Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T18:59:18.121Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Wife and Children of Romulus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

T. P. Wiseman
T. P. Wiseman
Affiliation:
University Of Exeter
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Some say that only 30 were seized, and that the Curiae were named after them, but Valerius Antias [fr. 3P] says there were 527, Juba [FGrH275F23] that there were 683. They were virgins, which was Romulus' main justification: no married women were taken – except one, Hersilia, by mistake - since it was not in wanton violence or injustice that they resorted to rape, but with the intention of bringing the two peoples together and uniting them with the strongest ties. As for Hersilia, some say she was married to Hostilius, a very distinguished Roman, others that she was married to Romulus himself and even bore him children: one daughter, Prima, so called from the order of birth, and a single son, whom Romulus named Aollios after the crowd of citizens under his rule, though he was subsequently called Abillios [i.e. Avillius]. Many authors, however, contradict this account, which is given by Zenodotus of Troezen [FGrH 821F2].

Type
Research Articles
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , December 1983 , pp. 445 - 452
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Ogilvie, R. M., A Commentary on Livy books 1–5 (Oxford, 1965), 73Google Scholar.

2 Dion. Hal. 1. 4. 1–3, cf. 1. 89–90. For the burden of their case, see (e.g.) Sall, . Hist. 4. 69Google Scholar. 5 & 17M, Justin. 28. 2. 8–10, 38. 6. 7–8.

3 e.g. Strasburger, H., Zur Sage von der Griindung Roms (S.-B. Heidelberg. Akad., phil.-hist. Kl. 5, 1968)Google Scholar, Jocelyn, H. D., PCPS 197 (1971), 51–60Google Scholar; contra Cornell, T. J., PCPS 201 (1975), 9–11,27–32Google Scholar.

4 , Plut.Rom. 17. 5(FGrH 816F2)Google Scholar; cf. Festus 328L (F 1) for Rhomus son of Zeus, Dion. Hal. 1. 6. 1 for Antigonus' probable date.

5 , Cic.Rep. 2. 14Google Scholar; Varro ap. Dion. Hal. 2. 47. 4 (Cf. Plut, . Rom. 20. 3)Google Scholar, pointing out that some i of the curiae bore place-names; Varro accepted Antias' view (Plut, . Rom. 14. 7Google Scholar, quoted above) that there were 527 girls involved. In Livy (1. 13. 3) and Servius (onAen. 8. 638) the 30 from whom the curiae were named were a selection from a greater total.

6 Cf. Plut, . Rom. 9. 3Google Scholar (Delphi orders the Asylum), Dion. Hal. 2. 32. 1 μαντε⋯ματα promising success in all Romulus' wars).

7 Ilia: Dion. Hal. 1. 77. 2; cf. origo gentis R. 20. 1 (citing Fabius Pictor and Vennonius). Rape: Cn. Gellius fr. 15P (from a speech of Hersilia: see below); cf. Ovid, , Fasti 3. 197 f.Google Scholar; for the date of Gellius' history, see CQ n.s. 29 (1979), 142–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar on Cic. div. 1. 55.

8 For the importance of that concept already in the third century, see Head, B. V., Historia Numorum 2 (Oxford, 1911), 104 fig. 57Google Scholar, for Fides crowning Roma on the coins of Italian Locri, and Agathocles FGrH 472 F 5 (Festus 328 L) on the temple of Fides founded on the Palatine by K Aeneas' daughter Rhome.

9 , Plut.Rom. 9. 2, 14. 7Google Scholar (quoted above), Dion. Hal. 2. 30. 2, Appian, Reg. fr. 5Google Scholar. For the embassies, see also Livy 1. 9. 2–6, Ovid, , Fasti 3. 189 fGoogle Scholar.

