ltures, to which
Romulus appealed. This account is impossible; for the Palatine and
Aventine are so near each other that, as every Roman well knew, whatever
a person on one of the two hills saw high in the air, could not escape
the observation of any one who was watching on the other. This part of
the story therefore cannot be ancient, and can be saved only by
substituting the Remuria for the Aventine. As the Palatine was the seat
of the noblest patrician tribe, and the Aventine the special town of the
plebeians, there existed between the two a perpetual feud, and thus it
came to pass that in after times the story relating to the Remuria,
which was far away from the city, was transferred to the Aventine.
According to Ennius, Romulus made his observations on the Aventine; in
this case Remus must certainly have been on the Remuria, and it is said
that when Romulus obtained the augury he threw his spear toward the
Palatine. This is the ancient legend which was neglected by the later
writers. Romulus took possession of the Palatine. The spear taking root
and becoming a tree, which existed down to the time of Nero, is a symbol
of the eternity of the new city, and of the protection of the gods. The
statement that Romulus tried to deceive his brother is a later addition;
and the beautiful poem of Ennius, quoted by Cicero, knows nothing of
this circumstance. The conclusion which must be drawn from all this is,
that in the earliest times there were two towns, Roma and Remuria, the
latter being far distant from the city and from the Palatine.

Romulus now fixed the boundary of his town, but Remus scornfully leaped
across the ditch, for which he was slain by Celer, a hint that no one
should cross the fortifications of Rome with impunity. But Romulus fell
into a state of melancholy occasioned by the death of Remus; he
instituted festivals to honor him, and ordered an empty throne to be put
up by the side of his own. Thus we have a double kingdom, which ends
with the defeat of Remuria.

The question now is, What were these two towns of Roma and Remuria? They
were evidently Pelasgian places: the ancient tradition states that
Sicelus migrated from Rome southward to the Pelasgians, that is, the
Tyrrhenian Pelasgians were pushed forward to the Morgetes, a kindred
nation in Lucania and in Sicily. Among the Greeks it was, as Dionysius
states, a general opinion that Rome was a Pelasgian, that is, a
Tyrrhenian city, but the authorities fro