Here he found Remus, no longer a prisoner as he had feared, but the acknowledged grandson of Numitor.
The old king welcomed Romulus as joyfully as he had welcomed his brother, and the two princes, eager to please the gentle old man, placed him upon the throne from which he had so long ago been driven.
They then sped to the prison where their mother Silvia had lain since the princes had been born. Swiftly they set her free, and cheered her by their love and care as good sons ever will.
CHAPTER V
THE SACRED BIRDS
The grandsons of Numitor could no longer live as shepherds on Mount Palatine, which they had learned to love. Nor could they dwell quietly in Alba, for all their lives they had been used to live free among the mountains, nor had they been subject to any king.
So the princes made up their minds to leave Alba, and to build a city for themselves on the hills they loved.
But the brothers could not agree on which hill to build their city, Romulus choosing the Palatine, Remus the Aventine.
Not knowing how to settle their dispute, they asked Numitor to help them. He bade them, as the custom was, to appeal to augury—that is, to watch for a sign or omen from the gods. These signs were given in many different forms, sometimes by the flight of birds, as happened now.
The princes determined to follow their grandfather’s advice. Romulus went to Mount Palatine, Remus to Mount Aventine, and patient through one long day they watched for a sign.