rfect equality between Rome and Alba. The contest
ended in the complete submission of Alba; it did not remain faithful,
however, and in the ensuing struggle with the Etruscans, Mettius
Fuffetius acted the part of a traitor toward Rome, but not being able to
carry his design into effect, he afterward fell upon the fugitive
Etruscans. Tullus ordered him to be torn to pieces and Alba to be razed
to the ground, the noblest Alban families being transplanted to Rome.
The death of Tullus is no less poetical. Like Numa he undertook to call
down lightning from heaven, but he thereby destroyed himself and his
house.

If we endeavor to discover the historical substance of these legends,
we at once find ourselves in a period when Rome no longer stood alone,
but had colonies with Roman settlers, possessing a third of the
territory and exercising sovereign power over the original inhabitants.
This was the case in a small number of towns, for the most part of
ancient Siculian origin. It is an undoubted fact that Alba was
destroyed, and that after this event the towns of the _Prisci Latini_
formed an independent and compact confederacy; but whether Alba fell in
the manner described, whether it was ever compelled to recognize the
supremacy of Rome, and whether it was destroyed by the Romans and Latins
conjointly, or by the Romans or Latins alone, are questions which no
human ingenuity can solve. It is, however, most probable that the
destruction of Alba was the work of the Latins, who rose against her
supremacy; whether in this case the Romans received the Albans among
themselves, and thus became their benefactors instead of destroyers,
must ever remain a matter of uncertainty. That Alban families were
transplanted to Rome cannot be doubted, any more than that the _Prisci
Latini_ from that time constituted a compact state; if we consider that
Alba was situated in the midst of the Latin districts, that the Alban
mount was their common sanctuary, and that the grove of Ferentina was
the place of assembly for all the Latins, it must appear more probable
that Rome did not destroy Alba, but that it perished in an insurrection
of the Latin towns, and that the Romans strengthened themselves by
receiving the Albans into their city.

Whether the Albans were the first that settled on the Caelian hill, or
whether it was previously occupied, cannot be decided. The account which
places the foundation of the town on the Caelius in the reign of Romulu