Foundation Stories, History of Rome

'To secure a favourable place and time for such an attempt, Romulus, disguising his resentment, made elaborate preparations for the celebration of games in honour of ‘Equestrian Neptune,’ which he called ‘the Consualia.’'

I feel that the tone of this reading differs significantly from most if not all of the readings that we have done.

This reading is different in a sense that it is filled with the theme of gaining power, a stark contrast from the Dhammapada, and the Analects of Confucius.

In this reading, Romulus had such a greed for power that he even killed his own twin so that he could become the sole ruler of Rome.

From the quote, I find that Livy was trying to portray Romulus as a great leader as he highlighted that Romulus was able to '[disguise] his resentment' in order to carry out the rape of the Sabines, as if to say that Romulus was a skilled tactician.

The Rape of the Sabines was a heinous act but Livy seems to avoid mentioning the atrocities of the event, even stating that 'The feelings of the abducted maidens were now pretty completely appeased'. Perhaps this is due to his bias of being proud of the republic as discussed in class, leading to him not wanting to write negatively of the creation myths of Rome.