Though the pedigrees of noble families of Rome go back in exact formas far as Numa Pompilius, yet there is great diversity amongst historiansconcerning the time in which he reigned； a certain writer called Clodius,in a book of his entitled Strictures on Chronology, avers that theancient registers of Rome were lost when the city was sacked by theGauls, and that those which are now extant were counterfeited, toflatter and serve the humour of some men who wished to have themselvesderived from some ancient and noble lineage, though in reality withno claim to it. And though it be commonly reported that Numa was ascholar and a familiar acquaintance of Pythagoras, yet it is againcontradicted by others, who affirm that he was acquainted with neitherthe Greek language nor learning, and that he was a person of thatnatural talent and ability as of himself to attain to virtue, or elsethat he found some barbarian instructor superior to Pythagoras. Someaffirm, also, that Pythagoras was not contemporary with Numa, butlived at least five generations after him； and that some other Pythagoras,a native of Sparta, who, in the sixteenth Olympiad, in the third yearof which Numa became king, won a prize at the Olympic race, might,in his travel through Italy, have gained acquaintance with Numa, andassisted him in the constitution of his kingdom； whence it comes thatmany Laconian laws and customs appear amongst the Roman institutions.Yet, in any case, Numa was descended of the Sabines, who declare themselvesto be a colony of the Lacedaemonians. And chronology, in general,is uncertain； especially when fixed by the lists of victors in theOlympic games, which were published at a late period by Hippias theElean, and rest on no positive authority. Commencing, however, ata convenient point, we will proceed to give the most noticeable eventsthat are recorded of the life of Numa.

    It was the thirty-seventh year, counted from the foundation of Rome,when Romulus, then reigning, did, on the fifth day of the month ofJuly, called the Caprotine Nones, offer a public sacrifice at theGoat's Marsh, in presence of the senate and people of Rome. Suddenlythe sky was darkened, a thick cloud of storm and rain settled on theearth； the common people fled in affright, and were dispersed； andin this whirlwind Romulus disappeared, his body being never foundeither living or dead. A foul suspicion presently attached to thepatricians, and rumours were current among the people as if that they,weary of kingly government, and exasperated of late by the imperiousdeportment of Romulus towards them, had plotted against his life andmade him away, that so they might assume the authority and governmentinto their own hands. This suspicion they sought to turn aside bydecreeing divine honours to Romulus, as to one not dead but translatedto a higher condition. And Proculus, a man of note, took oath thathe saw Romulus caught up into heaven in his arms and vestments, andheard him, as he ascended, cry out that they should hereafter stylehim by the name of Quirinus.

    This trouble, being appeased, was followed by another, about the electionof a new king； for the minds of the original Romans and the new inhabitantswere not as yet grown into that perfect unity of temper, but thatthere were diversities of factions amongst the commonalty and jealousiesand emulations amongst the senators； for though all agreed that itwas necessary to have a king, yet what person or of which nation wasmatter of dispute. For those who had been builders of the city withRomulus, and had already yielded a share of their lands and dwellingsto the Sabines, were indignant at any pretension on their part torule over their benefactors. On the other side, the Sabines couldplausibly allege, that, at their king Tatius's decease, they had peaceablysubmitted to the sole command of Romulus； so now their turn was cometo have a king chosen out of their own nation； nor did they esteemthemselves to have combined with the Romans as inferiors, nor to havecontributed less than they to the increase of Rome, which, withouttheir numbers and association, could scarcely have merited the nameof a city.

    Thus did both parties argue and dispute their cause； but lest meanwhilediscord, in the absence of all command, should occasion general confusion,it was agreed that the hundred and fifty senators should interchangeablyexecute the office of supreme magistrate, and each in succession,with the ensigns of royalty, should offer the solemn sacrifices anddespatch public business for the space of six hours by day and sixby night； which vicissitude and equal distribution of power wouldpreclude all rivalry amongst the senators and envy from the people,when they should behold one, elevated to the degree of a king, levelledwithin the space of a day to the condition of a private citizen. Thisform of government is termed, by the Romans, interregnum. Nor yetcould they, by this plausible and modest way of rule, escape suspicionand clamour of the vulgar, as though they were changing the form ofgovernment to an oligarchy, and designing to keep the supreme powerin a sort of wardship under themselves, without ever proceeding tochoose a king. Both parties came at length to the conclusion thatthe one should choose a king out of the body of the other； the Romansmake a choice of a Sabine, or the Sabines name a Roman； this was esteemedthe best expedient to put an end to all party spirit, and the princewho should be chosen would have an equal affection to the one partyas his electors and to the other as his kinsmen. The Sabines remittedthe choice to the original Romans, and they, too, on their part, weremore inclinable to receive a Sabine king elected by themselves thanto see a Roman exalted by the Sabines. Consultations being accordinglyheld, they named Numa Pompilius, of the Sabine race, a person of thathigh reputation for excellence, that, though he were not actuallyresiding at Rome, yet he was no sooner nominated than accepted bythe Sabines, with acclamation almost greater than that of the electorsthemselves.

