Flavia shook her yellow head. "I never noticed." 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. + +"They do it with the _terebra_ and the _tabula_. The _tabula_ is a flat +wooden block with a groove cut in it, and the _terebra_ 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 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 _always_ kindle a fire in that way." + +"What if the _terebra_ and the _tabula_ were lost?" asked Flavia. + +"They would make others." + +"If I rubbed my hands together long enough, would they be on fire?" 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. + +The girls all laughed, and Marcia answered, + +"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." + +"What's fever?" asked Yaya, on the other side. "Did you ever have it?" + +"No, never; but Father did once, when he was 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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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? + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or + lambs] + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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! + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + IX + + + THE SQUARE HILL + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 "_palum_." 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 "defence,"--a defence made of +pointed stakes planted in the ground. + +The earth that was dug up was always thrown inside and formed the basis of +a low earthwork 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. + +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. + +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 could +see through a little window who was coming up the hill. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 unpromising plain, if only they could have their way with +it. + +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. + +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 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 "wattle and +daub" fashion have been known to last hundreds of years. + +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 _atrium_, the middle +space, in which were the altar and the _impluvium_ 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. + +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 _pomerium_, +the space "before the wall." In the middle was an open square which was to +the town what the _atrium_ 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + X + + + THE KINSMEN + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 same gods, and +obeyed the same laws and took responsibility. A man who did his part in +the life of such a place was a "citizen," and the life itself was +"civilized," 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. + +A "company" 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. "Community" 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. "Religion" 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. + +The various words for strangers outside these ties which bound them to +their own people were just as expressive. Among farmers who lived on +cleared land, within walls, the people who did not were "out of doors," +the forest people, the "foreigners." 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 "barbarians,"--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 "pagans," 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. + +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 great deal more than any one thought he did. + +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. + +"My uncle," he said at last to Marcus Colonus, when they were seated a +little apart from the others, "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." + +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 expected. He did not see exactly where +Romulus had learned it, but it gave him a feeling of great kindness toward +his young kinsman. + +"There is no need for you to be afraid," he said cordially. "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." + +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 +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. + +"That is very good of you," he said gratefully. "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--" + +And then he stopped. + +"Do you mean," asked Colonus, "that you wish the help of our young men in +some expedition?" + +Romulus decided to risk it. "If it is wise in your eyes," he said. + +"We are strangers in this land," said Colonus deliberately, "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 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." + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +"A long time ago," Romulus began, his dark eyes fixed thoughtfully on the +leaping flames, "when my brother and I were boys, Faustulus the shepherd +took us farther from our pastures 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. + +"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. + +"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, 'When I am a man, I will found a city in +the place where the wolf saved our lives when we were children.' 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." + +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. + +"And that is your secret desire?" he said, smiling. + +"That is my dream," said Romulus. And he looked at the older man with eyes +that had a question in them. + +"If you are to found a city here," said Colonus slowly, "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?" + +"My men will go where I go," said Romulus briefly. "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," the youth lifted his dark head in high confidence, "who follows +me from any other reason than because he wishes. They do not all love me," +he added, with a grin that showed his sharp white teeth, "but I am their +leader and they will die fighting before they will yield to Amulius. + +"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 nor myself, has the +right to rule upon the Long White Mountain. + +"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?" + +Colonus nodded thoughtfully. "It would seem so." + +"Then shall my people be your people, and your gods my gods," 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. + +Colonus stood up and took his young kinsman by the hand. "You are of our +blood," he said, "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." + + + + + + XI + + + THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA + + +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 captain of +outlaws,--because they saw that in the end the war must be fought, and all +the men who could fight were needed. + +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. + +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. + +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 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: + + [Illustration: "Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!"] + +"Ai-ya! Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!" + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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' 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"A man who is false to one master will be false to two," 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. + +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. + +"Ye who know what Amulius did in the days of his brother Numa," he began, +"know now that he is dead. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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!" + +There was an instant's pause, and then shouts of "Numa! Numa!" 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 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. + +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. + +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, + +"Tell me that I have done well, my fathers, for without your approval the +rest is nothing. Have I proved myself worthy to found our city, O ye who +know the law?" + + [Illustration: Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor's + crown of laurel] + +Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor's crown of laurel. +The outlaw had found his own people. + + + + + + XII + + + THE RING WALL + + +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 servant or subject, but he was +the chosen man of the gods, to do their will in the city. + +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. + +Remus did most of the talking, in fact. He was fond of raising objections +and expressing 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. + +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? + +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 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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration: A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven hills] + +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. + +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. + +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 _mundus_, 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. + +The things that were put in this trench, in a hollow called the "outfit +vault," 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. + +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 it was kindled afresh by the use of the _terebra_ and +_tabula_, and all the other hearth fires would be lighted from it. + +[Illustration: The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white cow] + +Now came the last and most important ceremony, the tracing of the line of +the wall around the city itself,--the _urbs_, 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 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. + +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 +_portae_,--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. + +When the wall was built, a little inside this 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. + +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 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. + +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 experience 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. + +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. + + + + + + XIII + + + THE SOOTHSAYERS + + +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. + +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. + +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 brown face looked like an +old withered nutshell. She glanced up at him keenly. + +"Welcome, king," she said. + +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 "those who tell the truth." + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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 +places seeking protection, and were useful in various ways even if they +could only hew wood and draw water, were called after awhile the _plebs_, +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + XIV + + + BREAD AND SALT + + + [Illustration: They sat together that night and watched the moon sail + grandly over the flood] + +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 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. + +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. + +The smaller boys who had helped were very 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. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + +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? + +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. + +This was the first wedding in the colony, and as the preparations went +forward, everybody, old 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 _confarreatio_; 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. + +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; 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. + +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 meant +to make it perfectly clear that all was done in the right and proper and +fortunate way. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 "Talassio! Talassio!" 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 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. + + [Illustration: Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her + through the door] + +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 _atrium_, the middle room where the altar and 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 "libation" to the +gods of her new home. This was the _confarreatio_. 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. + +On the next day there was another feast, to celebrate the beginning of the +new home, and the wedding was over. + +"I am glad," 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, "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." + +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. + +"I am glad," said Colonus, "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." + +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 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. + + + + + + XV + + + THE TRUMPERY MAN + + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +shouted, and Ruffo said, "By Jove, there's Toto!" + +"_Diovi_" was the general name for "the gods," and when it is pronounced +quickly it sounds like "Jove." The father of the gods was +"Diovis-Pater"--which in course of time became "Jupiter." + +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. + +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. + + [Illustration: Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground] + +There were scarfs such as women wore on their 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 had been as heavy as they looked, it +would have been too great a load even for Toto's broad shoulders. + +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. + +Pollio picked up one of the sandals and smiled. + +"My father would not think this leather fit to use," he said in a low tone +to Bruno. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 "gravity" as a virtue and +"levity" 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. + +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, + +"My son, do you wish to be a strong man, when you grow big?" + +"Y-yes," sniffed the little fellow dolefully. + +"You wish to be strong of soul and heart as you are in your body, so that +no one can make you do anything you are not willing to do?" + +"Yes, Father," said the boy, with his puzzled dark eyes searching his +father's face. + +"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." + +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 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. + + + + + + XVI + + + THE GREAT DYKE + + +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. + +"What are they like?" asked the old man. + +"They are like no other townspeople in this valley," said Toto decidedly. +"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. + +"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 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." + +"Hum," 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. "And what are their +priests?" + +"They have no priesthood dwelling in the temples," said Toto. "Their +elders are their priests and pretend to no magical powers. They are chosen +for their wisdom. Their gods are invisible." + +"Hum," said Mastarna again. + +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 if his people had anything whatever that the strangers wanted. + +"You say that they build walls," he said to Toto. "Do they build good +ones?" + +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. +"They will find out how good they are," he said, "after twenty years of +flood and drought." + +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 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 dbris, and their grain was washed away. + +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. + +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 vineyards. 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. + +"Caius," said Colonus to young Cossus, "go over to the camp and find +Ruffo, and ask him to come and talk to this fellow." + +He knew that Ruffo understood several languages and dialects, and whatever +it was that this man had come for, he wished to know it. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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 to let in strange ceremonies would +be to defile that home. + +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. + +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. + +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 they regarded with great horror when they first came. + +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 not object to +teaching any man who wished to learn all he could. + +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 _moenia_, and since it was the lowest and least skilled +labor, work of that kind later came to be known as _menial_, the work of +slaves and servants. + +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 resting 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. + + + + + + XVII + + + THE WAR DANCE + + +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. + +The question of wives for these men was a serious one. Girls were growing +up within the 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"There is a plan, my fathers," he said, "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. + +"Now this I do not commend, since it is not our wish to war with the +people around us. To 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. + +"In the villages on the heights--in the lower valleys of the mountain range +that lies _there_--" he waved a brown arm toward the far blue hills, "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. + +"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. + +"This therefore is my thought. I have seen," the young chief's dark face +was lighted by a fleeting smile, "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. + +"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, 'Talassa! Talassa!' + +"Have I spoken well, my father?" He looked straight at Colonus. "If ye +have a better plan, let no more be said of this." + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were + digging] + +"Jove!" said Mamurius, a few minutes later, "Here's something else!" 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 earth cleaned off it with grass, and it was rubbed with a +piece of leather, it almost blinded them. It was a golden shield. + +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. + +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. + +The soldiers who were to take part in the festival in this unexpected and +startling way were 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 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. + +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 "Talassa! Talassa!" +revealed that this was a revival of the ancient custom of marriage by +capture. + +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. + + + + + + XVIII + + + THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN + + +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 do now except to prophesy that it could not possibly turn out well. + +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. + +"Ruffo says," answered Mamurius, "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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +"You are the daughter of a great man," said Romulus. "You are Emilia." + +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. + +"Long ago," he went on, "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." + +"You! An outcast!" the girl cried, her eyes flashing in scorn. + +"I am of good blood, and now I rule this city. You shall rule it with me +when you will," said the chief coolly. + +"I would rather be a slave and grind at the mill!" + +Romulus smiled. What did this girl know of a slave's life? + +"You had better not," he said. "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." And he +turned and went out. + +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 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. + +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. + +At first she hoped fiercely that her people 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. + + [Illustration: Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew] + +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, and from the brink one could see for miles +across the plain. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +The Sabines spread their army all around the Roman settlement. They took +possession of a hill near by, almost as great as the Palatine. + +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. + +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 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 _what they +wore on their left arms_. + +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. + +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 _all of it_! 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. At dawn the stronghold was in Sabine hands. They had won the +first move. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Come with me!" she called, moving swiftly toward the door of the temple +of Vesta where they were gathered. "We will end this war--or die with our +men! Come to the battle field!" + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"It is nearly a year. The time has not gone quickly." + +"He told me," explained Emilia, "that if after the Saturnalia I wished to +return, he would send me home." + +"And do you wish to go home, my daughter?" asked the priest. + +Emilia looked up at Romulus. + +"I will go home," she said, "with my husband." + +And the news ran through the camps that Romulus had taken a Sabine bride. + + + + + + XIX + + + THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE + + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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 +"laid" roads, because they were made by laying, or spreading, new material +on the line of travel. + +The new road was a "street" built up of _strata_. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 _mansiones_,--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 _mansiones_ 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 pier building in those +days. It would be a timber bridge. + +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. + +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. + +"There is no iron in this work?" + +"None," said Calvo. + +"The gods do not approve it?" + +"Apparently not," said Calvo. "The fires of Jove burned two bridges for me +before I found it out. + +"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." + +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. + +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 +observations 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. + +The way in which the bridge over the Tiber was built was much like the way +in which Csar 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. + + + + + + XX + + + THE THREE TRIBES + + +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 Rome. 