The Rise of Rome (Penguin Classics)

by Plutarch

  39. After he had carried out most of the central responsibilities of his censorship, Aemilius fell ill of a disease which was, at first, very serious, and although in time its severity diminished, it remained troublesome and he simply could not recover completely. He was persuaded by his physicians to sail to Elea159 in Italy, and there he spent a good deal of time enjoying the peaceful countryside along the sea. The Romans longed for him, however, and men often cried out for him in the theatre, as if offering prayers, so eager were they to see him again. When at last a sacred ritual required his presence,160 and his health seemed to be sufficiently restored for him to conduct it, he returned to Rome. There, along with the other priests, he performed the sacrifice, while the people gathered around him with unmistakable delight, and on the following day he again made a sacrifice to the gods, in a private ritual, for his personal recovery. Now, when this sacrifice had been carried out in the prescribed manner, and he had returned to his house to lie down, before he knew what was happening or could begin to sense any change, he became delirious and demented, and within three days he died,161 having been blessed with everything that is deemed conducive to happiness.

  His funeral procession inspired wonder in others because it revealed everyone’s desire to honour the man’s virtue through the noblest and most blessed of obsequies, not by means of gold or ivory or other expensive or extravagant furnishings, but instead through goodwill and honour and gratitude, and not exclusively on the part of his fellow-citizens but also on the part of his enemies. For it was certainly the case that of all the Iberians and Ligurians and Macedonians162 who happened to be present in the city, those who were young and strong took it in turns to carry his bier, while their seniors followed in the procession, calling on Aemilius as their benefactor and the saviour of their countries. For it had not been only on those occasions when he made conquests that he had treated them all mildly and humanely, but rather, for the rest of his life, he had always been busy doing something good for them and had cared for them as though they were his relations or members of his household.

  His estate, so we are told, barely amounted to 370,000 drachmas,163 which he left to his two sons164 but the younger son, Scipio, because he had been given in adoption to the wealthier family of Africanus, allowed his brother to have it all. This, it is said, was the character and the life of Aemilius Paullus.

  Notes

  All dates are BC unless stated otherwise. Dates expressed in the form 194/3 refer to the single administrative year favoured by the Greeks.

  ROMULUS

  Further Reading

  There is no English commentary on the Life of Romulus. In Italian there is M. Bettalli and G. Vanotti (eds.), Plutarco, Vite Parallele: Teseo e Romolo (2003). Important interpretative contributions include: D. H. J. Larmour, ‘Plutarch’s Compositional Methods in the Theseus and Romulus’, TAPhA 118 (1988), pp. 361–75, and Pelling, P&H, pp. 171–95. T. P. Wiseman, Remus: A Roman Myth (1995), provides a fascinating look at the complexity of the stories of Rome’s origins, in both Greek and Roman writers, and the importance of kings to the Romans’ conception of their own history is well discussed by C. Smith, ‘Thinking about kings’, Bulletin of the Institute for Classical Studies 54 (2011), pp. 21–42. M. Fox, Roman Historical Myths: The Regal Period in Augustan Literature (1996), is a useful discussion of how and to what purposes Livy and Dionysius deploy stories about early Rome.

  A good introduction to the problems of the historiography of early Rome is Forsythe, Early Rome, pp. 59–77; see also General Introduction V. A more optimistic view of the reliability of early Roman traditions is maintained by Cornell, Beginnings of Rome, pp. 1–25, and S. P. Oakley, A Commentary on Livy, Books 6–10, vol. 1 (1997), pp. 21–108. A. Carandini, Rome: Day One (2011), is an attempt by an eminent archaeologist to validate the literary sources for early Rome by way of a tendentious interpretation of the city’s material remains. In this Life, as well as in other Lives of early Romans (especially Numa and Publicola), Plutarch exhibits a strong interest in the historical topography of early Rome. This a subject that continues to generate controversy and, for scholarly appraisals of what we can know about Rome’s topography and its history, the best resource is E. M. Steinby (ed.), Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, 6 vols. (1993–2000).

  Notes to the Introduction to Romulus

  1. On the historical difficulties of early Rome, see General Introduction V (with further reading cited there).

  2. On Caesar and Romulus, see S. Weinstock, Divus Julius (1971); on Augustus and Romulus, see K. Galinsky, Augustan Culture (1996), especially pp. 204–7.

