The minds of the Veientes being excited by the contagious influence of the Fidenatian war, both from the tie of consanguinity, for the Fidenates also were Etrurians, and because the very proximity of situation, in case the Roman arms should be turned against all their neighbours, urged them on, they made an incursion on the Roman territories, more to commit depredations than after the manner of a regular war. Accordingly, without pitching a camp, or awaiting the approach of the enemy's army, they returned to Veii, carrying with them the booty collected from the lands; the Roman army on the other side, when they did not find the enemy in the country, being prepared for and determined on a decisive action, cross the Tiber. And when the Veientes heard that they were pitching a camp, and intended to advance to the city, they came out to meet them, that they might rather decide the matter in the open field, than be shut up and fight from their houses and walls. Here the Roman king obtained the victory, his power not being aided by any stratagem, merely by the strength of his veteran army: and having pursued the routed enemies to their walls, he made no attempt on the city, strong as it was by its fortifications, and well defended by its situation: on his return he lays waste their lands, rather from a desire of revenge than booty. And the Veientes, being humbled by that loss no less than by the unsuccessful battle, send ambassadors to Rome to sue for peace. A truce for one hundred years was granted them after they were fined a part of their land. These are the principal transactions which occurred during the reign of Romulus, in peace and war, none of which seem inconsistent with the belief of his divine original, or of the deification attributed to him after death, neither his spirit in recovering his grandfather's kingdom, nor his project of building a city, nor that of strengthening it by the arts of war and peace. For by the strength attained from that outset under him, it became so powerful, that for forty years after it enjoyed a profound peace. He was, however, dearer to the people than to the fathers; but above all others he was most beloved by the soldiers. And he kept three hundred of them armed as a body-guard not only in war but in peace, whom he called Celeres.
Whose reign
Romulus 753–716 BC — the years tradition gives himEtruria — the country north of the Tiber.
How much of this is history
Book One covers two and a half centuries before any Roman was writing anything down, and Livy composed it four hundred years after the last event in it. He says in his own preface that what comes before the city’s founding is “rather adorned with poetic legends than founded on authentic records”. The towns on the map are real places; the reigns and the dates are tradition.