Romulus and Remus loved their old abode, and therefore left Alba to found a city on the banks of the Tiber. But a dispute arose between the brothers where the city should be built, and after whose name it should be called. Romulus wished to build it on the Palatine, Remus on the Aventine. It was agreed that the question should be decided by the gods; and each took his station on the top of his chosen hill, awaiting the pleasure of the gods by some striking sign. The night passed away, and as the day was dawning Remus saw six vultures; but at sunrise, when these tidings were brought to Romulus, twelve vultures flew by him. Each claimed the augury in his own favor; but the shepherds decided for Romulus, and Remus was therefore obliged to yield. 1. REIGN OF ROMULUS, B.C. 753-716.--Romulus now proceeded to mark out the boundaries of his city. He yoked a bullock and a heifer to a plow, and drew a deep furrow round the Palatine. This formed the sacred limits of the city, and was called the _Pomoerium_. To the original city on the Palatine was given the name of _Roma Quadrata_, or Square Rome, to distinguish it from the one which subsequently extended over the seven hills. Rome is said to have been founded on the 21st of April, 753 years before the Christian era. On the line of the Pomoerium Romulus began to raise a wall. One day Remus leapt over it in scorn; whereupon Romulus slew him, exclaiming, "So die whosoever hereafter shall leap over my walls." Romulus now found his people too few in numbers. Accordingly, lie set apart on the Capitoline Hill an asylum, or a sanctuary, in which homicides and runaway slaves might take refuge. The city thus became filled with men, but they wanted women, and the inhabitants of the neighboring cities refused to give their daughters to such an outcast race. Romulus accordingly resolved to obtain by force what he could not obtain by treaty. He proclaimed that games were to be celebrated in honor of the god Consus, and invited his neighbors, the Latins and Sabines, to the festival. Suspecting no treachery, they came in numbers with their wives and children, but the Roman youths rushed upon their guests and carried off the virgins. The parents returned home and prepared for vengeance. The inhabitants of three of the Latin towns, Caenina, Antemnae and Crustumerium, took up arms one after the other, but were defeated by the Romans. Romulus slew with his own hand Acron, king of Caenina, and dedicated his arms and armor, as _spolia opima_, to Jupiter. These were offered when the commander of one army slew with his own hand the commander of another, and were only gained twice afterward in Roman history. At last Titus Tatius, the king of Cures, the most powerful of the Sabine states, marched against Rome. His forces were so great that Romulus, unable to resist him in the field, was obliged to retire into the city. Besides the city on the Palatine, Romulus had also fortified