this rumour also spread, but it was very doubtfully received; admiration for the man, however, and the awe felt at the moment, gave greater notoriety to the other report.  Also by the clever idea of one individual, additional confirmation is said to have been attached to the occurrence.  For Proculus Julius, while the state was still troubled at the loss of the king, and incensed against the senators, a weighty authority, as we are told, in any matter however important, came forward into the assembly.  “Quirites,” said he, “Romulus, the father of this city, suddenly descending from heaven, appeared to me this day at daybreak.  While I stood filled with dread, and religious awe, beseeching him to allow me to look upon him face to face, ‘Go,’ said he, ’tell the Romans, that the gods so will, that my Rome should become the capital of the world.  Therefore let them cultivate the art of war, and let them know and so hand it down to posterity, that no human power can withstand the Roman arms.’  Having said this, he vanished up to heaven.”  It is surprising what credit was given to that person when he made the announcement, and how much the regret of the common people and army for the loss of Romulus was assuaged when the certainty of his immortality was confirmed.[15]

Meanwhile[16] contention for the throne and ambition engaged the minds of the fathers; the struggle was not as yet carried on by individuals, by violence or contending factions, because, among a new people, no one person was pre-eminently distinguished; the contest was carried on between the different orders.  The descendants of the Sabines wished a king to be elected from their own body, lest, because there had been no king from their own party since the death of Tatius, they might lose their claim to the crown although both were on an equal footing.  The old Romans spurned the idea of a foreign prince.  Amid this diversity of views, however, all were anxious to be under the government of a king, as they had not yet experienced the delights of liberty.  Fear then seized the senators, lest, as the minds of many surrounding states were incensed against them, some foreign power should attack the state, now without a government, and the army, now without a leader.  Therefore, although they were agreed that there should be some head, yet none could bring himself to give way to another.  Accordingly, the hundred senators divided the government among themselves, ten decuries being formed, and the individual members who were to have the chief direction of affairs being chosen into each decury.[17] Ten governed; one only was attended by the lictors and with the insignia of authority:  their power was limited to the space of five days, and conferred upon all in rotation, and the interval between the government of a king lasted a year.  From this fact it was called an interregnum, a term which is employed even now.  Then the people began to murmur, that their slavery was multiplied, and