According to legend, Rome was a settlement of warlike young men, from Alba, an area in the Alban Hills just southeast of Rome. When they settled there, they inaugurated the earliest of Rome's traditions, including the relationship between men and women. Any woman who lapsed from the required level of 'spectacular' virtue was fiercely punished, and the failings of women would often be the centre of Rome's legends, such as the battle between the Horatii...