proven for the time when the Romans
had commenced to undertake maritime wars. From these pontifical records
were compiled the so-called _annales Maximi_, or chief annals, whose name
permits the belief that briefer compilations were also in existence. There
were likewise commentaries preserved in the priestly colleges, which
contained ritualistic formulae, as well as attempted explanations of the
origins of usages and ceremonies.

Apart from these annals and commentaries there existed but little
historical material before the close of the third century B. C. There was
no Roman literature; no trace remains of any narrative poetry, nor of
family chronicles. Brief funerary inscriptions, like that of Scipio
Barbatus, appear in the course of the third century, and laudatory funeral
orations giving the records of family achievements seem to have come into
vogue about the end of the same century.

However, the knowledge of writing made possible the inscription upon stone
or other material of public documents which required to be preserved with
exactness. Thus laws and treaties were committed to writing. But the
Romans, unlike the Greeks, paid little attention to the careful
preservation of other documents and, until a late date, did not even keep
a record of the minor magistrates. Votive offerings and other dedications
were also inscribed, but as with the laws and treaties, few of these
survived into the days of historical writing, owing to neglect and the
destruction wrought in the city by the Gauls in 387 B. C.

Nor had the Greeks paid much attention to Roman history prior to the war
with Pyrrhus in 281 B. C., although from that time onwards Greek
historians devoted themselves to the study of Roman affairs. From this
date the course of Roman history is fairly clear. However, as early as the
opening of the fourth century B. C. the Greeks had sought to bring the
Romans into relation with other civilized peoples of the ancient world by
ascribing the foundation of Rome to Aeneas and the exiles from Troy; a
tale which had gained acceptance in Rome by the close of the third
century.

The first step in Roman historical writing was taken at the close of the
Second Punic War by Quintus Fabius Pictor, who wrote in Greek a history of
Rome from its foundation to his own times. A similar work, also in Greek,
was composed by his contemporary, Lucius Cincius Alimentus. The oldest
traditions were thus wrought into a connected version, wh