rise about
the seven hills of the most important of ancient European cities.

I believe that few persons, when Alba is mentioned, can get rid of the
idea, to which I too adhered for a long time, that the history of Alba
is lost to such an extent, that we can speak of it only in reference to
the Trojan time and the preceding period, as if all the statements made
concerning it by the Romans were based upon fancy and error; and that
accordingly it must be effaced from the pages of history altogether. It
is true that what we read concerning the foundation of Alba by Ascanius,
and the wonderful signs accompanying it, as well as the whole series of
the Alban kings, with the years of their reigns, the story of Numitor
and Amulius and the story of the destruction of the city, do not belong
to history; but the historical existence of Alba is not at all doubtful
on that account, nor have the ancients ever doubted it. The _Sacra
Albana_ and the _Albani tumuli atque luci_, which existed as late as the
time of Cicero, are proofs of its early existence; ruins indeed no
longer exist, but the situation of the city in the valley of Grotta
Ferrata may still be recognized. Between the lake and the long chain of
hills near the monastery of Palazzuolo one still sees the rock cut steep
down toward the lake, evidently the work of man, which rendered it
impossible to attack the city on that side; the summit on the other side
formed the arx. That the Albans were in possession of the sovereignty of
Latium is a tradition which we may believe to be founded on good
authority, as it is traced to Cincius. Afterward the Latins became the
masters of the district and temple of Jupiter. Further, the statement
that Alba shared the flesh of the victim on the Alban mount with the
thirty towns, and that after the fall of Alba the Latins chose their own
magistrates, are glimpses of real history. The ancient tunnel made for
discharging the water of the Alban Lake still exists, and through its
vault a canal was made called _Fossa Cluilia_: this vault, which is
still visible, is a work of earlier construction than any Roman one. But
all that can be said of Alba and the Latins at that time is, that Alba
was the capital, exercising the sovereignty over Latium; that its temple
of Jupiter was the rallying point of the people who were governed by it;
and that the gens Silvia was the ruling clan.

It cannot be doubted that the number of Latin towns was actuall