CHAPTER II.
FROM THE BUILDING OF ROME TO THE DEATH OF ROMULUS.
See Romulus the great, born to restore The crown that once his injured grandsire wore.
This prince a priestess of our blood shall bear; And like his sire in arms he shall appear .-- _Dryden_.
1.

Scarcely was the city raised above its foundation, when its rude inhabitants began to think of giving some form to their constitution.
Rom'ulus, by an act of great generosity, left them at liberty to choose whom they would for their king; and they, in gratitude, concurred to elect him for their founder.

He, accordingly, was acknowledged as chief of their religion, sovereign magistrate of Rome, and general of the army.

Beside a guard to attend his person, it was agreed, that he should be preceded wherever he went, by twelve lictors, each armed with an axe tied up in a bundle of rods;[1] these were to serve as executioners of the law, and to impress his new subjects with an idea of his authority.
2.

The senate, who were to act as counsellors to the king, was composed of a hundred of the principal citizens of Rome, consisting of men whose age, wisdom, or valour, gave them a natural authority over their fellow-subjects.