4 Rutulorum. S. of Rome. Turnus their King. Capital, Ardea.
6 coloniam, i.e. Ostia, the harbour of Rome and chief naval station.
7-8 non esse opportunissimos, e.g. as exposed to sudden attacks, and likely to contain a too large foreign element.
12-13 quo redundaret = its own superabundance.
17-18 is tractus ductusque = the plan and direction.
19 definitus = bounded.
20 arduis praeruptisque montibus. ‘The amphitheatre of seven hills which encloses the meadows (afterwards the Campus Martius) in the bend of the Tiber, varying from 120 to 180 feet above the stream, offered heights sufficiently elevated and abrupt for fortification, yet without difficulties for the builder or cultivator.’
N.B.—In this passage be careful to translate Cicero’s long, periodic sentences by two or more separate sentences in English.
The Position of Rome. ‘There was no place better fitted for an emporium of the Tiber and sea traffic, and for a maritime frontier fortress than Rome. It combined the advantages of a strong position and of immediate vicinity to the river.’ Mommsen.