When the narrative
of the Trojan war, with other Greek legends, began to be circulated in
Lati'um, it was natural that the identity of name should have led to
the confounding of the AEne'adae who had survived the destruction of
Troy, with those who had come to La'tium from the Pelasgic AE'nus. The
cities which were said to be founded by the AEne'adae were, Latin Troy,
which possessed empire for three years; Lavinium, whose sway lasted
thirty; Alba, which was supreme for three hundred years; and Rome,
whose dominion was to be interminable, though some assign a limit of
three thousand years. These numbers bear evident traces of
superstitious invention; and the legends by which these cities are
successively deduced from the first encampment of AEne'as, are at
variance with these fanciful periods. The account that Alba was built
by a son of AEne'as, who had been guided to the spot by a white sow,
which had farrowed thirty young, is clearly a story framed from
the similarity of the name to Albus (_white_,) and the circumstance of
the city having been the capital of the thirty Latin tribes.
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