emulate the virtues of his ancestor. It is to be noticed that the four
kings of Rome thus far are of two classes, the warlike and peaceful
alternating in the legends. The neighbors expected that Ancus would not
be a forceful king, and some of them determined to take advantage of
his supposed weakness. He set himself to repair the neglected religion,
putting up tables in the forum on which were written the ceremonial
law, so that all might know its demands, and seeking to lead the people
to worship the gods in the right spirit. Ancus seems to have united
with his religious character, however, a proper regard for the rights
of the nation, and when the Latins who lived on the river Anio, made
incursions into his domain, thinking that he would not notice it, in
the ardor of his services at the temples and altars, he entered upon a
vigorous and successful campaign, conquering several cities and
removing their inhabitants, giving them homes on the Aventine Hill,
thus increasing the lands that could be divided among the Romans and
adding to the number of the Plebeians. Ancus founded a colony at Ostia
at the mouth of the Tiber, and built a fortress on the Janiculum Hill,
across the river, connecting it with the other regions by means of the
first Roman bridge, called the _Pons Sublicius_, or in simple English,
the wooden bridge. This is the one that the Romans wanted to cut down
at a later period, as we shall see, and had great difficulty in
destroying. Another relic of Ancus is seen in a chamber of the damp
Mamertine prison under the Capitoline Hill, the first prison in the
city, rendered necessary by the increase of crime. After a reign of
twenty-four years, Ancus Martius died, and a new dynasty, of Etruscan
origin, began to control the fortunes of the now rapidly growing
nation.