thou didst this day save this city." And when he
had so spoken, even as though he knew that the prayer had been heard, he
cried, "Ye men of Rome, Jupiter bids you stand fast in this place and
renew the battle." And when the men of Rome heard these words, it was as
if a voice from heaven had spoken to them, and they stood fast, and the
king himself went forward and stood among the foremost. Now the leader of
the Sabines was one Curtius. This man, as he drave the Romans before him,
cried out to his comrades, "See, we have conquered these men, false hosts
and feeble foes that they are! Surely now they know that it is one thing
to carry off maidens and another to fight with men." But whilst he boasted
himself thus, King Romulus and a company of the youth rushed upon him. Now
Curtius was fighting on horseback, and being thus assailed he fled,
plunging into a certain pool which lay between the Palatine hill and the
Capitol. Thus did he barely escape with his life, and the lake was called
thereafter Curtius' pool. And now the Sabines began to give way to the
Romans, when suddenly the women for whose sake they fought, having their
hair loosened and their garments rent, ran in between them that fought,
crying out, "Shed ye not each other's blood, ye that are fathers-in-law
and sons-in-law to each other. But if ye break this bond that is between
you, slay us that are the cause of this trouble. And surely it were better
for us to die than to live if we be bereaved of our fathers or of our
husbands." With these words they stirred the hearts both of the chiefs and
of the people, so that there was suddenly made a great silence. And
afterward the leaders came forth to make a covenant; and these indeed so
ordered matters that there was not peace only, but one state where there
had been two. For the Sabines came to Rome and dwelt there; and King
Romulus and King Tatius reigned together. Only, after a while, certain men
of Lanuvium slew King Tatius as he was sacrificing to the Gods at
Lavinium; and thereafter Romulus only was king as before.

When he had reigned thirty and seven years there befell the thing that
shall now be told. On a certain day he called the people together on the
field of Mars, and held a review of his army. But while he did this there
arose suddenly a great storm, with loud thunderings and very thick clouds,
so that the king was hidden away from the eyes of all the people. Nor
indeed was he ever again seen upon the ea