    The choice being declared and made known to the people, principalmen of both parties were appointed to visit and entreat him, thathe would accept the administration of the government. Numa residedat a famous city of the Sabines called Cures, whence the Romans andSabines gave themselves the joint name of Quirites. Pomponius, anillustrious person, was his father, and he the youngest of his foursons, being （as it had been divinely ordered） born on the twenty-firstday of April, the day of the foundation of Rome. He was endued witha soul rarely tempered by nature, and disposed to virtue, which hehad yet more subdued by discipline, a severe life, and the study ofphilosophy； means which had not only succeeded in expelling the baserpassions, but also the violent and rapacious temper which barbariansare apt to think highly of； true bravery, in his judgment, was regardedas consisting in the subjugation of our passions by reason.

    He banished all luxury and softness from his own home, and while citizensalike and strangers found in him an incorruptible judge and counsellor,in private he devoted himself not to amusement or lucre, but to theworship of the immortal gods, and rational contemplation of theirdivine power and nature. So famous was he, that Tatius, the colleagueof Romulus, chose him for his son-in-law, and gave him his only daughter,which, however, did not stimulate his vanity to desire to dwell withhis father-in-law at Rome； he rather chose to inhabit with his Sabines,and cherish his own father in his old age； and Tatia, also, preferredthe private conditions of her husband before the honours and splendourshe might have enjoyed with her father. She is said to have died aftershe had been married thirteen years, and then Numa, leaving the conversationof the town, betook himself to a country life, and in a solitary mannerfrequented the groves and fields consecrated to the gods, passinghis life in desert places. And this in particular gave occasion tothe story about the goddess, namely, that Numa did not retire fromhuman society out of any melancholy or disorder of mind, but becausehe had tasted the joys of more elevated intercourse, and, admittedto celestial wedlock in the love and converse of the goddess Egeria,had attained to blessedness, and to a divine wisdom.

    The story evidently resembles those very ancient fables which thePhrygians have received and still recount of Attis, the Bithyniansof Herodotus, the Arcadians of Endymion, not to mention several otherswho were thought blessed and beloved of the gods； nor does it seemstrange if God, a lover, not of horses or birds, but men, should notdisdain to dwell with the virtuous and converse with the wise andtemperate soul, though it be altogether hard, indeed, to believe,that any god or daemon is capable of a sensual or bodily love andpassion for any human form or beauty. Though, indeed, the wise Egyptiansdo not plausibly make the distinction, that it may be possible fora divine spirit so to apply itself to the nature of a woman, as toimbreed in her the first beginnings of generation, while on the otherside they conclude it impossible for the male kind to have any intercourseor mixture by the body with any divinity, not considering, however,that what takes place on the one side must also take place on theother； intermixture, by force of terms, is reciprocal. Not that itis otherwise than befitting to suppose that the gods feel towardsmen affection, and love, in the sense of affection, and in the formof care and solicitude for their virtue and their good dispositions.And, therefore, it was no error of those who feigned, that Phorbas,Hyacinthus, and Admetus were beloved by Apollo； or that Hippolytusthe Sicyonian was so much in his favour, that, as often as he sailedfrom Sicyon to Cirrha, the Pythian prophetess uttered this heroicverse expressive of the god's attention and joy：

    "Now doth Hippolytus return again, And venture his dear life upon the main."

    It is reported, also, that Pan became enamoured of Pindar for hisverses, and the divine power rendered honour to Hesiod and Archilochusafter their death for the sake of the Muses； there is a statement,also, that Aesculapius sojourned with Sophocles in his lifetime, ofwhich many proofs still exist, and that, when he was dead, anotherdeity took care for his funeral rites. And so if any credit may begiven to these instances, why should we judge it incongruous, thata like spirit of the gods should visit Zaleucus, Minos, Zoroaster,Lycurgus, and Numa, the controllers of kingdoms, and the legislatorsfor commonwealths？ Nay, it may be reasonable to believe, that thegods, with a serious purpose, assist at the councils and serious debatesof such men, to inspire and direct them； and visit poets and musicians,if at all in their more sportive moods； but for difference of opinionhere, as Bacchylides said, "the road is broad." For there is no absurdityin the account also given, that Lycurgus and Numa, and other famouslawgivers, having the task of subduing perverse and refractory multitudes,and of introducing great innovations, themselves made this pretensionto divine authority, which, if not true, assuredly was expedient forthe interests of those it imposed upon.

