FROM HISTORY.


THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF ROME.



As we shall say much in regard to the city of Rome, a few facts concerning its establishment may not be out of place.

If you will look at the map of Europe, you will see that the city of Rome is in Italy, a peninsula of Southern Europe, extending into the Mediterranean Sea. The history of the early inhabitants of ancient Rome is obscured in the darkness of uncertainty, the most that is known being gathered from tradition, which cannot be wholly depended upon.

At an early date, the Latins in the district of Latium in central Italy formed a confederacy of thirty cities, principal among which was the city of Alba Longa. Romulus, who at that time was the chief of a warlike band of men from Alba Longa, founded the city of Rome 752 years before the birth of our Saviour. The city was named Rome in honor of Romulus, who traced with a plow the place of its first walls. He little thought that the city he was founding would at length become the mistress of nations the capital of the civilized world.

When Romulus and his men first settled the city of Rome, its buildings were mere huts; but several hundred years after, it became famous on account of its splendid public buildings. The city reached the summit of its splendor in the reign of Augustus Caesar. One historian says that "he found the city brick and left it marble."

The circumference of Rome enclosed by walls was nearly twenty miles. Outside these walls were extensive suburbs which contained beautiful parks and wide streets shaded by large, spreading trees.

In the next article, we will tell you about the aqueducts and some of the public buildings of Rome. 





S. H. LANE.