Rex regia arma fero (says Romulus, in the
first consecration) .... bina postea (continues Livy, i. 10)inter tot bella, opima parta sunt spolia, adeo rara ejus
fortuna decoris.
If Varro (apud Pomp Festum, p. 306, edit. Dacier) could justify his liberality in granting the opime spoils even to a common soldier who had slain the king or general of the enemy, the honour would have been much more cheap and common.