The people had decreed, as has been said, that for them there never
should be a king, and the law was kept to the letter; though, if they
meant that supreme authority should never be held among them by one
man, it was violated many times. The story of Rome is unique in the
history of the world, for it is not the record of the life of one great
country, but of a city that grew to be strong and successfully
established its authority over many countries. The most ancient and the
most remote from the sea of the cities of Latium, Rome soon became the
most influential, and began to combine in itself the traits of the
peoples near it; but owing to the singular strength and rare
impressiveness of the national character, these were assimilated, and
the inhabitant of the capital remained distinctively a Roman in spite
of his intimate association with men of different origin and training.
The citizen of Rome was practical, patriotic, and faithful to
obligation; he loved to be governed by inflexible law; and it was a
fundamental principle with him that the individual should be
subordinate to the state. His kings were either organizers, like Numa
and Ancus Marcius, or warriors, like Romulus and Tullus Hostilius; they
either made laws, like Servius, or they enforced them with the
despotism of Tarquinius Superbus.
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