Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome. Oliver Goldsmith

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1

See Pinnock's History of Greece, Chap. I.

2

See Historical Miscellany, Part II. Chap. I.

3

These colonies, sent out by the Sabines, are said to have originated from the observance of the Ver sacrum (sacred spring.) During certain years, every thing was vowed to the gods that was born between the calends (first day) of March and May, whether men or animals. At first they were sacrificed; but in later ages this cruel custom was laid aside, and they were sent out as colonists.

4

The history of these colonies is contained in the Historical Miscellany, Part II. Chap. ii.

5

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the Pelas'gi were the original settlers in these countries.

6

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the Pelas'gi were the original settlers in these countries.

7

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the Pelas'gi were the original settlers in these countries.

8

In all these places we find also the Tyrrhenian Pelas'gi.

9

Hence a gate was called porta, from porta're, to carry. The reason of this part of the ceremony was, that the plough being deemed holy, it was unlawful that any thing unclean should pollute the place which it had touched; but it was obviously necessary that things clean and unclean should pass through the gates of the city. It is remarkable that all the ceremonies here mentioned were imitated from the Tuscans.

10

This, though apparently a mere conjecture, has been so fully proved by Niebuhr, (vol. i. p. 251,) that it may safely be assumed as an historical fact.

11

See Chapter II. of the following history.

12

All authors are agreed that the Cœlian hill was named from Cœles Viben'na, a Tuscan chief; but there is a great variety in the date assigned to his settlement at Rome. Some make him cotemporary with Rom'ulus, others with the elder Tarquin, or Servius Tullius. In this uncertainty all that can be satisfactorily determined is, that at some early period a Tuscan colony settled in Rome.

13

Others say that they were named so in honour of Lu'ceres, king of Ardea, according to which theory the third would have been a Pelasgo-Tyrrhenian colony.

14

We shall hereafter have occasion to remark, that the Lu'ceres were subject to the other tribes.

15

See History, Chapter IV.

16

The Pincian and Vatican hills were added at a much later period and these, with Janiculum, made the number ten.

17

They were named as follow:

1. Porta Cape'na

2. Cœlimon'tium

3. I'sis and Sera'pis

4. Via Sa'cra

5. Esquili'na

6. Acta Se'mita

7. Vita Lata

8. Forum Roma'num

9. Circus Flamin'ius

10. Pala'tium

11. Circus Max'imus

12. Pici'na Pub'lica

13. Aventinus

14. Transtiberi'na.

The divisions made by Servius were named: the Suburan, which comprised chiefly the Cœlian mount; the Colline, which included the Viminal and Quirinal hills; the Esquiline and Palatine, which evidently coincided with the hills of the same name.

18

Among the public buildings of ancient Rome, when in her zenith, are numbered 420 temples, five regular theatres, two amphitheatres, and seven circusses of vast extent; sixteen public baths, fourteen aqueducts, from which a prodigious number of fountains were constantly supplied; innumerable palaces and public halls, stately columns, splendid porticos, and lofty obelisks.

19

From caput, "a head."

20

State criminals were punished by being precipitated from the Tarpeian rock; the soil has been since so much raised by the accumulation of ruins, that a fall from it is no longer dangerous.

21

In the reign of Numa, the Quirinal hill was deemed the citadel of Rome; an additional confirmation of Niebuhr's theory, that Quirium was a Sabine town, which, being early absorbed in Rome, was mistaken by subsequent, writers for Cu'res.

22

Basilicks were spacious halls for the administration of justice.

23

It is called Templum by Livy; but the word templum with the Romans does not mean an edifice, but a consecrated inclosure. From its position, we may conjecture that the forum was originally a place of meeting common to the inhabitants of the Sabine town on the Quirinal, and the Latin town on the Palatine hill.

24

See Chap. XII. Sect. V. of the following History.

25

See the following chapter.

26

The same remark may be applied to the Scottish clans and the ancient Irish septs, which were very similar to the Roman gentes.

When the plebeians endeavoured to procure the repeal of the laws which prohibited the intermarriage of the patricians and plebeians, the principal objection made by the former was, that these rights and obligations of the gentes (jura gentium) would be thrown into confusion.

This was also the case with the Irish tanists, or chiefs of septs; the people elected a tanist, but their choice was confined to the members of the ruling family.

See Historical Miscellany Part III. Chap. i.

They were called "patres nunorum gentium," the senators of the inferior gentes.

The "comitia curiata," assembled in the comi'tium, the general assemblies of the people were held in the forum. The patrician curiæ were called, emphatically, the council of the people; (concilium populi;) the third estate was called plebeian, (plebs.) This distinction between populus and plebs was disregarded after the plebeians had established their claim to equal rights. The English reader will easily understand the difference, if he considers that the patricians were precisely similar to the members of a close corporation, and the plebeians to СКАЧАТЬ