Tatius.

In the mean time, Romulus and the people of the city were equally busy
in making preparations for defense. They procured and laid up in
magazines, great stores of provisions for the use of the city. They
strengthened and extended the walls, and built new ramparts and towers
wherever they were needed. Numitor rendered very essential aid to his
grandson in these preparations. He sent supplies of weapons to him for
the use of the men, and furnished various military engines, such as
were used in those times in the attack and defense of besieged cities.
In fact, the preparations on both sides were of the most extensive
character, and seemed to portend a very resolute and determined
contest.

When all things were thus ready, the Sabines, before actually striking
the blow for which they had been so long and so deliberately
preparing, concluded to send one more final embassy to Romulus, to
demand the surrender of the women. This was of course only a matter of
form, as they must have known well from what had already passed that
Romulus would not now yield to such a proposal. He did not yield. He
sent back word in answer to their demand, that the Sabine women were
all well settled in Rome, and were contented and happy there with
their husbands and friends, and that he could not think now of
disturbing them. This answer having been received, the Sabines
prepared for the onset.

There was a certain tract of country surrounding Rome which belonged
to the people of the city, and was cultivated by them. This land was
used partly for tillage and partly for the pasturage of cattle, but
principally for the latter, as the rearing of flocks and herds was,
for various reasons, a more advantageous mode of procuring food for
man in those ancient days than the culture of the ground. The rural
population, therefore, of the Roman territory consisted chiefly of
herdsmen; and when the approaching danger from the Sabines became
imminent, Romulus called all these herdsmen in, and required the
flocks of sheep and the herds of cattle to be driven to the rear of
the city, and shut up in an inclosure there, where they could be more
easily defended. Thus the Sabine army found, when they were ready to
cross the frontier, that the Roman territory, on that side, was
deserted and solitary; and that there was nothing to oppose them in
advancing across it almost to the very gates of Rome.

They advanced accordingly, and when they came near to th