Chapter Six
THE STORY OF ROMULUS and Remus is the story of Rome’s beginnings. The two brothers founded the city, but disagreed over which of them should be king. So they decided to wait for a sign from the gods. Remus chose to wait on the Aventine hill and was the first to see a sign, sighting six birds. But Romulus, waiting on the Palatine hill, saw twelve birds.
Each brother claimed that he was the one meant to be king—one on account of receiving a sign first, and the other on account of seeing a greater number of birds. Romulus began to build a wall around his hill. Remus jumped over it, and Romulus killed him for breaching his city’s defenses, as they were. And so ended the story of Remus, while his brother went on to become Rome’s first king.
Still, Remus’ lineage had the last laug
