Another disturbance took place in Rome about the
election of the next king, because the new citizens were not yet
thoroughly amalgamated with the old ones, the people were unquiet, and
the patricians suspicious of one another. Nevertheless they all
determined that they would have a king, but they disagreed not merely
about who, but of what race he should be.
Romulus's original colonists thought it a monstrous thing that the
Sabines, because they had been admitted to a share of the city and the
country, should propose to rule over it; while the Sabines not
unreasonably urged that because, after the death of Tatius, they had
acquiesced in Romulus reigning alone, now in their turn they ought to
furnish a king of their own nation. They had not, they said, been
adopted by a more powerful race than themselves, but had, by their
combination with the Romans, greatly raised the power and renown of
their city.
The two races were at issue on these points. The patricians, fearing
that confusion might arise if the state were left without a head, made
one of their own number every day assume the insignia of royalty,
perform the usual sacrifices to the gods, and transact business for six
hours by day, and six by night. This equal division of their periods of
rule was not only just for those in office, but prevented any jealousy
of them being felt by the populace, each day and night, because they saw
one who had been a king become a private person.
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