He had a beautiful daughter called Lavinia, and as soon as she was old enough to marry, he thought of getting herĪ good husband. Now the King of Latium in those days was Latinus. Each of these kingdoms had its own leader or king, whom all the people obeyed. The Etruscans occupied the northern part of Italy, or the top of the boot, and called their country Etruria, while the Latins dwelt farther south, in a province Into several small kingdoms, among which were those of the Etruscans and the Latins. In the days when the Greeks were fighting against Troy, that great city in Asia Minor which they besieged for ten years, the people in Italy were divided The Aeneid is a poem written by Publius Virgilius Maro or Virgil (70-19 BC) in the last ten years of his life. Rome therefore placed gods, half-gods and heroes at the origin of its history.Īeneas flees burning Troy Federico Barocci, 1598 (Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy) Hercules also came to Latium, where he abolished human sacrifices, and killed the brigandĬacus on the Aventine. Janus succeeded Picus, Faunus and Arcadian Evandra, who built a city on the Palatine. He gave to Saturn, dispossessed by Jupiter, the Capitoline Hill, and the god, for the price of this hospitality, taught the Latins the art of cultivating wheat and the vine. In the beginning, they said, there reigned over the natives of Latium, a foreign king, son of Apollo, Janus. The Romans surrounded by tradition the cradle of their origin. The most famous was the Alba longa, so called because it extended on the slopes of Mount Alban. Thus Latium had, from the earliest antiquity, a large population. This plain, watered at one end by the Tiber, is extremely fertile. In the center of Italy, between the Apennines mountains and the Mediterranean, lies a vast plain crossed by high hills and called Latium. There were a number of such little kingdoms scattered throughout Italy, and as the people grew richer, wiser, and more numerous, they occupied more and more land. Them to settle in, told them what to do in time of war, and thus became chiefs or kings over their own tribes. These leaders selected the best place for Thus several families would form a tribe under the strongest and cleverest man among them, whom they chose as their leader. Successfully, and that in time of danger they could more easily defend themselves. They learned to build houses, to cook their food, to make rude pottery from the clay they found in the valleys, to spin and weave the wool from their sheep, and to fashionĪlthough each family at first lived by itself, they soon discovered that if several families joined together, they could cultivate the ground better, could hunt more These people traveled on foot, with their families, cattle, and all their household goods and they were very rude and uncivilized. Valleys of Italy, and saw how beautiful the country was, they told their companions, and all made haste to cross the mountains. They traveled on and on, day after day, and coming finally to the great mountains, some of them climbed up to see what was on the other side. These people were probably crowded at home, and left their native land in search of good pasture for their cattle, and a fertile country where they might dwell. So many years ago that no one can really tell when it was, Italy was already inhabited by a people who, judging from what we have heard of them, must once have lived in CentralĪsia. Is so rich that people do not need to work very hard in order to have fine crops, and, as the weather is generally clear, they can live out of doors almost all the year round. Orange and almond trees, camellias and pomegranates, are all covered with fruit or flowers, and the vine and olive both yield rich harvests in this beautiful land. Sweeping down upon it, and many plants which you see here in hothouses grow there in the open ground. The tall mountains in the north prevent the cold winds from The Apennines, a less lofty mountain range.Īs Italy is in the southern part of Europe, it has a very mild and delightful climate. To the north are the snow-topped Alps, a chain of high mountains which separate this country from the rest of Europe and through the peninsula run By looking at your maps, you will soon find in Europe a peninsula, shaped somewhat like a boot, and surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas.
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