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. + +Between these two great hills and a big bend in the river was a great +level space that was used for a sort of parade ground, and this was called +the Campus Martius, the field of Mars. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: His mother molded for him men and animals] + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +There was one danger, however, which nobody realized in the least. In the +great change from 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Naso said that it was all because the people had allowed strangers to come +in, and the gods were angry. + +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. + +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. + +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; 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + XXI + + + UNDER THE YOKE + + +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. + +When the children of Mars first came to this part of the world, people +called them very often the "cattle-men," 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 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 "outfit vault" was filled at the founding of the +city, a yoke was one of the things put in. + +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. + +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 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 _salarium_,--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. + +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 shorter time than they +would if they had been left to themselves. + +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 +"the sons of the fathers." The word "father" 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 +"patricians." 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 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. + +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 "under the yoke" of these strangers. When the Romans +took the town of Fiden, the Veientines were very indignant, though they +did not come to the help of their neighbors, and presently they claimed +that Fiden 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. + +There was a great sensation in Rome when the 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 "triumph"--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. + +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. + +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 man who was disposed to consider the rights of the _plebs_ +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. + + + + + + XXII + + + THE GOAT'S MARSH + + +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. + +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 and talked in the solar chamber, +with no witnesses but the stars. + +"They do not understand," Romulus said thoughtfully, when they had been +all over the struggle between the two parties, from beginning to end. +"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." + +"They are ready, some of them, to declare that a thing is wrong because +you saw it before they did," said Calvo dryly. + +"The people are with me--I believe," said Romulus, "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?" + +"I have always believed so," nodded Calvo. "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 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." + +Calvo paused, as if he were thinking how he should say what he thought, +and then went on. + +"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." + +Romulus smiled in the way he did when he was thinking more than he meant +to say. "I shall be very strong when I am dead," was his only comment. And +Calvo knew that it was the truth. + +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. Then Romulus told Calvo what he was going to do. + +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. + +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. + +They raised a shout as his tall figure appeared but he waved them to +silence. + +"I have not much to say," he began, and in the still air the intense +interest of his listeners seemed to tingle like lightning before a storm, +"but much has been said which was not true. I will not waste time in +repeating lies. + +"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. + +"We made war against them and we beat them, and took their city Fiden 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. + +"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? + +"Some are angry because I divided the lands, which they gave us as a +price, among the soldiers. Yet who has better right than the men who fight +the battles? This is all of my story. Ye believe?" Then a shout arose to +the very skies,--"Romulus! Romulus! Romulus!" + +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, "Marcus!" "Caius!" "Aulus!" 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. + +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 everywhere 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. + +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 _plebs_, or +peasants, was not exactly a thing to be overlooked. That night was a black +and anxious one. + +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. + +Calvo heard the story gravely, without making any comment. + +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. + +"Do you think," asked Calvo coolly at last, "that the gods had anything to +do with these strange appearances?" Naso could not say. + +"There have always been strange happenings about this man," said Calvo +thoughtfully. "His very birth was strange; his appearance among us was +sudden and unexpected. What the gods send they can also take away." + +"Do you think then," asked Cossus, "that he was taken by the gods to +heaven?" + +"I do not know," said Calvo. "You say you found no trace of him? But even +a man struck by lightning is not destroyed." + +The frightened men looked at each other. + +Fabius the priest was the first to speak. + +"It is at any rate not true that we have murdered him," he said boldly, +"and that is what men are saying in the streets." + +"And it may be true that he has been taken by the gods," 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 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. + +[Illustration: Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived for + many years an old shepherd] + +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. + +He never returned to Rome, but far away, in 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. + + + + + + A ROMAN ROAD + + + Once along the Roman road with measured, rhythmic stride + Marched the Roman legionaries in their valiant pride. + Men of petty towns and tribes, under Caesar's hand, + Welded into Empire then their people and their land. + Now along that ancient road the silent motors run, + Driven by every ancient race that lives beneath the sun. + + Swarming from their barren plains, wild barbarian hordes + Wasted all the fruitful soil--then the Roman swords + Leagued with Gallic pike and sling, held the red frontier, + Saved the cradle of our folk, all that we hold dear. + Now above the towers that rise where Rome's great eagles flew, + Circle dauntless aeroplanes to guard their folk anew. + + Gods who loved the sons of Mars found in field and wood + Altars built with reverent care--saw the work was good. + Simple, brave and generous, quick to speech and mirth; + Loving all the pleasant ways of the kindly earth; + Thus they built the stately walls that still unfallen stand. + Guarding for their ancient faith the dear, unchanging land! + + Winds and waves and leaping flames all have served our race. + Flint and bronze and steel had each their little day of grace. + But the lightning fleets to-day along our singing wires, + And the harnessed floods to-day are fuel for our fires. + Armored through the clouds we glide on swift electric wings. + Through the trenches of the hills a joyous giant sings. + Light and Flame and Power and Steel are welded into one + To serve the task set long ago,--when roads were first begun! + + + + THE END + + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + +The following changes have been made to the text: + + page 118, "some" changed to "same" + page 233, period added after "Rome" + +Variations in hyphenation (e.g. "cattlemen", "cattle-men"; "roadmaking", +"road-making") and spelling (e.g. "Caesar", "Csar") have not been +changed. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME*** + + + + CREDITS + + +May 31, 2011 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed + Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 36296-8.txt or 36296-8.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/2/9/36296/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/36296-8.zip b/36296-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..335ac82 --- /dev/null +++ b/36296-8.zip diff --git a/36296-h.zip b/36296-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb8782f --- /dev/null +++ b/36296-h.zip diff --git a/36296-h/36296-h.html b/36296-h/36296-h.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1ef0c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/36296-h/36296-h.html @@ -0,0 +1,8946 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /><link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" /><meta name="DC.Creator" content="Louise Lamprey" /><meta name="DC.Title" content="The Childhood of Rome" /><meta name="DC.Date" content="May 31, 2011" /><meta name="DC.Language" content="English" /><meta name="DC.Publisher" content="Project Gutenberg" /><meta name="DC.Identifier" content="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/36296" /><meta name="DC.Rights" content="This text is in the public domain." /><title>The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Childhood of Rome by Louise Lamprey</title><style type="text/css">/* +The Gnutenberg Press - default CSS2 stylesheet + +Any generated element will have a class "tei" and a class "tei-elem" +where elem is the element name in TEI. +The order of statements is important !!! 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You may copy it, + give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project + Gutenberg License <a href="#pglicense" class="tei tei-ref">included with this + eBook</a> or online at <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license" class="tei tei-xref">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a></p></div><pre class="pre tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em">Title: The Childhood of Rome + +Author: Louise Lamprey + +Release Date: May 31, 2011 [Ebook #36296] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME*** +</pre></div> + </div> + <div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + + </div> +<div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Illustration: Cover image" /></div> +<div class="tei tei-pb"></div><a name="Pgii" id="Pgii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <a name="frontis" id="frontis" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"></p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus001.png" alt="Illustration: Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around the curve" title="Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around the curve.Frontispiece." /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around +the curve.<br /><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-style: italic">Frontispiece.</span></span></div></div> +</div> +<hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-titlePage" style="text-align: center"> +<div class="tei tei-pb" style="text-align: center"></div><a name="Pgiii" id="Pgiii" class="tei tei-anchor" style="text-align: center"></a> +<span class="tei tei-docTitle" style="text-align: center"> + <span class="tei tei-titlePart" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 173%">THE CHILDHOOD</span><br /><span style="font-size: 173%">OF ROME</span></span> +</span> + <br /> +<div class="tei tei-byline" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 144%"> + By</span><br /> + <span class="tei tei-docAuthor" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 144%">L. LAMPREY</span></span> +</div> + <br /> +<div class="tei tei-byline" style="text-align: center"> +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY<br /> +<span class="tei tei-docAuthor" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 120%">EDNA F. HART-HUBON</span></span> +</div> +<br /><a name="illus002" id="illus002" class="tei tei-anchor" style="text-align: center"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus002.png" alt="Illustration: Printer’s sign" /></div> +<span class="tei tei-docImprint" style="text-align: center"> + <span class="tei tei-pubPlace" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 120%">BOSTON</span></span><br /> + <span class="tei tei-publisher" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 120%">LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY</span></span><br /> + <span class="tei tei-date" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 120%">1925</span></span> +</span> +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-pb" style="text-align: center"></div><a name="Pgiv" id="Pgiv" class="tei tei-anchor" style="text-align: center"></a> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-style: italic">Copyright, 1922,</span></span><br /> +<span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">By Little, Brown, and Company.</span></span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-style: italic">All rights reserved</span></span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Printed in the United States of America</span></span> +</p> + +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-pb" style="text-align: center"></div><a name="Pgv" id="Pgv" class="tei tei-anchor" style="text-align: center"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">to</span><br /><span style="font-variant: small-caps"> +Maitland C. Lamprey</span></span></p> + +<div class="tei tei-pb" style="text-align: center"></div><a name="Pgvi" id="Pgvi" class="tei tei-anchor" style="text-align: center"></a> + +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagevii">[pg vii]</span><a name="Pgvii" id="Pgvii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc1" id="toc1"></a><a name="pdf2" id="pdf2"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">INTRODUCTION</span></h1> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +It will be observed that the forms of Latin +and Italian names used in these stories do not +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="pageviii">[pg viii]</span><a name="Pgviii" id="Pgviii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>follow the usual classic Latin style and end in +<span class="tei tei-q">“us.”</span> 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 <span class="tei tei-q">“Vitalos”</span> might have been preserved long +after such clipped forms as <span class="tei tei-q">“Marcus”</span> and +<span class="tei tei-q">“Marcs”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="pageix">[pg ix]</span><a name="Pgix" id="Pgix" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc3" id="toc3"></a><a name="pdf4" id="pdf4"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">THE LIVING LANGUAGE</span></h1> + +<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Sing a song of little words, homely parts of speech,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Phrases children use at play, songs that mothers teach,—</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Who would think when Rome was new, they used that language then—</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Table, chair and family, map and chart and pen?</div> +</div> + +<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Sing a song of stately ways, camp and square and street,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Consuls, tribunes, governors, the legion’s myriad feet,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">If those wise men so long ago had not known what to say,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">All they gave us readymade we should not have to-day.</div> +</div> + +<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Clear and straight and brief their talk in country or in town.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Lucid, vivid, accurate the thoughts that they set down.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Still the world is using words that bear the Roman stamp—</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Coined in forum, villa, temple, market place or camp.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Still our thoughts take day by day those shapes of long ago—</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">If you read the dictionary you will find it’s so.</div> +</div> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagex">[pg x]</span><a name="Pgx" id="Pgx" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagexi">[pg xi]</span><a name="Pgxi" id="Pgxi" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc5" id="toc5"></a><a name="pdf6" id="pdf6"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">CONTENTS</span></h1> + +<table summary="This is a table" cellspacing="0" class="tei tei-table" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><colgroup span="3"></colgroup><tbody><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: right"><span style="font-size: 75%">CHAPTER</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: right"><span style="font-size: 75%">PAGE</span></span></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">I.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Mountain of Fire</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg003" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">3</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">II.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Ten Families</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg017" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">17</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">III.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Sacred Year</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg028" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">28</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">IV.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Banditti</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg040" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">40</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">V.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Wolf Cub</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg055" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">55</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">VI.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Boundary Lines</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg068" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">68</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">VII.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Masterless Men</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg081" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">81</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">VIII.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Beehive Temple</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg094" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">94</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">IX.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Square Hill</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg108" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">108</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">X.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Kinsmen</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg117" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">117</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XI.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Taking of Alba Longa</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg130" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">130</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XII.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Ring Wall</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg140" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">140</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XIII.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Soothsayers</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg152" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">152</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XIV.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Bread and Salt</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg161" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">161</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XV.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Trumpery Man</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg174" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">174</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XVI.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Great Dyke</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg184" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">184</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XVII.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The War Dance</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg196" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">196</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XVIII.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Peace of the Women</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg208" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">208</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XIX.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Priest of the Bridge</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg224" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">224</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XX.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Three Tribes</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg233" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">233</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XXI.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Under the Yoke</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg243" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">243</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right">XXII.