thou art destined to increase the number of the heavenly beings, and
that on this spot an altar shall be dedicated to thee, which in after
ages a people most mighty on earth shall call Greatest, and honour in
accordance with rites instituted by thee." Hercules, having given him
his right hand, declared that he accepted the prophetic intimation,
and would fulfil the predictions of the fates, by building and
dedicating an altar. Thereon then for the first time sacrifice was
offered to Hercules with a choice heifer taken from the herd, the
Potitii and Pinarii, the most distinguished families who then
inhabited those parts, being invited to serve at the feast. It so
happened that the Potitii presented themselves in due time and the
entrails were set before them: but the Pinarii did not arrive until
the entrails had been eaten up, to share the remainder of the feast.
From that time it became a settled institution, that, as long as the
Pinarian family existed, they should not eat of the entrails of
the sacrificial victims. The Potitii, fully instructed by Evander,
discharged the duties of chief priests of this sacred function
for many generations, until their whole race became extinct, in
consequence of this office, the solemn prerogative of their family,
being delegated to public slaves. These were the only religious rites
that Romulus at that time adopted from those of foreign countries,
being even then an advocate of immortality won by merit, to which the
destiny marked out for him was conducting him.

The duties of religion having been thus duly completed, the people
were summoned to a public meeting: and, as they could not be united
and incorporated into one body by any other means save legal
ordinances, Romulus gave them a code of laws: and, judging that these
would only be respected by a nation of rustics, if he dignified
himself with the insignia of royalty, he clothed himself with greater