it, since the Lake Regillus was too far off for tidings to have come so
fast, one of them laid his hand on the doubter's beard and changed it
in a moment from black to copper color, so that he came to be called
Domitius Ahenobarbus, or Brazen-beard. Then they disappeared, and the
next morning Posthumius' messenger brought the news. The Romans had no
doubt that these were indeed the glorious twins, and built their temple,
as Valerius had vowed.

[Illustration: ROMAN ENSIGNS, STANDARDS, TRUMPETS ETC.]

Tarquin had lost all his sons, and died in wretched exile at Cumæ. And
here ends what is looked on as the legendary history of Rome, for though
most of these stories have dates, and some sound possible, there is so
much that is plainly untrue mixed up with them, that they can only be
looked on as the old stories which were handed down to account for the
Roman customs and copied by their historians.




CHAPTER VII.

THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT.


So far as true history can guess, the Romans really did have kings and
drove them out, but there are signs that, though Porsena was a real
king, the war was not so honorable to the Romans as they said, for he
took the city and made them give up all their weapons to him, leaving
them nothing but their tools for husbandry. But they liked to forget