    Numa was about forty years of age when the ambassadors came to makehim offers of the kingdom； the speakers were Proculus and Velesus,one or other of whom it had been thought the people would elect astheir new king； the original Romans being for Proculus, and the Sabinesfor Velesus. Their speech was very short, supposing that, when theycame to tender a kingdom, there needed little to persuade to an acceptance；but, contrary to their expectations, they found that they had to usemany reasons and entreaties to induce one, that lived in peace andquietness, to accept the government of a city whose foundation andincrease had been made, in a manner, in war. In presence of his fatherand his kinsman Marcius he returned answer that "Every alterationof a man's life is dangerous to him； but madness only could induceone who needs nothing, and is satisfied with everything, to quit alife he is accustomed to； which, whatever else it is deficient in,at any rate has the advantage of certainty over one wholly doubtfuland unknown. Though, indeed, the difficulties of this government cannoteven be called unknown； Romulus, who first held it, did not escapethe suspicion of having plotted against the life of his colleagueTatius； nor the senate the like accusation, of having treasonablymurdered Romulus. Yet Romulus had the advantage to be thought divinelyborn and miraculously preserved and nurtured. My birth was mortal；I was reared and instructed by men that are known to you. The verypoints of my character that are most commended mark me as unfit toreign, love of retirement and of studies inconsistent with business,a passion that has become inveterate in me for peace, for unwarlikeoccupations, and for the society of men whose meetings are but thoseof worship and of kindly intercourse, whose lives in general are spentupon their farms and their pastures. I should but be, methinks, alaughingstock, while I should go about to inculcate the worship ofthe gods and give lessons in the love of justice and the abhorrenceof violence and war, to a city whose needs are rather for a captainthan for a king."

    The Romans, perceiving by these words that he was declining to acceptthe kingdom, were the more instant and urgent with him that he wouldnot forsake and desert them in this condition, and suffer them torelapse, as they must, into their former sedition and civil discord,there being no person on whom both parties could accord but on himself.And, at length, his father and Marcius, taking him aside, persuadedhim to accept a gift so noble in itself, and tendered to him ratherfrom heaven than from men. "Though," said they, "you neither desireriches, being content with what you have, nor court the fame of authority,as having already the more valuable fame of virtue, yet you will considerthat government itself is a service of God, who now calls out intoaction your qualities of justice and wisdom, which were not meantto be left useless and unemployed. Cease, therefore, to avoid andturn your back upon an office which, to a wise man, is a field forgreat and honourable actions, for the magnificent worship of the gods,and for the introduction of habits of piety, which authority alonecan effect amongst a people. Tatius, though a foreigner, was beloved,and the memory of Romulus has received divine honours； and who knowsbut that this people, being victorious, may be satiated with war,and, content with the trophies and spoils they have acquired, maybe, above all things, desirous to have a pacific and justice-lovingprince to lead them to good order and quiet？ But if, indeed, theirdesires are uncontrollably and madly set on war, were it not better,then, to have the reins held by such a moderating hand as is ableto divert the fury another way, and that your native city and thewhole Sabine nation should possess in you a bond of goodwill and friendshipwith this young and growing power？"

    With these reasons and persuasions several auspicious omens are saidto have concurred, and the zeal, also, of his fellow-citizens, who,on understanding what message the Roman ambassadors had brought him,entreated him to accompany them, and to accept the kingdom as a meansto unanimity and concord between the nations.

    Numa, yielding to these inducements, having first performed divinesacrifice, proceeded to Rome, being met in his way by the senate andpeople, who, with an impatient desire, came forth to receive him；the women, also, welcomed him with joyful acclamations, and sacrificeswere offered for him in all the temples, and so universal was thejoy, that they seemed to be receiving, not a new king, but a new kingdom.In this manner he descended into the forum, where Spurius Vettius,whose turn it was to be interrex at that hour, put it to the vote；and all declared him king. Then the regalities and robes of authoritywere brought to him； but he refused to be invested with them untilhe had first consulted and been confirmed by the gods； so being accompaniedby the priests and augurs, he ascended the Capitol, which at thattime the Romans called the Tarpeian Hill. Then the chief of the augurscovered Numa's head, and turned his face towards the south, and, standingbehind him, laid his right hand on his head, and prayed, turning hiseyes every way, in expectation of some auspicious signal from thegods. It was wonderful, meantime, with what silence and devotion themultitude stood assembled in the forum, in similar expectation andsuspense, till auspicious birds appeared and passed on the right.Then Numa, apparelling himself in his royal robes, descended fromthe hill to the people, by whom he was received and congratulatedwith shouts and acclamations of welcome, as a holy king, and belovedof all the gods.

    The first thing he did at his entrance into government was to dismissthe band of three hundred men which had been Romulus's life-guard,called by him Celeres, saying that he would not distrust those whoput confidence in him； nor rule over a people that distrusted him.The next thing he did was to add to the two priests of Jupiter andMars a third, in honour of Romulus, whom he called the Flamen Quirinalis.The Romans anciently called their priests Flamines, by corruptionof the word Pilamines, from a certain cap which they wore, calledPileus. In those times Greek words were more mixed with the Latinthan at present； thus also the royal robe, which is called, Laena,Juba says, is the same as the Greek Chlaena； and that the name ofCamillus, given to the boy with both his parents living, who servesin the temple of Jupiter, was taken from the name given by some Greeksto Mercury, denoting his office of attendance on the gods.

