Silvia was a daughter of
Numitor, while Ilia is called a daughter of AEneas. He is perfectly
right: Naevius and Ennius called Romulus a son of Ilia, the daughter of
AEneas, as is attested by Servius on Vergil and Porphyrio on Horace; but
it cannot be hence inferred that this was the national opinion of the
Romans themselves, for the poets who were familiar with the Greeks might
accommodate their stories to Greek poems. The ancient Romans, on the
other hand, could not possibly look upon the mother of the founder of
their city as a daughter of AEneas, who was believed to have lived three
hundred and thirty-three or three hundred and sixty years earlier.
Dionysius says that his account, which is that of Fabius, occurred in
the sacred songs, and it is in itself perfectly consistent. Fabius
cannot have taken it, as Plutarch asserts, from Diocles, a miserable
unknown Greek author; the statue of the she-wolf was erected in the year
A.U. 457, long before Diocles wrote, and at least a hundred years before
Fabius. This tradition therefore is certainly the more ancient Roman
one; and it puts Rome in connection with Alba. A monument has lately
been discovered at Bovillae: it is an altar which the _Gentiles Julii_
erected _lege Albana_, and therefore expresses a religious relation of a
Roman gens to Alba. The connection of the two towns continues down to
the founder of Rome; and the well-known tradition, with its ancient
poetical details, many of which Livy and Dionysius omitted from their
histories lest they should seem to deal too much in the marvellous, runs
as follows:

Numitor and Amulius were contending for the throne of Alba. Amulius took
possession of the throne, and made Rea Silvia, the daughter of Numitor,
a vestal virgin, in order that the Silvian house might become extinct.
This part of the story was composed without any insight into political
laws, for a daughter could not have transmitted any gentilician rights.
The name Rea Silvia is ancient, but Rea is only a surname: _rea femmina_
often occurs in Boccaccio, and is used to this day in Tuscany to
designate a woman whose reputation is blighted; a priestess Rea is
described by Vergil as having been overpowered by Hercules. While Rea
was fetching water in a grove for a sacrifice the sun became eclipsed,
and she took refuge from a wolf in a cave, where she was overpowered by
Mars. When she was delivered, the sun was again eclipsed and the statue
of Vesta covered its eyes.