</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Goat’s Marsh</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg251" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">251</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">A Roman Road</span></span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg261" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">261</a></td> + </tr></tbody></table> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagexii">[pg xii]</span><a name="Pgxii" id="Pgxii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagexiii">[pg xiii]</span><a name="Pgxiii" id="Pgxiii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc7" id="toc7"></a><a name="pdf8" id="pdf8"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">ILLUSTRATIONS</span></h1> + +<a name="Pgxiv" id="Pgxiv" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><table summary="This is a table" cellspacing="0" class="tei tei-table" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><colgroup span="2"></colgroup><tbody><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red + around the curve</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: right"><a href="#frontis" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right"><span style="font-style: italic">Frontispiece</span></a></span></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell"></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: right"><span style="font-size: 75%">PAGE</span></span></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen + were hurrying to shelter</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus025" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">12</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus034" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">21</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">All the young voices took up the song</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus046" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">33</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">The people gathered in the public square</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus058" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">45</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">Whoever they were, it was proper at this time + to offer food to strangers</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus072" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">59</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-q">“I have seen something like this before,”</span> he said</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus085" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">72</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">The lad went straight down the mountainside with + his wolf at his heels</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus092" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">79</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">The little maidens walked soberly together</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus109" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">96</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs + or lambs</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus116" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">103</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-q">“Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!”</span></td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus145" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">132</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">Then they blessed him and crowned him with the + victor’s crown of laurel</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus152" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">139</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the + seven hills</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus157" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">144</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white cow</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus160" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">147</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">They sat together that night and watched the + moon sail grandly over the flood</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus174" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">161</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried + her through the door</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus183" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">170</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus191" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">178</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole + they were digging</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus216" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">203</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus229" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">216</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">His mother molded for him men and animals</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus248" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">235</a></td> + </tr><tr class="tei tei-row"> + <td class="tei tei-cell">Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there + lived for many years an old shepherd</td> + <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#illus272" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">259</a></td> + </tr></tbody></table> + +</div> +</div> +<hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-body" style="margin-bottom: 6.00em; margin-top: 6.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page1">[pg 1]</span><a name="Pg001" id="Pg001" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME</span></h1> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page2">[pg 2]</span><a name="Pg002" id="Pg002" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page3">[pg 3]</span><a name="Pg003" id="Pg003" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc9" id="toc9"></a> + <a name="pdf10" id="pdf10"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">I</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page4">[pg 4]</span><a name="Pg004" id="Pg004" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page5">[pg 5]</span><a name="Pg005" id="Pg005" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page6">[pg 6]</span><a name="Pg006" id="Pg006" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page7">[pg 7]</span><a name="Pg007" id="Pg007" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>the gods took especial care of them and would +go on being kind to them so long as proper +respect was shown. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-q">“corn,”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page8">[pg 8]</span><a name="Pg008" id="Pg008" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page9">[pg 9]</span><a name="Pg009" id="Pg009" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Me make basket,”</span> announced her little sister, +pulling at the withes, her rag doll tumbling to +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page10">[pg 10]</span><a name="Pg010" id="Pg010" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>the ground as she tried to scramble up on the +wall. <span class="tei tei-q">“Up! up!”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“O Felic’la (Kitty), don’t; you’ll spoil sister’s +work! I’ll begin one for you.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page11">[pg 11]</span><a name="Pg011" id="Pg011" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Why were the sheep coming in so early? +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“You had better pick up all that and go in,”</span> +he called to them. <span class="tei tei-q">“Pater sent us home as quick +as we could scamper. See how strange the sky +is.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +They all looked. Little Felic’la, with round +eyes, dropped her basket and pointed. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Giants,”</span> said she. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Mater,”</span> said Bruno, <span class="tei tei-q">“the spring and the +stream have dried up.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page12">[pg 12]</span><a name="Pg012" id="Pg012" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus025" id="illus025" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus025.png" alt="Illustration: Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were hurrying to shelter" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Suddenly there was a crash as if the earth had +cracked in two. Everything turned black. The +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page13">[pg 13]</span><a name="Pg013" id="Pg013" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>air was filled with smoke and dust and ashes +raining down from the sky. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page14">[pg 14]</span><a name="Pg014" id="Pg014" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Are you safe, Livia? And the children?”</span> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I was trying to catch the white heifer,”</span> he +said rather shamefacedly, <span class="tei tei-q">“but she got away. +It’s only a scrape along the skin—let me go, +Mater.”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page15">[pg 15]</span><a name="Pg015" id="Pg015" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page16">[pg 16]</span><a name="Pg016" id="Pg016" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page17">[pg 17]</span><a name="Pg017" id="Pg017" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc11" id="toc11"></a><a name="pdf12" id="pdf12"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">II</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">TEN FAMILIES</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page18">[pg 18]</span><a name="Pg018" id="Pg018" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>wool and other provision for the future had been +destroyed. It was a very hard winter. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page19">[pg 19]</span><a name="Pg019" id="Pg019" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +When he had done thinking, he spoke. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“My son,”</span> he said, <span class="tei tei-q">“you tell me that you +desire to go forth and make your home in another +land.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I desire it not, my father,”</span> said Colonus, +<span class="tei tei-q">“unless it is the will of the gods. I have thought +that it may be best.”</span> +</p> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page20">[pg 20]</span><a name="Pg020" id="Pg020" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“And where will you go?”</span> was the chief’s +next question. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“That I do not know,”</span> said Colonus. <span class="tei tei-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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page21">[pg 21]</span><a name="Pg021" id="Pg021" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><a name="illus034" id="illus034" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus034.png" alt="Illustration: The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“There are two ways of living in a strange +place, Marcus Colonus,”</span> he said. <span class="tei tei-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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page22">[pg 22]</span><a name="Pg022" id="Pg022" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>them away, or make them your servants. Which +is your choice?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Colonus hesitated. <span class="tei tei-q">“My father,”</span> he said, <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The old chief smiled. <span class="tei tei-q">“My son,”</span> he said, +<span class="tei tei-q">“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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page23">[pg 23]</span><a name="Pg023" id="Pg023" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>out of our people, the Ramnes, and in new power +to our gods,—and if so, surely the gods will lead +you.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Now among the people of the Long White +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page24">[pg 24]</span><a name="Pg024" id="Pg024" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page25">[pg 25]</span><a name="Pg025" id="Pg025" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Colonus rose and bowed to the old man, and +went home. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page26">[pg 26]</span><a name="Pg026" id="Pg026" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>But every one of them was also a good farmer; +in fact, in such migrations the settlers were most +generally known as <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">coloni</span></span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page27">[pg 27]</span><a name="Pg027" id="Pg027" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">coloni</span></span>. 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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page28">[pg 28]</span><a name="Pg028" id="Pg028" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc13" id="toc13"></a><a name="pdf14" id="pdf14"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">III</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE SACRED YEAR</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page29">[pg 29]</span><a name="Pg029" id="Pg029" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>world, and it was not likely that they would ever +come back. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page30">[pg 30]</span><a name="Pg030" id="Pg030" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Finally Flamen the priest, the man most respected +in the central and largest of the towns, +spoke of an old custom called the <span class="tei tei-q">“sacred +spring.”</span> 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 <span class="tei tei-q">“sacred spring”</span> their guardian god, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page31">[pg 31]</span><a name="Pg031" id="Pg031" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page32">[pg 32]</span><a name="Pg032" id="Pg032" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page33">[pg 33]</span><a name="Pg033" id="Pg033" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <a name="illus046" id="illus046" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus046.png" alt="Illustration: All the young voices took up the song" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page34">[pg 34]</span><a name="Pg034" id="Pg034" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page35">[pg 35]</span><a name="Pg035" id="Pg035" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>They also kept wild beasts from coming too near. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +There were three groups of the young people, +from three different villages. At night they +gathered in three camps; each <span class="tei tei-q">“company”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Mauros was their leader, so far as they had +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page36">[pg 36]</span><a name="Pg036" id="Pg036" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page37">[pg 37]</span><a name="Pg037" id="Pg037" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page38">[pg 38]</span><a name="Pg038" id="Pg038" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page39">[pg 39]</span><a name="Pg039" id="Pg039" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page40">[pg 40]</span><a name="Pg040" id="Pg040" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc15" id="toc15"></a><a name="pdf16" id="pdf16"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">IV</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE BANDITTI</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page41">[pg 41]</span><a name="Pg041" id="Pg041" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>around so that he can have a home, and this was +what the Sabines wished to do. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page42">[pg 42]</span><a name="Pg042" id="Pg042" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">heredium</span></span>, as it +was called. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page43">[pg 43]</span><a name="Pg043" id="Pg043" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>that the festivals in their honor were held in +proper form. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">banditti</span></span>, 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +There were two great festivals in the year, to +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page44">[pg 44]</span><a name="Pg044" id="Pg044" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus058" id="illus058" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"></p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus058.png" alt="Illustration: The people gathered in the public square" title="The people gathered in the public square." /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">The people gathered in the public square.</div></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The other festival came in the spring, when +the grass was green and the leaves were fresh +and bright, and flowers were wreathing shrubs +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page47">[pg 47]</span><a name="Pg047" id="Pg047" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page48">[pg 48]</span><a name="Pg048" id="Pg048" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page49">[pg 49]</span><a name="Pg049" id="Pg049" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>of the same red stone and looked like the head of +a little goat. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page50">[pg 50]</span><a name="Pg050" id="Pg050" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page51">[pg 51]</span><a name="Pg051" id="Pg051" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page52">[pg 52]</span><a name="Pg052" id="Pg052" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page53">[pg 53]</span><a name="Pg053" id="Pg053" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page54">[pg 54]</span><a name="Pg054" id="Pg054" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +So the summer passed, and the unconscious, +happy people prayed for a good harvest. +</p> + +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page55">[pg 55]</span><a name="Pg055" id="Pg055" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc17" id="toc17"></a><a name="pdf18" id="pdf18"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">V</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE WOLF CUB</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page56">[pg 56]</span><a name="Pg056" id="Pg056" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page57">[pg 57]</span><a name="Pg057" id="Pg057" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +His young master only laughed. <span class="tei tei-q">“Here, +Pincho!”</span> 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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page58">[pg 58]</span><a name="Pg058" id="Pg058" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page61">[pg 61]</span><a name="Pg061" id="Pg061" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>maddening odor of meat, and it was all his master +could do to hold him. +</p><a name="illus072" id="illus072" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"></p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus072.png" alt="Illustration: Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer food to strangers" title="Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer food to strangers." /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to + offer food to strangers.</div></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page62">[pg 62]</span><a name="Pg062" id="Pg062" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Why do you stay away from your own village +on a holiday?”</span> asked the child straightforwardly. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“We have no village,”</span> the boy answered. +<span class="tei tei-q">“We live by ourselves.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Do the sheep and the wolves live together +in your country?”</span> she asked, watching Pincho’s +wedge-shaped, savage head as he gnawed his +bone. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“No; but Pincho is not really a wolf. He is +my friend.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“How can you be friends with a wolf?”</span> persisted +the small questioner. <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page63">[pg 63]</span><a name="Pg063" id="Pg063" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Pincho has never killed a sheep.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Emilia, my child,”</span> said her mother, <span class="tei tei-q">“it is +time for the dance of the children.”</span> And she +led her little daughter away. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +This was puzzling. How could one man +found a town? A town grew up where many +people came to live in one place. +</p> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page64">[pg 64]</span><a name="Pg064" id="Pg064" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Nay, my son,”</span> 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. <span class="tei tei-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?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“We have neither father nor mother,”</span> said +the boy, but not shamefacedly,—even a little +proudly. <span class="tei tei-q">“We were found when we were little +children by Faustulus the shepherd who is to +us as a father, and we serve him.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page65">[pg 65]</span><a name="Pg065" id="Pg065" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Nay,”</span> said Emilius, <span class="tei tei-q">“they have eaten our +salt.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“The shepherd sometimes prays,”</span> the lad was +saying thoughtfully. <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +He held up his fist with all the fingers except +the little finger doubled in; this, with the thumb, +stuck straight up. <span class="tei tei-q">“He calls it <span class="tei tei-q">‘making the +horns.’</span> ”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“The people across the river have many gods,”</span> +he went on cheerfully. <span class="tei tei-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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page66">[pg 66]</span><a name="Pg066" id="Pg066" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>than a child, who came up out of a field which a +farmer was plowing.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The priest Emilius smiled. <span class="tei tei-q">“My son,”</span> he said +kindly, <span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The lad stood up, his staff in one hand, the +other in the loop of the wolf’s collar. <span class="tei tei-q">“We owe +the shepherd our lives,”</span> he said, with his proud +young head erect. <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +His brother laughed. In a flash the lad turned +on him and knocked him down. Emilius +caught him by the shoulder. