Lavinia, who was with child at the death of /Eneas, began to entertain an unreasonable dread of Ascanius; and retiring to the woods, was delivered of a son, who received the name of /Eneas Sylvius. As soon as As canius became acquainted with the retreat of Lavinia, and the cause of her alarm, he treated her with the greatest gentleness, and prevailed upon her to return to Lavinium with her child.
As iEneas Sylvius was the undoubted heir to the throne of Latium, Ascanius cheerfully resigned the sovereignty, and built for himself the town of Alba Longa, where he died after a reign of thirty-eight years, of which he had spent twelve in his new city.
Ascanius left behind him an only son Julius, the undoubted sovereign of Alba Longa. To prevent the risks of a divided kingdom, the Latins agreed to unite both these states under the political sovereignty of Sylvius, and to confer upon Julius the sovereign au thority in religious affairs.
After the death of Sylvius, who reigned 29 years, his son /Eneas Sylvius governed Latium for 31 years; Latinus Sylvius for 51 years; Alba 39; Capetus or Atys 26; Capis 23; Capctus 13; Tiberinus (who gave his name to the Tiber where he was drowned) 41 years; and Alladius 19. His successor Aventinus left his name to the Aventine Hill, ,where he was buried; and Procus, who reigned after him for 23 years, left the throne to his eldest son Numitor. His younger brother Amulius, however, murdered /Egestus, the only son or Numitor; and, in order to secure the sove reignty, he consecrated Nnmitor's daughter, Rhea Sylvia, to the worship of Vesta, and to tho virginity which that office demanded.
While the unwilling vestal was fetching water from a neighbouring spring, she was ravished by a person in a military dress; but whether the ravisher was Mars, Amulius, or some lover of her own, she was carefully watched by Amulius till she was delivered of two sons. An assembly of the people condemned Rhea to death, and her offspring to be thrown into the 'Fiber. The sentence upon Rhea was changed into confinement; but the innocent children were launched upon the Tiber in a wooden trough. Fortune drove their frail bark upon the strand, and its helpless crew were saved by the king's shepherd Faustulus, and carefully suckled by his wife Acca Laurentia.
At the age proper for education, Faustulus sent the boys to Gabii, to be instructed in Greek learning.
A superiority of mien and of intellect acquired for them a superiority among the other shepherds; and during a quarrel between the herdsmen of Numitor and Amulius, the twins, who had received the name of Romulus and Remus, took the part of the latter. The herdsmen of Numitor seized the earliest oppor tunity of revenging themselves for the injury which had been done to their party. They surprised Remus at the festival of the Lupercalia, and carried him be fore Numitor, to receive the punishment which he was thought to have merited. The appearance of the young prisoner inspired Numitor with a deep interest in his fate. He inquired into his early history, and he quickly perceived in the mysterious circumstances of his infancy that Remus was his own grandson.
In order to dissuade Romulus from pursuing the shepherds who had carried off his brother, Faustulus was obliged to disclose the history of his birth. The mingled excitements of ambition and natural affection to which this disclosure gave rise, instantly prompted Romulus to deliver his mother and his grandfather from the tyranny of Amulius. Remus had by this time received the same information respecting his origin from Numitor; and a plan was speedily ar ranged for assembling the peasantry, and investing the palace of Amulius. Formed into companies of 100 each, and carrying as ensigns the manipuli, or bundles of hay, upon long poles, this army of pea sants entered the palace, and having slain the tyrant after a reign of 42 years, they restored Numitor to his throne.
With the advice of Numitor, Romulus and Remus resolved to establish a new colony on the lands near the 'fiber, where they had been educated. Most of the Trojan families, and the inhabitants of the two small towns of Pallantium and Saturnia, united them selves with Romulus and Remus. The workmen were formed into two detachments, one under Romulus and the other under Remus; but this separation gave rise to two parties, one of whom chose the Aventine, while the other under Romulus fixed upon the Pala tine hill, as the most desirable site of the city. Hav ing failed in settling this difference by augury, the two factions had recourse to arms, and, in the contention -which ensued, Faustulus was killed, and Remus fell by the hand of his brother.