  3. Or so argues E. W. Haley, Latomus 64 (2005), pp. 969–80.

  4. See C. Pelling, Plutarch: Caesar (2011), pp. 34–5.

  5. See the discussion by Pelling, P&H, pp. 171–95.

  6. Self-control (sophrosyne) was widely admired in Greek thought and is especially valued by Plutarch; see Duff, Plutarch’s Lives, pp. 77–8. Plutarch also esteems military leaders who prefer to rely on their intelligence more than on their martial passions, a theme that emerges in nearly every Life in this volume: Camillus, for instance, as well as Aratus and Aemilius Paullus are characterized by their superior reasoning (Romulus’ intelligence is stressed at ch. 6).

  7. See Duff, Plutarch’s Lives, pp. 89–94.

  8. See General Introduction V.

  9. On Fabius Pictor, see General Introduction. Wiseman, Remus: A Roman Myth, pp. 57–61, includes interesting speculations on Promathion’s identity.

  10. HRR, vol. 1, pp. cccv and 238.

  Notes to the Life of Romulus

  1. Pelasgians … Rome: The Pelasgians were a mythical people, mentioned already in Homer (Iliad 2.840, 17.301) and deemed by Herodotus (1.57) to be a primordial Greek population. The Greek word rhomē means might, and this was also the Greek name for the city of Rome – hence this theory of Pelasgian origin.

  2. greet … with kisses: Plutarch also discusses this practice at Moralia 243f and 265b–e (where he cites Aristotle as his source).

  3. Italus and Leucaria: Italus (the eponym for Italy) was a mythological king of the Oenotrians; Leucaria was the daughter of Latinus (Dion. Hal. 1.72.6).

  4. Rhomus … Diomedes: See Dion. Hal. 1.72.6.

  5. Romis, a tyrant of the Latins: Mentioned only here.

  6. Etruscans … Lydia to Italy: According to Herodotus (1.94), the Etruscans came to Italy from Lydia. By contrast, Dion. Hal. (1.25–30) believed they were Italian natives, which appears more likely.

  7. Phorbas: A Trojan mentioned at Iliad 14.490.

  8. Trojan woman I mentioned earlier: Plutarch refers to Dexithea.

  9. Latinus, son of Telemachus: In Hesiod (Theogony 1011–16), Latinus (eponym of the Latins) is the son of Circe and Odysseus, and king of the Etruscans.

  10. Aemilia … bore Romulus to Mars: Many distinguished families in Rome, like the Aemilii or Julii, fabricated legendary genealogies for themselves.

  11. Lavinia: Either the Delian-born wife of Aeneas (Dion. Hal. 1.59.3) or the daughter of Latinus, who also became Aeneas’ wife.

  12. Tarchetius … Alba Longa: Tarchetius is mentioned only here. But Alba Longa is routinely the city from whom Romulus and Remus derive, although in reality Alba Longa’s antiquity was exaggerated by the Romans: see A. Grandazzi, Alba Longa: histoire d’une legende (2008).

  13. Tethys: Daughter of Earth and Heaven, sister and consort of Ocean and by him the mother of all rivers and the Oceanids.

  14. Vesta: The Roman goddess of the hearth.

  15. Promathion: Not otherwise known, but see Introduction note 9.

  16. Diocles of Peparethus: Greek historian of the third century BC (FGrH 840). Peparethus is the modern Skopelos Island.

  17. Fabius Pictor … follows: See General Introduction V.

  18. Cermalus … brother: The Cermalus was the western side of the Palatine Hill. Its derivation from germanus is found in Varro, On the Latin Language 5.54, probably Plutarch’s source here.

  19.
wild fig tree … libations of milk: Traces of the Ruminal fig remained on the Palatine at the beginning of the imperial period (Livy 1.4, Ovid, Fasti 2.411), but there was also a tradition that this tree was removed to the Comitium by the augur Attus Navius (Pliny, Natural History 15.20.77; Tacitus, Annals 13.58). Rumina and her milky sacrifices are discussed by Varro, On Agriculture 2.11.5.

  20. Acca Larentia … Larentalia: Acca Larentia is an elusive figure, for whom there remain two distinct mythical accounts (both recounted here by Plutarch). Her festival was celebrated in December. The ritual libation in April is mentioned only here and again at Moralia 272e–f.

