In terror and distraught with fear, the crowd fled to their homes, lashed by a ceaseless torrent of rain.
And the king? When the storm was over the king was nowhere to be found. He had disappeared, and was seen no more on earth in human form.
'His enemies have slain him,' said some among the people. But others thought that the god Mars had carried the king to heaven in a chariot.
Proculus, a friend of Romulus, told the people a story, which made them believe that their king had himself become a god.
One day, as Proculus was walking from Alba to Rome, Romulus stood before him, clad in shining armour.
His friend was afraid when he saw the king, so tall and comely had he become, and he cried: 'Why, O King, have you abandoned us, and left the whole city to bereavement and endless sorrow?'
Proculus did not seem to know that Romulus had lost the love of his people many years before.
The figure in shining armour answered his friend in these wise words:
'It pleased the gods, O Proculus, that we, who came from them, should remain so long a time amongst men as we did, and having built a city to be the greatest in the world for empire and glory, should again return to heaven.
'Farewell, and tell the Romans that by the exercise of temperance and fortitude they shall attain the height of human power. We will be to you from henceforth the god Quirinus.'
The Romans listened eagerly to Proculus, and when his story ended, they determined to build a temple on the Quirinal hill in honour of their new god.
And each year, on the 17th February, the day that Romulus had been taken from their sight, the Romans held a festival in honour of Quirinus, calling it the Quirinalia.