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“My boy,”</span> he said sternly, <span class="tei tei-q">“there must be +no quarreling on a holiday. Go back to your +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page67">[pg 67]</span><a name="Pg067" id="Pg067" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page68">[pg 68]</span><a name="Pg068" id="Pg068" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc19" id="toc19"></a><a name="pdf20" id="pdf20"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">VI</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">BOUNDARY LINES</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page69">[pg 69]</span><a name="Pg069" id="Pg069" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The first time that Pero noticed this curiosity +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page70">[pg 70]</span><a name="Pg070" id="Pg070" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page71">[pg 71]</span><a name="Pg071" id="Pg071" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>touched by the plow or walked on or otherwise +used. This was the property of the god of +boundaries, Terminus. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">termini</span></span>. The +<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">terminus</span></span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page72">[pg 72]</span><a name="Pg072" id="Pg072" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>for him, for the line was plainly marked for all +to see. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The Cub looked down at the solemnly marching +group, the white oxen, and the setting of the +posts with bright and interested eyes. +</p><a name="illus085" id="illus085" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus085.png" alt="Illustration: “I have seen something like this before,” he said" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I have seen something like this before,”</span> he +said. <span class="tei tei-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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page73">[pg 73]</span><a name="Pg073" id="Pg073" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>blood. Hail, rust and the dog-star shall destroy +his harvests, and his limbs shall become sore and +waste away.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Pero stared in astonishment. <span class="tei tei-q">“Where did +you hear all that?”</span> he asked. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“When I was younger I ran away and crossed +the river,”</span> said the Cub calmly. <span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page74">[pg 74]</span><a name="Pg074" id="Pg074" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page75">[pg 75]</span><a name="Pg075" id="Pg075" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page76">[pg 76]</span><a name="Pg076" id="Pg076" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page77">[pg 77]</span><a name="Pg077" id="Pg077" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>with his master. The two of them were feared +wherever they went, and treated with unqualified +respect. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page78">[pg 78]</span><a name="Pg078" id="Pg078" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>their number. But long before the men could +get up there they would have gone on. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The lad went straight down the mountainside +with his wolf at his heels and the child on his +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page79">[pg 79]</span><a name="Pg079" id="Pg079" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus092" id="illus092" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus092.png" alt="Illustration: The lad went straight down the mountainside with his wolf at his heels" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page80">[pg 80]</span><a name="Pg080" id="Pg080" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page81">[pg 81]</span><a name="Pg081" id="Pg081" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc21" id="toc21"></a><a name="pdf22" id="pdf22"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">VII</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">MASTERLESS MEN</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page82">[pg 82]</span><a name="Pg082" id="Pg082" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page83">[pg 83]</span><a name="Pg083" id="Pg083" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page84">[pg 84]</span><a name="Pg084" id="Pg084" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page85">[pg 85]</span><a name="Pg085" id="Pg085" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“What can you do?”</span> asked the youth consideringly. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Gubbo said that he could teach tricks in knife +work to almost any man; also he could wrestle. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Try me,”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page86">[pg 86]</span><a name="Pg086" id="Pg086" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>was a fair match for him. Gubbo was taken into +the band. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“He is a brute,”</span> said the Ram bluntly. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“He is,”</span> said the leader. <span class="tei tei-q">“But he can teach +you fellows something.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page87">[pg 87]</span><a name="Pg087" id="Pg087" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page88">[pg 88]</span><a name="Pg088" id="Pg088" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page89">[pg 89]</span><a name="Pg089" id="Pg089" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page90">[pg 90]</span><a name="Pg090" id="Pg090" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page91">[pg 91]</span><a name="Pg091" id="Pg091" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +When every man in the camp of the banditti +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page92">[pg 92]</span><a name="Pg092" id="Pg092" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page93">[pg 93]</span><a name="Pg093" id="Pg093" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page94">[pg 94]</span><a name="Pg094" id="Pg094" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc23" id="toc23"></a><a name="pdf24" id="pdf24"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">VIII</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page95">[pg 95]</span><a name="Pg095" id="Pg095" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page96">[pg 96]</span><a name="Pg096" id="Pg096" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus109" id="illus109" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus109.png" alt="Illustration: The little maidens walked soberly together" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“What-<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">ever</span></span> happened?”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Ursula, the biggest girl, laughed. <span class="tei tei-q">“If we +were crossing a river and one of us got drowned, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page97">[pg 97]</span><a name="Pg097" id="Pg097" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>I suppose her fire would be lost,”</span> she said teasingly. +<span class="tei tei-q">“But they wouldn’t excuse us for anything +short of that.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“But if it did go out—if all of the fires were +put out?”</span> 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. +<span class="tei tei-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?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Certainly not,”</span> answered Marcia reassuringly. +<span class="tei tei-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?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Flavia shook her yellow head. <span class="tei tei-q">“I never +noticed.”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“They do it with the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">terebra</span></span> and the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">tabula</span></span>. +The <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">tabula</span></span> is a flat wooden block with a groove +cut in it, and the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">terebra</span></span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page98">[pg 98]</span><a name="Pg098" id="Pg098" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">always</span></span> kindle a fire in that way.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“What if the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">terebra</span></span> and the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">tabula</span></span> were +lost?”</span> asked Flavia. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“They would make others.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“If I rubbed my hands together long enough, +would they be on fire?”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The girls all laughed, and Marcia answered, +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“What’s fever?”</span> asked Yaya, on the other +side. <span class="tei tei-q">“Did you ever have it?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“No, never; but Father did once, when he was +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page99">[pg 99]</span><a name="Pg099" id="Pg099" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page100">[pg 100]</span><a name="Pg100" id="Pg100" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page101">[pg 101]</span><a name="Pg101" id="Pg101" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page102">[pg 102]</span><a name="Pg102" id="Pg102" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page103">[pg 103]</span><a name="Pg103" id="Pg103" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus116" id="illus116" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus116.png" alt="Illustration: The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or lambs" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page104">[pg 104]</span><a name="Pg104" id="Pg104" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page105">[pg 105]</span><a name="Pg105" id="Pg105" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page106">[pg 106]</span><a name="Pg106" id="Pg106" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page107">[pg 107]</span><a name="Pg107" id="Pg107" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page108">[pg 108]</span><a name="Pg108" id="Pg108" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc25" id="toc25"></a><a name="pdf26" id="pdf26"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">IX</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE SQUARE HILL</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page109">[pg 109]</span><a name="Pg109" id="Pg109" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-q">“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">palum</span></span>.”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-q">“defence,”</span>—a defence made of pointed stakes +planted in the ground. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The earth that was dug up was always thrown +inside and formed the basis of a low earthwork +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page110">[pg 110]</span><a name="Pg110" id="Pg110" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page111">[pg 111]</span><a name="Pg111" id="Pg111" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>could see through a little window who was coming +up the hill. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page112">[pg 112]</span><a name="Pg112" id="Pg112" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page113">[pg 113]</span><a name="Pg113" id="Pg113" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>unpromising plain, if only they could have their +way with it. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page114">[pg 114]</span><a name="Pg114" id="Pg114" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-q">“wattle and daub”</span> +fashion have been known to last hundreds of +years. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">atrium</span></span>, the middle space, in which were the altar +and the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">impluvium</span></span> 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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page115">[pg 115]</span><a name="Pg115" id="Pg115" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">pomerium</span></span>, the space +<span class="tei tei-q">“before the wall.”</span> In the middle was an open +square which was to the town what the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">atrium</span></span> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page116">[pg 116]</span><a name="Pg116" id="Pg116" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page117">[pg 117]</span><a name="Pg117" id="Pg117" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc27" id="toc27"></a><a name="pdf28" id="pdf28"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">X</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE KINSMEN</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page118">[pg 118]</span><a name="Pg118" id="Pg118" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<a name="corr118" id="corr118" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span class="tei tei-corr">same</span> gods, and obeyed the same laws and took +responsibility. A man who did his part in the +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page119">[pg 119]</span><a name="Pg119" id="Pg119" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>life of such a place was a <span class="tei tei-q">“citizen,”</span> and the life +itself was <span class="tei tei-q">“civilized,”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +A <span class="tei tei-q">“company”</span> 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. <span class="tei tei-q">“Community”</span> +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. <span class="tei tei-q">“Religion”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The various words for strangers outside these +ties which bound them to their own people were +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page120">[pg 120]</span><a name="Pg120" id="Pg120" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>just as expressive. Among farmers who lived +on cleared land, within walls, the people who did +not were <span class="tei tei-q">“out of doors,”</span> the forest people, the +<span class="tei tei-q">“foreigners.”</span> 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 <span class="tei tei-q">“barbarians,”</span>—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 +<span class="tei tei-q">“pagans,”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page121">[pg 121]</span><a name="Pg121" id="Pg121" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>great deal more than any one thought he did. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“My uncle,”</span> he said at last to Marcus Colonus, +when they were seated a little apart from the +others, <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page122">[pg 122]</span><a name="Pg122" id="Pg122" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“There is no need for you to be afraid,”</span> +he said cordially. <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page123">[pg 123]</span><a name="Pg123" id="Pg123" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“That is very good of you,”</span> he said gratefully. +<span class="tei tei-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—”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +And then he stopped. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Do you mean,”</span> asked Colonus, <span class="tei tei-q">“that you +wish the help of our young men in some expedition?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Romulus decided to risk it. <span class="tei tei-q">“If it is wise in +your eyes,”</span> he said. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“We are strangers in this land,”</span> said Colonus +deliberately, <span class="tei tei-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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page124">[pg 124]</span><a name="Pg124" id="Pg124" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page125">[pg 125]</span><a name="Pg125" id="Pg125" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“A long time ago,”</span> Romulus began, his dark +eyes fixed thoughtfully on the leaping flames, +<span class="tei tei-q">“when my brother and I were boys, Faustulus +the shepherd took us farther from our pastures +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page126">[pg 126]</span><a name="Pg126" id="Pg126" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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, <span class="tei tei-q">‘When +I am a man, I will found a city in the place where +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page127">[pg 127]</span><a name="Pg127" id="Pg127" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>the wolf saved our lives when we were children.’</span> +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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“And that is your secret desire?”</span> he said, +smiling. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“That is my dream,”</span> said Romulus. And he +looked at the older man with eyes that had a +question in them. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“If you are to found a city here,”</span> said Colonus +slowly, <span class="tei tei-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?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“My men will go where I go,”</span> said Romulus +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page128">[pg 128]</span><a name="Pg128" id="Pg128" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>briefly. <span class="tei tei-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,”</span> +the youth lifted his dark head in high confidence, +<span class="tei tei-q">“who follows me from any other reason than +because he wishes. They do not all love me,”</span> he +added, with a grin that showed his sharp white +teeth, <span class="tei tei-q">“but I am their leader and they will die +fighting before they will yield to Amulius.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page129">[pg 129]</span><a name="Pg129" id="Pg129" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>nor myself, has the right to rule upon the Long +White Mountain.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Colonus nodded thoughtfully. <span class="tei tei-q">“It would +seem so.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Then shall my people be your people, and +your gods my gods,”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Colonus stood up and took his young kinsman +by the hand. <span class="tei tei-q">“You are of our blood,”</span> he said, +<span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page130">[pg 130]</span><a name="Pg130" id="Pg130" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc29" id="toc29"></a> + <a name="pdf30" id="pdf30"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XI</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page131">[pg 131]</span><a name="Pg131" id="Pg131" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page132">[pg 132]</span><a name="Pg132" id="Pg132" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus145" id="illus145" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus145.png" alt="Illustration: “Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!”" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Ai-ya! Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus +forever!”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page133">[pg 133]</span><a name="Pg133" id="Pg133" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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’ +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page134">[pg 134]</span><a name="Pg134" id="Pg134" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page135">[pg 135]</span><a name="Pg135" id="Pg135" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page136">[pg 136]</span><a name="Pg136" id="Pg136" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“A man who is false to one master will be +false to two,”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Ye who know what Amulius did in the days +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page137">[pg 137]</span><a name="Pg137" id="Pg137" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>of his brother Numa,”</span> he began, <span class="tei tei-q">“know now that +he is dead.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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!”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +There was an instant’s pause, and then shouts +of <span class="tei tei-q">“Numa! Numa!”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page138">[pg 138]</span><a name="Pg138" id="Pg138" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Tell me that I have done well, my fathers, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page139">[pg 139]</span><a name="Pg139" id="Pg139" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>for without your approval the rest is nothing. +Have I proved myself worthy to found our city, +O ye who know the law?”</span> +</p><a name="illus152" id="illus152" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus152.png" alt="Illustration: Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor’s crown of laurel" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Then they blessed him and crowned him with +the victor’s crown of laurel. The outlaw had +found his own people. +</p> + +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page140">[pg 140]</span><a name="Pg140" id="Pg140" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc31" id="toc31"></a><a name="pdf32" id="pdf32"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XII</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE RING WALL</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page141">[pg 141]</span><a name="Pg141" id="Pg141" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>servant or subject, but he was the chosen man of +the gods, to do their will in the city. