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After they invade Rome, Tatius captures the citadel with the assistance of Tarpeia, the commander's daughter.

Sources

[[File:Cr 20-1-Reverse.jpg|thumb|Romulus and Remus. Silver [[drachm|didrachm]] (6.44 g). c. 269–266 BC]] Among the most important surviving sources of the myth are the writings of the historians Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Roman poet Ovid and the biographer and essayist Plutarch. The historians cite the works of various earlier historians, many of which are now lost. By the 4th century BC, the fundamentals of the Romulus and Remus story were standard Roman fare, and by 269 BC the wolf and suckling twins appeared on one of the earliest, if not the earliest issues of Roman silver coinage. Rome's foundation story was evidently a matter of national pride. It featured in the earliest known history of Rome, which was attributed to Diocles of Peparethus. The patrician senator Quintus Fabius Pictor used Diocles' as a source for his own history of Rome, now lost but written around the time of Rome's war with Hannibal and probably intended for circulation among Rome's Greek-speaking allies.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and librarian who wrote in the years prior to Livy. He is one of the primary sources for the accounts of Livy and Plutarch. He writes extensively on the myth, sometimes attributing direct quotes to its figures. The myth spans the first 2 volumes of his Roman Antiquities, beginning with Book I chapter 73 and concluding in Book II chapter 56.

Palace intrigue

Dionysius claims that the twins were born to a vestal named Ilia Silvia (sometimes called Rea). Proca, her grandfather had willed the throne to his son Numitor but he was later deposed by her uncle, Amulius. For fear of the threat that Numitor's heirs might pose, the king had Ilia's brother, Aegestus killed and blamed robbers. The truth about the crime was known by some, including Numitor, who feigned ignorance. Amulius then appointed Ilia to the Vestal priestesshood, where her vow of chastity would prevent her from producing any further male rivals. Despite this, she became pregnant a few years later, claiming to have been raped.

Pregnancy of Ilia

The different accounts of the twins' conception are laid out, but Dionysius declines to choose one over the others. The sources variously relate that it was a suitor, Amulius himself (in full armor to conceal his identity and , or a supernatural being. The latter comforted Ilia by making her grieve and telling her that she would bear twins whose bravery and triumphs would be unmatched.

Ilia hid her pregnancy with claims of illness so as to avoid her vestal duties. Amulius suspected her and employed physicians and his wife to monitor her for signs of being with child. When he did discover the truth, she was placed under armed guard. After being informed of the delivery of the twins, Amulius suspected that she had in fact given birth to triplets. The third child had been concealed from the guards present. Ilia was either put to death, or kept secretly in a hidden dungeon for the rest of her life.

Survival and adoption

Citing Fabius, Cincius, Porcius Cato, and Piso, Dionysius recounts the most common tale. The king orders the twins to be tossed into the Tiber. When his servants arrived at the riverbank, high waters had made it impossible to reach the stream. They left the twin's basket in a pool of standing water on the site of the ficus Ruminalis. After the waters of the Tiber had carried the twins away, their basket is overturned by a rock and they are dumped into the mud. A she-wolf finds them there and nurses them in front of her lair (the Lupercal). Plutarch places the Lupercal as at the foot of Palantine hill along the road to the Roman chariot grounds and was the source of a natural spring.

The twins were discovered by unnamed herdsmen, and when they arrive, the she-wolf calmly retreats into the cave. Faustulus, the man in charge of the royal abattoir, happened upon the scene. He had heard the story of Ilia's twin birth and the king's order, but never let on that he suspected the foundlings were one and the same. He persuaded the shepherds to allow him to take the boys home, and brought them to his wife, who had just delivered a stillborn child. Later, quoting Fabius' account of the overthrow of Amulius, Plutarch claims that Faustulus had saved the basket in which the boys had been abandoned.

As they grew, the boys exhibited the graces and behavior of the royal-born. They passed their days living as herdsmen in the mountains, spending many nights in huts of reeds and sticks.

orphan footnote.

