4. Notwithstanding many little wars with their immediate neighbours the Sabines, Æqui, and Volsci, together with various cities of the Etrusci, and even with the Latins themselves, Rome added but little to her territory: nevertheless she took the first step towards her aggrandizement; from the time of the destruction of Alba Longa, she aimed at being the head of the collected cities of the Latins, and finally attained the object of her ambition.
Line of kings. Romulus, 754—717. First establishment of the colony; augmentation in the number of the citizens, produced by the establishment of an asylum, and an union with part of the Sabines. Numa Pompilius, d. 679. By representing this prince as the founder of the religion of the Roman state, that religion received the high sanction of antiquity. Tullus Hostilius, d. 640. The conquest and destruction of Alba lays the foundation of Roman supremacy in Latium. Ancus Martius, d. 618. He extends the territory of Rome to the sea; the foundation of the port of Ostia proves that Rome already applied to navigation, the object of which was perhaps as yet rather piracy than trade. Tarquinius Priscus, d. 578. A Grecian by descent. Under his conduct Rome was already able to enter the field against the confederate Etrusci. Servius Tullius, d. 534. The most remarkable in the line of Roman kings. He placed Rome at the head of the confederacy of the Latins, which he confirmed by communia sacra. On his new division of the people according to property were raised the highly important institutions of the census and comitia centuriata. The necessity of this measure is demonstrative of the great and increasing prosperity of the Roman citizens; there can be no doubt, however, that by its adoption the frame of the republic was already completed. Tarquinius Superbus, (the tyrant,)—509. This individual, having taken forcible possession of the throne as nephew to Priscus, endeavoured to confirm his power by a close connection with the Latins and Volsci; by this, as well as by his tyranny, he offended both the patrician and plebeian parties. His deposition, and the consequent reformation of the government, were however, properly speaking, brought about by the ambition of the patricians.
Algarotti, Saggio sopra la durata de' regni de' rè di Roma. (Op. t. iii.) Chronological doubts. Can the raising of difficulties deserve the name of criticism?
Consular government, B. C. 509.
5. The only direct consequence to the internal constitution of Rome, proceeding from the abolition of royalty was, that that power, undetermined as it had been while in the hands of the kings, was transferred to two consuls, annually elected. Meanwhile the struggle for liberty, in which the new republic was engaged with the Etrusci and Latins, contributed much to arouse the republican spirit which henceforward was the main feature of the Roman character—the evils of popular 498. rule being in times of need remedied by the establishment of the dictatorship. The party, however, which had deposed the ruling family, took wholly into their own hands the helm of state; and the oppression of these aristocrats, shown principally towards their debtors, who had become their slaves, (nexi,)—notwithstanding 507. the lex de provocatione established by Valerius Poplicola, ensuring to the people the highest judicial power—was so galling, that after the lapse of a few years it gave rise to a sedition of the commons, (plebis,) the consequence of which was the establishment of annually elected presidents of the people 493.(tribuni plebis).
First commercial treaty with Carthage, 508, in which Rome appears certainly as a free state, but not yet as sovereign of all Latium; the most important monument of the authenticity of the earlier Roman history.
Heyne, Fœdera Carthaginiensium cum Romanis super navigatione et mercatura facta: contained in his Opusc. t. iii. Cf. † A. H. L. Heeren, Ideas, etc. Appendix to the second vol.
Rise of the Roman constitution.
6. The further development of the Roman constitution in this period, hinges almost wholly on the struggle between the new presidents of the commons and the hereditary nobility; the tribunes, instead of confining themselves to defend the people from the oppression of the nobles, soon began to act as aggressors, and in a short time so widely overstepped their power, that there remained no chance of putting an end to the struggle but by a complete equalization of rights. A long time elapsed ere this took place; the aristocracy finding a very powerful support both in the clientship and in the religion of the state, operating under the shape of auspices.