him summon them into the presence-hall, and takes his
seat in the midst on his ancestral throne. It was a reverend
pile, of vast proportions, raised high upon a hundred
pillars, on the city’s topmost ground, the palace of Picus
the Laurentine, clothed in the terror of waving woods and 5
hereditary awe. Here it was held to be of auspicious presage
that kings should first take in hand the sceptre, and
lift up the fasces: this temple was their senate-house,
the hall for their sacrificial feasts: here, when a ram was
slain, the seniors were wont to banquet down long lines 10