80/122 _Lethe_ was the river of forgetfulness, and those who drank of it forgot their former life and were ready for a new one. The kings mentioned in these two stanzas are the earliest mythical rulers of Alba Longa. Numitor was the father of Rhea Silvia (Ilia), the mother of Romulus and Remus. The Emperor Augustus was the nephew and adopted son of C.Julius Caesar, who claimed to trace his descent back to Iulus, and so through Aeneas to Venus herself. The first king referred to is Numa Pompilius, who was a Sabine born at Cures. |