100/122 The Pelasgians were a very ancient race, of whom only traces existed in Greece in historic times. They were said to be very wide-spread, but the tales connecting them with Italy are all unhistoric. _Silvanus_ was an ancient Latin woodland deity. The story, as related by Livy, is that the Romans being in want of wives, Romulus instituted games in honour of Neptune. At a given signal, the Romans seized and carried off the Sabine maidens who had come to see the games. |