文档介绍：Lays of Ancient Rome
Lays of Ancient Rome
By Thomas Babbington Macaulay
1
Lays of Ancient Rome
Preface
Horatius The Lay
The Battle of the Lake Regillus The Lay
Virginia The Lay
The Prophecy of Capys The Lay
That what is called the history of the Kings and early Consuls of
Rome is to a great extent fabulous, few scholars have, since the time of
Beaufort, ventured to deny. It is certain that, more than three hundred and
sixty years after the date ordinarily assigned for the foundation of the city,
the public records were, with scarcely an exception, destroyed by the
Gauls. It is certain that the oldest annals of monwealth were
compiled more than a century and a half after this destruction of the
records. It is certain, therefore, that the great Latin writers of the Augustan
age did not possess those materials, without which a trustworthy account
of the infancy of the republic could not possibly be framed. Those writers
own, indeed, that the chronicles to which they had access were filled with
battles that were never fought, and Consuls that were never inaugurated;
and we have abundant proof that, in these chronicles, events of the greatest
importance, such as the issue of the war with Porsena and the issue of the
war with Brennus, were grossly misrepresented. Under these
circumstances a wise man will look with great suspicion on the legend
which e down to us. He will perhaps be inclined to regard the
princes who are said to have founded the civil and religious institutions of
Rome, the sons of Mars, and the husband of Egeria, as mere mythological
personages, of the same class with Perseus and Ixion. As he draws nearer
to the confines of authentic history, he will e less and less hard of
belief. He will admit that the most important parts of the narrative have
some foundation in truth. But he will distrust almost all the details, not
only because they seldom rest on any solid evidence, but also because he
will constantly detect