efallen Romulus which for many ages we have
denied to less illustrious men. At all events, Proculus is reported to
have stated in the council, at the instigation of the senators, who
wished to free themselves from all suspicion of having been accessaries
to the death of Romulus, that he had seen him on that hill which is now
called the Quirinal, and that he had commanded him to inform the people
that they should build him a temple on that same hill, and offer him
sacrifices under the name of Quirinus.

XI. You see, therefore, that the genius of this great man did not
merely establish the constitution of a new people, and then leave them,
as it were, crying in their cradle; but he still continued to
superintend their education till they had arrived at an adult and
wellnigh a mature age.

Then Laelius said: We now see, my Scipio, what you meant when you said
that you would adopt a new method of discussing the science of
government, different from any found in the writings of the Greeks. For
that prime master of philosophy, whom none ever surpassed in eloquence,
I mean Plato, chose an open plain on which to build an imaginary city
after his own taste--a city admirably conceived, as none can deny, but
remote enough from the real life and manners of men. Others, without
proposing to themselves any model or type of government whatever, have
argued on the constitutions and forms of states. You, on the contrary,
appear to be about to unite these two methods; for, as far as you have
gone, you seem to prefer attributing to others your discoveries, rather
than start new theories under your own name and authority, as Socrates
has done in the writings of Plato. Thus, in speaking of the site of
Rome, you refer to a systematic policy, to the acts of Romulus, which
were many of them the result of necessity or chance; and you do not
allow your discourse to run riot over many states, but you fix and
concentrate it on our own Commonwealth. Proceed, then, in the course
you have adopted; for I see that you intend to examine our other kings,
in your pursuit of a perfect republic, as it were.

XII. Therefore, said Scipio, when that senate of Romulus which was
composed of the nobles, whom the king himself respected so highly that
he designated them _patres_, or fathers, and their children patricians,
attempted after the death of Romulus to conduct the government without
a king, the people would not suffer it, but, amidst their regret for
Ro