32
Because of the wars with neighbouring States the Roman Senate had done away with the distribution of grain to the people; but Romulus the king could not brook this, restored the dole to the people, and punished many of the more prominent men. They slew him in the Senate, cut him into bits, and thrust these into the folds of their garments; but the Roman people ran with fire to the Senate-house. Julius Proculus, however, one of the prominent men, declared that on a mountain he had seen Romulus with greater stature than any mortal’s and that he had become a god. The Romans believed him and withdrew. Cf. Life of Romulus, chap. xxviii. (35 a ff.); Life of Numa, chap. ii. (60 c ff.); Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, ii. 63; Livy, i. 16; Cicero, De Republica, i. 10. 20. So Aristobulus in the third book of his Italian History.