Petrarch: DE VIRIS ILLUSTRIBUS

1. Numa Pompilius sequitur, Pomponis filius, secundus regum. Hic curibus Sabinis ortus atque habitans, summa religionis ac iustitie fama, et quasi aspectus corporis habitum animi sequeretur, a prima etate canus, Roma dissentientes de eligendo rege compescuit.

1. Numa Pompilius follows, the son of Pompo, second of the kings. This man, born at Cures among the Sabines and dwelling there, with the highest fame for religion and justice, and as though the aspect of the body followed the habit of the mind, gray from his earliest age, restrained the Romans who were disagreeing about choosing a king.

2. Nam unius licet urbis incole unum in populum coaluissent, nondum tamen vetustatis immemores dissidebant votiss, post Romuli finem sue utrique certatim faventes origini. Et, quanquam superior, Romanus cessit tamen viri huius reverentie, atque ad solum Nume nomen omnis est compressa dissensio, Sabinis ingenti gaudio plaudentibus indigene regi, Romanis ultro meritum honorem tanto avvene deferentibus.

2. For although the inhabitants of one city had coalesced into one people, not yet, however, forgetful of antiquity, they were dissenting in their votes, after the end of Romulus each side vying to favor its own origin. And, although superior, the Roman nevertheless yielded to the reverence for this man, and at the mere name of Numa all dissension was compressed, the Sabines applauding with immense joy the indigenous king, the Romans of their own accord conferring the merited honor upon so great a newcomer.

3. Sic electus a populo, confirmatus a patribus, peregrinus ad regnum venit, inque urbem romanamque arcem evocatus, rerum habenas auspicato quoque, ut Romulus fundamenta urbis iecerat,suscepit, vir divini et humani iuris consultissimus, tranquillitate ingenita paci studens, bello abstinens, sacris deditus et primo quidem regi proposito similis fortassis, verum artibus totiusque vita tenore dissimillimus; ille enim vi atque armis, hic iustitia et legibus fundavit imperium, illi bella placuerunt, huic ut dixi pacis amor ac studium fuit.

3. Thus elected by the people, confirmed by the fathers, a peregrine came to the kingship, and, summoned into the city and the Roman citadel, he took up the reins of affairs, also under auspice, just as Romulus had laid the foundations of the city,he undertook them, a man most expert in divine and human law, with inborn tranquility, studying for peace, abstaining from war, devoted to sacred rites, and at first indeed perhaps similar to the former king in purpose, but most dissimilar in arts and in the tenor of his whole life; for that one founded the imperium by force and arms, this one by justice and laws; wars pleased the former, to this one, as I said, there was love and zeal of peace.

4. Quod ut asperis belloque assuetis ingereret animis, prudentissime contra morbum veterm adverso remedio usus, atque ad leniendam populi ferociam, armorum natam nutritamque usu, desueudinem optimam arbitratus, Iani templum statuit quod apertum belli, clausum pacis esset indicium;

4. In order to instill this into minds harsh and accustomed to war, he, most prudently, used an opposite remedy against the old disease; and, to soften the people’s ferocity, born of arms and nourished by use, having judged disuse the best, he established the temple of Janus, which, when open, was an indication of war; when closed, of peace;

5. idque ipse toto regni tempore obseratum providentie sue repagulis vectibusque continuit, bellico intus furore compresso, pace circum iustitiaque regnantibus : rara deinceps bellacis populi fortuna; tam perpetuis motibus stirpem Gradivus exercuit, sic exstincti regisn nuntio creditum, sic iussui obtemperatum fuit.

5. and he himself, for the whole time of his reign, held it shut, contained by the crossbars and bolts of his own providence, the warlike fury within compressed, with peace and justice reigning around : rare thereafter the fortune of a bellicose people; to such perpetual motions did Gradivus exercise the stock; thus credence was given to the report of the extinguished king, thus was obedience rendered to the order.

6. Hic vicinos igitur populos, quos alter bello vicerat, federibus iunxit et quos ille metu presserat, hic amore servavit. Mox visibilium bellorum terrore deposito, adversus invisibiles hostes omnem curam omne studium vertit : lascivie indomiteque libidini, que sepe mala pacis otium parit, deorum metum et vincula religionis, qualis illorum temporum esse poterat, obicit.

