Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.

As legend has it, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. They had been left to drown in a basket on the Tiber river by a king of a nearby region and were rescued by a she-wolf. The twins lived to defeat that king and founded their own city on the river’s banks in 753 B.C. After killing his brother, Romulus became the first king of Rome, which is named after him. A line of Sabine, Latin and Etruscan (earlier Italian civilisations) kings followed in a non-hereditary succession.
Rome’s era as a monarchy ended in 509 B.C. with the overthrow of its seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, whom ancient historians portrayed as cruel and tyrannical, compared to his benevolent predecessors. Rome now turned from a monarchy into a republic.
The power of the monarch passed to two annually elected magistrates called consuls. They also served as commanders-in-chief of the army. The magistrates, though elected by the people, were largely the descendants of the original senators from the time of Romulus.
In 450 B.C., the first Roman law code was inscribed on 12 bronze tablets—known as the Twelve Tables—and publicly displayed in the Roman Forum. These laws included issues of legal procedure, civil rights and property rights and provided the basis for all future Roman civil laws. By around 300 B.C. real political power in Rome was centered in the Senate.