[6]
Some say that only thirty maidens were seized, and that from these the Curiae1 were named; but Valerius Antias puts the number at five hundred and twenty-seven, and Juba at six hundred and eighty-three, all maidens. And this was the strongest defence which Romulus could make, namely, that they took only one married woman, Hersilia, and her by mistake, since they did not commit the rape out of wantonness, nor even with a desire to do mischief, but with the fixed purpose of uniting and blending the two peoples in the strongest bonds.
1 The thirty divisions into which the three ancient Roman tribes were divided for political and ceremonial purposes. Cf. Livy, i. 13, 6 f.
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