6. He therefore joined by treaties the neighboring peoples whom the other had conquered in war, and those whom that one had pressed down by fear, this one preserved by love. Soon, with the terror of visible wars laid aside, he turned all care and all zeal against invisible enemies : to lasciviousness and unbridled libido, which the leisure of peace often begets as evils, he opposed the fear of the gods and the bonds of religion, such as in those times could exist.

7. Cui et ministros instituit, sacerdotes ac flamines virginesque Vestales, stipendiumque de publico vestesque et reliqui habitus insignia iubet et ancilia solemniter circumferri cerimoniasque multimodas observari; quique omnibus his preesset, ad quem omnia referrentur, patritia de gente summum ststuit pontificem, quem prefecit et infernorum sacris et funerum et procurationi fulminum atque prodigiorum; multa insuper id genus que persequi longum et religiosis vere animis atque auribus vanum etiam supervacuumque est.

7. For which he also instituted ministers, priests and flamens and the Vestal virgins, and he orders a stipend from the public and vestments and the insignia of the remaining attire, and that the ancilia be solemnly carried around and manifold ceremonies be observed; and over all these, to whom all things should be referred, he established a supreme pontiff from the patrician gens, whom he put in charge both of the infernal rites and of funerals and of the procuration of lightning and prodigies; many things besides of that kind, which to pursue would be long, and for truly religious minds and ears is even vain and superfluous.

8. Ille tamen ad hec omnia ex archano divinitatis elicienda aram Iovi Elicio Aventini collis in vertice erigit dedicatque. Annum preterea in menses duodecim, duobus primis ianuario multas atque utiles, primus apud Romanos legifer.

8. He, nevertheless, to have all these things elicited from the arcanum of divinity, raises and dedicates an altar to Jupiter Elicius on the summit of the Aventine hill. Moreover, he arranged the year into twelve months, the first two beginning from January, and, as the first lawgiver among the Romans, he established many and useful [laws].

9. Que ut in vulgi animos altius cunta descenderent, que cunque ageret se divino monitu alloquioque edoctum simulans, sic et diis accepta populosque salubria se sancire suadet persuadetque, figmento locum et tempus ydoneum nactus, in nemus siquidem Aricinum intempeste noctis silentio ventitabat.

9. And so that all things might descend more deeply into the minds of the common crowd, pretending that whatever he did he had been instructed by divine monition and address, thus he both urges and persuades that he sanctions things acceptable to the gods and salutary for the peoples; having found for the figment a suitable place and time, for indeed he used to come frequently into the Arician grove in the silence of the dead of night.

10. Illic, cavo quodam et umbroso specu, ubi et ipsi nuper cognoscendi studio fuimus, iugis ad fontem atque submotis solus arbitris se se includens, tempus de industria terebat, metu interim comitibus et veneratione perfusis; consecraverat, de omni statu reipublice se tractasse fingebat : et commento fides habita.

10. There, in a certain hollow and umbrageous cave, where we ourselves too recently were, out of zeal for knowing, by the perennial spring, and with the witnesses removed, shutting himself in alone, he would purposely wear away the time, his companions meanwhile suffused with fear and veneration; he had consecrated it, he was feigning that he had treated of the whole state of the republic: and credence was given to the contrivance.

11. Sic his omnibus velut dei ore prolatis adhuc simplex et credula plebs intenta, tres et quadraginta annos, tot enim regnavit, in summa pace vicinorumque omnium, qui prius oderant, amore ac reverentia conquievit.

11. Thus, with all these things, as if from a god’s mouth, set forth, the still simple and credulous plebs, intent, for forty-three years—for so long did he reign—rested in the highest peace, and all the neighbors, who previously had hated, in love and reverence found repose.

12. Hac sapientie et virtutis fama scriptores quidem adducuntur, at Numam regem Pitha- gore pholosophi fuisse discipulum opinentur. Quos tam termporum quam locorum ratio redarguit; nam et Pithagoram non Nume sed Servii Tulli temporibus, centum et eo amplius post annos, nec tunc Rome sed extremo Italie in angulo floruisse compertum est.

