It is difficult for us to conceive of
such a majestic power emanating from a territory so insignificant. We
hardly realize that Latium did not comprise a territory quite fifty
miles by one hundred in extent, and that it was but a hundred miles
from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic. It was but a short walk from
Rome to the territory of the Etruscans, and when Tarquin found an
asylum at C?re, he did not separate himself by twenty miles from the
scene of his tyranny. Ostia was scarcely more distant, and one might
have ridden before the first meal of the day to Lavinium, or Alba, or
Veii, or to Ardea, the ancient city of the Rutuli. It is important to
keep these facts in mind as we read the story of the remarkable city.
All towns were built on hills in these early days, for safety in case
of war, as well as because the valleys were insalubrious, but this is
not a peculiarity of the Romans, for in New England in the late ages of
our own ancestors they were obliged to follow the same custom. On the
tops and slopes of seven hills, as they liked to remind themselves, the
Romans built their city. They were not impressive elevations, though
their sides were sharp and rocky, for the loftiest rose less than three
hundred feet above the sea level.
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