    When Numa had, by such measures, won the favour and affection of thepeople, he set himself without delay to the task of bringing the hardand iron Roman temper to somewhat more of gentleness and equity. Plato'sexpression of a city in high fever was never more applicable thanto Rome at that time； in its origin formed by daring and warlike spirits,whom bold and desperate adventure brought thither from every quarter,it had found in perpetual wars and incursions on its neighbours itsafter sustenance and means of growth, and in conflict with dangerthe source of new strength； like piles, which the blows of the hammerserve to fix into the ground. Wherefore Numa, judging it no slightundertaking to mollify and bend to peace the presumptuous and stubbornspirits of this people, began to operate upon them with the sanctionsof religion. He sacrificed often and used processions and religiousdances, in which most commonly he officiated in person； by such combinationsof solemnity with refined and humanizing pleasures, seeking to winover and mitigate their fiery and warlike tempers. At times, also,he filled their imaginations with religious terrors, professing thatstrange apparitions had been seen, and dreadful voices heard； thussubduing and humbling their minds by a sense of supernatural fears.

    This method which Numa used made it believed that he had been muchconversant with Pythagoras； for in the philosophy of the one, as inthe policy of the other, man's relations to the deity occupy a greatplace. It is said, also, that the solemnity of his exterior garb andgestures was adopted by him from the same feeling with Pythagoras.For it is said of Pythagoras, that he had taught an eagle to comeat his call, and stoop down to him in his flight； and that, as hepassed among the people assembled at the Olympic games, he showedthem his golden thigh； besides many other strange and miraculous seemingpractices, on which Timon the Philasian wrote the distich-

    "Who, of the glory of a juggler proud, With solemn talk imposed upon the crowd."

    In like manner Numa spoke of a certain goddess or mountain nymph thatwas in love with him, and met him in secret, as before related； andprofessed that he entertained familiar conversation with the Muses,to whose teaching he ascribed the greatest part of his revelations；and amongst them, above all, he recommended to the veneration of theRomans one in particular, whom he named Tacita, the silent； whichhe did perhaps in imitation and honour of the Pythagorean silence.His opinion, also, of images is very agreeable to the doctrine ofPythagoras； who conceived of the first principle of being as transcendingsense and passion, invisible and incorrupt, and only to be apprehendedby abstract intelligence. So Numa forbade the Romans to representGod in the form of man or beast, nor was there any painted or gravenimage of a deity admitted amongst them for the space of the firsthundred and seventy years, all of which time their temples and chapelswere kept free and pure from images； to such baser objects they deemedit impious to liken the highest, and all access to God impossible,except by the pure act of the intellect. His sacrifices, also, hadgreat similitude to the ceremonial of Pythagoras, for they were notcelebrated with effusion of blood, but consisted of flour, wine, andthe least costly offerings. Other external proofs, too, are urgedto show the connection Numa had with Pythagoras. The comic writerEpicharmus, an ancient author, and of the school of Pythagoras, ina book of his dedicated to Antenor, records that Pythagoras was madea freeman of Rome. Again, Numa gave to one of his four sons the nameof Mamercus, which was the name of one of the sons of Pythagoras；from whence, as they say, sprang that ancient patrician family ofthe Aemilli, for that the king gave him in sport the surname of Aemilius,for his engaging and graceful manner in speaking. I remember, too,that when I was at Rome, I heard many say, that, when the oracle directedtwo statues to be raised, one to the wisest and another to the mostvaliant man in Greece, they erected two of brass, one representingAlcibiades, and the other Pythagoras.

    But to pass by these matters, which are full of uncertainty and notso important as to be worth our time to insist on them, the originalconstitution of the priests, called Pontifices, is ascribed unto Numa,and he himself was, it is said, the first of them； and that they havethe name of Pontifices from potens, powerful, because they attendthe service of the gods, who have power to command over all. Othersmake the word refer to exceptions of impossible cases； the priestswere to perform all the duties possible to them； if anything lay beyondtheir power, the exception was not to be cavilled at. The most commonopinion is the most absurd, which derives this word from pons, andassigns the priests the title of bridge-makers. The sacrifices performedon the bridge were amongst the most sacred and ancient, and the keepingand repairing of the bridge attached, like any other public sacredoffice, to the priesthood. It was accounted not simply unlawful, buta positive sacrilege, to pull down the wooden bridge； which moreoveris said, in obedience to an oracle, to have been built entirely oftimber and fastened with wooden pins, without nails or cramps of iron.The stone bridge was built a very long time after when Aemilius wasquaestor, and they do, indeed, say also that the wooden bridge wasnot so old as Numa's time, but was finished by Ancus Marcius, whenhe was king, who was the grandson of Numa by his daughter.

