1. Cicero, Republic, 2.26 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 2.26. Ac primum agros, quos bello Romulus ceperat, divisit viritim civibus docuitque sine depopulatione atque praeda posse eos colendis agris abundare commodis omnibus amoremque eis otii et pacis iniecit, quibus facillime iustitia et fides convalescit, et quorum patrocinio maxime cultus agrorum perceptioque frugum defenditur. Idemque Pompilius et auspiciis maioribus inventis ad pristinum numerum duo augures addidit et sacris e principum numero pontifices quinque praefecit et animos propositis legibus his, quas in monumentis habemus, ardentis consuetudine et cupiditate bellandi religionum caerimoniis mitigavit adiunxitque praeterea flamines, Salios virginesque Vestales omnisque partis religionis statuit sanctissime. | |
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2. Dionysius of Halycarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 2.59, 2.70-2.71 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
| 2.59. 1. Up to this point, then, I have nothing to allege in contradiction to those who have published the history of this man; but in regard to what follows I am at a loss what to say. For many have written that Numa was a disciple of Pythagoras and that when he was chosen king by the Romans he was studying philosophy at Croton. But the date of Pythagoras contradicts this account,,2. since he was not merely a few years younger than Numa, but actually lived four whole generations later, as we learn from universal history; for Numa succeeded to the sovereignty of the Romans in the middle of the sixteenth Olympiad, whereas Pythagoras resided in Italy after the fiftieth Olympiad.,3. But I can advance yet a stronger argument to prove that the chronology is incompatible with the reports handed down about Numa, and that is, that at the time when he was called to the sovereignty by the Romans the city of Croton did not yet exist; for it was not until four whole years after Numa had begun to rule the Romans that Myscelus founded this city, in the third year of the seventeenth Olympiad. Accordingly, it was impossible for Numa either to have studied philosophy with Pythagoras the Samian, who flourished four generations after him, or to have resided in Croton, a city not as yet in existence when the Romans called him to the sovereignty.,4. But if I may express my own opinion, those who have written his history seem to have taken these two admitted facts, namely, the residence of Pythagoras in Italy and the wisdom of Numa (for he has been allowed by everybody to have been a wise man), and combining them, to have made Numa a disciple of Pythagoras, without going on to inquire whether they both flourished at the same period â unless, indeed, one is going to assume that there was another Pythagoras who taught philosophy before the Samian, and that with him Numa associated. But I do not know how this could be proved, since it is not supported, so far as I know, by the testimony of any author of note, either Greek or Roman. But I have said enough on this subject. 2.70. 1. The sixth division of his religious institutions was devoted to those the Romans call Salii, whom Numa himself appointed out of the patricians, choosing twelve young men of the most graceful appearance. These are the Salii whose holy things are deposited on the Palatine hill and who are themselves called the (Salii) Palatini; for the (Salii) Agonales, by some called the Salii Collini, the repository of whose holy things is on the Quirinal hill, were appointed after Numa's time by King Hostilius, in pursuance of a vow he had made in the war against the Sabines. All these Salii are a kind of dancers and singers of hymns in praise of the gods of war.,2. Their festival falls about the time of the Panathenaea, in the month which they call March, and is celebrated at the public expense for many days, during which they proceed through the city with their dances to the Forum and to the Capitol and to many other places both private and public. They wear embroidered tunics girt about with wide girdles of bronze, and over these are fastened, with brooches, robes striped with scarlet and bordered with purple, which they call trabeae; this garment is peculiar to the Romans and a mark of the greatest honour. On their heads they wear apices, as they are called, that is, high caps contracted into the shape of a cone, which the Greeks call kyrbasiai.,3. They have each of them a sword hanging at their girdle and in their right hand they hold a spear or a staff or something else of the sort, and on their left arm a Thracian buckler, which resembles a lozenge-shaped shield with its sides drawn in, such as those are said to carry who among the Greeks perform the sacred rites of the Curetes.,4. And, in my opinion at least, the Salii, if the word be translated into Greek, are Curetes, whom, because they are kouroi or "young men," we call by that name from their age, whereas