10 Dion. Hal. 2. 30. 5, Livy 1. 9. 14–10. 1; cf. Cic. Rep. 2. 12 f.

11 , Plut.Rom. 15. 6–7Google Scholar, Quaest. Rom. 29, 87; cf. Festus 364 L on ‘rapi ex gremio maths’. Explanation of the wedding-cry talasio: Plut. Rom. 15. 1–5 (Juba FGrH 275F90), with an additional suggestion of his own (⋯τ⋯ραν ἄν τις αἰτίαν εἰκάσειε πιθανωτ⋯ραν) taken for granted as fact at Rom. 19. 9; Livy 1.9. 12, , Serv.Aen. 1. 651Google Scholar, Festus 480 L, , Plut.Quaest. Rom. 31Google Scholar.

12 Dion. Hal. 2. 30. 6, , Plut.Rom. 14. 2Google Scholar, comp. Thes. Rom. 6; cf. Livy 1. 13. 8 (concors).

13 Dion. Hal. 2. 30. 3, Livy 1. 9. 7; Cf. , Plut.Rom. 14. 5Google Scholar, but he thought the Caeninenses and the rest were themselves Sabines, (Rom. 16. 1–2, 17. 1–2)Google Scholar.

14 Dion. Hal. 2. 32. 2, Livy 1. 9. 8, , Plut.Rom. 14. 2, 17. 1Google Scholar. Latins: Dion. Hal. 3. 49. 4, Livy 1. 38. 4 (Crustumerium – but cf. Festus 48 L ‘Tuscorum urbs’); Pliny, , NH 3. 68Google Scholar (Caenina, Antemnae); Dion. Hal. 1. 16. 5 (Antemnae founded by Aborigines; cf. Cato fr. 21P ‘older than Rome’), Strabo 5. 230 (Antemnae, Fidenae).

15 , Serv.Aen. 8. 638Google Scholar; cf. Dion. Hal. 2. 32. 1 on the tolerance of those who recognised Romulus' worthy motives!

16 Dion. Hal. 2. 35; Livy 1. 11. 2 (Hersilia the spokeswoman, see below).

17 , Plut.Rom. 17. 1–2Google Scholar.

18 Dion. Hal. 2. 41. 1 (μάχαι διτταì), 41. 2–3 (first battle), 42–43 (second battle), 44 (deliberations), 45. 1 (ἄρξαι πρòς ⋯μϕοτ⋯ρους αὐταì λόγων).

19 Dion. Hal. 2. 45–46; cf. 2. 31. 1 for his use of Gellius; Ennius ap. Rhet. Lat. Min. 402 Halm (‘cum spolia generis detraxeritis, quam inscriptionem dabitis?’); Gellius fr. 15P ap. Gell, . NA 13. 23. 13 (‘cum apud T. Tatium verba faceret [Hersilia] pacemque oraret’)Google Scholar. Appian (Reg. fr. 5, from the excerpts de legationibus) also has a speech to the Sabines.

20 Livy 1.13. 1–4, , Plut.Rom. 19Google Scholar; Dio 1. 5 (from the excerpts de sententiis) has them appear from the Palatine, unlike Plutarch's ⋯λλαχόθεν.

21 , Plut.Rom. 14. 7 (quoted above), 19. 4Google Scholar: ταῖς μεγίσταις ⋯νάγκαις.

22 , Gell.NA 13. 23. 13 (Cn. Gellius fr. 15P; cf. n. 7 above)Google Scholar, Dion. Hal. 2. 45. 6.

23 Dion. Hal. 2. 45. 2, , Plut.Rom. 14. 7 (quoted above)Google Scholar, , Macr.Sat. 1. 6. 16Google Scholar.

24 Dio 56. 5. 5, cf. n. 11 above on marriage rites. It would be appropriate if the first Roman bride were called Prima.

25 Pliny, , NH 3. 53Google Scholar, with Taylor, L. R., Voting Districts of the Roman Republic (Rome, 1960), 39 f.Google Scholar; Cf. , Cic.Har. resp. 20Google Scholar on the ager Latiniensis, ‘propinquus et suburbanus’.

26 , Macr.Sat. 1. 6. 16Google Scholar; cf. the gold bulla inscribed HOST. HOS., condemned by Dressel at CIL XV 7066.

