d were soon eagerly engaged in forming and
discussing all possible plans for rescuing and recovering them. Thus
the night was passed in agitation and excitement, both within and
without the city,--the excitement of terror and distress, great
perhaps, though subsiding on the part of the captives, and of
resentment and rage which grew deeper and more extended every hour, on
the part of their countrymen.

When the morning came, Romulus ordered the captive maidens to be all
brought together before him in order that he might make as it were an
apology to them for the violence to which they had been subjected, and
explain to them the circumstances which had impelled the Romans to
resort to it.

"You ought not," said he, "to look upon it as an indignity that you
have been thus seized, for the object of the Romans in seizing you was
not to dishonor you, or to do you any injury, but only to secure you
for their wives in honorable marriage; and far from being displeased
with the extraordinariness of the measures which they have adopted to
secure you, you ought to take pride in them, as evincing the ardor and
strength of the affection with which you have inspired your lovers. I
will assure you that when you have become their wives you shall be
treated with all the respect and tenderness that you have been
accustomed to experience under your fathers' roofs. The brief coercion
which we have employed for the purpose of securing you in the first
instance,--a coercion which we were compelled to resort to by the
necessity of the case,--is the only rudeness to which you will ever
be exposed. Forgive us then for this one liberty which we have taken,
and consider that the fault, whatever fault in it there may be, is not
ours, but that of your fathers and brothers who rejected our offers
for voluntary and peaceful alliances, and thus compelled us to resort
to this stratagem or else to lose you altogether. Your destiny if you
unite with us will be great and glorious. We have not taken you
captive to make you prisoners or slaves, or to degrade you in any way
from your former position; but to exalt you to positions of high
consideration in a new and rising colony;--a colony which is surely
destined to become great and powerful, and of which we mean you to be
the chief glory and charm."

The young and handsome Romans stood by while Romulus made this speech,
their countenances animated with excitement and pleasure. The maidens
themselves see