12. By this fame of wisdom and virtue writers indeed are induced to suppose that King Numa was a disciple of the philosopher Pythagoras. Whom both the reckoning of times and of places refutes; for it has been ascertained that Pythagoras flourished not in the times of Numa but of Servius Tullius, a hundred years and more later, and not then at Rome but in the farthest corner of Italy.

13. Id ergo proprius vero est nullo peregrino magisterio sed vetusta sue gentis disciplina, quam toto tunc orbe sanctissimam fuisse constat, vel, ut certius loquar, illo inspirante qui reges et philosophos doctos facit, regem hunc doctum adeo evasisse; quo etiam inspirante ille philosophus, alibi quidem et etate alia atque alio sciendi genere, doctus fuit.

13. Therefore what is closer to the truth is that, by no foreign tutelage but by the ancient discipline of his own people—which at that time is agreed to have been most holy in the whole orb—or, to speak more precisely, with Him inspiring who makes kings and philosophers learned, this king had become learned to such a degree; by whose inspiration also that philosopher, indeed elsewhere and in another age and by another kind of knowing, was learned.

14. Nume ergo Pompilii et quieta et sapiens, qua datum erat ulli hominum, vita fuit et tranquillus ac facilis vite finis, nullis interpellantibus motibus vel civilibus vel externis. Obiit senexsepultusqe est sub Ianiculo; tantumque tributum huic regi novimus, ut que ipse sanxisset nullus hominum nisi idem ipse infirmaree aut mutare presumeret.

14. therefore the life of Numa Pompilius was both quiet and sapient, as far as it was granted to any of mankind, and the end of his life was tranquil and easy, with no disturbances interrupting, whether civil or external. He died an old man and was buried beneath the Janiculum; and we know so great a tribute was paid to this king, that what he himself had sanctioned no one among men, unless the same man himself, would presume to weaken or to change.

15. Siquidem post annos circiter quingentos, sub tempus belli macedonici, in agro Petilii scribe qui ad Ianiculum erat, agricola cui Terrentio nomen fuit sulcum miliente profundius, invente sunt arce due papidee plumbo operte; quarum altera sepulcrum regis erat, in altera libri regis latini septem et totidem greci alternis candelarum facibus impliciti, illi quidem de iure pontificio, hi autem de sapientia conscripti.

15. Since indeed after around five hundred years, under the time of the Macedonian war, in the field of Petilius the scribe which was at the Janiculum, a farmer whose name was Terrentius, while making a furrow more deeply, there were found two papyraceous chests covered with lead; of which one was the sepulchre of the king, in the other the king’s books—seven Latin and just as many Greek—interlaced with alternate torches of candles, the former indeed written concerning pontifical law, the latter, however, concerning wisdom.

16. Qui cum a paucis lecti contra religionem temporum illorum et sacrorum ritus visi essent, iurante seu iusiurandum offerente pretore nequaquam expediens esse reipublice libros illos servari aut vulgari, senatu iubente atque populo spectante combusti sunt.

16. When, having been read by a few, they seemed to be against the religion of those times and the rites of the sacred things, the praetor, swearing or proffering an oath that it was in no way expedient for the Republic that those books be kept or published, with the senate ordering and the people looking on, they were burned.

17. In quibus opinari fas est, idque nostrorum quosdam opnatos video, sapientissimum regem ad ferocem populum frenandum metu celestium et pro tempore utili mendacio diu usum, tandem morti proximum, cum pacata satis omnia sprraret nec iam amplius figmento opus arbitaretur, veritai nude operam dedisse; quamvis, ut est dictum, occupatis superstitione animis veritas ipsa reiecta sit, sicut sepe animi passionibus victa reicitur.

17. In these matters it is permissible to opine—and I see that certain of our own have so opined—that the most wise king, for a long time, for the purpose of reining in a ferocious people, made use of fear of the celestials and, for the occasion, a useful lie; at length, when near to death, since he hoped that all things were sufficiently pacified and judged there was no further need of a figment, he devoted his effort to naked truth; although, as has been said, with minds preoccupied by superstition, truth itself was rejected, just as often it is rejected when conquered by the passions of the mind.