Is the founder of Rome a victim of a patrician conspiracy?
Everyone knows that the twins Romulus and Remus were supposed to be killed. Because they were illegitimate. Their mother served as a vestal and had to keep her virginity. She assured that she gave birth to twins from the god of war Mars "… because the sin, the culprit of which is God, is a lesser dishonor." This is how the historian Titus Livy explains. We, of course, believe him, but the Romans did not believe their mother.
Knowing their fathers
Romulus and Remus were nursed by a she-wolf, and then the shepherd Faustulus picked them up. And together with his wife Larenzia he raised them. The role of the she-wolf was already in doubt in antiquity. "Some believe that Larentia was called a" she-wolf "among the shepherds, because she gave herself to anyone - hence the story of the miraculous salvation." We will dismiss this version of Titus Livy as immoral. Better to be an ordinary wolf. On four legs.
Then the twins grew up and elevated their grandfather to the throne in Alba Long, after having killed their grandfather's brother, who had overthrown his grandfather even earlier.
Around Romulus and Remus, a gang of escaped slaves and other riffraffs formed. They left Alba Longa to found their city. Then the twins quarreled, and Romulus killed Remus. According to the historian Plutarch, Romulus also killed the shepherd Faustulus. And the brother of the shepherd Faustula. In general, there was a real gangster showdown, which, of course, does not paint Romulus, who killed all the people close to him.
However, Romulus founded the city of Rome. And he named it the inhabitants populus. The people, so to speak. And he christened the best of the populus patricians, that is, "fathers." "Either because they were the fathers of legitimate children, or, rather, because they themselves could indicate their fathers: among those who flocked to the city at first, only a few managed to do this," Plutarch believed.
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Kidnapping of wives
As you can see, at that time Rome was inhabited by the rarest rabble. And no one wanted to marry such rednecks. Therefore, Romulus arranged a holiday and invited his neighbors to it. Foolish Sabines came to him with women. The Romans attacked them and kidnapped their women. Or rather, unmarried girls. And only one married woman, whom Romulus took for himself.
The Sabines gathered with courage for a long time, and then attacked the Romans. The Sabines, led by Tatius, besieged the Roman fortification. The chief of the Roman guard had a daughter - Tarpeya. And the Sabines wore beautiful jewelry on their left hand. Like a bracelet, I guess.
Tarpea loved these decorations. She says: "I will open the gate for you at night, and you will give me what you wear on your left hand." “Okay,” the Sabines say. She opened the door, they captured the fortification.
But the Sabines did not like traitors. Or maybe they were sorry to part with the jewelry. And they found a way out. On the left hand the Sabines - in addition to bracelets - wore a shield. And instead of ornaments, they threw Tarpeya with shields, under which she died.
The moral is hopefully clear. If you want a man to give you something, clearly state your request.
And the Romans and the Sabines met in hand-to-hand combat. In the midst of the battle, the Sabine women came running. And they turned to the Sabines: “You,” say the Sabine women to the Sabines, “are freaks. Before you had to think. Then when we were kidnapped. And while you were getting ready to go to war, we have already managed to give birth to children."
And they poke these children in the eyes of the Sabines. Look, they say, these are your grandchildren and nephews. Their dads, of course, are bastards and rapists, but now they are our husbands and the fathers of our children. And we love them in some way and don't even want to live without these bastards.
Since such a thing, the Sabines made up with the Romans and moved to Rome. And Romulus and Tatius began to rule for two. True, Tatsy was soon killed. They say Romulus was not very worried about this. It is more convenient for one to rule.
Moreover, Romulus was characterized by an authoritarian style of government. As Plutarch says, he "abandoned any kind of closeness to the people and replaced it with autocracy." Romulus dressed in a red tunic and "dealt with cases, sitting in an armchair with a back."
The “fathers,” who are patricians, could not bear such a trampling on democracy. And, apparently, Romulus was soaked. But the people were told that Romulus had ascended to heaven.
The people believed. The people are generally gullible.
A good lesson for rulers. It is up to them to decide what is better - to rule democratically and die in their bed, or to change closeness to the people for autocracy and prematurely ascend to heaven. In this case, I am not an advisor.
Mysteries of History, №36 - 36 September 2015, Gleb Stashkov