[962]. As to the nomination of the King of the Sacred Rites see Livy, xl. 42; Dionysius Halic. Ant. Rom. v. 1. 4. The latter writer says that the augurs co-operated with the pontiff in the nomination.
[963]. Th. Mommsen, Römisches Staatsrecht, ii. 3rd Ed., 6-8; A. H. J. Greenidge, Roman Public Life, pp. 45 sqq. Mr. Greenidge thinks that the king was regularly nominated by his predecessor and only occasionally by an interim king. Mommsen holds that he was always nominated by the latter.
[964]. Compare Lucretius, v. 1108 sqq.:
“Condere coeperunt urbis arcemque locare
Praesidium reges ipsi sibi perfugiumque,
Et pecus atque agros divisere atque dedere
Pro facie cujusque et viribus ingenioque;
Nam facies multum valuit viresque vigentes.”
[965]. Nicolaus Damascenus, in Stobaeus, Florilegium, xliv. 41 (Frag. Histor. Graec. ed. C. Müller, iii. 463). Other writers say simply that the tallest, strongest, or handsomest man was chosen king. See Herodotus, iii. 20; Aristotle, Politics, iv. 4; Athenaeus, xiii. 20, p. 566 c.
[966]. Zenobius, Cent. v. 25.