XX.  Now that the city was doubled in numbers, a hundred more senators were elected from among the Sabines, and the legions were composed of six thousand infantry and six hundred cavalry.  They also established three tribes, of which they named one Rhamnenses, from Romulus, another Titienses from Tatius, and the third Lucerenses, after the name of a grove to which many had fled for refuge, requiring asylum, and had been admitted as citizens.  They call a grove lucus.  The very name of tribe and tribune show that there were three tribes.  Each tribe was divided into ten centuries, which some say were named after the women who were carried off; but this seems to be untrue, as many of them are named after places.  However, many privileges were conferred upon the women, amongst which were that men should make way for them when they walked out, to say nothing disgraceful in their presence, or appear naked before them, on pain of being tried before the criminal court; and also that their children should wear the bulla, which is so called from its shape, which is like a bubble, and was worn round the neck, and also the broad purple border of their robe (praetexta).

The kings did not conduct their deliberations together, but each first took counsel with his own hundred senators, and then they all met together.  Tatius dwelt where now is the temple of Juno Moneta, and Romulus by the steps of the Fair Shore, as it is called, which are at the descent from the Palatine hill into the great Circus.  Here they say the sacred cornel-tree grew, the legend being that Romulus, to try his strength, threw a spear, with cornel-wood shaft, from Mount Aventine, and when the spear-head sunk into the ground, though many tried, no one was able to pull it out.  The soil, which was fertile, suited the wood, and it budded, and became the stem of a good-sized cornel-tree.  After the death of Romulus this was preserved and reverenced as one of the holiest objects in the city.  A wall was built round it, and whenever any one thought that it looked inclined to droop and wither he at once raised a shout to tell the bystanders, and they, just as if they were assisting to put out a fire, called for water, and came from all quarters carrying pots of water to the place.  It is said that when Gaius Caesar repaired the steps, and the workmen were digging near it, they unintentionally damaged the roots, and the tree died.

XXI.  The Sabines adopted the Roman system of months, and all that is remarkable about them will be found in the ‘Life of Numa.’  But Romulus adopted the large oblong Sabine shield, and gave up the round Argolic shields which he and the Romans had formerly carried.  The two nations shared each other’s festivals, not abolishing any which either had been wont to celebrate, but introducing several new ones, among which are the Matronalia, instituted in honour of the women at the end of the war, and that of the Carmentalia.  It is thought