1.8
After the claims of
religion had been duly acknowledged, Romulus called
his people to a council. As nothing could unite them
into one political body but the observance of common
laws and customs, he gave them a body of laws, which
he thought would only be respected by a rude and
uncivilised race of men if he inspired them with awe
by assuming the outward symbols of power. He
surrounded himself with greater state, and in
particular he called into his service twelve
lictors. Some think that he fixed upon this number
from the number of the birds who foretold his
sovereignty; but I am inclined to agree with those
who think that as this class of public officers was
borrowed from the same people from whom the "sella
curulis" and the "toga praetexta" were adopted -their neighbours, the Etruscans -so the number
itself also was taken from them. Its use amongst the
Etruscans is traced to the custom of the twelve
sovereign cities of Etruria, when jointly electing a
king, furnishing him each with one lictor. Meantime
the City was growing by the extension of its walls
in various directions; an increase due rather to the
anticipation of its future population than to any
present overcrowding. His next care was to secure an
addition to the population that the size of the City
might not be a source of weakness. It had been the
ancient policy of the founders of cities to get
together a multitude of people of obscure and low
origin and then to spread the fiction that they were
the children of the soil. In accordance with this
policy, Romulus opened a place of refuge on the spot
where, as you go down from the Capitol, you find an
enclosed space between two groves. A promiscuous
crowd of freemen and slaves, eager for change, fled
thither from the neighbouring states. This was the
first accession of strength to the nascent greatness
of the city. When he was satisfied as to its
strength, his next step was to provide for that
strength being wisely directed. He created a hundred
senators; either because that number was adequate,
or because there were only a hundred heads of houses
who could be created. In any case they were called
the "Patres" in virtue of their rank, and their
descendants were called "Patricians."
