6. Wives were forbidden, upon any pretext whatsoever, to separate from their husbands; while, on the contrary, the husband was empowered to repudiate the wife, and even, in some cases, to put her to death. The laws between children and their parents were still more severe; the father had entire power over his offspring, both of fortune and life; he could imprison and sell them at any time of their lives, or in any stations to which they were arrived. 7. After endeavouring to regulate his subjects by law, Rom'ulus next gave orders to ascertain their numbers. The whole amounted to no more than three thousand foot, and about as many hundred horsemen, capable of bearing arms. These, therefore, were divided equally into three tribes, and to each he assigned a different part of the city. Each of these tribes was subdivided into ten curiae, or companies, consisting of a hundred men each, with a centurion to command it; a priest called curio, to perform the sacrifices, and two of the principal inhabitants, called duumviri, to distribute justice. 8. By these judicious regulations, each day added strength to the new city; multitudes of people flocked in from all the adjacent towns, and it only seemed to want women to insure its duration. In this exigence, Rom'ulus, by the advice of the senate, sent deputies among the Sab'ines, his neighbours, entreating their alliance; and, upon these terms, offering to cement the strictest confederacy with them. The Sab'ines, who were at that time considered as the most warlike people of Italy, rejected the proposal with disdain. 9. Rom'ulus, therefore, proclaimed a feast, in honour of Neptune,[2] throughout all the neighbouring villages, and made the most magnificent preparations for celebrating it. These feasts were generally preceded by sacrifices, and ended in shows of wrestlers, gladiators, and chariot-courses. The Sab'ines, as he had expected, were among the foremost who came to be spectators, bringing their wives and daughters with them, to share the pleasures of the sight. 10. In the mean time the games began, and while the strangers were most intent upon the spectacle, a number of the Roman youth rushed in among them with drawn swords, seized the youngest and most beautiful women, and carried them off by violence. In vain the parents protested against this breach of hospitality; the virgins were carried away and became the wives of the Romans. 11. A bloody war ensued. The cities of Cae'nina,[3] Antem'nae,[4] and Crustumi'num,[5] were the first who resolved to avenge the common cause, which the Sab'ines seemed too dilatory in pursuing. But all these, by making separate inroads, became an easy conquest to Rom'ulus, who made the most merciful use of his victories; instead of destroying their towns, or lessening their numbers, he only placed colonies of Romans in them, to serve as a frontier to repress more distant invasions.