This welcome peace, following suddenly on so melancholy a war, endeared the Sabine women still more to their husbands and parents, and above all to Romulus himself. Accordingly, when dividing the people into thirty curiae, he called the curiae after their names. While the number of the women were undoubtedly considerably greater than this, it is not recorded whether they were chosen for their age, their own rank or that of their husbands, or by lot, to give names to the curiae. At the same time also three centuries of knights were enrolled: the Ramnenses were so called from Romulus, the Titienses from Titus Tatius: in regard to the Luceres, the meaning of the name and its origin is uncertain.[12] From that time forward the two kings enjoyed the regal power not only in common, but also in perfect harmony.
Several years afterward, some relatives of King Tatius ill-treated the Ambassadors of the Laurentines, and on the Laurentines beginning proceedings according to the rights of nations, the influence and entreaties of his friends had more weight with Tatius. In this manner he drew upon himself the punishment that should have fallen upon them: for, having gone to Lavinium on the occasion of a regularly recurring sacrifice, he was slain in a disturbance which took place there. They say that Romulus resented this less than the event demanded, either because partnership in sovereign power is never cordially kept up, or because he thought that he had been deservedly slain. Accordingly, while he abstained from going to war, the treaty between the cities of Rome and Lavinium was renewed, that at any rate the wrongs of the ambassadors and the murder of the king might be expiated.
With these people, indeed, there was peace contrary to expectations: but another war broke out much nearer home and almost at the city's gates. The Fidenates,[13] being of opinion that a power in too close proximity to themselves was gaining strength, hastened to make war before the power of the Romans should attain the greatness it was evidently destined to reach. An armed band of youths was sent into Roman territory and all the territories between the city and the Fidenae was ravaged. Then, turning to the left, because on the right the Tiber was a barrier against them, they continued to ravage the country, to the great consternation of the peasantry: the sudden alarm, reaching the city from the country, was the first announcement of the invasion. Romulus aroused by this—for a war so near home could not brook delay—led out his army, and pitched his camp a mile from Fidenae. Having left a small garrison there, he marched out with all his forces and gave orders that a part of them should lie in ambush in a spot hidden amid bushes planted thickly around; he himself advancing with the greater part of the infantry and all the cavalry, by riding up almost to the very gates, drew out the enemy—which was just what he wanted—by a mode of battle of a disorderly and threatening nature. The same tactics on the part of the cavalry caused the flight, which it was necessary to pretend, to appear less surprising: and when, as the cavalry appeared undecided whether to make up its mind to fight or flee, the infantry also retreated—the enemy, pouring forth suddenly through the crowded gates, were drawn toward the place of ambuscade, in their eagerness to press on and pursue, after they had broken the Roman line. Thereupon the Romans, suddenly arising, attacked the enemy's line in flanks; the advance from the camp of the standards of those, who had been left behind on guard, increased the panic: thus the Fidenates, smitten with terror from many quarters, took to flight almost before Romulus and the cavalry who accompanied him could wheel round: and those who a little before had been in pursuit of men who pretended flight, made for the town again in much greater disorder, seeing that their flight was real. They did not, however, escape the foe: the Romans, pressing closely on their rear, rushed in as if it were in one body, before the doors of the gates could be shut against them.
The minds of the inhabitants of Veii,[14] being exasperated by the infectious influence of the Fidenatian war, both from the tie of kinship—for the Fidenates also were Etruscans—and because the very proximity of the scene of action, in the event of the Roman arms being directed against all their neighbours, urged them on, they sallied forth into the Roman territories, rather with the object of plundering than after the manner of a regular war. Accordingly, without pitching a camp, or waiting for the enemy's army, they returned to Veii, taking with them the booty they had carried off from the lands; the Roman army, on the other hand, when they did not find the enemy in the country, being ready and eager for a decisive action, crossed 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 have to fight from their houses and walls. In this engagement the Roman king gained the victory, his power being unassisted by any stratagem, by the unaided strength of his veteran army: and having pursued the routed enemies up to their walls, he refrained from attacking the city, which was strongly fortified and well defended by its natural advantages: on his return he laid waste their lands, rather from a desire of revenge than of booty. The Veientes, humbled by that loss no less than by the unsuccessful issue of the battle, sent ambassadors to Rome to sue for peace. A truce for one hundred years was granted them, after they had been mulcted in a part of their territory. These were essentially the chief events of the reign of Romulus, in peace and in war, none of which seemed inconsistent with the belief of his divine origin, or of his deification after death, neither the spirit he showed in recovering his grandfather's kingdom, nor his wisdom in building a city, and afterward strengthening it by the arts of war and peace. For assuredly it was by the power that Romulus gave it that it became so powerful, that for forty years after it enjoyed unbroken peace. He was, however, dearer to the people than to the fathers: above all others he was most beloved by the soldiers: of these he kept three hundred, whom he called Celeres, armed to serve as a body-guard not only in time of war but also of peace.
Having accomplished these works deserving of immortality, while he was holding an assembly of the people for reviewing his army, in the plain near the Goat's pool, a storm suddenly came on, accompanied by loud thunder and lightning, and enveloped the king in so dense a mist, that it entirely hid him from the sight of the assembly. After this Romulus was never seen again upon earth. The feeling of consternation having at length calmed down, and the weather having become clear and fine again after so stormy a day, the Roman youth seeing the royal seat empty—though they readily believed the words of the fathers who had stood nearest him, that he had been carried up to heaven by the storm—yet, struck as it were with the fear of being fatherless, for a considerable time preserved a sorrowful silence. Then, after a few had set the example, the whole multitude saluted Romulus as a god, the son of a god, the king and parent of the Roman city; they implored his favour with prayers, that with gracious kindness he would always preserve his offspring. I believe that even then there were some, who in secret were convinced that the king had been torn in pieces by the hands of the fathers—for this rumour also spread, but it was very doubtfully received; admiration for the man, however, and the awe felt at the moment, gave greater notoriety to the other report. Also by the clever idea of one individual, additional confirmation is said to have been attached to the occurrence. For Proculus Julius, while the state was still troubled at the loss of the king, and incensed against the senators, a weighty authority, as we are told, in any matter however important, came forward into the assembly. "Quirites," said he, "Romulus, the father of this city, suddenly descending from heaven, appeared to