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Remus did most of the talking, in fact. He +was fond of raising objections and expressing +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page142">[pg 142]</span><a name="Pg142" id="Pg142" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page143">[pg 143]</span><a name="Pg143" id="Pg143" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page144">[pg 144]</span><a name="Pg144" id="Pg144" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus157" id="illus157" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"></p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus157.png" alt="Illustration: A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven hills" title="A PLAN OF ROME IN CLASSICAL TIMES, SHOWING THE SEVEN HILLS." /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">A PLAN OF ROME IN CLASSICAL TIMES, SHOWING THE +SEVEN HILLS.</div></div> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page145">[pg 145]</span><a name="Pg145" id="Pg145" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">mundus</span></span>, 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The things that were put in this trench, in a +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page146">[pg 146]</span><a name="Pg146" id="Pg146" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>hollow called the <span class="tei tei-q">“outfit vault,”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page147">[pg 147]</span><a name="Pg147" id="Pg147" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>it was kindled afresh by the use of the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">terebra</span></span> +and <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">tabula</span></span>, and all the other hearth fires would +be lighted from it. +</p><a name="illus160" id="illus160" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus160.png" alt="Illustration: The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white cow" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Now came the last and most important ceremony, +the tracing of the line of the wall around +the city itself,—the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">urbs</span></span>, 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page148">[pg 148]</span><a name="Pg148" id="Pg148" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">portae</span></span>,—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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +When the wall was built, a little inside this +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page149">[pg 149]</span><a name="Pg149" id="Pg149" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page150">[pg 150]</span><a name="Pg150" id="Pg150" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page151">[pg 151]</span><a name="Pg151" id="Pg151" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page152">[pg 152]</span><a name="Pg152" id="Pg152" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc33" id="toc33"></a><a name="pdf34" id="pdf34"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XIII</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE SOOTHSAYERS</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page153">[pg 153]</span><a name="Pg153" id="Pg153" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>brown face looked like an old withered nutshell. +She glanced up at him keenly. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Welcome, king,”</span> she said. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-q">“those who tell +the truth.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page154">[pg 154]</span><a name="Pg154" id="Pg154" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page155">[pg 155]</span><a name="Pg155" id="Pg155" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page156">[pg 156]</span><a name="Pg156" id="Pg156" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page157">[pg 157]</span><a name="Pg157" id="Pg157" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page158">[pg 158]</span><a name="Pg158" id="Pg158" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>places seeking protection, and were useful in +various ways even if they could only hew wood +and draw water, were called after awhile the +<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">plebs</span></span>, 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page159">[pg 159]</span><a name="Pg159" id="Pg159" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page160">[pg 160]</span><a name="Pg160" id="Pg160" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page161">[pg 161]</span><a name="Pg161" id="Pg161" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc35" id="toc35"></a><a name="pdf36" id="pdf36"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XIV</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">BREAD AND SALT</span></h2> + <a name="illus174" id="illus174" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus174.png" alt="Illustration: They sat together that night and watched the moon sail grandly over the flood" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page162">[pg 162]</span><a name="Pg162" id="Pg162" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The smaller boys who had helped were very +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page163">[pg 163]</span><a name="Pg163" id="Pg163" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page164">[pg 164]</span><a name="Pg164" id="Pg164" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page165">[pg 165]</span><a name="Pg165" id="Pg165" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +This was the first wedding in the colony, and +as the preparations went forward, everybody, old +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page166">[pg 166]</span><a name="Pg166" id="Pg166" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">confarreatio</span></span>; 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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; +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page167">[pg 167]</span><a name="Pg167" id="Pg167" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page168">[pg 168]</span><a name="Pg168" id="Pg168" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>meant to make it perfectly clear that all was done +in the right and proper and fortunate way. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page169">[pg 169]</span><a name="Pg169" id="Pg169" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-q">“Talassio! Talassio!”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page170">[pg 170]</span><a name="Pg170" id="Pg170" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus183" id="illus183" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus183.png" alt="Illustration: Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her through the door" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">atrium</span></span>, the middle room where the altar and +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page171">[pg 171]</span><a name="Pg171" id="Pg171" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-q">“libation”</span> to the gods of her new home. +This was the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">confarreatio</span></span>. 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +On the next day there was another feast, to +celebrate the beginning of the new home, and +the wedding was over. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I am glad,”</span> 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, <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page172">[pg 172]</span><a name="Pg172" id="Pg172" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I am glad,”</span> said Colonus, <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page173">[pg 173]</span><a name="Pg173" id="Pg173" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page174">[pg 174]</span><a name="Pg174" id="Pg174" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc37" id="toc37"></a><a name="pdf38" id="pdf38"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XV</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE TRUMPERY MAN</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page175">[pg 175]</span><a name="Pg175" id="Pg175" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page176">[pg 176]</span><a name="Pg176" id="Pg176" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page177">[pg 177]</span><a name="Pg177" id="Pg177" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>shouted, and Ruffo said, <span class="tei tei-q">“By Jove, there’s +Toto!”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Diovi</span></span>”</span> was the general name for <span class="tei tei-q">“the gods,”</span> +and when it is pronounced quickly it sounds like +<span class="tei tei-q">“Jove.”</span> The father of the gods was <span class="tei tei-q">“Diovis-Pater”</span>—which +in course of time became <span class="tei tei-q">“Jupiter.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><a name="illus191" id="illus191" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus191.png" alt="Illustration: Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +There were scarfs such as women wore on their +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page178">[pg 178]</span><a name="Pg178" id="Pg178" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page179">[pg 179]</span><a name="Pg179" id="Pg179" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>had been as heavy as they looked, it would have +been too great a load even for Toto’s broad +shoulders. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Pollio picked up one of the sandals and smiled. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“My father would not think this leather fit +to use,”</span> he said in a low tone to Bruno. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page180">[pg 180]</span><a name="Pg180" id="Pg180" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page181">[pg 181]</span><a name="Pg181" id="Pg181" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-q">“gravity”</span> as a virtue and <span class="tei tei-q">“levity”</span> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“My son, do you wish to be a strong man, +when you grow big?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Y-yes,”</span> sniffed the little fellow dolefully. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“You wish to be strong of soul and heart as +you are in your body, so that no one can make +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page182">[pg 182]</span><a name="Pg182" id="Pg182" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>you do anything you are not willing to do?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Yes, Father,”</span> said the boy, with his puzzled +dark eyes searching his father’s face. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page183">[pg 183]</span><a name="Pg183" id="Pg183" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page184">[pg 184]</span><a name="Pg184" id="Pg184" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc39" id="toc39"></a><a name="pdf40" id="pdf40"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XVI</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE GREAT DYKE</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page185">[pg 185]</span><a name="Pg185" id="Pg185" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“What are they like?”</span> asked the old man. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“They are like no other townspeople in this +valley,”</span> said Toto decidedly. <span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page186">[pg 186]</span><a name="Pg186" id="Pg186" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Hum,”</span> 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. <span class="tei tei-q">“And what are their priests?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“They have no priesthood dwelling in the +temples,”</span> said Toto. <span class="tei tei-q">“Their elders are their +priests and pretend to no magical powers. They +are chosen for their wisdom. Their gods are +invisible.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Hum,”</span> said Mastarna again. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page187">[pg 187]</span><a name="Pg187" id="Pg187" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>if his people had anything whatever that the +strangers wanted. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“You say that they build walls,”</span> he said to +Toto. <span class="tei tei-q">“Do they build good ones?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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. <span class="tei tei-q">“They +will find out how good they are,”</span> he said, <span class="tei tei-q">“after +twenty years of flood and drought.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page188">[pg 188]</span><a name="Pg188" id="Pg188" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page189">[pg 189]</span><a name="Pg189" id="Pg189" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Caius,”</span> said Colonus to young Cossus, <span class="tei tei-q">“go +over to the camp and find Ruffo, and ask him +to come and talk to this fellow.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page190">[pg 190]</span><a name="Pg190" id="Pg190" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page191">[pg 191]</span><a name="Pg191" id="Pg191" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page192">[pg 192]</span><a name="Pg192" id="Pg192" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>to let in strange ceremonies would be to defile +that home. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page193">[pg 193]</span><a name="Pg193" id="Pg193" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>they regarded with great horror when they first +came. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page194">[pg 194]</span><a name="Pg194" id="Pg194" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>not object to teaching any man who wished to +learn all he could. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">moenia</span></span>, and since it was the +lowest and least skilled labor, work of that kind +later came to be known as <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">menial</span></span>, the work of +slaves and servants. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page195">[pg 195]</span><a name="Pg195" id="Pg195" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page196">[pg 196]</span><a name="Pg196" id="Pg196" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc41" id="toc41"></a><a name="pdf42" id="pdf42"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XVII</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE WAR DANCE</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The question of wives for these men was a +serious one. Girls were growing up within the +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page197">[pg 197]</span><a name="Pg197" id="Pg197" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page198">[pg 198]</span><a name="Pg198" id="Pg198" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page199">[pg 199]</span><a name="Pg199" id="Pg199" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“There is a plan, my fathers,”</span> he said, <span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Now this I do not commend, since it is not +our wish to war with the people around us. To +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page200">[pg 200]</span><a name="Pg200" id="Pg200" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“In the villages on the heights—in the lower +valleys of the mountain range that lies <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">there</span></span>—”</span> +he waved a brown arm toward the far blue hills, +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“This therefore is my thought. I have seen,”</span> +the young chief’s dark face was lighted by a +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page201">[pg 201]</span><a name="Pg201" id="Pg201" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>fleeting smile, <span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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, <span class="tei tei-q">‘Talassa! +Talassa!’</span></span> +</p> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page202">[pg 202]</span><a name="Pg202" id="Pg202" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Have I spoken well, my father?”</span> He +looked straight at Colonus. <span class="tei tei-q">“If ye have a better +plan, let no more be said of this.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page203">[pg 203]</span><a name="Pg203" id="Pg203" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus216" id="illus216" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus216.png" alt="Illustration: There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were digging" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Jove!”</span> said Mamurius, a few minutes later, +<span class="tei tei-q">“Here’s something else!”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page204">[pg 204]</span><a name="Pg204" id="Pg204" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The soldiers who were to take part in the festival +in this unexpected and startling way were +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page205">[pg 205]</span><a name="Pg205" id="Pg205" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page206">[pg 206]</span><a name="Pg206" id="Pg206" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-q">“Talassa! +Talassa!”</span> revealed that this was a revival of the +ancient custom of marriage by capture. +</p> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page207">[pg 207]</span><a name="Pg207" id="Pg207" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page208">[pg 208]</span><a name="Pg208" id="Pg208" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc43" id="toc43"></a> + <a name="pdf44" id="pdf44"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XVIII</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page209">[pg 209]</span><a name="Pg209" id="Pg209" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>do now except to prophesy that it could not possibly +turn out well. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Ruffo says,”</span> answered Mamurius, <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page210">[pg 210]</span><a name="Pg210" id="Pg210" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page211">[pg 211]</span><a name="Pg211" id="Pg211" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page212">[pg 212]</span><a name="Pg212" id="Pg212" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page213">[pg 213]</span><a name="Pg213" id="Pg213" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“You are the daughter of a great man,”</span> said +Romulus. <span class="tei tei-q">“You are Emilia.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page214">[pg 214]</span><a name="Pg214" id="Pg214" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Long ago,”</span> he went on, <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“You! An outcast!”</span> the girl cried, her eyes +flashing in scorn. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I am of good blood, and now I rule this city. +You shall rule it with me when you will,”</span> said +the chief coolly. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I would rather be a slave and grind at the +mill!”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Romulus smiled. What did this girl know of +a slave’s life? +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“You had better not,”</span> he said. <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> And he turned and +went out. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page215">[pg 215]</span><a name="Pg215" id="Pg215" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +At first she hoped fiercely that her people +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page216">[pg 216]</span><a name="Pg216" id="Pg216" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus229" id="illus229" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus229.png" alt="Illustration: Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page217">[pg 217]</span><a name="Pg217" id="Pg217" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and from the brink one could see for miles across +the plain. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page218">[pg 218]</span><a name="Pg218" id="Pg218" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page219">[pg 219]</span><a name="Pg219" id="Pg219" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">what they +wore on their left arms</span></span>. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">all of it</span></span>! 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. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page220">[pg 220]</span><a name="Pg220" id="Pg220" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>At dawn the stronghold was in Sabine hands. +They had won the first move. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Come with me!”</span> she called, moving swiftly +toward the door of the temple of Vesta where +they were gathered. <span class="tei tei-q">“We will end this +war—<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page221">[pg 221]</span><a name="Pg221" id="Pg221" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>or die with our men! Come to the battle field!”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page222">[pg 222]</span><a name="Pg222" id="Pg222" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“It is nearly a year. The time has not gone +quickly.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“He told me,”</span> explained Emilia, <span class="tei tei-q">“that if +after the Saturnalia I wished to return, he would +send me home.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“And do you wish to go home, my daughter?”</span> +asked the priest. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Emilia looked up at Romulus. +</p> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page223">[pg 223]</span><a name="Pg223" id="Pg223" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I will go home,”</span> she said, <span class="tei tei-q">“with my husband.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +And the news ran through the camps that +Romulus had taken a Sabine bride. +</p> + +</div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page224">[pg 224]</span><a name="Pg224" id="Pg224" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc45" id="toc45"></a> + <a name="pdf46" id="pdf46"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XIX</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page225">[pg 225]</span><a name="Pg225" id="Pg225" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page226">[pg 226]</span><a name="Pg226" id="Pg226" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 +<span class="tei tei-q">“laid”</span> roads, because they were made by laying, +or spreading, new material on the line of travel. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The new road was a <span class="tei tei-q">“street”</span> built up of +<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">strata</span></span>. