The story is treated by Livy (1.9), Plutarch (Rom.14), and Virgil (Aen.8.1), among others. Romulus, his people having been refused the right of connubium or legal marriage by the Sabines and the Latins, instituted games in honour of the god Consus and invited his neighbours with their wives and children to the festival. When they were assembled, the Roman youths seized and carried off the virgins and made them their wives. This led to war, and both parties were nearly exhausted with the struggle when the Sabine women rushed in among the combatants and brought about a reconciliation between their husbands and their fathers.[1] Poussin follows Plutarch most closely.[2]
