Excerpt from Early Rome From the Foundation of the City to Its Destruction by the Gauls Historical criticism has now for more than half a century been actively at work upon the history of Rome, and the tests which, in accordance with the laws of evi dence, it has applied to the traditional narrative, have shown that the greater part of the tales which have passed for more than two thousand years as the history of' the Roman kings and of the earlier ages of the republic, contain but a small portion of truth hidden under a huge mass of fiction. The results of scientific investigation have gradually been accepted by all scholars whose judgment is not perverted by an obstinate historical conservatism very much akin to superstition; and the present volume is an attempt to give these results in a form intelligible to any reader of common capacity, and possessed of so much previous knowledge as can be acquired, or ought to be acquired, at an average school before the age of fifteen or sixteen. All purely scientific matter has been excluded. The results have been given with only so much of argument and proof as is abso lutely necessary to carry conviction. All scientific re ferences and notes have been excluded. Yet no statement has been made which could not be substantiated by reference to the original authors from whom all our information is derived. It is hoped that those readerswho are attracted by the subject, and wish to carry their Studies further, will be able to use the present volume as a starting point for investigations of their own. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.