All the chief arrangements for war and government were believed by the Romans to have been laws of Romulus.
However, after five years, Tatius was murdered at a place called Lavinium, in the middle of a sacrifice, and Romulus reigned alone till in the middle of a great assembly of his soldiers outside the city, a storm of thunder and lightning came on, and every one hurried home, but the king was nowhere to be found; for, as some say, his father Mars had come down in the tempest and carried him away to reign with the gods, while others declared that he was murdered by persons, each of whom carried home a fragment of his body that it might never be found.

It matters less which way we tell it, since the story of Romulus was quite as much a fable as that of AEneas; only it must be remembered as the Romans themselves believed it.

They worshipped Romulus under the name of Quirinus, and called their chief families Quirites, both words coming from _ger_ (a spear); and the she-wolf and twins were the favorite badge of the empire.

The Capitoline Hill, the Palatine, and the Forum all still bear the same names.
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