The will of the gods sought for—The first temples—Festivals in the first month—Vinalia and Saturnalia—Fires of Vulcan and Vesta— Matronly and family services—No mythology at first—Colleges of priests needed—An incursion of Greek philosophers—Games of childhood —Checkers and other games of chance—The people cry for games—Games in the circus—The amphitheatre invented—Men and beasts fight—Funeral ceremonies—Charon paid—The mourning procession—Inurning the ashes —The columbarium—The Roman May-day—Change from rustic simplicity to urban orgies.
INDEX.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
MAP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE MAP OF ANCIENT ROME VIEW OF THE COLOSSEUM AND PORTION OF MODERN ROME THE PLAIN OF TROY IN MODERN TIMES ROMAN GIRLS WITH A STYLUS AND WRITING-TABLET A ROMAN ALTAR MONUMENT OF THE HORATII AND THE CURIATII MOUTH OF THE CLOACA MAXIMA AT THE TIBER, AND THE SO-CALLED TEMPLE OF VESTA ROMAN SOLDIERS, COSTUMES AND ARMOR THE RAVINE OF DELPHI THE CAPITOL RESTORED ROMAN STREET PAVEMENT A PHOENICIAN VESSEL (TRIREME) A ROMAN WAR-VESSEL HANNIBAL TERENCE, THE LAST ROMAN COMIC POET PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUS A ROMAN MATRON ROMAN HEAD-DRESSES GLADIATORS AT A FUNERAL ACTORS' MASKS A ROMAN MILE-STONE IN A ROMAN STUDY PLAN OF A ROMAN CAMP IN THE TIME OF THE REPUBLIC POMPEY (CNEIUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS) CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR GLADIATORS TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION OF A ROMAN GENERAL INTERIOR OF A ROMAN HOUSE A ROMAN POETESS THE FORUM ROMANUM IN MODERN TIMES AN ELEPHANT IN ARMOR ITALIAN AND GERMAN ALLIES, COSTUMES AND ARMOR INTERIOR OF THE FORUM ROMANUM MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO CLEOPATRA'S SHOW SHIP ANCIENT STATUE OF AUGUSTUS THE HOUSE-PHILOSOPHER DINING-TABLE AND COUCHES COVERINGS FOR THE FEET ARTICLES OF THE ROMAN TOILET RUINS OF THE COLOSSEUM, SEEN FROM THE PALATINE HILL A COLUMBARIUM
THE STORY OF ROME.
I.
ONCE UPON A TIME.
Once upon a time, there lived in a city of Asia Minor, not far from Mount Ida, as old Homer tells us in his grand and beautiful poem, a king who had fifty sons and many daughters. How large his family was, indeed, we cannot say, for the storytellers of the olden time were not very careful to set down the actual and exact truth, their chief object being to give the people something to interest them. That they succeeded well in this respect we know, because the story of this old king and his great family of sons and daughters has been told and retold thousands of times since it was first related, and that was so long ago that the bard himself has sometimes been said never to have lived at all. Still; somebody must have existed who told the wondrous story, and it has always been attributed to a blind poet, to whom the name Homer has been given.
The place in which the old king and his great family lived was Ilium, though it is better known as Troja or Troy, because that is the name that the Roman people used for it in later times. One of the sons of Priam, for that was the name of this king, was Paris, who, though very handsome, was a wayward and troublesome youth. He once journeyed to Greece to find a wife, and there fell in love with a beautiful daughter of Jupiter, named Helen. She was already married to Menelaus, the Prince of Lacedæmonia (brother of another famous hero, Agamemnon), who had most hospitably entertained young Paris, but this did not interfere with his carrying her off to Troy. The wedding journey was made by the roundabout way of Phoenicia and Egypt, but at last the couple reached home with a large amount of treasure taken from the hospitable Menelaus.
This wild adventure led to a war of ten years between the Greeks and King Priam, for the rescue of the beautiful Helen. Menelaus and some of his countrymen at last contrived to conceal themselves in a hollow wooden horse, in which they were taken into Troy. Once inside, it was an easy task to open the gates and let the whole army in also. The city was then taken and burned. Menelaus was naturally one of the first to hasten from the smoking ruins, though he was almost the last to reach his home. He lived afterwards for years in peace, health, and happiness with the beautiful wife who had cost him so much suffering and so many trials to regain.