    The office of Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest, was to declare andinterpret the divine law, or, rather, to preside over sacred rites；he not only prescribed rules for public ceremony, but regulated thesacrifices of private persons, not suffering them to vary from establishedcustom, and giving information to every one of what was requisitefor purposes of worship or supplication. He was also guardian of thevestal virgins, the institution of whom, and of their perpetual fire,was attributed to Numa, who, perhaps, fancied the charge of pure anduncorrupted flames would be fitly intrusted to chaste and unpollutedpersons, or that fire, which consumes, but produces nothing, bearsan analogy to the virgin estate. In Greece, wherever a perpetual holyfire is kept, as at Delphi and Athens the charge of it is committed,not to virgins, but widows past the time of marriage. And in caseby any accident it should happen that this fire became extinct, asthe holy lamp was at Athens under the tyranny of Aristion, and atDelphi, when that temple was burnt by the Medes, as also in the timeof the Mithridatic and Roman civil war, when not only the fire wasextinguished, but the altar demolished, then, afterwards, in kindlingthis fire again, it was esteemed an impiety to light it from commonsparks or flame, or from anything but the pure and unpolluted raysof the sun, which they usually effect by concave mirrors, of a figureformed by the revolution of an isosceles rectangular triangle, allthe lines from the circumference of which meeting in a centre, byholding it in the light of the sun they can collect and concentrateall its rays at this one point of convergence； where the air willnow become rarefied, and any light, dry, combustible matter will kindleas soon as applied, under the effect of the rays, which here acquiredthe substance and active force of fire. Some are of opinion that thesevestals had no other business than the preservation of this fire；but others conceive that they were keepers of other divine secretsconcealed from all but themselves, of which we have told all thatmay lawfully be asked or told, in the life of Camillus. Gegania andVerenia, it is recorded, were the names of the first two virgins consecratedand ordained by Numa； Canuleia and Tarpeia succeeded： Servius afterwardsadded two, and the number of four has continued the present time.

    The statutes prescribed by Numa for the vestals were these： that theyshould take a vow of virginity for the space of thirty years, thefirst ten of which they were to spend in learning their duties, thesecond ten in performing them, and the remaining ten in teaching andinstructing others. Thus the whole term being completed, it was lawfulfor them to marry, and, leaving the sacred order, to choose any conditionof life that pleased them； but this permission few, as they say, madeuse of； and in cases where they did so, it was observed that theirchange was not a happy one, but accompanied ever after with regretand melancholy； so that the greater number, from religious fears andscruples, forbore, and continued to old age and death in the strictobservance of a single life.

    For this condition he compensated by great privileges and prerogatives；as that they had power to make a will in the lifetime of their father；that they had a free administration of their own affairs without guardianor tutor, which was the privilege of women who were the mothers ofthree children； when they go abroad, they have the fasces carriedbefore them； and if in their walks they chance to meet a criminalon his way to execution, it saves his life, upon oath made that themeeting was an accidental one, and not concerted or of set purpose.Any one who presses upon the chair on which they are carried, is putto death. If these vestals commit any minor fault, they are punishableby the high priest only, who scourges the offender, sometimes withher clothes off, in a dark place, with a curtain drawn between； butshe that has broken her vow is buried alive near the gate called Collina,where a little mound of earth stands inside the city, reaching somelittle distance, called in Latin agger； under it a narrow room isconstructed, to which a descent is made by stairs； here they preparea bed, and light a lamp, and leave a small quantity of victuals, suchas bread, water, a pail of milk, and some oil； that so that body whichhad been consecrated and devoted to the most sacred service of religionmight not be said to perish by such a death as famine. The culpritherself is put in a litter, which they cover over, and tie her downwith cords on it, so that nothing she utters may be heard. They thentake her to the forum； all people silently go out of the way as shepasses, and such as follow accompany the bier with solemn and speechlesssorrow； and indeed, there is not any spectacle more appalling, norany day observed by the city with greater appearance of gloom andsadness. When they come to the place of execution, the officers loosethe cords, and then the high priest, lifting his hands to heaven,pronounces certain prayers to himself before the act； then he bringsout the prisoner, being still covered, and placing her upon the stepsthat lead down to the cell, turns away his face with the rest of thepriests； the stairs are drawn up after she has gone down, and a quantityof earth is heaped up over the entrance to the cell, so as to preventit from being distinguished from the rest of the mound. This is thepunishment of those who break their vow of virginity.

    It is said, also, that Numa built the temple of Vesta, which was intendedfor a repository of the holy fire, of a circular form, not to representthe figure of the earth, as if that were the same as Vesta, but thatof the general universe, in the centre of which the Pythagoreans placethe element of fire, and give it the name of Vesta and the unit； anddo not hold that the earth is immovable, or that it is situated inthe centre of the globe, but that it keeps a circular motion aboutthe seat of fire, and is not in the number of the primary elements；in this agreeing with the opinion of Plato, who, they say, in hislater life, conceived that the earth held a lateral position, andthat the central and sovereign space was reserved for some noblerbody.

    There was yet a farther use of the priests, and that was to give peopledirections in the national usages at funeral rites. Numa taught themto regard these offices, not as a pollution, but as a duty paid tothe gods below, into whose hands the better part of us is transmitted；especially they were to worship the goddess Libitina, who presidedover all the ceremonies performed at burials； whether they meant herebyProserpina, or, as the most learned of the Romans conceive, Venus,not inaptly attributing the beginning and end of man's life to theagency of one and the same diety. Numa also prescribed rules for regulatingthe days of mourning, according to certain times and ages. As, forexample, a child of three years was not to be mourned for at all；one older, up to ten years, for as many months as it was years old；and the longest time of mourning for any person whatsoever was notto exceed the term of ten months； which was the time appointed forwomen that lost their husbands to continue in widowhood. If any marriedagain before that time, by the laws of Numa, she was to sacrificea cow big with calf.