Plutarch relates an alternate, "non-fantastical" version of Romulus and Remus' birth, survive and youth. In this version, Numitor managed to switch the twins at birth with two other infants. They were raised by Faustulus, who was descended from the first Greek colonists in Latium. He was the caretaker for Amulius' holdings around Palatine hill. He was persuaded to care for the twins by his brother Faustinus, who tended the kings herds on nearby Aventine hill.

Their adopted mother was Faustulus' wife Laurentia, a former prostitute. According to Plutarch, lupa(latin for "wolf") was a common term for members of her profession and this gave rise to the she-wolf legend. The twins receive a proper education in the city of Gabii.

Overthrow of Amulius

According to Fabius, when the twins were 18, they became embroiled in a violent disputes with some of Numitor's herdsmen. In retaliation, Remus was lured into an ambush and capture while Romulus was elsewhere. In Aelius Tubero's version, the twins were taking part in the festivities of the Lupercalia, requiring them to run naked through the village when Remus, defenseless as he was, was taken prisoner by Numitor's armed men.

After rounding up the toughest herdsmen to help him free Remus, Romulus rashly set out for Alba Longa. To avoid tragedy, Faustulus intercepted him and revealed the truth about the twins' parentage. With the discovery that Numitor was family, Romulus sets his sights on Amulius, instead. He and the rest of his village set out in small groups toward the city so that their arrival will go unnoticed by the guards. Meanwhile, after being turned over to Numitor to determine his punishment, Remus was told of his origins by the former king and eagerly joins with him in their own effort to topple Amulius. When Romulus joined them at Numitor's home, the three of them began to plan their next move.

Back home, Faustulus had begun to worry about how the twins' claims will be heard in Alba. He decides to bolster them by bringing the basket in which they were abandoned to the city. He's stopped by suspicious guards at the gates and he and the basket are seen by none-other-than the servant who had taken them to the river those many years before. Under the questioning of the king, and after the king's insincere offers of benevolence toward his nephews, Faustulus, trying to protect Romulus and Remus, and escape the king's clutches, claimed he had been bringing the basket to the imprisoned Ilia at the twins request and that they were at the moment tending their flocks in the mountains.

Amulius sent Faustulus and his men to find the boys. He then tried to trick Numitor into coming to the palace so that the former king could be kept under guard until the situation had been dealt with. Unfortunately for the king, the man he sent to lure Numitor into his clutches instead revealed everything that had happened at the palace.

The twins and their grandfather led their joint supporters to the palace, killed Amulius, and took control of the city.

Plutarch continues the same alternate version of the twins' parentage and youth. After the boys had returned home from their studies in Gabii, Numitor has the twins attack his own herdsmen and drive off his own cattle to contrive a complaint against his brother. To placate him, Amulius ordered not only the twins to be brought to the palace for trial, but all the others who were present, as well. This is exactly what Numitor had hoped for. When Romulus and Remus arrived in Alba, their grandfather revealed their true identity and he, the twins and the other herdsmen joined forces to attack Amulius, apparently killing him.

Contest of Augury

The now re-installed King Numitor granted Romulus and Remus control over the area around where Rome would be founded, and sent some of Alba Longa's commoners and nobles along with them. These included volunteers as well as his enemies, and other troublemakers and 50 families of the descendants of the Greeks who had settled in Italy after the Trojan War. The commoners were given provisions, weapons, slaves and livestock.

Wanting to use competition to better complete the many tasks ahead of them, each twin took command of half of the new group of colonists and natives. Instead, the two groups each wanted their twin to be king. Eventually, both Romulus and Remus began to harbor their own ambitions of being the sole ruler of the new city. Things came to a head when a dispute broke out over the particular hill upon which Rome should be built. Romulus wanted to build on Palatine Hill for it's significance to their childhood. Remus chose Aventine Hill for its strategic advantages. Finally, with no resolution in site, they took the matter to Numitor. He told each twins to stake out a spot on an appointed morning at dawn and wait for a "bird omen" from the gods to settle things.

