3. The patricians, who composed the third part of the legislature,
assumed to themselves the power of authorising those laws which were
passed by the king, or the senate. All things relative to peace or
war, to the election of magistrates, and even to the choosing a king,
were confirmed by suffrages in their assemblies.
4. The plebeians were to till the fields, feed cattle, and follow
trades; but not to have any share in the government, to avoid the
inconveniences of a popular power.
5. The first care of the new-created king was, to attend to the
interests of religion. The precise form of their worship is unknown;
but the greatest part of the religion of that age consisted in a firm
reliance upon the credit of their soothsayers, who pretended, from
observation on the flight of birds, and the entrails of beasts, to
direct the present, and to dive into futurity. Rom'ulus, by an express
law, commanded that no election should be made, nor enterprise
undertaken, without first consulting them.
6. Wives were forbidden, upon any pretext whatsoever, to separate from
their husbands; while, on the contrary, the husband was empowered to
repudiate the wife, and even, in some cases, to put her to death.
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