ROMA INVICTA
~Rome Unconquered~
Prologue
The Children of Aeneas I sing – of their triumphs and Empire;
as Fate and the Gods have so rightfully bestowed upon them the talent of conquest;
destined to rule the world from the Tiber to the Nile; no boundaries beyond their grasp,
no enemy beyond their skill and cunning; like Birds of Prey, like Wolves,
they are destined to emerge the victor.
Upon a great city they will grow, built stone by stone upon one of the seven hills by Romvlvs,
son of Mars and descendant of Ivlvs, son of Aeneas.
Abandon to die, he was nursed by the milk of a she-wolf, for the Gods forbid his death.
And innocently, a Shepard found and adopt him as if he was his own;
The boy grew, becoming strong and leveled headed, as all Romani will be;
Upon the first stone he cast, using it to split the skull of his own brother Remvs,
for cruel Fate allowed only one to reap this birthright. Upon bloodshed and sweat,
upon Jove's thunderbolts and Vulcan's flames, Romvlvs tempered his people for war,
conquering the seven hills, and inevitably central Italy,
Upon his return to his city, Romvlvs approached the Altar of Mars, a lone Eagle guiding him overhead,
Among friends, and kinsmen, he gave Aeneas' vision to his people, a vision of a glorious future.
Weeping his people were, overwhelmed with emotion, discovering their lineage to the last Trojan.
And upon the weeping, Romvlvs spoke of,
“Roma Invicta”
Time has not forgotten Romvlvs, but only his Kingdom;
Swept away was Roma's last King, the Romani so called liberated by the Ivnivs Clan under Lvcivs Ivnivs Brvtvs,
And upon the shards of the golden crown, the Res Publica formed.
Was this what Fate had dictated? The last Trojan's' struggle and journey fruitless, abandoned?
The abomination, called the Senatus Populusque Romanus, believed so;
Against the very Fate which gave birth to the Romani people, the Senate wills against the notion of a crown,
of which pious Aeneas has so honorably earned with his blood and tears. Supported the Queen of Gods Juno they did, building a statue and Temple in her name next their Senate. Shattered was the head of Aeneas' mother, Venus, the most fair and beautiful of them all. Much joy did this bring to Juno, high above in the Heavens; the ancient grudge between her and Venus still remained in her cold heart, and cause so, Venus and all descendants of Aeneas must suffer.
Venerated as the protector of the Romani state, she laughed tears upon Venus' suffering.
Have Hades hold no fury has a Goddess' strife? Was mortal Paris' judgment that divine?
Juno danced in her victory, for it was unseen, even by the Gods themselves.
The Queen of Gods had played her last hand in trying to stop the Trojan landing upon Italy centuries ago; tricking the Latin Tyrant Turnus to challenge him for the fair hand of Princess Lavinia in marriage,
Latin and Trojan armies clashed upon the beaches of Italy, each trying to drive one another off their shores,
but Fate had sided with the Trojans, and so Juno surrendered in defeat, asking her husband Jove to spare the remaining Latins from a massacre.
And so Jove did, with the Trojan forever adopting the customs and culture of their defeated enemy.
Wipe clean was the humiliation they suffered upon the sacking of their home, Troy, by the Greeks led by arrogant Agamemnon, brutal Achilles, and lying Ulysses.
No longer were they seen as Trojans, and so the Queen had no grudge.
But upon seeing her pain, she wept tears of joy.
Venus, whose face was wet with sorrow, was still beyond any words to describe her beauty,
Juno's face clenched in anger, reminded of the truth;
In a howling scream she cursed Aeneas' name once more, her voice penetrating the mortal realm like one of Jove's bolts.
Roma quaked with her wrath, as Patricians and Plebeians alike looked to the Heavens,
Shame, as Roma would last it this state for centuries before Fate would act,
But it was in this era, we will find Roma's greatest heroes and enemies,
From one man's legacy will spawn the bloodline of four,
This man, bearing the gens of Cvria from his humble beginnings; rose up from the ranks of the lowly Plebeians,
Famous was his war against the Samnite tribes, once fierce rivals to his people now humbled allies,
So virtuous he was, rejecting bribes of gold and silver presented to him by the Samnite Leaders while roasting his Turnip in his hut;
Out of sheer respect the Samnite left, for it was not difficult to take his life then and there,
Elected Consul for the third time, his name was known to his people as Manivs Cvria Dentatvs,
the paragon of a True Romani,
For three bitter wars he lead Roma's Legions against the Samnite and their allies the Sabine,
who were still bitter about the raping of their wives,
And thrice Dentatvs led the Aquila to victory, upon two triumphs he earn,
But his duty was not finish,
Across the narrow Adriatic Sea, war loomed over Aeneas' children,
A lineage unmatched, a mighty King was seduced by the fertile lands of Italy,
A cousin of Megas Alexandros, whose vast empire had broken into three,
he field his army across the sea to aid the Greeks in Taras against Roma,
Upon landing, he boldly claimed Fate had willed him to subjugate the Children of Aeneas,
for he too, had claimed descendant from Troy's greatest enemy,
In the name of brutal Achilles, Pyrrhos and his Epeirotes marched against Roma,
Dentatvs and his Legions met King Pyrrhos with the sword,
For years and years the fighting between Aeneas and Achilles ravaged Italy, the winner like the motion of the tides,
Cunning and powerful was Pyrrhos, but invincible like Achilles?
He wasn't, like Paris before him discovered; Dentatvs met the King of Eperios in battle,
On horseback the two locked metal, blow on blow Dentatvs had planted on Pyrrhos' fresh was useless,
For the King of Eperios also bathed in the river of Styx has a child,
With a crippling thrust with his spear, Pyrrhos had unhorsed the Consul,
Down into the muddy ground he landed, as Pyrrhos and his mighty steed lunged at him for the final blow.
Arrogant like Achilles before him, Pyrrhos had forgotten his ancestor's undoing,
Dentatvs avoided the strike, barely as his shield splintered into pieces,
In a swift motion, the remnants of his sword, guided by spirit of Aeneas, lobbed off Pyrrhos' foot,
For once in his immortal life, Pyrrhos felt pain, a pain so crippling he dropped his weapon at once,
Before Dentatvs could land the finishing strike, Pyrrhos' captain had rescued him, and fled,
In that battle, the Battle of Beneventum, Dentatvs had broken the back of the Eperiote army, driving them away from Italy's shores,
But still the loses were great, enough for the Senators to beg on their knees for peace from Pyrrhos himself,
The King, shocked by his weakness agreed, gaining the city of Taras for his Kingdom.
Outraged, Dentatvs could do nothing,
Pyrrhos returned home, defeated, and mortal, but still ambitious, for a war waged by the Makedonians and the Koinion Hellenon proved to be too much of a opportunity to unite all of Greece,
Reminding him of his bitter defeat in Italy was the wooden leg that was fashioned to his wound, a wound he would not heal or forget,
Aging, Manivs Cvria Dentatvs bear no male heir to his legacy, for Fate had given him four daughters,
Cursed with four daughters, Dentatvs married them to the men he saw fit to lead Roma,
One of them, he supposed, will finish Pyrrhos, for the King of Eperios would surely return with a unified Greece,
It is with these four men, we lay our scene...
~♃~