the Romans call them Salii from their lively motions. For to leap and skip is by them called salire; and for the same reason they call all other dancers saltatores, deriving their name from the Salii, because their dancing also is attended by much leaping and capering.,5. Whether I have been well advised or not in giving them this appellation, anyone who pleases may gather from their actions. For they execute their movements in arms, keeping time to a flute, sometimes all together, sometimes by turns, and while dancing sing certain traditional hymns. But this dance and exercise performed by armed men and the noise they make by striking their bucklers with their daggers, if we may base any conjectures on the ancient accounts, was originated by the Curetes. I need not mention the legend which is related concerning them, since almost everybody is acquainted with it. 2.71. 1. Among the vast number of bucklers which both the Salii themselves bear and some of their servants carry suspended from rods, they say there is one that fell from heaven and was found in the palace of Numa, though no one had brought it thither and no buckler of that shape had ever before been known among the Italians; and that for both these reasons the Romans concluded that this buckler had been sent by the gods.,2. They add that Numa, desiring that it should be honoured by being carried through the city on holy days by the most distinguished young men and that annual sacrifices should be offered to it, but at the same time being fearful both of the plot of his enemies and of its disappearance by theft, caused many other bucklers to be made resembling the one which fell from heaven, Mamurius, an artificer, having undertaken the work; so that, as a result of the perfect resemblance of the man-made imitations, the shape of the buckler sent by the gods was rendered inconspicuous and difficult to be distinguished by those who might plot to possess themselves of it.,3. This dancing after the manner of the Curetes was a native institution among the Romans and was held in great honour by them, as I gather from many other indications and especially from what takes place in their processions both in the Circus and in the theatres.,4. For in all of them young men clad in handsome tunics, with helmets, swords and bucklers, march in file. These are the leaders of the procession and are called by the Romans, from a game of which the Lydians seem to have been the inventors, ludiones; they show merely a certain resemblance, in my opinion, to the Salii, since they do not, like the Salii, do any of the things characteristic of the Curetes, either in their hymns or dancing. And it was necessary that the Salii should be free men and native Romans and that both their fathers and mothers should be living; whereas the others are of any condition whatsoever. But why should I say more about them? |
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3. Ovid, Fasti, 4.642-4.672 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
| 4.642. The farmers, deceived, offered their prayers in vain. 4.643. At one time that year it was dry, with cold northerlies 4.644. The next, the fields were rank with endless rain: 4.645. often the crop failed the farmer in its first sprouting 4.646. And meagre wild oats overran choked soil 4.647. And the cattle dropped their young prematurely 4.648. And the ewes often died giving birth to lambs. 4.649. There was an ancient wood, long untouched by the axe 4.650. Still sacred to Pan, the god of Maenalus: 4.651. He gave answers, to calm minds, in night silence. 4.652. Here Numa sacrificed twin ewes. 4.653. The first fell to Faunus, the second to gentle Sleep: 4.654. Both the fleeces were spread on the hard soil. 4.655. Twice the king’s unshorn head was sprinkled with spring water 4.656. Twice he pressed the beech leaves to his forehead. 4.657. He abstained from sex: no meat might be served 4.658. At table, nor could he wear a ring on any finger. 4.659. Dressed in rough clothes he lay down on fresh fleeces 4.660. Having worshipped the god with appropriate words. 4.661. Meanwhile Night arrived, her calm brow wreathed 4.662. With poppies: bringing with her shadowy dreams. 4.663. Faunus appeared, and pressing the fleece with a hard hoof 4.664. From the right side of the bed, he uttered these words: 4.665. ‘King, you must appease Earth, with the death of two cows: 4.666. Let one heifer give two lives, in sacrifice.’ 4.667. Fear banished sleep: Numa pondered the vision 4.668. And considered the ambiguous and dark command. 4.669. His wife, Egeria, most dear to the grove, eased his doubt 4.670. Saying: ‘What’s needed are the innards of a pregt cow,’ 4.671. The innards of a pregt cow were offered: the year proved 4.672. More fruitful, and earth and cattle bore their increase. |