  21. Velabrum: Originally a marshy area between the Palatine, the Capitol and the Tiber, it eventually became a busy commercial district of the city. Varro, On the Latin Language 5.43, speculates on its etymology. Modern scholars favour its derivation from an Etruscan word for swamp, vel.

  22. Gabii: A Latin city, approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Rome. The twins’ education at Gabii – in Greek – was an established part of the tradition well before Plutarch’s day (see Dion. Hal. 1.84.5), but it is not in Livy.

  23. the Romans’ seizure of the Sabine women: The Rape of the Sabine Women is narrated in chs. 14–15.

  24. a sanctuary … Pythian: The provision of an asylum under the protection of Apollo was a Greek institution. Rome had an asylum somewhere on the Capitoline, but only Plutarch mentions a god named Asylum or an oracle of Apollo (‘the Pythian’ refers to Apollo’s oracle at Delphi) in association with the Roman asylum; see E. Dench, Romulus’ Asylum (2005), pp. 2–5 and 20–25. Dion. Hal. (1.89 and 2.15.3–4) insists that Romans were not originally a mob of riff-raff and that Rome’s asylum was open only to freeborn men fleeing injustice.

  25. site … in that place: The exact site of Roma Quadrata, located somewhere on the Palatine, remains uncertain.

  26. Remorium … now called Rignarium: Also Remus’ burial place (ch. 11), though originally these were believed to be distinct places. Their identification and their location on the Aventine were well established by Cicero’s day (Cicero, On his Home 136).

  27. Herodorus Ponticus: Herodorus, from Heracleia on Pontus, was a mythographer who flourished around 400 (FGrH 31).

  28. ‘how could a bird … be pure?’: Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 226.

  29. vultures … divine agency: Plutarch revisits vultures at Moralia 286a–c.

  30. Quintus Metellus … Celer: Plutarch refers to Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, tribune of the people in 90 BC. The Latin word celer simply means fast and has nothing to do with the figure of Celer who appears in some versions of the story of Romulus and Remus. See also ch. 26.

  31. the Remoria: The same place as the Remorium mentioned in ch. 9.

  32. the Comitium: Located between the senate-house and the Roman Forum, it was the earliest place of public assembly in Rome and throughout the republic remained an important site for public speaking and popular assemblies. But in this Life Romulus constructs his city on the Palatine (ch. 9), which suggests that Plutarch or his sources have confounded or conflated varying traditions.

  33. mundus: Its location remains unknown. It was a vaulted pit that somehow connected Rome with the gods of the underworld (it was the object even of ancient antiquarian speculation). It is not clear if Plutarch has the same Mundus in mind here. The ritual Plutarch describes is a foundation ritual paralleled elsewhere, but without reference to the Mundus.

  34. pomerium … city wall: That is, pomerium derives from a contraction of post murum. This (false) etymology was commonly cited: see Varro, On the Latin Language 5.143; Livy 1.44.4–5.

  35. city gate … unclean: Plutarch attributes this information to Varro at Moralia 271a–b.

  36. eleventh day before the Calends of May: This is 21 April.

  37. Parilia: An agricultural festival, involving sacrifice, in honour of the mysterious divinity Pales. It is described in detail by Ovid at Fasti 4.721–82.

  38. thirtieth day of the month: Plutarch refers to the last day of the lunar month (whatever day that happened to be in any Greek or in the Roman calendar).

  39. Antimachus: Nothing further is known of him (he is also mentioned by Clement of Alexandria at Miscellanies 6.2.12).

  40. third year of the sixth Olympiad: This is 753, which became the traditional foundation date. It was advanced by Varro, who relied on chronological research by Castor of Rhodes; see D. Feeney, Caesar’s Calendar: Ancient Times and the Beginnings of History (2007), pp. 63–5.

  41. Varro the philosopher: See Introduction.

  42. Tarutius: Lucius Tarutius Firmanus, also a friend of Cicero (see Cicero, On Divination 2.47).

  43. twenty-third day … of Choeac: 24 June (772).

  44. twenty-third day … of Thoth: 24 March (771). By this calculation, Romulus was only eighteen when he founded Rome.

  45. ninth day … of Pharmuthi: 4 October.

  46. first act: In the account given by Dion. Hal. (2.3), Romulus’ first act is to ask the people to choose their new city’s constitution.