    Numa, also, was founder of several other orders of priests, two ofwhich I shall mention, the Salii and the Fecials, which are amongthe clearest proofs of the devoutness and sanctity of his character.These Fecials, or guardians of peace, seem to have had their namefrom their office, which was to put a stop to disputes by conferenceand speech； for it was not allowable to take up arms until they haddeclared all hopes of accommodation to be at an end, for in Greek,too, we call it peace when disputes are settled by words, and notby force. The Romans commonly despatched the Fecials, or heralds,to those who had offered them injury, requesting satisfaction； and,in case they refused, they then called the gods to witness, and, withimprecations upon themselves and their country should they be actingunjustly, so declared war； against their will, or without their consent,it was lawful neither for soldier nor king to take up arms； the warwas begun with them, and when they had first handed it over to thecommander as a just quarrel, then his business was to deliberate ofthe manner and ways to carry it on. It is believed that the slaughterand destruction which the Gauls made of the Romans was a judgmenton the city for neglect of this religious proceeding； for that whenthese barbarians besieged the Clusinians, Fabius Ambustus was despatchedto their camp to negotiate peace for the besieged； and, on their returninga rude refusal, Fabius imagined that his office of ambassador wasat an end, and, rashly engaging on the side of the Clusinians, challengedthe bravest of the enemy to a single combat. It was the fortune ofFabius to kill his adversary, and to take his spoils； but when theGauls discovered it, they sent a herald to Rome to complain againsthim； since, before war was declared, he had, against the law of nations,made a breach of the peace. The matter being debated in the senate,the Fecials were of opinion that Fabius ought to be consigned intothe hands of the Gauls； but he, being forewarned of their judgment,fled to the people, by whose protection and favour he escaped thesentence. On this, the Gauls marched with their army to Rome, wherehaving taken the capitol, they sacked the city. The particulars ofall which are fully given in the history of Camillus.

    The origin of the Salii is this. In the eighth year of the reign ofNuma, a terrible pestilence, which traversed all Italy, ravaged likewisethe city of Rome； and the citizens being in distress and despondent,a brazen target, they say, fell from heaven into hands of Numa, whogave them this marvellous account of it： that Egeria and the Museshad assured him it was sent from heaven for the cure and safety ofthe city, and that, to keep it secure, he was ordered by them to makeeleven others, so like in dimensions and form to the original thatno thief should be able to distinguish the true from the counterfeit.He farther declared, that he was commanded to consecrate to the Musesthe place, and the fields about it, where they had been chiefly wontto meet with him, and that the spring which watered the fields shouldbe hallowed for the use of the vestal virgins, who were to wash andcleanse the penetralia of their sanctuary with those holy waters.The truth of all which was speedily verified by the cessation of thepestilence. Numa displayed the target to the artificers and bade themshow their skill in making others like it； all despaired, until atlength one Mamurius Veturius, an excellent workman, happily hit uponit, and made all so exactly the same that Numa himself was at a lossand could not distinguish. The keeping of these targets was committedto the charge of certain priests, called Salii, who did not receivetheir name, as some tell the story, from Salius, a dancing-master,born in Samothrace, or at Mantinea who taught the way of dancing inarms； but more truly from that jumping dance which the Salii themselvesuse, when in the month of March they carry the sacred targets throughthe city； at which procession they are habited in short frocks ofpurple, girt with a broad belt studded with brass； on their headsthey wear a brass helmet and carry in their hands short daggers, whichthey clash every now and then against the targets. But the chief thingis the dance itself. They move with much grace, performing, in quicktime and close order, various intricate figures, with a great displayof strength and agility. The targets were called Ancilia from theirform； for they are not made round, nor like proper targets, of a completecircumference, but are cut out into a wavy line, the ends of whichare rounded off and turned in at the thickest part towards each other；so that their shape is curvilinear, or, in Greek, ancylon； or thename may come from ancon, the elbow, on which they are carried. ThusJuba writes, who is eager to make it Greek. But it might be, for thatmatter, from its having come down anecathen, from above； or from itsakesis, or cure of diseases； or auchmon lysis, because it put an endto a drought； or from its anaschesis, or relief from calamities, whichis the origin of the Athenian name Anaces, given to Castor and Pollux；if we must, that is, reduce it to Greek. The reward which Mamuriusreceived for his art was to be mentioned and commemorated in the verseswhich the Salii sang, as they danced in their arms through the city；though some will have it that they do not say Veturium Mamuium, butVeterem Memoriam, ancient remembrance.

