History of the Roman People

ls are low, the highest being only 168 feet in height; some, however, are very steep and rise from the plain like natural fortresses. On the Palatine, near the Tiber and the highest of all these hills, was built the first city of Rome. It was but a small town (hardly 6000 feet around), built almost in the form of a square; it was indeed called Square Rome (Roma Quadrata). The city was strong, surrounded by a ditch which ran all around the hill, and by a stone wall inside the ditch. Some remains of this wall have been found. It had four gates, one on each side. The Romans said that Rome had been founded on April 21, 753; that is, on that day the wall had been marked out with a religious ceremony. They described the ceremony thus : The founder, clothed in a white robe, had yoked a bull and a heifer of spotless white to a plough with a bronze share. Then, all around the spot where he wished to build his city he drove the plough, turning a furrow to mark the site of the wall. chapter{Section 4Where he wished the gates to stand he lifted the plough and carried it (hence the Latin porta, gate, from pot tare, to carry) so that it should not touch the earth ; for the furrow traced by his plough was sacred and religion forbade its being crossed. The furrow therefore had to be interrupted where space was left to go in and out. On April 21 of each year the Romans celebrated the anniversary of the foundation. A procession marched around THE CITY OF THE EARLY K...