XXX
HISTORY.
The Kings.
the Capitol, formed the common focus and place of assembly of
the entire state, and the Forum and Capitol maintained this im-
portance down to the latest period of ancient Rome. The rapid
growth of the city is mainly to be attributed to its situation, the
most centrai in the peninsula, alike adapted for a great commercial
town and for the capital of a vast empire. The advantages of its
position were thoroughly appreciated by the ancients themselves,
and are thus enumerated by Livy (5, 54): 'flumen opportunum, quo
ex mediterraneis locis fruges devehantur, quo maritimi commeatus
accipiantur, mare vicinum ad commoditates nec expositum nimia
propinquitate ad pericula classium externarum, regionum Italise
medium, ad incrementum urbis natum unice locum'. The Tiber was
navigable for sea-going ships as far as Eome, whilst its tributaries,
such as the Anio, Nera, Chiana, and Topino, contained sufficient
water for the river vessels which maintained a busy traffìc between
Eome and the interior of the peninsula. The state of these rivers
has, however, in the course of ages undergone a complete revolution,
chiefly owing to the graduai levelling of the forests on the moun¬
tains, and at the present day the lower part only of the Tiber, below
Orte, is navigable.
Whilst the origin of the capital of the world is traditionally
referred to Eomulus, its extension is attributed to Servius
Tullius. Around the twin settlements on the Palatine and Quirinal,
extensive suburbs on the Esquiline and Caelius, as well as on the
lower ground between the hills, had sprung up; for not only were
numerous strangers induced to settle permanently at Eome on
account of its commercial advantages, but the inhabitants of con-
quered Latin towns were frequently transplanted thither. Out of
these heterogeneous elements a new civic community was organized
towards the dose of the period of the kings, and its constitutioff
commemorated by the erection of the Servian Wall. This structure
included an external wall round the whole of the town, and also the
fortifications of the Capitol and other heights within it. The outer
wall led from the N. slope of the Capitol across what was later the
Forum of Trajan, skirted the Quirinal, and turned to the S.E. at
the gardens of Sallust (p. 186). For more than 3/t M. at this
part of the circuit, where the artificial defences are not aided by
nature, the wall was replaced by a rampart about 80 ft. in breadth,
with a moat 100 ft. wide in front of it (remains, see p. 190). The
wall recommenced on the E. side of the Esquiline, skirted the S.
slope of the Caelius, enclosed the two summits of the Aventine, and
ended at the Tiber (below St. Sabina's, p. 326). While care was
taken thus to protect the city externally, the kings were not less
solicitous to embellish the interior with handsome buildings. To
this period belong the Tempie of Jupiter Capitolinus (p. 269), the
Circus in the valley between the Palatine and the Aventine (p. 325),
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