    After Numa had in this manner instituted these several orders of priests,he erected, near the temple of Vesta, what is called to this day Regia,or king's house, where he spent the most part of his time performingdivine service, instructing the priests, or conversing with them onsacred subjects. He had another house upon the Mount Quirinalis, thesite of which they show to this day. In all public processions andsolemn prayers, criers were sent before to give notice to the peoplethat they should forbear their work, and rest. They say that the Pythagoreansdid not allow people to worship and pray to their gods by the way,but would have them go out from their houses direct, with their mindsset upon the duty, and Numa, in like manner, wished that his citizensshould neither see nor hear any religious service in a perfunctoryand inattentive manner, but, laying aside all other occupations, shouldapply their minds to religion as to a most serious business； and thatthe streets should be free from all noises and cries that accompanymanual labour, and clear for the sacred solemnity. Some traces ofthis custom remain at Rome to this day, for, when the consul beginsto take auspices or do sacrifice, they call out to the people, Hocage, Attend to this, whereby the auditors then present are admonishedto compose and recollect themselves. Many other of his precepts resemblethose of the Pythagoreans. The Pythagoreans said, for example, "Thoushalt not make a peck-measure thy seat to sit on. Thou shalt not stirthe fire with a sword. When thou goest out upon a journey, look notbehind thee. When thou sacrificest to the celestial gods, let it bewith an odd number, and when to the terrestrial, with even." The significanceof each of which precepts they would not commonly disclose. So someof Numa's traditions have no obvious meaning. "Thou shalt not makelibation to the gods of wine from an unpruned vine. No sacrificesshall be performed without meal. Turn round to pay adoration to thegods； sit after you have worshipped." The first two directions seemto denote the cultivation and subduing of the earth as a part of religion；and as to the turning which the worshippers are to use in divine adoration,it is said to represent the rotatory motion of the world. But, inmy opinion, the meaning rather is, that the worshipper, since thetemples front the east, enters with his back to the rising sun； there,faces round to the east, and so turns back to the god of the temple,by this circular movement referring the fulfilment of his prayersto both divinities. Unless, indeed, this change of posture may havea mystical meaning, like the Egyptian wheels, and signify to us theinstability of human fortune, and that, in whatever way God changesand turns our lot and condition, we should rest contented, and acceptit as right and fitting. They say, also, that the sitting after worshipwas to be by way of omen of their petitions being granted, and theblessing they asked assured to them. Again, as different courses ofactions are divided by intervals of rest, they might seat themselvesafter the completion of what they had done, to seek favour of thegods for beginning something else. And this would very well suit withwhat we had before； the lawgiver wants to habituate us to make ourpetitions to the deity not by the way, and, as it were, in a hurry,when we have other things to do, but with time and leisure to attendto it. By such discipline and schooling in religion, the city passedinsensibly into such a submissiveness of temper, and stood in suchawe and reverence of the virtue of Numa, that they received, withan undoubted assurance, whatever he delivered though never so fabulous,and thought nothing incredible or impossible from him.

    There goes a story that he once invited a great number of citizensto an entertainment, at which the dishes in which the meat was servedwere very homely and plain, and the repast itself poor and ordinaryfare； the guests seated, he began to tell them that the goddess thatconsulted with him was then at that time come to him； when on a suddenthe room was furnished with all sorts of costly drinking-vessels,and the tables loaded with rich meats, and a most sumptuous entertainment.But the dialogue which is reported to have passed between him andJupiter surpasses all the fabulous legends that were ever invented.They say that before Mount Aventine was inhabited or enclosed withinthe walls of the city, two demigods, Picus and Faunus, frequentedthe springs and thick shades of that place； which might be two satyrs,or Pans except that they went about Italy playing the same sorts oftricks, by skill in drugs and magic, as are ascribed by the Greeksto the Dactyli of Mount Ida. Numa contrived one day to surprise thesedemigods, by mixing wine and honey in the waters of the spring ofwhich they usually drank. On finding themselves ensnared, they changedthemselves into various shapes, dropping their own form and assumingevery kind of unusual and hideous appearance； but when they saw theywere safely entrapped, and in no possibility of getting free, theyrevealed to him many secrets and future events； and particularly acharm for thunder and lightning, still in use, performed with onionsand hair and pilchards. Some say they did not tell him the charm,but by their magic brought down Jupiter out of heaven； and that hethen, in an angry manner answering the inquiries, told Numa, that,if he would charm the thunder and lightning, he must do it with heads."How," said Numa, "with the heads of onions？" "No," replied Jupiter,"of men." But Numa, willing to elude the cruelty of this receipt,turned it another way, saying, "Your meaning is, the hairs of men'sheads." "No," replied Jupiter, "with living"- "pilchards," said Numa,interrupting him. These answers he had learnt from Egeria. Jupiterreturned again to heaven, pacified and ileos, or propitious. The placewas, in remembrance of him, called Ilicium, from this Greek word；and the spell in this manner effected.

