In the year 414 after the overthrow of Troy, and in the sixth Olympiad — which is customarily held with a contest and games at Elis, a city of Greece, only in every fifth year, after four full years have passed in between — the city of Rome was founded in Italy by the twins Romulus and Remus as its authors.
1 Anno post euersionem Troiae CCCCXIIII, olympiade autem sexta, quae quinto demum anno quattuor in medio expletis apud Elidem Graeciae ciuitatem agone et ludis exerceri solet, urbs Roma in Italia a Romulo et Remo geminis auctoribus condita est.
Romulus at once stained its kingdom with parricide, and with a like success in cruelty he dowered the Sabine women — carried off against all custom and bound by unholy marriages — with the blood of their husbands and parents.
2 cuius regnum continuo Romulus parricidio imbuit, parique successu crudelitatis sine more raptas Sabinas, inprobis nuptiis confoederatas maritorum et parentum cruore dotauit.
So Romulus, having killed first his grandfather Numitor and then his brother Remus, seized the rule and established the City; he dedicated the kingdom with the blood of his grandfather, the walls with that of his brother, the temple with that of his father-in-law; and he gathered a band of criminals by a promise of impunity.1
3 itaque Romulus, interfecto primum auo Numitore dehinc Remo fratre, arripuit imperium urbemque constituit; regnum aui, muros fratris, templum soceri sanguine dedicauit; sceleratorum manum promissa inpunitate collegit.
1In Livy and the usual tradition Romulus killed the usurper Amulius and restored his grandfather Numitor to the throne of Alba; the murder of Numitor is Orosius’s error.
His first field for war was the forum of the City, signifying that foreign and civil wars, mingled together, would never be lacking.
4 primus illi campus ad bellum forum urbis fuit, mixta simul externa ciuiliaque bella numquam defutura significans.
The women of the Sabines, whom he had lured by a treaty and by games, he took as dishonourably as he defended his act wickedly.
5 Sabinorum, quos foedere ludisque pellexerat, feminas tam inhoneste praesumpsit quam nefarie defendit.
Their leader Titus Tatius, an old man who pressed for redress on honourable grounds of family duty, he long drove off by arms, and soon, once he had taken him into partnership in the kingdom, killed him.2
6 ducem eorum Titum Tatium, senem honestis pietatis causis insistentem, diu armis propulsatum, mox, ut in societatem regni adsumpsit, occidit.
2Livy (1.14) has Tatius killed in a riot at Lavinium, with Romulus only blamed for taking it calmly; Orosius makes it murder.
A battle was fought with the Veientes, a people then still of small name but already of great strength. The town of the Caeninenses was taken and destroyed.
7 cum Veientibus proelium adhuc paruo nomine, iam magnis uiribus, agitatum. Caeninensium captum ac dirutum oppidum.
Once arms had been taken up there was never any rest, for they feared shameful want and foul hunger at home if ever they settled into peace. From here on I shall touch as briefly as possible on the ceaseless struggles, always grievous in proportion to the strength involved:
8 adsumptis semel armis numquam quies, quippe quibus egestas turpis atque obscena fames domi timerentur, si umquam paci adquieuissent. iam hinc incessabilia certamina et iuxta quantitatem uirium semper grauia quam breuissime strinxerim:
how Tullus Hostilius, the founder of military discipline, trusting in a well-trained youth, made war on the Albans, and after a long time of uncertain hope and certain slaughter on both sides at length ended the worst of outcomes and doubtful results by the short-cut of the combat of the triplets;
9 Tullum Hostilium militaris rei institutorem fiducia bene exercitae iuuentutis Albanis intulisse bellum et diu altrinsecus spe incerta, certa clade, tandem pessimos exitus et dubios euentus conpendiosa tergeminorum congressione finisse;
how, when the peace was broken again, Mettius Fufetius, who had held back in suspense in the war with Fidenae and was even meditating treachery, paid for the guilt of a divided mind with the penalty of a divided body, chariots tearing him in opposite directions;
10 rursus pace disrupta Mettum Fufetium Fidenate bello, meditata etiam proditione suspensum, curribus in diuersa raptantibus duplicis animi noxam poena diuisi corporis expendisse;
how the Latins, under the leadership of Ancus Marcius, often fought and were sometimes overcome; how Tarquinius Priscus cut down all his neighbours and the twelve peoples of Etruria, then powerful, in countless conflicts; how the Veientes, under the pressure of Servius Tullius, were defeated but not subdued;
11 Latinos Anco Marcio duce saepe congressos, aliquando superatos; Tarquinium Priscum omnes finitimos et potentes tunc Tusciae duodecim populos innumeris concidisse conflictibus; Veientes Seruio Tullio insistente uictos fuisse nec domitos;
how the kingdom of Tarquinius Superbus was taken up through the crime of his father-in-law’s murder, held through cruelty practised on the citizens, and lost through the outrage of the violation of Lucretia; and, amid the vices at home and the virtues shining abroad, that is, the strong towns in Latium captured by him — Ardea, Oricolum, Suessa and Pometia — and whatever he achieved against Gabii, whether by his own treachery, or by his son’s punishment, or by Roman strength.3
12 Tarquinii Superbi regnum occisi soceri scelere adsumptum, habita in ciues crudelitate detentum, flagitio adulteratae Lucretiae amissum, et inter domestica uitia uirtutesque forinsecus emicantes, id est oppida ualida in Latio per eum capta Ardeam Oricolum Suessam Pometiamque et quidquid in Gabios uel fraude propria uel poena filii uel Romanis uiribus perpetrauit.
3Suessa Pometia was a single Volscian town, which Orosius splits in two; and Ardea was still under siege, not taken, when Tarquin was expelled (Livy 1.57–60).
But how great were the evils the Romans endured through 243 years of that unbroken domination of the kings is shown not only by the expulsion of one king, but also by their abjuring of the royal name and power.
13 sed Romani quanta mala per CCXLIII annos continua illa regum dominatione pertulerint, non solum unius regis expulsio uerum etiam eiuratio regii nominis et potestatis ostendit.
For if the pride of one man alone had been at fault, it would have been fitting to expel him alone, preserving the royal dignity for better men.
14 nam si unius tantum superbia fuisset in culpa, ipsum solum oportuisset expelli seruata regia dignitate melioribus.
So, when the kings had been driven from the City, the Romans, judging that it was better to consult for themselves than to have someone lord it over their liberty, created consuls; under whom the commonwealth, as though in the grown-up age of its growth, was exercised in bolder ventures.
15 igitur regibus urbe propulsis Romani, consulendum sibi quam cuiquam suae libertati dominandum rati, consules creauerunt: quibus ueluti adulta reipublicae crescentis aetas robustioribus ausis exercebatur.