further dispute. Different treaties are made on different conditions,
but in general they are all concluded with the same formalities. We
have heard that the treaty in question was then concluded as follows,
nor is there extant a more ancient record of any treaty. The herald
asked King Tullus, "Dost thou command me, O king, to conclude a
treaty with the pater patratus of the Alban people?" On the king so
commanding him he said, "I demand vervain of thee, O king." The king
replied, "Take some that is pure." The herald brought a pure blade of
grass from the citadel; then again he asked the king, "Dost thou, O
king, appoint me the royal delegate of the Roman people, the Quirites,
and my appurtenances and attendants?" The king replied, "So far as
it may be done without detriment to me and to the Roman people, the
Quirites, I do so." The herald was Marcus Valerius, who appointed
Spurius Fusius pater patratus,[21] touching his head and hair with
the vervain.[22] The pater patratus was appointed ad iusiurandum
patrandum, that is, to ratify the treaty; and he went through it in a
lengthy preamble, which, being expressed in a long set form, it is not
worth while to repeat. After having set forth the conditions, he said:
"Hear, O Jupiter; hear, O pater patratus of the Alban people, and ye,
O Alban people, give ear. As those conditions, from first to last,
have been publicly recited from those tablets or wax without wicked
or fraudulent intent, and as they have been most correctly understood
here this day, the Roman people will not be the first to fail to
observe those conditions. If they shall be the first to do so by
public consent, by fraudulent intent, on that day do thou, O Jupiter,
so strike the Roman people, as I shall here this day strike this
swine; and do thou strike them so much the more, as thou art more
mighty and more powerful." When he said this, he struck the swine with
a flint stone. The Albans likewise went through their own set form and
oath by the mouth of their own dictator and priests.