e father. But Amulius, as
soon as he came into possession of his treasures, began to employ them
as a means of making powerful friends, and strengthening his political
influence. In due time he usurped the throne, and Numitor, giving up
the contest with very little attempt to resist the usurpation, fled
and concealed himself in some obscure place of retreat. He had,
however, two children, a son and a daughter, which he left behind him
in his flight. Amulius feared that these children might, at some
future time, give him trouble, by advancing claims as their father's
heirs. He did not dare to kill them openly, for fear of exciting the
popular odium against himself. He was obliged, therefore, to resort to
stratagem.

The son, whose name was Egestus, he caused to be slain at a hunting
party, by employing remorseless and desperate men to shoot him, in the
heat of the chase, with arrows, or thrust him through with a spear,
watching their opportunity for doing this at a moment when they were
not observed, or when it might appear to be an accident. The daughter,
whose name was Rhea--the Rhea Silvia named at the commencement of this
chapter--he could not well actually destroy, without being known to be
her murderer; and perhaps too, he had enough remaining humanity to be
unwilling to shed the blood of a helpless and beautiful maiden, the
daughter, too, of his own brother. Then, besides, he had a daughter of
his own named Antho, who was the playmate and companion of Rhea, and
with whose affection for her cousin he must have felt some sympathy.
He would not, therefore, destroy the child, but contented himself
with determining to make her a vestal virgin. By this means she would
be solemnly set apart to a religious service, which would incapacitate
her from aspiring to the throne; and by being cut off, by her vestal
vows, from all possibility of forming any domestic ties, she could
never, he thought, have any offspring to dispute his claim to the
throne.

There was nothing very extraordinary in this consecration of his
niece, princess as she was, to the service of the vestal fire; for it
had been customary for children of the highest rank to be designated
to this office. The little Rhea, for she was yet a child when her
uncle took this determination in respect to her, made, as would
appear, no objection to what she perhaps considered a distinguished
honor. The ceremonies, therefore, of her consecration were duly
performed; she