Amulius s Story of Romulus and Remus By Spencer Many years ago in the land of Italy, there was a little city named Alba. There was a big mountain not that far from Alba and around the mountain were people that were brave and smart known as Latins. The Latins were ruled by kings and one of their kings was called Aeneas. He was a famous Trojan chief that came to Italy with his family and friends because Troy was destroyed by the Greeks. A long time after Aeneas s death, a descendant of Aeneas, named Procas, was King of Alba. Procas was a wise king for a long time. His small kingdom was located on the mountainside with its abundant wheat fields and productive vineyards. Procas had two sons, Numitor and Amulius. My brother Numitor was heir to our father s throne. So when my father died, I seized the throne for myself.
I was now king, but I was very worried that my brother s son would take the throne back from me. I knew this because either Numitor was rightful heir to the throne, or Numitor s daughter could have kids of her own. They all were a threat to me because they all could possibly take my throne back. Numitor was their grandpa. Since I was worried, I killed my brother s son and put my brother s daughter as an attendant in the Temple of Vesta. So that means she wouldn t be able to marry for thirty years because girls like her had to take a vow. They were called Vestal Virgins. Their job was to keep the Temple fire burning forever. So important was this so called Sacred Fire that if it were to go out a big disaster would surely happen. Then one day Mars came down and saw Sylvia and fell deeply in love with her. Sylvia fell deeply in love with him. Then they got married and had twin boys. After I heard about this, I put Sylvia to death and ordered the twin boys to be killed.
However, the babies got lucky and were placed into a little basket,which floated along the Tiber River. While floating, they eventually reached a hill named Palatine Hill. Again another lucky break for those twins because the big roots of a fig tree on this hill happened to be at the right place at the right time. That basket got bumped into and the boys were jolted out. Unfortunately for me, a big she- wolf came by to get a drink of water and heard the cries of the babies. When she got to the place, she saw the babies lying down on the sand. She turned them over and started licking them. After the caring licks, the she- wolf took the babies back to her cave. She raised them as her own. People told me that everyday a woodpecker would stop by the cave and drop off berries for the babies to eat. Then one morning, my herdsman, named Faustulus, happened to be looking for cattle that ran away. He saw the boys playing with the she- wolf and scared her away. He took the boys back to his house. At their home, Faustulus and his wife cared for the
babies and raised them to be strong and kind young men. When strong enough, the boys returned the favor and helped my herdsman with his chores until they were twenty years old. During these years when I was King of Alba, Romulus and Remus didn t know that they were living so close to my brother who was their grandfather. Then one day Remus got into a fight with Numitor s herdsmen, and they took Remus as a prisoner. They brought Remus to Numitor,and Remus told them all about himself. All the facts started to add up for Numitor. While this was happening, Romulus and Faustulus were looking for Remus. They found Remus. Numitor was convinced that these two young men were Sylvia s kids. He then thanked the herdsman for taking great care of the kids.
After Numitor told Romulus and Remus that I killed their mother, they got so upset that they came to my palace and killed me. How did they do it? Very simply: they chopped off my head. Now I am in the underworld for doing so many bad deeds. I might as well tell the rest of the story here from the underworld. After I was beheaded, Romulus and Remus took my brother to Alba, and everybody welcomed him as the rightful King of Alba. So with time, the brothers said that they would build a city on Palatine Hill because the She- Wolf nursed them to survive there. Although they settled on the location, they still got in a fight about who be the king of this new city. Their way of settling this matter on who would be King was a contest to see who would be the first to see a sign from the gods.
Remus went to stand on the hill. Romulus went to stand on another hill. They each started looking for a sign. Day one: no sign. On day two, Remus saw six great vultures and ran as fast as he could to Romulus to tell him. Just when he approached him, Romulus saw twelve great vultures in an almost unbroken line. Romulus stated, clearly, he had the favor of the gods and should be king. Twelve was greater than six. Remus objected, clearly, and stated he must have had the favor of the gods because the vultures showed up first for him. Six vultures appeared before twelve vultures. In order to finally clear things up, Romulus asked for the opinion of all his friends. They all agreed that he should be king. Romulus didn t care what Remus thought of this. He totally disregarded the original contest and started making the city of his dreams. He chose to put a very low wall around the entire city. Remus saw this and mocked his brother and stated that his short wall would only keep out a kid but not a real man.
Remus, just like a kid would have done, jumped over the wall to prove how foolish his brother was. Romulus got so mad that he killed Remus with a spade. Then Romulus continued his work, and it was true that at first no- one came to his city. The houses were merely made out of mud, but there were houses to live in. After houses, he built streets and theatres and temples. So after a long time this once mud city with short walls became Rome, one of the best cities in the world. And what have I, Amulius, been up to? Still to this day from the underworld, I tell this story.