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4. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 30.84 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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5. Plutarch, Comparison of Numa With Lycurgus, 1.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 1.4. Wherefore the one accomplished all his ends by persuasion, through the good-will and honour in which his people held him; but the other had to risk his life and suffer wounds, and scarcely then prevailed. Numa’s muse, however, was gentle and humane, and he converted his people to peace and righteousness, and softened their violent and fiery tempers. And if we must ascribe to the administration of Lycurgus the treatment of the Helots 1.4. which his people held him; but the other had to risk his life and suffer wounds, and scarcely then prevailed. Numa’s muse, however, was gentle and humane, and he converted his people to peace and righteousness, and softened their violent and fiery tempers. And if we must ascribe to the administration of Lycurgus the treatment of the Helots |
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6. Plutarch, Numa Pompilius, 8.6, 15.1, 20.8 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 8.6. In like manner Numa’s fiction was the love which a certain goddess or mountain nymph bore him, arid her secret meetings with him, as already mentioned, Chapter iv. 1-2. and his familiar converse with the Muses. For he ascribed the greater part of his oracular teachings to the Muses, and he taught the Romans to pay especial honours to one Muse in particular, whom he called Tacita, that is, the silent, or speechless one ; thereby perhaps handing on and honouring the Pythagorean precept of silence. 8.6. In like manner Numa’s fiction was the love which a certain goddess or mountain nymph bore him, arid her secret meetings with him, as already mentioned, Chapter iv. 1-2. and his familiar converse with the Muses. For he ascribed the greater part of his oracular teachings to the Muses, and he taught the Romans to pay especial honours to one Muse in particular, whom he called Tacita, that is, the silent, or speechless one ; thereby perhaps handing on and honouring the Pythagorean precept of silence. 15.1. By such training and schooling in religious matters the city became so tractable, and stood in such awe of Numa’s power, that they accepted his stories, though fabulously strange, and thought nothing incredible or impossible which he wished them to believe or do. 20.8. For possibly there is no need of any compulsion or menace in dealing with the multitude, but when they see with their own eyes a conspicuous and shining example of virtue in the life of their ruler, they will of their own accord walk in wisdom’s ways, and unite with him in conforming themselves to a blameless and blessed life of friendship and mutual concord, attended by righteousness and temperance. Such a life is the noblest end of all government, and he is most a king who can inculcate such a life and such a disposition in his subjects. This, then, as it appears, Numa was preeminent in discerning. |
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7. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, 1.12 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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8. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.10.2 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 2.10.2. From here is a way to a sanctuary of Asclepius. On passing into the enclosure you see on the left a building with two rooms. In the outer room lies a figure of Sleep, of which nothing remains now except the head. The inner room is given over to the Carnean Apollo; into it none may enter except the priests. In the portico lies a huge bone of a sea-monster, and after it an image of the Dream-god and Sleep, surnamed Epidotes (Bountiful), lulling to sleep a lion. Within the sanctuary on either side of the entrance is an image, on the one hand Pan seated, on the other Artemis standing. |
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9. Augustine, The City of God, 7.35 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
| 7.35. For Numa himself also, to whom no prophet of God, no holy angel was sent, was driven to have recourse to hydromancy, that he might see the images of the gods in the water (or, rather, appearances whereby the demons made sport of him), and might learn from them what he ought to ordain and observe in the sacred rites. This kind of divination, says Varro, was introduced from the Persians, and was used by Numa himself, and at an after time by the philosopher Pythagoras. In this divination, he says, they also inquire at the inhabitants of the nether world, and make use of blood; and this the Greeks call νεκρομαντείαν . But whether it be called necromancy or hydromancy it is the same thing, for in either case the dead are supposed to foretell future things. But by what artifices these things are done, let themselves consider; for I am unwilling to say that these artifices were