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page227">[pg 227]</span><a name="Pg227" id="Pg227" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page228">[pg 228]</span><a name="Pg228" id="Pg228" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">mansiones</span></span>,—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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">mansiones</span></span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page229">[pg 229]</span><a name="Pg229" id="Pg229" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page230">[pg 230]</span><a name="Pg230" id="Pg230" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>pier building in those days. It would be a timber +bridge. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“There is no iron in this work?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“None,”</span> said Calvo. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“The gods do not approve it?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Apparently not,”</span> said Calvo. <span class="tei tei-q">“The fires of +Jove burned two bridges for me before I found +it out.</span> +</p> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page231">[pg 231]</span><a name="Pg231" id="Pg231" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page232">[pg 232]</span><a name="Pg232" id="Pg232" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page233">[pg 233]</span><a name="Pg233" id="Pg233" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc47" id="toc47"></a><a name="pdf48" id="pdf48"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XX</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE THREE TRIBES</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <a name="corr233" id="corr233" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span class="tei tei-corr">Rome.</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Between these two great hills and a big bend +in the river was a great level space that was used +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page234">[pg 234]</span><a name="Pg234" id="Pg234" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>for a sort of parade ground, and this was called +the Campus Martius, the field of Mars. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page237">[pg 237]</span><a name="Pg237" id="Pg237" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus248" id="illus248" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"></p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus248.png" alt="Illustration: His mother molded for him men and animals" title="His mother molded for him men and animals." /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">His mother molded for him men and animals.</div></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page238">[pg 238]</span><a name="Pg238" id="Pg238" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +There was one danger, however, which nobody +realized in the least. In the great change from +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page239">[pg 239]</span><a name="Pg239" id="Pg239" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page240">[pg 240]</span><a name="Pg240" id="Pg240" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Naso said that it was all because the people had +allowed strangers to come in, and the gods were +angry. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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; +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page241">[pg 241]</span><a name="Pg241" id="Pg241" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page242">[pg 242]</span><a name="Pg242" id="Pg242" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page243">[pg 243]</span><a name="Pg243" id="Pg243" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc49" id="toc49"></a><a name="pdf50" id="pdf50"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XXI</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">UNDER THE YOKE</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +When the children of Mars first came to this +part of the world, people called them very often +the <span class="tei tei-q">“cattle-men,”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page244">[pg 244]</span><a name="Pg244" id="Pg244" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-q">“outfit vault”</span> was filled at the founding of +the city, a yoke was one of the things put in. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page245">[pg 245]</span><a name="Pg245" id="Pg245" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">salarium</span></span>,—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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page246">[pg 246]</span><a name="Pg246" id="Pg246" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>shorter time than they would if they had been left +to themselves. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-q">“the sons of the fathers.”</span> The word +<span class="tei tei-q">“father”</span> 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 <span class="tei tei-q">“patricians.”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page247">[pg 247]</span><a name="Pg247" id="Pg247" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-q">“under the yoke”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +There was a great sensation in Rome when the +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page248">[pg 248]</span><a name="Pg248" id="Pg248" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 <span class="tei tei-q">“triumph”</span>—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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page249">[pg 249]</span><a name="Pg249" id="Pg249" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page250">[pg 250]</span><a name="Pg250" id="Pg250" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>man who was disposed to consider the rights of +the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">plebs</span></span> 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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page251">[pg 251]</span><a name="Pg251" id="Pg251" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc51" id="toc51"></a><a name="pdf52" id="pdf52"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">XXII</span></h2> + +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE GOAT’S MARSH</span></h2> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page252">[pg 252]</span><a name="Pg252" id="Pg252" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and talked in the solar chamber, with no witnesses +but the stars. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“They do not understand,”</span> Romulus said +thoughtfully, when they had been all over the +struggle between the two parties, from beginning +to end. <span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“They are ready, some of them, to declare that +a thing is wrong because you saw it before they +did,”</span> said Calvo dryly. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“The people are with me—I believe,”</span> said +Romulus, <span class="tei tei-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?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I have always believed so,”</span> nodded Calvo. +<span class="tei tei-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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page253">[pg 253]</span><a name="Pg253" id="Pg253" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Calvo paused, as if he were thinking how he +should say what he thought, and then went on. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-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.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Romulus smiled in the way he did when he was +thinking more than he meant to say. <span class="tei tei-q">“I shall be +very strong when I am dead,”</span> was his only comment. +And Calvo knew that it was the truth. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page254">[pg 254]</span><a name="Pg254" id="Pg254" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Then Romulus told Calvo what he was going to +do. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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> + +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page255">[pg 255]</span><a name="Pg255" id="Pg255" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +They raised a shout as his tall figure appeared +but he waved them to silence. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I have not much to say,”</span> he began, and in the +still air the intense interest of his listeners seemed +to tingle like lightning before a storm, <span class="tei tei-q">“but much +has been said which was not true. I will not +waste time in repeating lies.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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.</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“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?</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Some are angry because I divided the lands, +which they gave us as a price, among the soldiers. +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page256">[pg 256]</span><a name="Pg256" id="Pg256" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Yet who has better right than the men who fight +the battles? This is all of my story. Ye +believe?”</span> Then a shout arose to the very skies,—<span class="tei tei-q">“Romulus! +Romulus! Romulus!”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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, <span class="tei tei-q">“Marcus!”</span> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Caius!”</span> <span class="tei tei-q">“Aulus!”</span> 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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page257">[pg 257]</span><a name="Pg257" id="Pg257" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">plebs</span></span>, or peasants, +was not exactly a thing to be overlooked. That +night was a black and anxious one. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Calvo heard the story gravely, without making +any comment. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Do you think,”</span> asked Calvo coolly at last, +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page258">[pg 258]</span><a name="Pg258" id="Pg258" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span class="tei tei-q">“that the gods had anything to do with these +strange appearances?”</span> Naso could not say. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“There have always been strange happenings +about this man,”</span> said Calvo thoughtfully. +<span class="tei tei-q">“His very birth was strange; his appearance +among us was sudden and unexpected. What +the gods send they can also take away.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“Do you think then,”</span> asked Cossus, <span class="tei tei-q">“that he +was taken by the gods to heaven?”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“I do not know,”</span> said Calvo. <span class="tei tei-q">“You say +you found no trace of him? But even a man +struck by lightning is not destroyed.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +The frightened men looked at each other. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +Fabius the priest was the first to speak. +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“It is at any rate not true that we have murdered +him,”</span> he said boldly, <span class="tei tei-q">“and that is what men +are saying in the streets.”</span> +</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-q">“And it may be true that he has been taken +by the gods,”</span> 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 +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page259">[pg 259]</span><a name="Pg259" id="Pg259" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><a name="illus272" id="illus272" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/illus272.png" alt="Illustration: Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived for many years an old shepherd" /></div> +<p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +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 class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> +He never returned to Rome, but far away, in +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page260">[pg 260]</span><a name="Pg260" id="Pg260" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>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><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page261">[pg 261]</span><a name="Pg261" id="Pg261" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<a name="toc53" id="toc53"></a><a name="pdf54" id="pdf54"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%"> +A ROMAN ROAD +</span></h2> + +<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Once along the Roman road with measured, rhythmic stride</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Marched the Roman legionaries in their valiant pride.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Men of petty towns and tribes, under Caesar’s hand,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Welded into Empire then their people and their land.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Now along that ancient road the silent motors run,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Driven by every ancient race that lives beneath the sun.</div> +</div> + +<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Swarming from their barren plains, wild barbarian hordes</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Wasted all the fruitful soil—then the Roman swords</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Leagued with Gallic pike and sling, held the red frontier,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Saved the cradle of our folk, all that we hold dear.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Now above the towers that rise where Rome’s great eagles flew,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Circle dauntless aeroplanes to guard their folk anew.</div> +</div> + +<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Gods who loved the sons of Mars found in field and wood</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Altars built with reverent care—saw the work was good.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Simple, brave and generous, quick to speech and mirth;</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Loving all the pleasant ways of the kindly earth;</div> +<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page262">[pg 262]</span><a name="Pg262" id="Pg262" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thus they built the stately walls that still unfallen stand.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Guarding for their ancient faith the dear, unchanging land!</div> +</div> + + <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Winds and waves and leaping flames all have served our race.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Flint and bronze and steel had each their little day of grace.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But the lightning fleets to-day along our singing wires,</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And the harnessed floods to-day are fuel for our fires.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Armored through the clouds we glide on swift electric wings.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Through the trenches of the hills a joyous giant sings.</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Light and Flame and Power and Steel are welded into one</div> +<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To serve the task set long ago,—when roads were first begun!</div> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> +THE END +</p> + </div></div> + <div class="tei tei-back" style="margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 6.00em"> +<hr class="doublepage" /><div class="boxed tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="pdf55" id="pdf55"></a><a name="toc56" id="toc56"></a> + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">Transcriber’s Note</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The following changes have been made to the text:</p> + <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"><tbody><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#corr118" class="tei tei-ref">page 118</a>, <span class="tei tei-q">“some”</span> changed to <span class="tei tei-q">“same”</span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#corr233" class="tei tei-ref">page 233</a>, period added after <span class="tei tei-q">“Rome”</span></td></tr></tbody></table> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Variations in hyphenation (e.g. <span class="tei tei-q">“cattlemen”</span>, <span class="tei tei-q">“cattle-men”</span>; + <span class="tei tei-q">“roadmaking”</span>, <span class="tei tei-q">“road-making”</span>) + and spelling (e.g. <span class="tei tei-q">“Caesar”</span>, <span class="tei tei-q">“Cæsar”</span>) + have not been changed.</p> + </div> + <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <div id="pgfooter" class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"><pre class="pre tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em">***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME*** +</pre><hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"><a name="rightpageheader57" id="rightpageheader57"></a><a name="pgtoc58" id="pgtoc58"></a><a name="pdf59" id="pdf59"></a><h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">Credits</span></h1><table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"><tbody><tr><th class="tei tei-label tei-label-gloss">May 31, 2011 </th></tr><tr><td class="tei tei-item tei-item-gloss"><table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"><tbody><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item">Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-respStmt"> + <span class="tei tei-resp">Produced by <span class="tei tei-name">Juliet Sutherland</span> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + at http://www.pgdp.net</span> + </span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"><a name="rightpageheader60" id="rightpageheader60"></a><a name="pgtoc61" id="pgtoc61"></a><a name="pdf62" id="pdf62"></a><h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; 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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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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Childhood of Rome + +Author: Louise Lamprey + +Release Date: May 31, 2011 [Ebook #36296] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME*** + + + + + + [Illustration: Cover image] + + [Illustration: Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around the + curve.] + + + + + + THE CHILDHOOD + OF ROME + By + L. LAMPREY + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + EDNA F. HART-HUBON + + [Illustration: Printer's sign] +BOSTON +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY +1925 + + + + + + _Copyright, 1922,_ + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + + + TO + MAITLAND C. LAMPREY + + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + +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. + +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. + +It will be observed that the forms of Latin and Italian names used in +these stories do not follow the usual classic Latin style and end in "us." +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 "Vitalos" might have been preserved long after +such clipped forms as "Marcus" and "Marcs" 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. + +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. + + + + + + THE LIVING LANGUAGE + + + Sing a song of little words, homely parts of speech, + Phrases children use at play, songs that mothers teach,-- + Who would think when Rome was new, they used that language then-- + Table, chair and family, map and chart and pen? + + Sing a song of stately ways, camp and square and street, + Consuls, tribunes, governors, the legion's myriad feet, + If those wise men so long ago had not known what to say, + All they gave us readymade we should not have to-day. + + Clear and straight and brief their talk in country or in town. + Lucid, vivid, accurate the thoughts that they set down. + Still the world is using words that bear the Roman stamp-- + Coined in forum, villa, temple, market place or camp. + Still our thoughts take day by day those shapes of long ago-- + If you read the dictionary you will find it's so. + + + + + + CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE 3 + II. TEN FAMILIES 17 + III. THE SACRED YEAR 28 + IV. THE BANDITTI 40 + V. THE WOLF CUB 55 + VI. BOUNDARY LINES 68 + VII. MASTERLESS MEN 81 + VIII. THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE 94 + IX. THE SQUARE HILL 108 + X. THE KINSMEN 117 + XI. THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA 130 + XII. THE RING WALL 140 + XIII. THE SOOTHSAYERS 152 + XIV. BREAD AND SALT 161 + XV. THE TRUMPERY MAN 174 + XVI. THE GREAT DYKE 184 + XVII. THE WAR DANCE 196 + XVIII. THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN 208 + XIX. THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE 224 + XX. THE THREE TRIBES 233 + XXI. UNDER THE YOKE 243 + XXII. THE GOAT'S MARSH 251 + A ROMAN ROAD 261 + + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Marcia wove her basket, putting a band of red around _Frontispiece_ +the curve + PAGE +Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were 12 +hurrying to shelter +The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar 21 +All the young voices took up the song 33 +The people gathered in the public square 45 +Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer 59 +food to strangers +"I have seen something like this before," he said 72 +The lad went straight down the mountainside with his 79 +wolf at his heels +The little maidens walked soberly together 96 +The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or 103 +lambs +"Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!" 132 +Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor's 139 +crown of laurel +A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven 144 +hills +The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white 147 +cow +They sat together that night and watched the moon sail 161 +grandly over the flood +Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her 170 +through the door +Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground 178 +There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were 203 +digging +Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew 216 +His mother molded for him men and animals 235 +Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived 259 +for many years an old shepherd + + + + + + + THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME + + + + + + I + + + THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE + + +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. + +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 sometimes 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + +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 the gods +took especial care of them and would go on being kind to them so long as +proper respect was shown. + +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. + +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 "corn," 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"Me make basket," announced her little sister, pulling at the withes, her +rag doll tumbling to the ground as she tried to scramble up on the wall. +"Up! up!" + +"O Felic'la (Kitty), don't; you'll spoil sister's work! I'll begin one for +you." + +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. + +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. 