Gently the old man tried to win the confidence of the lad, asking him who he was, and whence he came.
Remus was touched by the kindness of Numitor, and answered: ‘I will hide nothing from you, sire, for you seem of a princely temper, in that you give a hearing and examine before you punish.’
Then he told the old man the story that Faustulus had often told to him and Romulus, of how the wolf had found them as babes on the banks of the river Tiber, and had carried them to her cave and fed them with her milk.
Long before Remus had ended his story, Numitor knew that it was his grandson, his daughter Silvia’s child, who stood before him, and his old heart beat quick with joy. Here at length was one who would take his side against the cruel King Amulius.
At this moment Romulus, leading a rough band of herdsmen, approached the city gate, determined to rescue his brother from the hands of Numitor.
In the city were many folk who groaned under the tyranny of Amulius. These, hearing that Romulus was without the city gate, stole noiselessly away to join the prince, believing he had come to punish the king.
Meantime Romulus had divided his followers into companies of a hundred men. At the head of each company was a captain, carrying a small bundle of grass and shrubs tied to a pole.
These rough standards were called ‘manipuli,’ and it was because they carried these manipuli that captains in the Roman army came to be called Manipulares.
When Amulius heard that Numitor had recognised in the prisoner one of his long lost grandsons he was afraid. Then, hearing the shouts and blows of Romulus and his men as they attacked the city gate, he rushed to defend it, determined that the second prince should not enter the city.
But Romulus captured the gate, slew the king, and entered the city in triumph.