COMPARISON OF ROMULUS WITH THESEUS.

This is what I have learnt of Romulus and Theseus, worthy of memory. It seems, first of all, that Theseus, out of his own free-will, without any compulsion, when he might have reigned in security at Trcezen in the enjoj'ment of no inglorious empire, of his own motion affected great actions, whereas the other, to escape pre- sent servitude and a punishment that threatened him, (according to Plato's phrase) grew valiant purely out of fear, and, dreading the extremest inflictions, attempted great enterprises out of mere necessity. Again, his greatest action was only the killing of one king of Alba ; while, as mere by-adventures and preludes, the other can name Sciron, Sinnis, Procrustes, and Corynetes ; by redu- cing and killing of whom, he rid Greece of terrible oppres- sors, before any of them that were relieved knew who did it ; moreover, he might without any trouble as well have gone to Athens by sea, considering he himself never was in the least injured by those robbers ; where as Romu- lus could not but be in trouble whilst Amulius lived. Add to this the fact that Theseus, for no wrong done to himself, but for the sake of others, fell upon these vil- lains ; but Romulus and Remus, as long as they themselves suffered no ill by the tyrant, permitted him to oppress all others. And if it be a great thing to have been wounded in battle by the Sabines, to have killed king Acron, and to have conquered many enemies, we may oppose to these actions the battle with the Centaurs and the feats clone against the Amazons. But what Theseus adven-

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