The rape of the Sabines.--Narrative of it.--The population of Rome chiefly men.--Necessity of providing wives for them.--Romulus sends embassadors to the surrounding states.--Insulting replies.--Anger of the Romans.--Great discovery made by Romulus.--His plan.--Plans for the festival.--Races, games, and shows.--A great concourse assembles at the fair.--The spectacles continue several weeks.--The last day of the fair.--Signal to be made by Romulus.--Excitement of the Romans.--Final preparations.--The moment arrives.--The maidens seized.--The men fly.--The Romans secure the captive maidens.--An incident.--A captive "for Thalassius."--The phrase "for Thalassius" becomes a proverb.--Resentment of the fathers and brothers of the maidens.--The captives called together in the morning.--Address made to them by Romulus.--Acquiescence of the captives.--Cures.--The Sabines demand the restoration of the captives.--Romulus refuses to restore them.--Ceremony in commemoration of these events. Every reader who has made even the smallest beginning in the study of ancient history, must be acquainted, in general, with the mode which Romulus adopted to provide the people of his city with wives, by the transaction which is commonly called in history the rape of the Sabines. The deed itself, as it actually occurred, may perhaps have been one of great rudeness, violence, and cruelty. If so, the historians who described it contrived to soften the character of it, and to divest it in a great measure of the repulsive features which might have been supposed to characterize such a transaction, for, according to the narrative which they give us, the whole proceeding was conducted in such a manner as to evince not only great ingenuity and sagacity on the part of Romulus and his government, but also great moderation and humanity. The circumstances, as the historians relate them, were these: As might naturally be supposed from the manner in which the company which formed the population of Rome had been collected, it consisted at first almost wholly of men. The laws and regulations referred to in the last chapter, in respect to the family relation, were those framed after the organization of the community had become somewhat advanced, since at the outset there could be very few families, inasmuch as the company which first met together to build the city, consisted simply of an army of young men. It is true that among those who joined them at first there were some men of middle life and some families,--still, as is always the case with new cities and countries suddenly and rapidly settled, the population consisted almost entirely of men.