neighbors to
Rome were the Sabines, and the Romans cast their eyes in vain on the
Sabine ladies, till old Numitor advised Romulus to proclaim a great
feast in honor of Neptune, with games and dances. All the people in the
country round came to it, and when the revelry was at its height each of
the unwedded Romans seized on a Sabine maiden and carried her away to
his own house. Six hundred and eighty-three girls were thus seized, and
the next day Romulus married them all after the fashion ever after
observed in Rome. There was a great sacrifice, then each damsel was
told, "Partake of your husband's fire and water;" he gave her a ring,
and carried her over his threshold, where a sheepskin was spread, to
show that her duty would be to spin wool for him, and she became his
wife.

[Illustration: THE FORUM.]

Romulus himself won his own wife, Hersilia, among the Sabines on this
occasion; but the nation of course took up arms, under their king
Tatius, to recover their daughters. Romulus drew out his troops into
Campus Martius, or field of Mars, just beneath the Capitol, or great
fort on the Saturnian Hill, and marched against the Sabines; but while
he was absent, Tarpeia, the daughter of the governor of the little fort
he had left on the Saturnian Hill, promised to let the Sabines in on
condition they would give her what they wore on their left arms, meaning
their bracelets; but they hated her treason even while they took
advantage of it, and no sooner were they within the gate than they
pelted her with their heavy shields, which they wore on their left arms,
and killed her. The cliff on the top of which she died is still called
the Tarpeian rock, and criminals were executed by being thrown from the
top of it. Romulus tried to regain the Capitol, but the Sabines rolled
down stones on the Romans, and he was stunned by one that struck him on
the head; and though he quickly recovered and rallied his men, the
battle was going against him, when all the Sabine women, who had been
nearly two years Roman wives, came rushing out, with their little
children in their arms and their hair flying, begging their fathers and
husbands not to kill one another. This led to the making of a peace, and
it was agreed that the Sabines and Romans should make but one nation,
and that Romulus and Tatius should reign together at Rome. Romulus lived
on the Palatine Hill, Tatius on the Tarpeian, and the valley between was
called the Forum, and was the m