Slavery in Rome began under the founder/first King of Rome, Romulus. Romulus allowed Roman fathers to sell their children to slavery, and expanded as the Roman Republic came to be. Slavery grew further by the Second Punic War (218 B.C.- 201 B.C.) The Twelve Tables, Rome's oldest legal code, states that the institution of slaver was long standing. Slavery was an aspect of ius gentium (law of nation). In war, the victor had right to ius gentium, and could enslave the defeated population, but if their victor was by a formal surrender, then the people were spared enslavement.