and was always attended by the band of youths called Celeres, from their quickness in service.  Others walked before him with staves to keep off the crowd, and were girt with thongs, with which to bind any one whom he might order into custody.  The Latins used formerly to call to bind ligare, and now call it alligare; wherefore the staff-bearers are called lictors, and their staves are called bacula,[A] from the rods which they then carried.  It is probable that these officers now called lictors by the insertion of the c, were originally called litors, that is, in Greek, leitourgoi (public officials).  For to this day the Greeks call a town-hall leitus, and the people laos.

[Footnote A:  The Romans termed these bundles of rods fasces.  The derivation of lictor from the Greek shows the utter ignorance of etymology prevailing among the ancients.]

XXVII.  When Romulus’ grandfather Numitor died in Alba, although he was evidently his heir, yet through a desire for popularity he left his claim unsettled, and contented himself with appointing a chief magistrate for the people of Alba every year; thus teaching the Roman nobles to desire a freer constitution, which should not be so much encroached upon by the king.  For at Rome now even the so-called Fathers took no part in public affairs, but had merely their name and dignity, and were called into the Senate House more for form’s sake than to express their opinions.  When there, they listened in silence to Romulus’s orders, and the only advantage which they possessed over the commons was that they knew the king’s mind sooner than they.  Worst of all was, that he of his own authority divided the land which was obtained in war amongst the soldiers, and restored the hostages to the Veientines, against the will of the Senate and without consulting it, by which he seemed purposely to insult it.  On this account the Senate was suspected, when shortly after this he miraculously disappeared.  His disappearance took place on the Nones of the month now called July, but then Quintilis, leaving nothing certain or agreed on about his end except the date.  Even now things happen in the same fashion as then; and we need not wonder at the uncertainty about the death of Romulus, when that of Scipio Africanus, in his own house after supper, proved so inexplicable, some saying that it arose from an evil habit of body, some that he had poisoned himself, some that his enemies had suffocated him during the night.  And yet the corpse of Scipio lay openly exposed for all to see, and gave all who saw it some ground for their conjectures; whereas Romulus suddenly disappeared, and no morsel of his body or shred of his garments were ever seen again.  Some supposed that the Senators fell upon him in the Temple of Vulcan, and, after killing him cut his body in pieces and each of them carried off one in the folds of his robe.  Others think that his disappearance