Plutarch's Lives, Volume I by Plutarch
page 73 of 561 (13%)
page 73 of 561 (13%)
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given. Taroutius performed his task, and after considering the things
done and suffered by Romulus, the length of his life, the manner of his death, and all such like matters, he confidently and boldly asserted that Romulus was conceived by his mother in the first year of the second Olympiad, at the third hour of the twenty-third day of the month which is called in the Egyptian calendar _Choiac_, at which time there was a total eclipse of the sun. He stated that he was born on the twenty-first day of the month _Thouth_, about sunrise. Rome was founded by him on the ninth day of the month _Pharmouthi_, between the second and third hour; for it is supposed that the fortunes of cities, as well as those of men, have their certain periods which can be discovered by the position of the stars at their nativities. The quaint subtlety of these speculations may perhaps amuse the reader more than their legendary character will weary him. XIII. When the city was founded, Romulus first divided all the able-bodied males into regiments, each consisting of three thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry. These were named legions, because they consisted of men of military age selected from the population. The rest of the people were now organised. They were called Populus, and a hundred of the noblest were chosen from among them and formed into a council. These he called Patricians, and their assembly the Senate. This word Senate clearly means assembly of old men; and the members of it were named Patricians, according to some, because they were the fathers of legitimate offspring; according to others, because they were able to give an account of who their own fathers were, which few of the first colonists were able to do. Others say that it was from their _Patrocinium_, as they then called, and do at the present day call, their patronage of their clients. There is a legend that this word arose from one Patron, a companion of Evander, who was kind and helpful to his |
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