  47. select … legion: The Latin word for select is legere.

  48. patricians: The Latin word for father is pater. The origin of the patrician order remains controversial: see C. J. Smith, The Roman Clan (2006), pp. 251–80.

  49. senate … elders: The Latin word senex was used of men in their forties or older, senior figures in the demographic circumstances of antiquity. The Roman senate (senatus), while not restricted to men of this age, was nonetheless dominated by its most senior members.

  50. Evander: An Arcadian hero, usually described as a son of Hermes, who eventually settled on the Palatine (long before the actual founding of Rome); see ch. 21.

  51. patronage … Patron: Patrocinium denominates the relationship between a patron (patronus) and his client (cliens), which Plutarch describes below.

  52. conscript fathers: The Latin expression Plutarch has in mind is patres conscripti. See also Moralia 278d.

  53. discussion of these matters: The patron-client relationship is also described at length by Dion. Hal. (2.8–10).

  54. undertook this exploit in the following way: In both Livy (1.9.1–6) and Dion. Hal. (2.30.1–2), the Rape of the Sabine Women is preceded by earnest diplomacy through which Romulus strives to gain the right of intermarriage with neighbouring cities.

  55. Consus: The name probably derives from condere (meaning to store away) and Consus was a god of the granary. The festival of Consus, the Consualia, was celebrated on 21 August and 15 December. Plutarch refers below to the August celebration.

  56. god of horses: The Greek divinity Poseidon was god both of the sea and of horses, for which reason he was often called Poseidon Hippios (Poseidon the god of horses). The Roman Neptune, by contrast, was not originally associated with horses. Horse races were a spectacular part of the Consualia, which prompted this Greek interpretation of Consus (hence, at Livy 1.9.6, Neptunus Equester, or Neptune the god of horses). Plutarch suggests this identification again at Moralia 276c. Dion. Hal. (2.31.2) associates Consus with Poseidon the Earth Shaker (in Greek religion Poseidon was responsible for earthquakes).

  57. curiae … named after them: A curia was an early Roman neighbourhood. There were thirty curiae. Plutarch mentions this claim again in ch. 20. On the origins of the curiae, see Smith, The Roman Clan, pp. 184–234.

  58. Valerius Antias … virgins: On Valerius Antias and Juba, see Introduction. Plutarch revisits the number of Sabine women seized at Comparison Theseus–Romulus 6.

  59. Hostilius: Hostus Hostilius was the grandfather of Tullus Hostilius, Rome’s third king; see ch. 18. At Livy 1.12.2–3 he falls fighting bravely in the subsequent conflict with the Sabines.

  60. given to Romulus himself: So Livy 1.11.2 – and Plutarch at Comparison Theseus–Romulus 6.

  61. Aollius … Avillius … Zenodotus: Zenodotus (incorrectly) derived the Roman name Avillius from the Greek word aollēs, which means in crowds. Little is known of this Zenodotus, who may have lived i
n the second century BC. This is the only source that attributes children to Romulus.

  62. talasius … hymenaeus: Romans shouted talasio at weddings but did not know why. Explanations proliferated (see e.g. Livy 1.9.12). Plutarch revisits the question at Moralia 271f, where he repeats this story. Romans also shouted hymen hymenaee.

  63. Sextius Sulla of Carthage: A friend of Plutarch who is mentioned several times in his writings. When visiting Rome, Plutarch had been a guest in his home (Moralia 727b). See Jones P&R, p. 60.

  64. the cry is an exhortation … talasia: The same view is expressed at Numa 8.

  65. it remains the custom … Roman Questions: See Moralia 271d (lifting the bride), Moralia 284f (a wife’s domestic duties) and Moralia 285b–d (the head of a spear). On Roman Questions, see General Introduction I.

  66. eighteenth day of the month … celebrated: This is an error: the Consualia was celebrated on 21 August (see note 55).

  67. unwalled villages … fearless: Lacedaemonian is another expression for Spartan, and the city of Sparta, during the classical period, did not have city walls. On the (false) tradition that the Sabines descended from Spartan colonists, see Dion. Hal. 2.49.4–5. Plutarch offers a different explanation for the Sabines’ fondness for Spartan customs at Numa 1.

  68. Caenina: A Latin, not a Sabine, city. Its location is uncertain and by Plutarch’s day it no longer existed (Pliny, Natural History 3.68).