Critical and biographical introduction by Duffield Osborne.
BOOK I: THE PERIOD OF THE KINGS--B.C. 510
Arrival of Æneas in Italy--Ascanius founds Alba Longa--Birth of Romulus and Remus--Founding the city--Rome under the kings--Death of Lucretia--Expulsion of the Tarquins--First consuls elected
BOOK II: THE FIRST COMMONWEALTH--B.C. 509-468
Brutus establishes the republic--A conspiracy to receive the kings into the city--Death of Brutus--Dedication of the Capitol--Battle of Lake Regillus--Secession of the commons to the Sacred Mount--Five tribunes of the people appointed--First proposal of an agrarian law--Patriotism of the Fabian family--Contests of the plebeians and patricians
BOOK III: THE DECEMVIRATE--B.C. 468-446
Disturbances over the agrarian law--Cincinnatus called from his fields and made dictator--Number of tribunes increased to ten--Decemvirs appointed--The ten tables--Tyranny of the decemvirs--Death of Virginia--Re-establishment of the consular and tribunician power