Many, many years ago, in the pleasant land of Italy, there was a little city called Alba. It stood on the sunny side of a mountain, near the River Tiber and not far from the Mediterranean Sea. In this city and around the mountain lived
a brave, intelligent people known as Latins. Several other tribes inhabited the adjacent mountains and plains. The Latins were ruled by kings, and one of their kings in very early times was named Aeneas. He was a famous Trojan chief who had come over the seas to Italy and settled there with his family and friends after Troy was destroyed by the Greeks. A great many years after the death of Aeneas one of his descendants named Procas was king of Alba. He ruled wiselyand well for a long time, and his rather small kingdom on the mountain side, with its wheat-fieIds and vineyards, was very prosperous. He had two sons, one named Numitor, and the other Amulius. As Numitor was the elder he was heir to his father's throne, but when King Procas died Amulius seized the kingdom by force and made himself king.