The truth of this is said to have been proved by the immediate cessation of the plague. Ho bado workinen compete in imitating the shield, and, when all others refused to attempt it, Veturius Mamurius, one of the best workmen of the timo, produced so admirable an imitation, and made all the shields so exactly alike, that even Numa himself could not tell which was the original. Ho next appointed the Salii to guard and keep them. These priests were called Salii, not, as some say, after a man of Samothrace or of Mantinca named Salius, who first taught the art of dancing under arms, but rather from the springing danco itself, which they dance through the city when they carry out the shields in the month of March, dressed in scarlet tunics, girt with brazen girdles, with brazen helmets on their heads and little daggers with which they strike the shields. The rest of their dance is done with their feet; they move gracefully, whirling round, swiftly and airily counter-changing their positions with light and vigorous motions according to rhythm and measure. The shields are called ancilia, becauso of their shape; for they are not round, nor with a perfect circumference, but are cut out of a wavy line, and curl in at the thickest part towards each other; or they may be called ancilia after tho namo of the elbow, ankon, on which they aro carried; at least so Juba conjectures in his endeavours to find a Greek doriva tion for the word. The namo may be connected with the fall of the shield from above (anckathen), or with the healing (akesis) of the plague, and the cessation of that torrible calamity, if we must refer the word to a Greek root. It is related that, to reward Mamurius for his workmanship, his name is mentioned in the song which the Salii sing while they danco their Pyrrhic dance; others, however, say that it is not Veturium Mamurium that they say, but Veterem Memoriam, which means ancient memory. XIV. After he had arranged all religious ceremonics, he built, near tho templo of Vesta, tho Regia, as a kind of royal palace; and there he spent most of his time, engaged in religious duties, instructing the priests, or awaiting some divine colloquy. IIe had also another house on the hill of Quirinus, the site of which is even now pointed out. In all religious processions through the city the heralds PLUTARCH'S LIVES. forbid the worship of the gods in a cursory manner, and to to the ceremony; for just as the Pythagoreans are said to insist that men shall set out from their homes with this none other in their minds, so Numa thought purpose and ceremony ina careless, half-hearted manner, and inade them it wrong that the citizens should see or hear any religious carts to the most important of all duties, religion; so ho cease fron cleared noises tl ་་་ handicraf this cust jloc age a sacrifi of his used to for jus to stir sct = ་ all worldly cares and attend with all their 66 o streets of all the hammering, and cries, and ich attend the practico of ordinary trades and ts, before any holy ceremony. Somo trace of Om still survives in the practice of crying out when the consul is taking the auspices or making These words mean Do this thing," and aro ake the bystanders orderly and attentive. Many ther precepts are like those of the Pythagoreans; s they forbid men to sit upon a quart measure, or o fire with a sword, or to turn back when they upon a journey, and bid them sacrifice an odd to the gods above, and an even one to those below, which things had a mystical meaning, which was from the common mass of mankind, so also some of rites can only be explained by reference to somo egend, such as his forbidding men to make a libation gods with wine made from an unpruned vine, and ering that no sacrifice should be made without flour, that men should turn round while worshipping and after they had worshipped. The first two of theso on t pumb all of hidden Auma secret to the hie and sit 6cem to point to cultivation of the fruits of the carth, as a part of righteousness; the turning round of the worshippers is said to be in imitation of the revolution of the globe, but it seems more probablo that, as all temples look towards tho cast, the worshipper who enters with his back to them both, as he makes his circuit, to fulfil his prayer. the sun turns round towards this god also, and begs of less indeed thero is an allusion to the symbolical wheel of the Egyptians, and the chango of posture means that othing human is constant, and that, however God may turn about our lives, it is our duty to be content. Tho act of sitting after prayer was said to portend that such As were good would obtain a solid and lasting fulfilment of their prayers. Or again, this attitude of rest marks the division between different periods of prayer; so that after the end of one prayer they seat themselves in the presenco of the gods, in order that under their auspices they may begin the next. This fully agrees with what has been said above, and shows that the lawgiver intended to accustom his countrymen not to offer their prayers in a hurry, or in the intervals of doing something else, but when they were at leisure and not pressed for time. XV. By this religious training the city became so easily managed by Numa, and so impressed by his power, as to believe stories of the wildest character about him, and to think nothing incredible or impossible if he wished to do it. For instance, it is related that once he invited many of the citizens to dine with him, and placed before them common vessels and poor fare; but, as they were about to begin dinner, he suddenly said that his familiar goddess was about to visit him, and at once displayed