They took his suggestion and the two brothers took their positions along with guard to prevent cheating. No birds appear to Romulus, but he tries to trick Remus by sending a message that he should come to him right away. Ashamed, the messengers take their time, and while en route, Remus sees 6 vultures. The messengers bring Remus back to his brother and when they arrive, Romulus is asked what type of bird he had seen (apparently owing to the ruse). Unsure, Romulus is suddenly saved by the sudden arrival of 12 vultures. He dismissed his brother's query and declared himself the winner. Furious Remus refused to accept defeat. This reignited the conflict between them.

The war with the Sabines

Further information: Battle of the Lacus Curtius

Rome spent this time improving its defenses and were reinforced with Albans sent by Numitor and mercenaries under the command of the king's friend and renowned commander Lucumo. After a final effort to resolve the matter peacefully, the Sabine army marched forth. According to Fabius and Cincius, Tatius tricked the daughter of the commander of the city's walled citadel to open the gates to his men by offering her what she thinks will be the gold bracelets they wear on their left arms, instead they crushed her to death when they heaped their shields on top of her as her reward. Lucius Piso claimed that she was motivated not by greed, but a plan to trick the Sabines and that she was killed only after they came to suspect her of treachery.

After several skirmishes and minor engagements, the armies fought two pitched battles featuring valor and losses to both sides.

[[File:The Intervention of the Sabine Women.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The Intervention of the Sabine Women, by [[Jacques-Louis David]], 1799.]] In the second and final battle between them, the armies met in between the two hills they occupied. Romulus and Lucumo were successfully attacking from both wings, but were forced to disengage when the center of the Roman line broke in order to stop the Sabines' advance under their general Mettius Curtius. After being turned back, the Sabines orderly retreat and Mettius and Romulus engage one another directly until wounded, Mettius falls back until a marshy lake prevents any further escape. He plunges into it and stymies his enemy's pursuit. Once Romulus has returned to the remaining Sabine forces and left him behind, the Sabine general eventually pulls himself out of the mire and safely returns to his camp. marched forth, on the verge of victory.

When Romulus was struck in the head with a stone, the tide reversed as the Romans lost heart without their commander. The army was in full-flight after a javelin felled Lucumo. Romulus recovered, and with the support of fresh reserves from within the city, the Romans regained the upper hand and the lines moved back against the Sabines. With sunset at hand, the Sabines made and arduous retreat to the citadel and the Romans broke off their pursuit.

Afterwards, both commanders were left without any ideas, when the women at the center of the dispute took matter into their own hands. Led by the noble Hersilia, the women got permission from the senate to address the army of their former homeland, and, some in funerary attire, some carrying their children with them, they convinced Tatius to seek peace.

After a ceasefire, the nations agreed to become a single kingdom under the joint rule of Romulus and Tatius. The city was expanded and its institutions were adjusted to accommodate the new increase in population and to demonstrate their mutual good will. The joint kingship lasted for four years until the death of Tatius. During this time they conquered the Camerini and made their city a Roman colony.

Death of Tatius

Some of Tatius' friends victimized some Laurentii and when the city sent ambassadors to demand justice, Tatius would not allow Romulus hand over the perpetrators over to them. A group of Sabines waylay the ambassadors as they sleep on the way home. Some escape and when word gets back to Rome, Romulus promptly turns the men respsonsible--including one of Tatius' family members--over to a new group of ambassadors. Tatius follows the group out of the city and frees the accused men by force. Later, while both kings are participating in a sacrifice in Lavinium he is killed in retribution.

Dionysius tells the account of Licinius Macer wherein Tacitus was killed when he went alone to try and convince the victims in Lavinium to forgive the crimes committed. When they discovered he had not brought the men responsible with him, as the senate and Romulus had ordered, an angry mob stones him to death.

 when their attempt to rob them went wrong.  For the only time during their reign, the kings disagreed.  Romulus wanted to punish the men with death promptly, and Tatius did not.  Later, while sacrificing with Romulus in Lativium, friends of the ambassadors attacked and killed Tatius, but spared Romulus, praising his sense of fairness.  