    These stories, laughable as they are, show us the feelings which peoplethen, by force of habit, entertained towards the deity. And Numa'sown thoughts are said to have been fixed to that degree on divineobjects, that he once, when a message was brought to him that "Enemiesare approaching," answered with a smile, "And I am sacrificing." Itwas he, also, that built the temples of Faith and Terminus, and taughtthe Romans that the name of Faith was the most solemn oath that theycould swear. They still use it； and to the god Terminus, or Boundary,they offer to this day both public and private sacrifices, upon theborders and stone-marks of their land； living victims now, thoughanciently those sacrifices were solemnized without blood； for Numareasoned that the god of boundaries, who watched over peace, and testifiedto fair dealing, should have no concern with blood. It is very clearthat it was this king who first prescribed bounds to the territoryof Rome； for Romulus would but have openly betrayed how much he hadencroached on his neighbours' lands, had he ever set limits to hisown； for boundaries are, indeed, a defence to those who choose toobserve them, but are only a testimony against the dishonesty of thosewho break through them. The truth is, the portion of lands which theRomans possessed at the beginning was very narrow, until Romulus enlargedthem by war； all those acquisitions Numa now divided amongst the indigentcommonalty, wishing to do away with that extreme want which is a compulsionto dishonesty, and, by turning the people to husbandry, to bring them,as well as their lands, into better order. For there is no employmentthat gives so keen and quick a relish for peace as husbandry and acountry life, which leave in men all that kind of courage that makesthem ready to fight in defence of their own, while it destroys thelicence that breaks out into acts of injustice and rapacity. Numa,therefore, hoping agriculture would be a sort of charm to captivatethe affections of his people to peace, and viewing it rather as ameans to moral than to economical profit, divided all the lands intoseveral parcels, to which he gave the name of pagus, or parish, andover every one of them he ordained chief overseers； and, taking adelight sometimes to inspect his colonies in person, he formed hisjudgment of every man's habits by the results； of which being witnesshimself, he preferred those to honours and employments who had donewell, and by rebukes and reproaches incited the indolent and carelessto improvement. But of all his measures the most commended was hisdistribution of the people by their trades into companies or guilds；for as the city consisted, or rather did not consist of, but was dividedinto, two different tribes, the diversity between which could notbe effaced and in the meantime prevented all unity and caused perpetualtumult and ill-blood, reflecting how hard substances that do not readilymix when in the lump may, by being beaten into powder, in that minuteform he combined, he resolved to divide the whole population intoa number of small divisions, and thus hoped, by introducing otherdistinctions, to obliterate the original and great distinction, whichwould be lost among the smaller. So, distinguishing the whole peopleby the several arts and trades, he formed the companies of musicians,goldsmiths, carpenters, dyers, shoemakers, skinners, braziers, andpotters； and all other handicraftsmen he composed and reduced intoa single company, appointing every one their proper courts, councils,and religious observances. In this manner all factious distinctionsbegan, for the first time, to pass out of use, no person any longerbeing either thought of or spoken of under the notion of a Sabineor a Roman, a Romulian or a Tatian； and the new division became asource of general harmony and intermixture.

    He is also much to be commended for the repeal, or rather amendment,of that law which gives power to fathers to sell their children； heexempted such as were married, conditionally that it had been withthe liking and consent of their parents； for it seemed a hard thingthat a woman who had given herself in marriage to a man whom she judgedfree should afterwards find herself living with a slave.

    He attempted, also, the formation of a calendar, not with absoluteexactness, yet not without some scientific knowledge. During the reignof Romulus, they had let their months run on without any certain orequal term； some of them contained twenty days, others thirty-five,others more； they had no sort of knowledge of the inequality in themotions of the sun and moon； they only kept to the one rule that thewhole course of the year contained three hundred and sixty days. Numa,calculating the difference between the lunar and the solar year ateleven days, for that the moon completed her anniversary course inthree hundred and fifty-four days, and the sun in three hundred andsixty-five, to remedy this incongruity doubled the eleven days, andevery other year added an intercalary month, to follow February, consistingof twenty-two days, and called by the Romans the month Mercedinus.This amendment, however, itself, in course of time, came to need otheramendments. He also altered the order of the months； for March, whichwas reckoned the first he put into the third place； and January, whichwas the eleventh, he made the first； and February, which was the twelfthand last, the second. Many will have it, that it was Numa, also, whoadded the two months of January and February； for in the beginningthey had had a year of ten months； as there are barbarians who countonly three； the Arcadians, in Greece, had but four； the Acarnanians,six. The Egyptian year at first, they say, was of one month； afterwards,of four； and so, though they live in the newest of all countries,they have the credit of being a more ancient nation than any, andreckon, in their genealogies, a prodigious number of years, countingmonths, that is, as years. That the Romans, at first, comprehendedthe whole year within ten, and not twelve months, plainly appearsby the name of the last, December, meaning the tenth month； and thatMarch was the first is likewise evident, for the fifth month afterit was called Quintilis, and the sixth Sextilis, and so the rest；whereas, if January and February had, in this account, preceded March,Quintilis would have been fifth in name and seventh in reckoning.It was also natural that March, dedicated to Mars, should be Romulus'sfirst and April, named from Venus, or Aphrodite, his second month；in it they sacrifice to Venus, and the women bathe on the calends,or first day of it, with myrtle garlands on their heads. But others,because of its being p and not ph, will not allow of the derivationof this word from Aphrodite, but say it is c