27 Dion. Hal. 3. 1. 2–3, , Plut.Rom. 18. 6Google Scholar, Livy 1. 12. 2, 22. 1 (‘in infima arce’), vir. ill. 2. 7. Lapis niger: Festus 184L; cf. Dion. Hal. 3. 1. 2; Coarelli, F., PP 174 (1977), 220–2Google Scholar.

28 Pliny, , NH 16. 11, 35. 23Google Scholar; Münzer, F., RE 8 (1913), 2503 fGoogle Scholar.

29 , Plut.Rom. 17. 1, n. 14 aboveGoogle Scholar.

30 Pliny, , NH 35. 23Google Scholar: Mancinus displayed a picture of the Carthage exploit in the Forum (by his ancestor's tomb?) in the course of his consular candidature; perhaps the historian who wrote up Hostus' deeds was working in the same context.

31 , Serv.Aen. 8. 638Google Scholar, ‘quam sublatam a marito sibi Romulus fecit uxorem’ Ogilvie, loc. cit. (n. 1 above).

32 Livy 1. 11. 2 (cf. n. 16 above): ‘Hersilia coniunx (sc. Romuli)’.

33 Dion. Hal. 2. 45. 2 (cf. n. 18 above):γ⋯νους δ οὐκ ⋯ϕανο⋯ς ⋯ν Σαβίνοις, husband not named. Ovid, , Fasti 3. 203–12Google Scholar: nurus of Mars; the women meet in the temple of Juno (cf. δίϰατ⋯ν ⋯νδρ⋯ν εἰς ἒν χωρίον in Dionysius).

34 Dion. Hal. 2. 45. 6; Cn. Gellius fr. 15P (cf. n. 19 above): husband not named.

35 , Plut.Rom. 19. 7Google Scholar, Dio 1. 5. 5 (cf. n. 20 above): husband not named. Livy has the intervention in a single battle, but does not name Hersilia in that context.

36 Ovid, , Met. 14. 829–51Google Scholar; Sil. It. 13. 811–15.

37 , Gell.NA 13. 23. 2Google Scholar, citinglibri sacerdotum p. R. ibid. 23. 10 for Nerio Martis as ‘Martis vis et potentia et maiestas quaedam’, 23. 11–16 on Nerio as the wife of Mars (, Plaut.True. 515Google Scholar, Cn. Gell. fr. 15P, etc.). Nonius 172L ‘Hora iuventutis dea’, citing Enn. Ann. 117; see Skutsch, O., Studia Enniana (London, 1968), 132–6Google Scholar.

38 , Plut.Quaest. Rom. 46Google Scholar (the latter taken from Antistius Labeo). Note also Ovid's, pun on ora at Met. 14. 843Google Scholar.

39 Orare at Cn. Gell. fr. 15P, Livy 1. 11.2; oratrices at , Cic.Rep. 2. 14Google Scholar.

40 Inscr. It. 13. 2. 17 and 500 (Fasti Antiates maiores): ‘supra comitium’ cf. Festus 370L; see Coarelli, , op. cit. (n. 27 above), 218–20Google Scholar.

41 Met. 14. 851: but he was probably aware of derivations that presupposed a long syllable(n. 38 above).

42 Met. 14. 830, 839 (Hersilien), 848. CIL 6. 21100 (Rome), 11. 4759 (Tuder) – apparently the only attestations.

43 Butas an d Simylos: Plut. Rom. 17. 6, 21. 8, , Arnob.Adv. nat. 5. 18Google Scholar; Hubbard, M., Propertius (London, 1974), 118–21Google Scholar; Wiseman, T. P., Cinna the Poet (Leicester, 1974), 134–7Google Scholar. Castor, (FGrH 250)Google Scholar: , Plut.Quaest. Rom. 10, 76 etcGoogle Scholar; according to the Suda (s.v.), he was called πιλορώμαιος.