Tatius was given a royal burial, however Plutarch reports that there are no efforts to punish his killers. He cites one source that claims that the assassins were brought by Laurentium authorities to Romulus but he declined to punish them. Rome was later visited by a series of plagues, and when it spread to Laurentuim, it was thought to be a result of the unjust treatment in the death of Tatius and the ambassadors. Both cities brought to justice the parties involved in the two attacks, and Romulus performed rights to purify the cities.

Rome was weakened by the plague and this prompted Camerium to invade.

assembled at the foot of the hill beneath the citadel, the Sabines refused to emerge and engage them. Finally, in spite of their lack of the high ground, the frustrated Roman army attacked. Initially inspired by the heroics of their general Hostus Hostilius on the front line, the Romans line broke when he fell, Romulus makes a pledge to Jupiter that if he will hold off the Sabine charge and restore the Roman's courage, he will build a new temple of Jupiter the Steadfast on the site. With a cry, Romulus led his army into the Sabines and routed them. The Sabine general Mettius was tossed in a swamp by his horse after it bolted.

The After the Sabines regrouped, the battle continued in the area between the two hills, but the Roman army had by then gained the upper hand. Suddenly, the abducted Sabine daughters rushed onto the battlefield and put themselves between the two armies. They implored both sides to stop the bloodshed and accept each other as family, as they then were. Ashamed, the leaders of the two peoples ended the fighting.

Livy supports the sources that say he chose the number "12" from the bird omen by which he became king. He also refers to a different account which attributes his choice to the Etruscan tradition of selecting their kings by a vote of the 12 lictors representing each of the 12 Etruscan states. He built new structures to enlarge the city and to grow the city's population, he allowed anyone, no matter what past or class to come. He put this new rabble to work for his own political purposes, but declaring an area In order to strengthen his new city, Romulus built improvements in the city.constructed new buildings and dedicates a temple to Asylaeus, god of fugitives and exiles, to welcome immigrants of all classes from Rome's neighbor. Once the population had increased, he named 100 Paters (Patriarchs) as the first senators. The patrician class is descended from the families of these men.

The twins almost immediately began to argue. According to Livy, both Romulus and Remus wanted to be the king of their new city, which he attributed partly to their discovery that they are royalty. That and the fact that there was no older brother between them to whom the younger could demur, made dispute resolution difficult. Finally, they agreed to allow the gods to settle the matter by way of an omen.

Each twin sat on their respective hill and watched. First, Remus saw six birds and claimed the gods had chosen him. Then Romulus saw twelve birds and claimed that he was the chosen one. Livy's version has the twins fighting and Remus dying from a blow by Romulus. He also sites the "more common" account, wherein Romulus leaped over Romulus' wall and was killed by Romulus in a fit of rage. Afterwards, he declares: "Sic deinde, quicumque alius transiliet moenia mea" ("So is it with anyone who leaps over my walls"). In one version, Dionysius tells us that Faustulus died in the fighting that erupted after the contest of the augurs. He plunged himself purposefully into the melee out of despair at the conflict between his two adopted sons. Romulus is devastated at the losses and is only able to overcome his grief by the assistance of Laurentia.

Livy

Livy (Titus Livius) was a prominent Roman historian at the time of the establishment of the empire, during the reign of Augustus and his successors in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He is one of the most significant sources of the various accounts of the tale. Modern sources have criticized his account, found in Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Books From the Founding of the City), for the political tone it takes. Livy's version of the legend is told in chapters 3-17 of the first book of Ab Urbe. He dedicates only 4 to the lives of the twins before Remus' death. The remainder is dedicated to Romulus' rule as Rome's first King. In this section, he writes that his reign lasted 40 years; he was more popular than any of the senators of the time; that his support was strongest with the army and plebs; and that he maintained a bodyguard of 300 mounted troops (Celeres) during peacetime and war.

