Romulus

The signal that the time had come for the onslaught was to be his rising and folding his cloak and then throwing it round him again. Armed with swords, then, many of his followers kept their eyes intently upon him, and when the signal was given, drew their swords, rushed in with shouts, and ravished away the daughters of the Sabines, but permitted and encouraged the men themselves to escape.

Some say that only thirty maidens were seized, and that from these the Curiae[*](The thirty divisions into which the three ancient Roman tribes were divided for political and ceremonial purposes. Cf. Livy, i. 13, 6 f. ) were named; but Valerius Antias puts the number at five hundred and twenty-seven, and Juba at six hundred and eighty-three, all maidens. And this was the strongest defence which Romulus could make, namely, that they took only one married woman, Hersilia, and her by mistake, since they did not commit the rape out of wantonness, nor even with a desire to do mischief, but with the fixed purpose of uniting and blending the two peoples in the strongest bonds.

As for this Hersilia, some say that she was married to Hostilius, a most eminent Roman, and others, to Romulus himself, and that she also bore him children: one daughter, Prima, so called from the order of birth, and one son only, whom Romulus named Aollius, from the great concourse [*](A Greek etymology connecting the name with ἀολλής, in throngs. ) of citizens under him, but later ages Avillius. However, Zenodotus of Troezen, who gives us this account, is contradicted by many.

Among those who ravished away the maidens at that time, it chanced, they say, that certain men of meaner sort were dragging along a damsel who far surpassed the rest in beauty and stature; and when some men of superior rank met them and tried to rob them of their prize, they cried out that they were conducting the girl to Talasius, a young man, but one of excellent repute.

The other party, then, on hearing this, shouted and clapped their hands in approval, and some of them actually turned back and accompanied them, out of good will and favour to Talasius, shouting his name as they went along. Hence, indeed, down to the present time, Talasius is the nuptial cry of the Romans, as Hymenaeus is of the Greeks; for they say that Talasius was fortunate in his wife. But Sextius Sulla, the Carthaginian, a man who lacks neither learning nor charm, told me that Talasius was the word which Romulus gave as a watchword for the rape.

All those, therefore, who took the maidens away, shouted Talasius ! and on this account the custom now prevails at marriages. But most writers are of the opinion—and Juba is one of them—that the cry is an exhortation and incitement to industry and talasia, as the Greeks call spinning, Italian words having not yet at that time entirely submerged the Greek. Now if this is right, and the Romans did at that time use the word talasia for spinning, as we do, then a more credible reason for the custom might be conjectured as follows.

When the Sabines, after their war against the Romans, were reconciled with them, it was agreed that their women should perform no other tasks for their husbands than those which were connected with spinning. It was customary, therefore, at subsequent marriages, for those who gave the bride away, or escorted her to her new home, or simply looked on, to cry Talasius! merrily, in testimony that the woman was led home for no other task than that of spinning.

And it continues to be a custom down to the present time that the bride shall not of herself cross the threshold into her new home, but be lifted up and carried in, because the Sabine women were carried in by force, and did not go in of their own accord. And some say also that the custom of parting the bride’s hair with the head of a spear is a reminder that the first marriage was attended with war and fighting; on which topic I have spoken more fully in my Roman Questions. [*](Morals, p. 285 c (Question 87).) Leaving such matters aside, the rape was committed on the eighteenth day of the month once called Sextilis, but now, August, on which day the festival of the Consualia[*](A harvest festival named from Consus. See chapter xiv. 3. ) is celebrated.