wont to be prohibited by the laws, and to be very severely punished even in the Gentile states, before the advent of our Saviour. I am unwilling, I say, to affirm this, for perhaps even such things were then allowed. However, it was by these arts that Pompilius learned those sacred rites which he gave forth as facts, while he concealed their causes; for even he himself was afraid of that which he had learned. The senate also caused the books in which those causes were recorded to be burned. What is it, then, to me, that Varro attempts to adduce all sorts of fanciful physical interpretations, which if these books had contained, they would certainly not have been burned? For otherwise the conscript fathers would also have burned those books which Varro published and dedicated to the high priest C sar. Now Numa is said to have married the nymph Egeria, because (as Varro explains it in the forementioned book) he carried forth water wherewith to perform his hydromancy. Thus facts are wont to be converted into fables through false colorings. It was by that hydromancy, then, that that over-curious Roman king learned both the sacred rites which were to be written in the books of the priests, and also the causes of those rites - which latter, however, he was unwilling that any one besides himself should know. Wherefore he made these causes, as it were, to die along with himself, taking care to have them written by themselves, and removed from the knowledge of men by being buried in the earth. Wherefore the things which are written in those books were either abominations of demons, so foul and noxious as to render that whole civil theology execrable even in the eyes of such men as those senators, who had accepted so many shameful things in the sacred rites themselves, or they were nothing else than the accounts of dead men, whom, through the lapse of ages, almost all the Gentile nations had come to believe to be immortal gods; while those same demons were delighted even with such rites, having presented themselves to receive worship under pretence of being those very dead men whom they had caused to be thought immortal gods by certain fallacious miracles, performed in order to establish that belief. But, by the hidden providence of the true God, these demons were permitted to confess these things to their friend Numa, having been gained by those arts through which necromancy could be performed, and yet were not constrained to admonish him rather at his death to burn than to bury the books in which they were written. But, in order that these books might be unknown, the demons could not resist the plough by which they were thrown up, or the pen of Varro, through which the things which were done in reference to this matter have come down even to our knowledge. For they are not able to effect anything which they are not allowed; but they are permitted to influence those whom God, in His deep and just judgment, according to their deserts, gives over either to be simply afflicted by them, or to be also subdued and deceived. But how pernicious these writings were judged to be, or how alien from the worship of the true Divinity, may be understood from the fact that the senate preferred to burn what Pompilius had hid, rather than to fear what he feared, so that he could not dare to do that. Wherefore let him who does not desire to live a pious life even now, seek eternal life by means of such rites. But let him who does not wish to have fellowship with malign demons have no fear for the noxious superstition wherewith they are worshipped, but let him recognize the true religion by which they are unmasked and vanquished. |
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10. Vergil, Aeneis, 7.1, 7.9, 7.81-7.89, 7.91-7.99, 7.101, 7.104-7.105
| 7.1. One more immortal name thy death bequeathed 7.9. And leaving port pursued his destined way. 7.81. Laurentian, which his realm and people bear. 7.82. Unto this tree-top, wonderful to tell 7.83. came hosts of bees, with audible acclaim 7.84. voyaging the stream of air, and seized a place 7.85. on the proud, pointing crest, where the swift swarm 7.86. with interlacement of close-clinging feet 7.87. wung from the leafy bough. “Behold, there comes,” 7.88. the prophet cried, “a husband from afar! 7.89. To the same region by the self-same path 7.91. upon our city's crown!” Soon after this 7.92. when, coming to the shrine with torches pure 7.93. Lavinia kindled at her father's side 7.94. the sacrifice, swift seemed the flame to burn 7.95. along her flowing hair—O sight of woe! 7.96. Over her broidered snood it sparkling flew 7.97. lighting her queenly tresses and her crown 7.98. of jewels rare: then, wrapt in flaming cloud 7.99. from hall to hall the fire-god's gift she flung. 7.101. was rumored far: for prophet-voices told 7.104. The King, sore troubled by these portents, sought 7.105. oracular wisdom of his sacred sire |
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