Parentage and youth

Livy claims that the twins were born to a vestal named Rea Silvia. Proca, her grandfather had willed the throne to his son Numitor but he was later deposed by her uncle, Amulius. She was forced to take the Vestal oath to prevent her from producing a rival to his rule. She became pregnant after taking her vows and claimed that she had been raped by Mars, the roman god of war. Livy speculates that the claim may have been made to conceal an earthly affair. She was imprisoned by King Amulius and ordered the newborn twins to be cast into the River Tiber.

In his account of the conflict with Amulius, Livy claims that Faustulus had always known that the boys had been abandoned by the order of the king and had hoped that they are of Royal blood, Histories I.5 </ref> He mentions without name sources that say that Larentia was in fact a prostitute who serviced Faustulus and the other shepherds and that the she-wolf tale arose from the slang word for her profession (lupa). The twins grew and became strong, smart youth who occasionally engaged in highway banditry, targeting thieves returning from their crimes laden with their ill-gotten goods.

Conflict with Amulius

On their way to celebrate the Lupercalia, the twins were ambushed by some of the thieves they had formerly robbed. After a struggle, Remus was captured. The theives brought him before King Amulius and accused him of trespassing and committing crimes on Numitor's land. He was handed over to the former king, his grandfather--unbeknownst to either at the time--for punishment.

Livy states that when Faustulus had found the infant twins in the wild, he knew that they had been cast out on the order of the King. He had long suspected that they were royal-born. Now, with Remus in the clutches of the same King who had been behind their childhood ordeal, he feared for him and told Romulus the truth. Meanwhile, Numitor, encountering for the first time his grandson, whom he had thought long dead, apparently looked favorably upon his royal demeanor and physicality. He puts two and two together and realized the truth of who Remus and his twin brother Romulus are. the three join forces against their kin, Alumius.

Through subterfuge and force, Numitor, Romulus and Remus kill their brother and uncle, avenging the usuper's crimes against each. An assembly was called. Numitor revealed the truth about his grandchildren and announced the death of Alumius, claiming he had given the order to kill him. To help boost their grandfather's effort to regain his throne, the twins marched their men into the center of the assembly and proclaimed him king. The people followed their lead and Numitor was once again king of the Alban kingdom. Inspired, Romulus and Remus decided to found their own city, which will dwarf their neighbors.

The rape of the Sabine women

According to Gnaeus Gellius, in Romulus' fourth year in power, the recently founded city of Rome, its population swollen with immigrants found itself surrounded by unfriendly neighbors and short of marriageable women. Romulus sought to solve both problems through intermarrying with the other cities in the region, but he was rebuffed. His solution having been approved by his Grandfather, received the auspices of the gods, and the support of the senate began with the announcement of a spectacular festival and competitions to honor the god Neptune, and to which all of Rome's neighbors were welcome. They came from far and wide, sometimes entire families to attend and participate.

On the king's signal, Romans began abducting the young women in attendance much to the shock and horror of their guests. Later, the women are brought before him where he assures them that he and the other men of Rome intend to honorably marry them and that they won't be sexually exploited in anyway. This eases their fears.

Many of the abducted Sabine women have formed relationships with Roman men; and now they intervene to beg for unity between Sabines and Romans. A truce is made, then peace. The Romans base themselves on the Palatine and the Sabines on the Quirinal, with Romulus and Tatius as joint kings and the Comitium as the common centre of government and culture. 100 Sabine elders and clan leaders join the Senate. The Sabines adopt the Roman calendar, and the Romans adopt the armour and oblong shield of the Sabines. The legions are doubled in size. Livy dedicates 5 full pages to this episode and its aftermath, a third of the entire retelling of the twin's myth. In his version, Rome, though new, had grown in population to rival the other, nearby cities. As it did so, however, a dearth of women developed. Their efforts to appeal to their neighbors for an alliance and marriages between are met with mockery. Apparently, the city's lack of history, due to their recent founding had made their neighbors look poorly on marrying into Roman families. Public attitudes in the other cities toward Rome were very negative. They also feared the long-term threat Rome posed to them. Livy claims that the neighboring cities fear being overwhelmed by Rome.

