Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Romulus and Remus 441
fication of the tale related that Romulus, obeying the Pythia, had
a golden bust made from the features of Remus, set it as a statue
on his brother's throne, and ever afterwards reigned with this effigy
of gold beside him ; he also sent golden busts of himself and his
brother to be installed beside the magistrates of all towns under
the Roman sway. Hence (says our authority^) the still prevalent
use of the royal ' we ' ! Again,
the tradition that Romulus later
ruled conjointly with Titus Tatius the Sabine suggests conformity
with the custom of a dual kingship. No doubt, the absorption of
foreign elements into the Roman state prevented the unbroken
continuity of that regime. But, when the Tarquins were driven out,
the same ancient principle reasserted itself and possessed sufficient
F'g- 340-
Fig. 341.
vitality to produce 'the double consulship, if not also the ultimate
duplication of the titles Caesar and Augiistiis"^ . There was a certain
dramatic fitness in the belief that the battle of Lake Regillus, which
sealed the fate of monarchy for the next five centuries, was won by
the help of the great twin brethren Castor and Pollux. Even when
the republic developed into the empire, the beneficent influence of
twins, at once human and divine, was not forgotten. Tiberius was
overjoyed when in 19 A.D. Livia or Livilla, the sister of Germanicus,
bore to Drusus Caesar the twins Tiberius and Germanicus^ A
large brass of Drusus Caesar, struck in 23 A.D., has for obverse
design (fig. 340)'* the busts of the two boys emerging from cormia
copiae to right and left of a winged caduceus. The significance of
1 lo. Malal. chron. 7 p. 172 Dindorf.
- The facts, concisely stated e.g. by K. J. Neumann in Pauly—Wissowa Rfal-Eiic. iii.
1287, are of course open to other interpretations than that here given.
^ Tac. ann. 2. 84. H. Furneaux (ed.^ Oxford 1896) cites Corp. inscr. Gr. ii no. 2630
{Fa7nagusta, near Salamis in Kypros) [ ] i
[ dpx'fp^'^s] | Sta ^iov,
avTov [re Kal tQivI SlSv/xcov viuiv A[po6(Tov,] Ti^eplov Kai Tep/maviKOv, yvfivacrtapxi^i'
\ \ |
Tw[j' — ] I [ ] and provides a stenima {op. cit. p. 165).
* Rasche Lex. Num. ii. looi, iii. 463 ff., Suppl. ii. 144, 671, Morell. Thes. Num.
Imp. Rom. i. 519 pi. 9, 7— 9, Stevenson—Smith—Madden Diet. Rom. Coins p. 289 fig.,
p. 349 f., Cohen Monn. e?np. ro7n.'^ i. 217 no. i. I figure a specimen in my collection.