The Story of Rome

A vivid account of the story of Rome from the earliest times to the death of Augustus, retold for children, chronicling the birth of a city and its growth through storm and struggle to become a great world empire. Gives short accounts of battles and campaigns, and of the men who expanded the borders of the Roman empire to include all lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Some old stories tell that the city was called Rome after Roma, the noble lady who had first thought of setting the ship on fire. But other stories say that the country in which Æneas landed belonged to a king named Latinus, who welcomed the Trojan, and gave him ground on which to build. Æneas married Lavinia, the daughter of the king, and called the city which he built after her Lavinium. Soon after this, King Latinus was killed in battle, and then for three years Æneas ruled well and wisely not only over his own Trojan followers, but also over the subjects of his royal father-in-law. His people he now called Latins, in memory of King Latinus. When the three years were passed, war broke out against the Etruscans, who were at that time the most powerful tribe in Italy. One day a terrible storm overtook the armies on the battlefield; so dark grew the clouds that the soldiers could not see each other. When at length the sky cleared Æneas had disappeared, and was seen no more on earth. ‘The gods have taken him away,’ said the Latins. So they built an altar, and henceforth worshipped their king as the god Jupiter. Ascanius, who had escaped from Troy with his father, now ruled in Lavinium. But he soon found that the city was not large enough for all his people; so, leaving Lavinium, he built a new city, and called it Alba Longa, or the Long White City. Alba Longa stood in the midst of the Alban hills, not far from the site on which Rome itself was soon to be built..