Romulus' hatched a plan. He announced spectacular and magnificent Ludi in honor of Neptune Equestrian, the Consualia Ludi, and invited the citizens of their neighbor cities. According to Romulus, Rome's citizens would be going all-out to ensure that it will become an annual tradition. Families from the other cities, especially from Caenina, Crustumerium, and Antemnae came in large numbers. According to Livy, the entire Sabine population, men, women and children came. They were amazed at how quickly Rome had grown in size and power.

In the middle of the event, Romulus gave a signal, and groups of plebeian young men organized by individual senators began to grab and carry off other city's unmarried women. Care was taken so that the women wouldn't be sexually violated in any way. Livy claims that the woman brought to the senator Thalassius was fairer than any of the others and his name became associated with weddings. The parents of the women appealed to the Romans for their daughter's return. They invoked Neptune, complaining that it was to his festival they were invited to under false pretenses.

The women themselves feared what would come next until Romulus personally went from house to house to tell the women that the reason this had happened is that the fathers of their cities hadn't thought they were too good for the Romans, their neighbors. They would be legally wed, and be given all the rights that come with their new husband's status in the city and their rights as parents to their future children. He implored them to not be angry, but to happy and accept the new husbands to whom fate had delivered them. Finally, he tells them that often a good marriage will grow from this type of crime, and that their husbands would be kinder, would do what was expected of them and would treat them better to make up for the fact that they'll be living away from their families and former homes. The men then approached and flattered them and professed their love and passion for their new wives. This type of approach, Livy notes, often works with women, and in fact their fears are put at ease.

The war with the Sabines

According to Livy, the Sabines were, unlike the other cities, cunning and calculating when it came to war. Tatius tricked the daughter of the commander of the city's walled citadel to open the gates to his men by offering her what she thinks will be the gold bracelets they wear on their left arms, instead they crushed her to death when they heaped their shields on top of her as her reward. Livy reports that other sources claim that she was killed only after the Sabines came to suspect her of treachery.

The Battle of the Lacus Curtius

Further information: Battle of the Lacus Curtius

[[File:The Intervention of the Sabine Women.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The Intervention of the Sabine Women, by [[Jacques-Louis David]], 1799.]] When the Roman army assembled at the foot of the hill beneath the citadel, the Sabines refused to emerge and engage them. Finally, in spite of their lack of the high ground, the frustrated Roman army attacked. Initially inspired by the heroics of their general Hostus Hostilius on the front line, the Romans line broke when he fell, and they were pushed back across the low ground between the Capitoline and Palatine hills. The Sabines marched forth, on the verge of victory. Romulus makes a pledge to Jupiter that if he will hold off the Sabine charge and restore the Roman's courage, he will build a new temple of Jupiter the Steadfast on the site. With a cry, Romulus led his army into the Sabines and routed them. The Sabine general Mettius was tossed in a swamp by his horse after it bolted.

The After the Sabines regrouped, the battle continued in the area between the two hills, but the Roman army had by then gained the upper hand. Suddenly, the abducted Sabine daughters rushed onto the battlefield and put themselves between the two armies. They implored both sides to stop the bloodshed and accept each other as family, as they then were. Ashamed, the leaders of the two peoples ended the fighting.

Union with the Sabines

The two people are merged under a joint throne with Rome as the capital. The Sabines and Romans alike were then declared Quirites, from the Sabine city of Cures. To honor the Sabine women, when Romulus divided the city into 30 local councils, he named them after the women. He also recruits three new units of knights and called them Ramnenses Tatiensis (from the two kings names). The two kings rule jointly until Tatius is killed in revenge for a crime by a relative while he is visiting Lavinium. Romulus, once again the sole ruler, declined to go to war in retaliation and signed a treaty with the city.

