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Then Romolo and Remolo wished to know which of them was to die to save the city. And both desired it. Then they resolved to take an immense stone and cast it one at the other. So Remolo picked it up and cast it at his brother, and all who beheld it thought he must be slain. But Romolo caught it in his hands and threw it back; yet Remolo caught it easily. But in that instant his foot slipped, and he fell backward over the Tarpeian Rock, and so he perished. This is an old story.

And thus it was that Rome was built.

[Now, it was in this city, or near by, that in after-time Virgil was born, who in his day did such wonders. But the first wonder of all was the manner of his birth. For Virgil was the glory of Rome, and the greatest poet and sorcerer ever known therein.]

It did not occur to me to include this tale among the Virgilian legends, but finding that the compiler of “Virgilius the Sorcerer” (1893) has begun with a legend of Romulus and Remus, I have done the same, having one by me. As the giant said to the storytelling ram, “There is nothing like beginning at the commencement.”