It was one of the main objects of the first volume to prove that the story of Rome under the kings was altogether without historical foundation. I have sifted the legends which pass for history; such fragments of them as lay scattered about I have collected, for the sake of restoring the manifold forms they once bore: not however as though this could bring us nearer to historical knowledge: for while the grandeur of the monarchy the seat of which was on the seven hills is attested by the monuments it left behind, the recollections of its history have been purposely destroyed; and to fill up the void the events of a narrow sphere, such as the pontiffs after the Gallic irruption were familiar with, have been substituted in the room of the forgotten transactions of an incomparably wider empire. Even Fabius beyond a doubt knew nothing more than the story that has come down to us: and hardly would it have been possible for him to find any authentic records, except in the writings of forein nations; which he could never have reconciled with his own story or made any use of. On the other hand his age was in possession of a real history, though in many parts tinged with fable, since the insurrection of the commonalty: and though this has only reacht us in a very defective state, disfigured with arbitrary transformations, yet from this time forward it becomes my cheering task to undertake the restoration of a genuine, connected, substantially perfect history.