Wars with Fidenae and Veii

Fearing the growing threat Rome posed, the nearby Etruscan city of Fidenae invaded and began pillaging the land between the two cities. Romulus ambushed them and pursued them back to their city, managing to follow them through their gates before they can be closed. This draws in the people of Veii, also from Etruria and also fearful of Rome's rising power. They likewise invade Rome and engage in looting before withdrawing. When the Roman army is denied an engagement, they set up camp and are suddenly set upon by the Veientes. Despite there utter lack of preparation, the strength of the veteran Roman troops prevails. Declining to besiege the city, Romulus laid waste to their fields in repayment for their crimes. They concluded a 100-year peace treaty with Veii in exchange for some of their land.

Death of Romulus

While in Capra reviewing troops, a storm arose and Romulus was swept up in a whirlwind, never to be seen again. When the nobles who were nearest him at the time report this to the public, there is widespread acceptance of the account. The people were lost in their sorrows until a few, and then all of them declared "deum deo natum, regem parentemque urbis Romanae salvere universi Romulum iubent" "Romulus, you are descend from the gods, our king, the father of our city and the defender of all Romans!"

Livy goes on to say that he believes that despite the outpour of emotion by the public, there were those who even at the time suspected that Romulus had in fact been murdered by a group of patricians who then dismembered his body and disposed of the parts. Rumors of such spread a growing resentment against the nobles. He tells us that a well-esteemed Roman named Proculus Julius came forward and reported that Romulus had appeared before him at dawn and told him that he the gods willed that Rome be the capital of the world. They should keep their armies strong and that Roman power and arms will never be overcome. He then ascended into the sky as a god. On a final note, Livy expresses his surprise that the anger on behalf of the commoners and the army was so easily laid to rest by hearing that he was now an immortal.

Plutarch

The Greek-born Lucius Maestrius Plutarcus lived a century after Livy and the later was a primary source for The life of Romulus included in his best-known work the Parallel Lives. [[File:Mignard - The Shepherd Faustulus Bringing Romulus and Remus to His Wife.jpg|thumb|Mignard - The Shepherd Faustulus Bringing Romulus and Remus to His Wife]]

Parentage and youth

Plutarch adds details to the royal scandal behind the infant Romulus and Remus' abandonment in the wilderness. He quotes Diocles of peparethus and Pictor in writing that when Numitor and Amulius stood to inherit the throne, the twin's great grandfather gave his sons a choice between the throne and the treasures that had been brought back from Troy. Numitor chose the throne, but when he was overthrown, he ended up with neither. Along with the two names mentioned by Livy for the twins' mother, Plutarch tells us she may also have been named Ilia. The boys were the issue of Amulius himself, who raped his niece while wearing his armor. Upon the discovery of her pregnancy, her cousin Antho, the king's daughter convinced him to spare her life. He suggests that Faustulus may have been the name of the servant charged with the drown of the twins, as opposed to their adopted father. He names the site where the boys are brought back to dry land by Tibernius as Kermalus, formerly Germanus (from the latin word for twin).

Alternate story of parentage

In addition to the common tale, Plutarch relates a version from Dionysius where the twins' mother is Larentia a woman famous for her beauty and Hercules. She is forced to spend the night with the hero as his reward for winning a dice game with the keeper of his temple. In the morning, he throws her out and tells her to befriend the first man she meets. He is Tarrutius, a wealthy elderly childless bachelor. They sleep together, end up marrying and are together until his death. Faustulus is, in this account, in the employ of Amulius. The basket in which they were abandoned bore a bronze inscription of their names and was kept by Faustulus, however, the inscription has worn off, but it was hoped that it might be used to determine their true parents.

