Worst of
all was, that he of his own authority divided the land which was
obtained in war amongst the soldiers, and restored the hostages to the
Veientines, against the will of the Senate and without consulting it, by
which he seemed purposely to insult it. On this account the Senate was
suspected, when shortly after this he miraculously disappeared. His
disappearance took place on the Nones of the month now called July, but
then Quintilis, leaving nothing certain or agreed on about his end
except the date. Even now things happen in the same fashion as then; and
we need not wonder at the uncertainty about the death of Romulus, when
that of Scipio Africanus, in his own house after supper, proved so
inexplicable, some saying that it arose from an evil habit of body, some
that he had poisoned himself, some that his enemies had suffocated him
during the night. And yet the corpse of Scipio lay openly exposed for
all to see, and gave all who saw it some ground for their conjectures;
whereas Romulus suddenly disappeared, and no morsel of his body or shred
of his garments were ever seen again. Some supposed that the Senators
fell upon him in the Temple of Vulcan, and, after killing him cut his
body in pieces and each of them carried off one in the folds of his
robe. Others think that his disappearance took place neither in the
Temple of Vulcan, nor yet in the presence of the Senators alone, but say
that Romulus was holding an assembly without the city, near a place
called the Goat's Marsh, when suddenly strange and wonderful things took
place in the heavens, and marvellous changes; for the sun's light was
extinguished, and night fell, not calm and quiet, but with terrible
thunderings, gusts of wind, and driving spray from all quarters.
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