44 FGrH 821 F l (Solinus 2. 9), cf. , Hes.Theog. 1011–13Google Scholar, Steph. Byz. s.v. ‘Prainestos’.

45 F3 (Dion. Hal. 2. 49. 1). For the arrival of the Pelasgians, cf. Dion. Hal. 1. 19. 1.

46 See, respectively, nn. 26 and 24 above.

47 , Plut.Numa 8. 10Google Scholar, Aem. Paull. 2. 2; , Serv.Aen. 8. 270Google Scholar.

48 Anth. Pal. 3. 19; , Plut.Rom. 2. 3Google Scholar.

49 PIR2 A 1414–15. For ‘Pastor’, a rare name, see Kajanto, I., The Latin Cognomina (Helsinki, 1965), 323Google Scholar; the Augustan senator Aietius Pastor (, Sen.Contr. 1. 3. 11Google Scholar) had a name that would lend itself easily to bilingual fantasy about Romulus' eagles.

50 Degrassi, A., ILLRP 961Google Scholar,CIL Auctarium (Berlin, 1966). 335Google Scholar.

51 Lapalus, E., Vagora desitaliens (Exploration archéologique de Delos 19, Paris, 1939), 54–7Google Scholar i and Plate XV. Cf. also the ‘pseudo-athlete’, with portrait head on a heroic body: C. Michalowski, I Lesportraits hellenistiques et romains (ibid. 13 Paris, 1932) 17–22 and Plates XIV–XIX. For the I background to this style, see Stewart, A., Attika: Studies in Athenian Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age (London, 1979), 142–6Google Scholar; Smith, R. R. R., JRS 71 (1981), 36–8Google Scholar.

52 , Cic.Arch. 5Google Scholar: ‘erat turn [102 B.C.] plena Graecarum artium ac disciplinarum; studiaque haec et in Latio vehementius turn colebantur quam nunc isdem in oppidis’. Lanoios: Fabius Pictor, Tauromenium pinax, c. 125 B.C.: ίστόρηκεν τ⋯ν ['Ηρ]ακλ⋯ους ἂφιξιν [εἰς] 'Ιταλ⋯αν κα⋯ δ' ἒτι [ν⋯σ]τον γανο⋯ου ςυμ[μ⋯χ]ου τε Αἰνε⋯α κα⋯ ['Ασκα]νίου. I print the text as given by Manganaro, G., PP 29 (1974), 394–7Google Scholar. I have not examined the original for myself, and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the published text, which contains some obvious peculiarities.

53 , Ter.Andr. 5–23 (with Donatus on line 7)Google Scholar, HT 14–24; cf. Phormio 1–23; Garton, C., Personal Aspects of the Roman Theatre (Toronto, 1972), 41–72Google Scholar.

54 , Cic.Brut. 205Google Scholar, , Suet.Gramm. 3Google Scholar, Varroap. , Gell.NA 1. 18. 2, etcGoogle Scholar.

55 Learning: Plut.Luc. 19. 8, on Tyrannio. Sculpture: Coarelli, F., in L'art décoratif ⋯ Rome (Coll. de l'école fr. de Rome 55, Rome, 1981), 229–84Google Scholar, esp. 251 f., on the ‘Alexander’ statuary group in the Juno Sospita complex at Lanuvium.

56 Roscius: Cic.Div. 1. 79. Laberius: origin inferred from the tribe of Q. Laberius Mae, L. f.. (IGRR 4.262Google Scholar) and from ILLRP 263, CIL 14.2097, 2143–4. On the sophistication (and Greek-ness) of first-century mime, see McKeown, J. C., PCPS 205 (1979), 71–9Google Scholar.

57 Laberii: Inschr. v.Priene 114, BCH 36 (1912), 45 (Delos); a senator attested in 129 B.C. (IGRR 4. 262). Roscii, : ILLRP 1262 (Carthago Nova)Google Scholar; Syme, R., Hist. 13 (1964), 125Google Scholar = Roman Papers (Oxford, 1979), 603Google Scholar.