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. + +Why were the sheep coming in so early? + +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. + +"You had better pick up all that and go in," he called to them. "Pater +sent us home as quick as we could scamper. See how strange the sky is." + +They all looked. Little Felic'la, with round eyes, dropped her basket and +pointed. + +"Giants," said she. + +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. + +"Mater," said Bruno, "the spring and the stream have dried up." + +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 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. + +[Illustration: Other flocks of sheep and other men with oxen were hurrying + to shelter] + +Suddenly there was a crash as if the earth had cracked in two. Everything +turned black. The air was filled with smoke and dust and ashes raining +down from the sky. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"Are you safe, Livia? And the children?" 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. + +"I was trying to catch the white heifer," he said rather shamefacedly, +"but she got away. It's only a scrape along the skin--let me go, Mater." +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 whoever 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. + + + + + + II + + + TEN FAMILIES + + +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. + +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 wool and other provision for the future had been destroyed. +It was a very hard winter. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When he had done thinking, he spoke. + +"My son," he said, "you tell me that you desire to go forth and make your +home in another land." + +"I desire it not, my father," said Colonus, "unless it is the will of the +gods. I have thought that it may be best." + +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. + +"And where will you go?" was the chief's next question. + +"That I do not know," said Colonus. "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 forefathers. 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?" + +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. + + [Illustration: The patriarch looked at the fire on the altar] + +"There are two ways of living in a strange place, Marcus Colonus," he +said. "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 them +away, or make them your servants. Which is your choice?" + +Colonus hesitated. "My father," he said, "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." + +The old chief smiled. "My son," he said, "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 out of our people, the Ramnes, and in new power to our +gods,--and if so, surely the gods will lead you. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"Now among the people of the Long White 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. + +"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. + +"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. 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." + +Colonus rose and bowed to the old man, and went home. + +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. But every one of them was also a good +farmer; in fact, in such migrations the settlers were most generally known +as _coloni_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _coloni_. 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. + + + + + + III + + + THE SACRED YEAR + + +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. + +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 world, and it was not likely that they would ever come +back. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Finally Flamen the priest, the man most respected in the central and +largest of the towns, spoke of an old custom called the "sacred spring." +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 "sacred spring" their guardian god, 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + [Illustration: All the young voices took up the song] + +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 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. + +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. + +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. They also kept wild beasts from +coming too near. + +There were three groups of the young people, from three different +villages. At night they gathered in three camps; each "company" 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. + +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. + +Mauros was their leader, so far as they had 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + IV + + + THE BANDITTI + + +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. + +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 around so that he can have +a home, and this was what the Sabines wished to do. + +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. + +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. 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 +_heredium_, as it was called. + +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 +that the festivals in their honor were held in proper form. + +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. + +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 _banditti_, 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. + +There were two great festivals in the year, to 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. + + [Illustration: The people gathered in the public square] + +The other festival came in the spring, when the grass was green and the +leaves were fresh and bright, and flowers were wreathing shrubs 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 of the same red stone and looked like the head +of a little goat. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 village 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +So the summer passed, and the unconscious, happy people prayed for a good +harvest. + + + + + + V + + + THE WOLF CUB + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +His young master only laughed. "Here, Pincho!" 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 maddening +odor of meat, and it was all his master could do to hold him. + +[Illustration: Whoever they were, it was proper at this time to offer food + to strangers] + +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. + +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 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. + +"Why do you stay away from your own village on a holiday?" asked the child +straightforwardly. + +"We have no village," the boy answered. "We live by ourselves." + +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. + +"Do the sheep and the wolves live together in your country?" she asked, +watching Pincho's wedge-shaped, savage head as he gnawed his bone. + +"No; but Pincho is not really a wolf. He is my friend." + +"How can you be friends with a wolf?" persisted the small questioner. +"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." + +"Pincho has never killed a sheep." + +"Emilia, my child," said her mother, "it is time for the dance of the +children." And she led her little daughter away. + +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? + +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. + +This was puzzling. How could one man found a town? A town grew up where +many people came to live in one place. + +"Nay, my son," 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. "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?" + +"We have neither father nor mother," said the boy, but not +shamefacedly,--even a little proudly. "We were found when we were little +children by Faustulus the shepherd who is to us as a father, and we serve +him." + +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? + +"Nay," said Emilius, "they have eaten our salt." + +"The shepherd sometimes prays," the lad was saying thoughtfully. "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." + +He held up his fist with all the fingers except the little finger doubled +in; this, with the thumb, stuck straight up. "He calls it 'making the +horns.' " + +"The people across the river have many gods," he went on cheerfully. "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 than a child, who came up out of a field which a farmer was +plowing." + +The priest Emilius smiled. "My son," he said kindly, "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. + +"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?" + +The lad stood up, his staff in one hand, the other in the loop of the +wolf's collar. "We owe the shepherd our lives," he said, with his proud +young head erect. "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." + +His brother laughed. In a flash the lad turned on him and knocked him +down. Emilius caught him by the shoulder. + +"My boy," he said sternly, "there must be no quarreling on a holiday. Go +back to your 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." + +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. + + + + + + VI + + + BOUNDARY LINES + + +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. + +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 natural 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. + +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. + +The first time that Pero noticed this curiosity 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. + +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. + +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 touched by the plow or walked +on or otherwise used. This was the property of the god of boundaries, +Terminus. + +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 _termini_. The _terminus_ was a wooden pillar, +or the trunk of a small tree, set up firmly in the soil. In its planting +certain ceremonies were observed. + +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 for him, for +the line was plainly marked for all to see. + +The Cub looked down at the solemnly marching group, the white oxen, and +the setting of the posts with bright and interested eyes. + + [Illustration: "I have seen something like this before," he said] + +"I have seen something like this before," he said. "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 blood. Hail, +rust and the dog-star shall destroy his harvests, and his limbs shall +become sore and waste away." + +Pero stared in astonishment. "Where did you hear all that?" he asked. + +"When I was younger I ran away and crossed the river," said the Cub +calmly. "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. + +"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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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 with his +master. The two of them were feared wherever they went, and treated with +unqualified respect. + +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. + +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 their number. But long before the men +could get up there they would have gone on. + +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. + +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. + +The lad went straight down the mountainside with his wolf at his heels and +the child on his 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-- + + [Illustration: The lad went straight down the mountainside with his wolf + at his heels] + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + VII + + + MASTERLESS MEN + + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +"What can you do?" asked the youth consideringly. + +Gubbo said that he could teach tricks in knife work to almost any man; +also he could wrestle. + +"Try me," 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 was a fair match for him. Gubbo was +taken into the band. + +"He is a brute," said the Ram bluntly. + +"He is," said the leader. "But he can teach you fellows something." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +When every man in the camp of the banditti had been cut down or +captured--and about half of them surrendered,--the victors sat down and ate +the feast prepared for the robbers. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + + + VIII + + + THE BEEHIVE TEMPLE + + +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. + +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 village, 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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: The little maidens walked soberly together] + +"What-_ever_ happened?" 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. + +Ursula, the biggest girl, laughed. "If we were crossing a river and one of +us got drowned, I suppose her fire would be lost," she said teasingly. +"But they wouldn't excuse us for anything short of that." + +"But if it did go out--if all of the fires were put out?" 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. "Should we never +have a fire again, and have to eat things raw, and freeze to death, and +let the wolves eat us up?" + +"Certainly not," answered Marcia reassuringly. "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?" + +Flavia shook her yellow head. "I never noticed." 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. + +"They do it with the _terebra_ and the _tabula_. The _tabula_ is a flat +wooden block with a groove cut in it, and the _terebra_ 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 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 _always_ kindle a fire in that way." + +"What if the _terebra_ and the _tabula_ were lost?" asked Flavia. + +"They would make others." + +"If I rubbed my hands together long enough, would they be on fire?" 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. + +The girls all laughed, and Marcia answered, + +"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." + +"What's fever?" asked Yaya, on the other side. "Did you ever have it?" + +"No, never; but Father did once, when he was 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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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? + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: The little creatures inside the basket were not cubs or + lambs] + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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! + +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 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. + +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. + + + + + + IX + + + THE SQUARE HILL + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 "_palum_." 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 "defence,"--a defence made of +pointed stakes planted in the ground. + +The earth that was dug up was always thrown inside and formed the basis of +a low earthwork 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. + +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. + +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 could +see through a little window who was coming up the hill. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 unpromising plain, if only they could have their way with +it. + +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. + +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 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 "wattle and +daub" fashion have been known to last hundreds of years. + +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 _atrium_, the middle +space, in which were the altar and the _impluvium_ 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. + +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 _pomerium_, +the space "before the wall." In the middle was an open square which was to +the town what the _atrium_ 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + X + + + THE KINSMEN + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 same gods, and +obeyed the same laws and took responsibility. A man who did his part in +the life of such a place was a "citizen," and the life itself was +"civilized," 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. + +A "company" 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. "Community" 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. "Religion" 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. + +The various words for strangers outside these ties which bound them to +their own people were just as expressive. Among farmers who lived on +cleared land, within walls, the people who did not were "out of doors," +the forest people, the "foreigners." 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 "barbarians,"--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 "pagans," 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. + +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 great deal more than any one thought he did. + +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. + +"My uncle," he said at last to Marcus Colonus, when they were seated a +little apart from the others, "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." + +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 expected. He did not see exactly where +Romulus had learned it, but it gave him a feeling of great kindness toward +his young kinsman. + +"There is no need for you to be afraid," he said cordially. "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." + +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 +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. + +"That is very good of you," he said gratefully. "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--" + +And then he stopped. + +"Do you mean," asked Colonus, "that you wish the help of our young men in +some expedition?" + +Romulus decided to risk it. "If it is wise in your eyes," he said. + +"We are strangers in this land," said Colonus deliberately, "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 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." + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +"A long time ago," Romulus began, his dark eyes fixed thoughtfully on the +leaping flames, "when my brother and I were boys, Faustulus the shepherd +took us farther from our pastures 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. + +"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. + +"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, 'When I am a man, I will found a city in +the place where the wolf saved our lives when we were children.' 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." + +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. + +"And that is your secret desire?" he said, smiling. + +"That is my dream," said Romulus. And he looked at the older man with eyes +that had a question in them. + +"If you are to found a city here," said Colonus slowly, "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?" + +"My men will go where I go," said Romulus briefly. "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," the youth lifted his dark head in high confidence, "who follows +me from any other reason than because he wishes. They do not all love me," +he added, with a grin that showed his sharp white teeth, "but I am their +leader and they will die fighting before they will yield to Amulius. + +"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 nor myself, has the +right to rule upon the Long White Mountain. + +"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?" + +Colonus nodded thoughtfully. "It would seem so." + +"Then shall my people be your people, and your gods my gods," 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. + +Colonus stood up and took his young kinsman by the hand. "You are of our +blood," he said, "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." + + + + + + XI + + + THE TAKING OF ALBA LONGA + + +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 captain of +outlaws,--because they saw that in the end the war must be fought, and all +the men who could fight were needed. + +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. + +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. + +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 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: + + [Illustration: "Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!"] + +"Ai-ya! Victory! Vic-to-ry! Romulus forever!" + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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' 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"A man who is false to one master will be false to two," 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. + +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. + +"Ye who know what Amulius did in the days of his brother Numa," he began, +"know now that he is dead. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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!" + +There was an instant's pause, and then shouts of "Numa! Numa!" 