chiefly men. They came in
companies, as if for mutual support and protection, and they exhibited
in a greater or less degree an air of suspicion, watchfulness and
mistrust. They were, however, received with great cordiality and
kindness. They were conducted about the town, and were astonished to
find how considerable a town it was. The streets, the houses, the
walls, the temples, simple in construction as they were, far surpassed
the expectations they had formed. The visitors were treated with great
hospitality, and entertained in a manner which, considering the
circumstances of the case, was quite sumptuous. The women and children
too, who came on these first days, received from all the Romans very
special attention and regard.

As the celebrations went on from day to day, a considerable change
took place in the character and appearance of the company. The men
ceased to be suspicious and watchful. Some went home, and carried such
reports of the new city, and of the kindness, and hospitality, and
gentle behavior of the inhabitants, that new visitors came continually
to see for themselves. Every day the proportion of stern and
suspicious men diminished, and that of gay and happy-looking youths
and maidens increased.

In the mean time, the men of the city were under strict injunctions
from Romulus to treat their guests in the most respectful manner,
leaving them entirely at liberty to go and come as they pleased,
except so far as they could detain them by treating them with kindness
and attention, and devising new sports and amusements for them from
day to day. Things continued in this state for two or three weeks,
during all which time the new city was a general place of resort for
the people of all the surrounding country. Of course a great many
agreeable acquaintances would naturally be formed between the young
men of the city and their visitors, as accidental circumstances, or
individual choice and preference brought them together; and thus,
without any directions on the subject from Romulus, each man would
very naturally occupy himself, in anticipation of the general seizure
which he knew was coming, in making his selection beforehand, of the
maiden whom he intended, when the time for the seizure came, to make
his own; and the maiden herself would probably be less terrified, and
make less resistance to the attempt to capture her, than if it were by
a perfect stranger that she was to be seized.

All this Romulus s