abundanco of golden cups and tables covered with costly delicacies. The strangest story of all is that of his conversation with Jupiter. The legend runs that Mount Aventine was not at this time enclosed within the city, but was full of fountains and shady glens, and haunted by two divinities, Picus and Faunus, who may be compared to Satyrs or to Pan, and who, in knowledge of herbs and magic, seem equal to what tho Greeks call the Daktyli of Mount Ida. These creatures roamed about Italy playing their tricks, but Numa caught them by filling the spring at which they drank with wino and honey. They turned into all kinds of shapes, and assumed strango and terrible forms, but when they found that they were unable to escape, they told Numa much of the futuro, and showed him how to make a charm against thunder-bolts, which is used to this day, and is made of onions and hair and sprats. Some say that it was not theso deities who told him the charm, but that they by magic arts brought down Jupiter from heaven, and he, in a rage, ordered Numa to make the charm of "IIcads"; and when Numa added, "Of onions," he said "Of men's"-"Ilair," said Numa, again taking away the terrible part of the imprecation. When then Jupiter 99 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. Faid "With living"-"Sprats," said Numa, answering as and the place how the charm These people Indeed was in conscquenco called Ilicius. This was was discovered. idiculous legends show the way in which the had become accustomed to regard the gods. religion, to such an extent that even when a message was Numa is said to have placed all his hopes in smiled and said, " And I am sacrificing." 1 XVI. been tho to lavo which th god of also pri present was a of bou righteo Inde bound by ca 10 had are ་་་ aim, saying, "The enemy are approaching," ho The first temples that ho founded are said to havo of Fides or Faith, and Terminus. Fides is said vealed to the Romans the greatest of all oaths, ey even now make use of; while Terminus is the oundaries, to whom they sacrifice publicly, and ately at the divisions of men's estates; at the time with living victims, but in old days this loodless sacrifice, for Numa argued that the god aries must be a lover of peace, and a witness of sness, and therefore averse to bloodshed. Numa was the first king who defined tho ies of tho country, sinco Romulus was unwilling, uring what was really his own, to show how much t aken from other states: for boundaries, if preserved, Tiers against violence; if disregarded, they become bar standing proofs of lawless injustice. The city had origi nally but a small territory of its own, and Romulus gained Numa distributed among the needy citizens, thereby reSreater part of its possessions by the sword. All this and, by turning the people's thoughts to husbandry, he made the moving the want which urged them to deeds of violence, grow moro civilised as their land grow more cultivated. Profession makes men such passionate lovers of peace as thom No that of a man who farms his own land; for he retains enough of the warlike spirit to fight fiercely in defence of his own property, but has lost all desiro to despoil and wrong his neighbours. It was for this reason that Numa encouraged agriculture among the Romans, as a spell to charm away war, and loved the art more because of its influence on men's minds than becauso of the wealth which it produced. He divided the whole country into districts, which he called pagi, and appointed a head man for each, and a patrol to guard it. And sometimes ho himself would inspect them, and, forming an opinion of each man's character from the condition of his farm, would raise some to honours and offices of trust, and blaming others for their remissness, would lead them to do better in future. XVII. Of his other political measures, that which is most admired is his division of the populaco according to their trades. For whereas the city, as has been said, originally consisted of two races, which stood aloof ono from the other and would not combine into one, which led to endless quarrels and rivalries, Numa, reflecting that substances which are hard and difficult to combine together, can nevertheless be mixed and formed into ono mass if they are broken up into small pieces, because then they more easily fit into each other, determined to divido the whole mass of the people of Rome into many classes, and thus, by creating numerous petty rivalries, to obliterato their original and greatest cause of varianco. His division was according to their trades, and consisted of the musicians, the goldsmiths, the builders, the dyers, the shoemakers, the carriers, the coppersmiths, and tho potters. All the other trades ho united into ono guild. He assigned to each trade its special privileges, common to all the members, and arranged that each should have its own times of meeting, and worship its own special patron god, and by this means he did away with that habit, which hitherto had prevailed among the citizens, of some calling themselves Sabines, and some Romans; ono boasting that they were Tatins's men, and other Romulus's. So this division produced a complete fusion and unity. Moreover ho has been much praised for another of his measures, that, namely, of correcting the old law which allows fathers to sell their sons for slaves. He abolished this power in the case of married men, who had married with their father's consent; for he thought it a monstrous injustice that a woman, who had married a frco man, should be compelled to be the wife of a slave. XVIII. Ho also dealt with astronomical matters, not with perfect accuracy, and yet not altogether without |