Numitor and others possibly know the secret of the twins origin and Numitor has them educated in Gabii. Romulus was the more dominant of the two. They were defiant toward the authorities and instead of being highwaymen preying on other thieves, here they are portrayed as vigilante protectors of their neighbors. In a story from Caius Ancilius, on one occasion, the twins had lost their flock and they set out after them naked so their sweat won't slow them down. Because they were guided by Faunus, the god of nature, this inspired the later festivals

Conflict with Amulius

A dispute between herdsmen loyal to Numitor and Amulius is at the heart of this version. The twins sided with Amulius. Remus was captured when Romulus was elsewhere. When Faustulus learned that Remus has been taken to Numitor, he went to Alba with the basket in which the infant twins were abandoned. I bore a copper plate with an engraving that had long been effaced. He was stopped by the city guards at the gate. The servant charged with abandoning the twins happened to be present and saw the basket, immediately going to inform the king. When brought0 before Amulius, Faustulus tries to fool the king by telling him the twins were alive elsewhere and the basket was being brought to their mother Ilia.

Citing Fabius and Diocles, Plutarch writes that Amulius sent a man close to Numitor to ask if he had any word that the twins were alive. However, when he arrives, he sees Remus and Numitor together and warns them. They incited the people against the king just as Romulus had arrived with an army of supporters to attack the city. The king is promptly overwhelmed and killed.

The augury and the fratricide

Plutarch claims that many slaves and fugitives were already following the twins when they set forth and were motivated by the Alban's unwillingness to allow their cohorts to remain. He adds that some sources indicate that Romulus lied about the 12 birds he saw during the contest with Remus. Remus is killed either by his brother, or Celer, Romulus' man, who then fled to Tuscany with so much haste that his name became the Latin word for speed. Also killed was Faustulus' brother Pleistinus.

The rape of the Sabine women

The war with the Sabines

In the account of the Battle of the Lacas Curtius, Plutarch again provides many details, but the basic account is the same as Livy. Here, the Roman line broke not because of Hostilius' death, but because Romulus was struck by a stone to the head. He rallied the men after recovering. When the women intervene to stop the fighting, some of them have children in their arms. The women not only end the battle, but bring food and water, care for the injured and introduce their husbands to their fathers. It's agreed that the Sabine women have no duty but to spin for their husbands from then on.

Union with the Sabines

According to Plutarch, the two kings were in full agreement on all except one: the royal response to the crime committed by members of Tatius' relatives against the Laurentian ambassadors.

Death of Tatius

Some of Tatius' relatives killed a group of ambassadors from Laurentium when their attempt to rob them went wrong. For the only time during their reign, the kings disagreed. Romulus wanted to punish the men with death promptly, and Tatius did not. Later, while sacrificing with Romulus in Lativium, friends of the ambassadors attacked and killed Tatius, but spared Romulus, praising his sense of fairness.

Tatius was given a royal burial, however Plutarch reports that there are no efforts to punish his killers. He cites one source that claims that the assassins were brought by Laurentium authorities to Romulus but he declined to punish them. Rome was later visited by a series of plagues, and when it spread to Laurentuim, it was thought to be a result of the unjust treatment in the death of Tatius and the ambassadors. Both cities brought to justice the parties involved in the two attacks, and Romulus performed rights to purify the cities.

Rome was weakened by the plague and this prompted Camerium to invade.

Wars with Fidanae and Veii

In one version of the war with Fidenae, Romulus did not raze the city, but instead declared it a colony and sent 2500 Romans to live there.

Death of Romulus

Plutarch recounts several versions of the death. In one, he died peacefully after a long illness. In another, he committed suicide by poison. He recounts two versions wherein he died violently, either by assassins who smothered him at home during the night, or by senators who lured him to the Temple of Vulcan where they killed and dismembered him and each disposed of a small part of his corpse, hidden in their robes. He details the motivations of the senate, saying there was anger toward his demeanor toward them and disregard toward their legal sovereignty in diplomacy and legal proceedings.

In the version cited by Livy, the gods themselves were suggested to have intervened. He retells one variant wherein the emotions of the public were assuaged not only by the oath of Proculus Julius to have seen the deified king, but also by an apparently divine force that quieted the anger and suspicions toward the nobles. It descended upon the city and the Romans accepted and worshiped Romulus as Quirinus. Romulus was 54 years old when he disappeared.