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 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. + +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. + +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, + +"Tell me that I have done well, my fathers, for without your approval the +rest is nothing. Have I proved myself worthy to found our city, O ye who +know the law?" + + [Illustration: Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor's + crown of laurel] + +Then they blessed him and crowned him with the victor's crown of laurel. +The outlaw had found his own people. + + + + + + XII + + + THE RING WALL + + +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 servant or subject, but he was +the chosen man of the gods, to do their will in the city. + +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. + +Remus did most of the talking, in fact. He was fond of raising objections +and expressing 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. + +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? + +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 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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration: A plan of Rome in classical times, showing the seven hills] + +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. + +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. + +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 _mundus_, 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. + +The things that were put in this trench, in a hollow called the "outfit +vault," 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. + +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 it was kindled afresh by the use of the _terebra_ and +_tabula_, and all the other hearth fires would be lighted from it. + +[Illustration: The copper plow was drawn by a white bull and a white cow] + +Now came the last and most important ceremony, the tracing of the line of +the wall around the city itself,--the _urbs_, 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 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. + +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 +_portae_,--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. + +When the wall was built, a little inside this 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. + +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 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. + +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 experience 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. + +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. + + + + + + XIII + + + THE SOOTHSAYERS + + +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. + +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. + +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 brown face looked like an +old withered nutshell. She glanced up at him keenly. + +"Welcome, king," she said. + +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 "those who tell the truth." + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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 +places seeking protection, and were useful in various ways even if they +could only hew wood and draw water, were called after awhile the _plebs_, +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + XIV + + + BREAD AND SALT + + + [Illustration: They sat together that night and watched the moon sail + grandly over the flood] + +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 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. + +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. + +The smaller boys who had helped were very 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. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + +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? + +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. + +This was the first wedding in the colony, and as the preparations went +forward, everybody, old 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 _confarreatio_; 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. + +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; 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. + +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 meant +to make it perfectly clear that all was done in the right and proper and +fortunate way. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 "Talassio! Talassio!" 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 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. + + [Illustration: Mamurius lifted her in his strong arms and carried her + through the door] + +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 _atrium_, the middle room where the altar and 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 "libation" to the +gods of her new home. This was the _confarreatio_. 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. + +On the next day there was another feast, to celebrate the beginning of the +new home, and the wedding was over. + +"I am glad," 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, "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." + +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. + +"I am glad," said Colonus, "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." + +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 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. + + + + + + XV + + + THE TRUMPERY MAN + + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +shouted, and Ruffo said, "By Jove, there's Toto!" + +"_Diovi_" was the general name for "the gods," and when it is pronounced +quickly it sounds like "Jove." The father of the gods was +"Diovis-Pater"--which in course of time became "Jupiter." + +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. + +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. + + [Illustration: Toto spread out his gay cloth upon the ground] + +There were scarfs such as women wore on their 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 had been as heavy as they looked, it +would have been too great a load even for Toto's broad shoulders. + +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. + +Pollio picked up one of the sandals and smiled. + +"My father would not think this leather fit to use," he said in a low tone +to Bruno. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 "gravity" as a virtue and +"levity" 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. + +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, + +"My son, do you wish to be a strong man, when you grow big?" + +"Y-yes," sniffed the little fellow dolefully. + +"You wish to be strong of soul and heart as you are in your body, so that +no one can make you do anything you are not willing to do?" + +"Yes, Father," said the boy, with his puzzled dark eyes searching his +father's face. + +"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." + +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 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. + + + + + + XVI + + + THE GREAT DYKE + + +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. + +"What are they like?" asked the old man. + +"They are like no other townspeople in this valley," said Toto decidedly. +"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. + +"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 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." + +"Hum," 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. "And what are their +priests?" + +"They have no priesthood dwelling in the temples," said Toto. "Their +elders are their priests and pretend to no magical powers. They are chosen +for their wisdom. Their gods are invisible." + +"Hum," said Mastarna again. + +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 if his people had anything whatever that the strangers wanted. + +"You say that they build walls," he said to Toto. "Do they build good +ones?" + +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. +"They will find out how good they are," he said, "after twenty years of +flood and drought." + +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 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 debris, and their grain was washed away. + +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. + +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 vineyards. 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. + +"Caius," said Colonus to young Cossus, "go over to the camp and find +Ruffo, and ask him to come and talk to this fellow." + +He knew that Ruffo understood several languages and dialects, and whatever +it was that this man had come for, he wished to know it. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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 to let in strange ceremonies would +be to defile that home. + +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. + +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. + +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 they regarded with great horror when they first came. + +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 not object to +teaching any man who wished to learn all he could. + +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 _moenia_, and since it was the lowest and least skilled +labor, work of that kind later came to be known as _menial_, the work of +slaves and servants. + +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 resting 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. + + + + + + XVII + + + THE WAR DANCE + + +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. + +The question of wives for these men was a serious one. Girls were growing +up within the 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"There is a plan, my fathers," he said, "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. + +"Now this I do not commend, since it is not our wish to war with the +people around us. To 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. + +"In the villages on the heights--in the lower valleys of the mountain range +that lies _there_--" he waved a brown arm toward the far blue hills, "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. + +"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. + +"This therefore is my thought. I have seen," the young chief's dark face +was lighted by a fleeting smile, "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. + +"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, 'Talassa! Talassa!' + +"Have I spoken well, my father?" He looked straight at Colonus. "If ye +have a better plan, let no more be said of this." + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: There was a gleam of bright metal in the hole they were + digging] + +"Jove!" said Mamurius, a few minutes later, "Here's something else!" 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 earth cleaned off it with grass, and it was rubbed with a +piece of leather, it almost blinded them. It was a golden shield. + +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. + +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. + +The soldiers who were to take part in the festival in this unexpected and +startling way were 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 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. + +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 "Talassa! Talassa!" +revealed that this was a revival of the ancient custom of marriage by +capture. + +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. + + + + + + XVIII + + + THE PEACE OF THE WOMEN + + +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 do now except to prophesy that it could not possibly turn out well. + +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. + +"Ruffo says," answered Mamurius, "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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +"You are the daughter of a great man," said Romulus. "You are Emilia." + +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. + +"Long ago," he went on, "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." + +"You! An outcast!" the girl cried, her eyes flashing in scorn. + +"I am of good blood, and now I rule this city. You shall rule it with me +when you will," said the chief coolly. + +"I would rather be a slave and grind at the mill!" + +Romulus smiled. What did this girl know of a slave's life? + +"You had better not," he said. "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." And he +turned and went out. + +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 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. + +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. + +At first she hoped fiercely that her people 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. + + [Illustration: Emilia was allowed to sit with them and spin and sew] + +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, and from the brink one could see for miles +across the plain. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +The Sabines spread their army all around the Roman settlement. They took +possession of a hill near by, almost as great as the Palatine. + +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. + +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 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 _what they +wore on their left arms_. + +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. + +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 _all of it_! 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. At dawn the stronghold was in Sabine hands. They had won the +first move. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Come with me!" she called, moving swiftly toward the door of the temple +of Vesta where they were gathered. "We will end this war--or die with our +men! Come to the battle field!" + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"It is nearly a year. The time has not gone quickly." + +"He told me," explained Emilia, "that if after the Saturnalia I wished to +return, he would send me home." + +"And do you wish to go home, my daughter?" asked the priest. + +Emilia looked up at Romulus. + +"I will go home," she said, "with my husband." + +And the news ran through the camps that Romulus had taken a Sabine bride. + + + + + + XIX + + + THE PRIEST OF THE BRIDGE + + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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 +"laid" roads, because they were made by laying, or spreading, new material +on the line of travel. + +The new road was a "street" built up of _strata_. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 _mansiones_,--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 _mansiones_ 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 pier building in those +days. It would be a timber bridge. + +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. + +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. + +"There is no iron in this work?" + +"None," said Calvo. + +"The gods do not approve it?" + +"Apparently not," said Calvo. "The fires of Jove burned two bridges for me +before I found it out. + +"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." + +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. + +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 +observations 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. + +The way in which the bridge over the Tiber was built was much like the way +in which Caesar 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. + + + + + + XX + + + THE THREE TRIBES + + +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 Rome. 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. + +Between these two great hills and a big bend in the river was a great +level space that was used for a sort of parade ground, and this was called +the Campus Martius, the field of Mars. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: His mother molded for him men and animals] + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +There was one danger, however, which nobody realized in the least. In the +great change from 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Naso said that it was all because the people had allowed strangers to come +in, and the gods were angry. + +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. + +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. + +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; 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. + +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 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. + + + + + + XXI + + + UNDER THE YOKE + + +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. + +When the children of Mars first came to this part of the world, people +called them very often the "cattle-men," 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 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 "outfit vault" was filled at the founding of the +city, a yoke was one of the things put in. + +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. + +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 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 _salarium_,--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. + +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 shorter time than they +would if they had been left to themselves. + +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 +"the sons of the fathers." The word "father" 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 +"patricians." 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 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. + +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 "under the yoke" of these strangers. When the Romans +took the town of Fidenae, the Veientines were very indignant, though they +did not come to the help of their neighbors, and presently they claimed +that Fidenae 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. + +There was a great sensation in Rome when the 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 "triumph"--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. + +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. + +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 man who was disposed to consider the rights of the _plebs_ +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. + + + + + + XXII + + + THE GOAT'S MARSH + + +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. + +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 and talked in the solar chamber, +with no witnesses but the stars. + +"They do not understand," Romulus said thoughtfully, when they had been +all over the struggle between the two parties, from beginning to end. +"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." + +"They are ready, some of them, to declare that a thing is wrong because +you saw it before they did," said Calvo dryly. + +"The people are with me--I believe," said Romulus, "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?" + +"I have always believed so," nodded Calvo. "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 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." + +Calvo paused, as if he were thinking how he should say what he thought, +and then went on. + +"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." + +Romulus smiled in the way he did when he was thinking more than he meant +to say. "I shall be very strong when I am dead," was his only comment. And +Calvo knew that it was the truth. + +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. Then Romulus told Calvo what he was going to do. + +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. + +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. + +They raised a shout as his tall figure appeared but he waved them to +silence. + +"I have not much to say," he began, and in the still air the intense +interest of his listeners seemed to tingle like lightning before a storm, +"but much has been said which was not true. I will not waste time in +repeating lies. + +"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. + +"We made war against them and we beat them, and took their city Fidenae 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. + +"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? + +"Some are angry because I divided the lands, which they gave us as a +price, among the soldiers. Yet who has better right than the men who fight +the battles? This is all of my story. Ye believe?" Then a shout arose to +the very skies,--"Romulus! Romulus! Romulus!" + +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, "Marcus!" "Caius!" "Aulus!" 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. + +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 everywhere 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. + +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 _plebs_, or +peasants, was not exactly a thing to be overlooked. That night was a black +and anxious one. + +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. + +Calvo heard the story gravely, without making any comment. + +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. + +"Do you think," asked Calvo coolly at last, "that the gods had anything to +do with these strange appearances?" Naso could not say. + +"There have always been strange happenings about this man," said Calvo +thoughtfully. "His very birth was strange; his appearance among us was +sudden and unexpected. What the gods send they can also take away." + +"Do you think then," asked Cossus, "that he was taken by the gods to +heaven?" + +"I do not know," said Calvo. "You say you found no trace of him? But even +a man struck by lightning is not destroyed." + +The frightened men looked at each other. + +Fabius the priest was the first to speak. + +"It is at any rate not true that we have murdered him," he said boldly, +"and that is what men are saying in the streets." + +"And it may be true that he has been taken by the gods," 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 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. + +[Illustration: Far away, in a cavern on a mountain height, there lived for + many years an old shepherd] + +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. + +He never returned to Rome, but far away, in 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. + + + + + + A ROMAN ROAD + + + Once along the Roman road with measured, rhythmic stride + Marched the Roman legionaries in their valiant pride. + Men of petty towns and tribes, under Caesar's hand, + Welded into Empire then their people and their land. + Now along that ancient road the silent motors run, + Driven by every ancient race that lives beneath the sun. + + Swarming from their barren plains, wild barbarian hordes + Wasted all the fruitful soil--then the Roman swords + Leagued with Gallic pike and sling, held the red frontier, + Saved the cradle of our folk, all that we hold dear. + Now above the towers that rise where Rome's great eagles flew, + Circle dauntless aeroplanes to guard their folk anew. + + Gods who loved the sons of Mars found in field and wood + Altars built with reverent care--saw the work was good. + Simple, brave and generous, quick to speech and mirth; + Loving all the pleasant ways of the kindly earth; + Thus they built the stately walls that still unfallen stand. + Guarding for their ancient faith the dear, unchanging land! + + Winds and waves and leaping flames all have served our race. + Flint and bronze and steel had each their little day of grace. + But the lightning fleets to-day along our singing wires, + And the harnessed floods to-day are fuel for our fires. + Armored through the clouds we glide on swift electric wings. + Through the trenches of the hills a joyous giant sings. + Light and Flame and Power and Steel are welded into one + To serve the task set long ago,--when roads were first begun! + + + + THE END + + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + +The following changes have been made to the text: + + page 118, "some" changed to "same" + page 233, period added after "Rome" + +Variations in hyphenation (e.g. "cattlemen", "cattle-men"; "roadmaking", +"road-making") and spelling (e.g. "Caesar", "Caesar") have not been +changed. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDHOOD OF ROME*** + + + + CREDITS + + +May 31, 2011 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed + Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 36296.txt or 36296.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/2/9/36296/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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