for you seem more like a king than Amulius.  You hear and judge before you punish, but he gives men up to be punished without a trial.  Formerly we (for we are twins) understood that we were the sons of Faustulus and Laurentia, the king’s servants; but now that we are brought before you as culprits, and are falsely accused and in danger of our lives, we have heard great things about ourselves.  Whether they be true or not, we must now put to the test.  Our birth is said to be a secret, and our nursing and bringing up is yet stranger, for we were cast out to the beasts and the birds, and were fed by them, suckled by a she-wolf, and fed with morsels of food by a woodpecker as we lay in our cradle beside the great river.  Our cradle still exists, carefully preserved, bound with brazen bands, on which is an indistinct inscription, which hereafter will serve as a means by which we may be recognised by our parents, but to no purpose if we are dead.”  Numitor, considering the young man’s story, and reckoning up the time from his apparent age, willingly embraced the hope which was dawning on his mind, and considered how he might obtain a secret interview with his daughter and tell her of all this; for she was still kept a close prisoner.

VIII.  Faustulus, when he heard of Remus being captured and delivered up to Numitor, called upon Romulus to help him, and told him plainly all about his birth; although previously he had hinted so much, that any one who paid attention to his words might have known nearly all about it; and he himself with the cradle ran to Numitor full of hopes and fears, now that matters had come to a critical point.  He was viewed with suspicion by the guards at the king’s gate, and while they were treating him contemptuously, and confusing him by questions, they espied the cradle under his cloak.  Now it chanced that one of them had been one of those who had taken the children to cast them away, and had been present when they were abandoned.  This man, seeing the cradle and recognising it by its make and the inscription on it, suspected the truth, and at once told the king and brought the man in to be examined.  Faustulus, in those dire straits, did not altogether remain unshaken, and yet did not quite allow his secret to be wrung from him.  He admitted that the boys were alive, but said that they were living far away from Alba, and that he himself was bringing the cradle to Ilia, who had often longed to see and touch it to confirm her belief in the life of her children.  Now Amulius did what men generally do when excited by fear or rage.  He sent in a great hurry one who was a good man and a friend of Numitor, bidding him ask Numitor whether he had heard anything about the survival of the children.  This man on arrival, finding Numitor all but embracing Remus, confirmed his belief that he was his grandson, and bade him take his measures quickly, remaining by him himself to offer assistance.  Even had they wished it, there was no time for delay; for Romulus