Romulus

Different kinds of greatness.--Founders of cities.--Rome.--Interest in respect to its origin.--The story of Æneas.--The Mediterranean sea.--Italy and Greece in ancient times, and now.--Ancient chieftains.--Their modes of life.--Religious ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans.--Ancient studies of nature.--Purpose of them.--History.--Ancient poems and tales.--How far founded in fact.--Cadmus.--Interest felt in respect to the origin of writing.--True story of Cadmus.--His father Agenor.--Europa.--Telephassa.--The pursuit of Europa.--Fruitless result.--Cadmus settles in Greece.--Thebes.--Arts introduced by him.--The ancient legend of Cadmus.--Jupiter.--Adventures of Jupiter.--His love for Europa.--His elopement.--Jupiter and Europa in Crete.--The expedition of Cadmus.--His various wanderings.--Death of Telephassa.--Visit to the oracle at Delphi.--The directions of the oracle.--Cadmus finds his guide.--The place for his city determined.--The fountain of Dirce.--The dragon's teeth.--Thebes built.--Cadmia.--Ancient ideas of probability.--Belief in supernatural tales.--Final recording of the ancient tales.

Some men are renowned in history on account of the extraordinary powers and capacities which they exhibited in the course of their career, or the intrinsic greatness of the deeds which they performed. Others, without having really achieved any thing in itself very great or wonderful, have become widely known to mankind by reason of the vast consequences which, in the subsequent course of events, resulted from their doings. Men of this latter class are conspicuous rather than great. From among thousands of other men equally exalted in character with themselves, they are brought out prominently to the notice of mankind only in consequence of the strong light reflected, by great events subsequently occurring, back upon the position where they happened to stand.

The celebrity of Romulus seems to be of this latter kind. He founded a city. A thousand other men have founded cities; and in doing their work have evinced perhaps as much courage, sagacity, and mental power as Romulus displayed. The city of Romulus, however, became in the end the queen and mistress of the world. It rose to so exalted a position of influence and power, and retained its ascendency so long, that now for twenty centuries every civilized nation in the western world have felt a strong interest in every thing pertaining to its history, and have been accustomed to look back with special curiosity to the circumstances of its origin. In consequence of this it has happened that though Romulus, in his actual day, performed no very great exploits, and enjoyed no pre-eminence above the thousand other half-savage chieftains of his class, whose names have been long forgotten, and very probably while he lived never dreamed of any extended fame, yet so brilliant is the illumination which the subsequent events of history have shed upon his position and his doings, that his name and the incidents of his life have been brought out very conspicuously to view, and attract very strongly the attention of mankind.