to resign the authority which one after another of the First Ten, a chosen number amongst them,51 was elected Interrex to exercise. The general desire 52 to have another king at length prevailed, and according to some agreement, of which the account is more than commonly confused, the Ramnes chose a Sabine, and probably from the second Tribe, which then, together with the first and the third, confirmed, by the unanimous vote of the Curies,53 the choice that fell on Numa Pompilius, of Cures. He was a man of quiet mind, and hesitated to accept the charge of governing a martial and impetuous people; but, persuaded by omens and entreaties, he came to Rome, and was there solemnly invested with the royalty by the Curies.54 His devout spirit, offended, it appears, by the careless or the criminal habits of his people, conceived the hope of their reformation, to which he believed himself called before he consented to be their king. 55 We need not deny the existence of Numa in order to be on our guard against attributing to him the preaching of new doctrines or the institution of new 51 So Liv., I. 17. Cf. Dion. Hal., II. 57. Plut., Num., 2. 52" In variis voluntatibus, regnari tamen omnes volebant, libertatis dulcedine nondum experta." Liv., I. 17. 53 These details of the election are rather conjectural; but Livy says, "Ad unum omnes decernunt" (I. 18); and it is certain that the Curies elected the kings. Cic., De Rep., II. 13, 17, 18, 20, 21. 54"Ipse de suo imperio curiatam legem tulit." Cic., De Rep., II. 13. That is, he received from the same assembly which had elected him the Imperium, the military and the judicial commission, so to speak, of king. It was the form of all the elections to the throne. 55“ Ut populum ferum molliret.” De Vir. Ill., Cap. III. Plut., Num., 6. Liv., I. 18. services amongst the Romans. He found them in possession of the faith and the ceremonies of their forefathers; but the wild adventure and the strange association in which they lived had confused their notions and interrupted their practices of piety. Without attempting the analysis of a religion composed of the contributions which Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans brought together into Rome, it is easy to conjecture that the worship of more numerous and more heterogeneous deities than any other single people, at least in Italy, revered was introduced upon the seven hills, before any reformer came to organize them in a consistent system. It is equally natural to surmise, that, amongst these various objects of devotion, there were some which were sought with horrid rites and through repulsive symbols, which it would be the desire of every clearer spirit to have removed, Numa is said to have forbidden both the homage of idols and the sacrifice of human beings; 56 prohibitions that, whether truly or falsely ascribed to him, do not the less illustrate the ignorance and the cruelty with which the gods were, at some time or other, implored at Rome. This purification of religious rites was but half the reformation imputed to the wisdom of the second king. He undertook the reconciliation of the dif ferent divinities acknowledged amongst his people; and to this end was said to have prescribed the various orders of the early priesthood. The Pontiffs, 56 Plut., Num., 8. Cic., De Rep., II. 14. 61 four in number, besides their chief," were intrusted with the superintendence of all the forms and all the laws that were then established in the religion of Rome. Three Flamens, or officiating priests, were next appointed: one to the service of the Etruscan 58 Jupiter, another to that of the Latin 59 Mars, and the third to that of the Sabine 60 Quirinus; so that the principal gods of the three races united in the Roman had each his minister and his sanctuary. The worship of Vesta, to whom the reputed mother of Romulus had been unfaithful, was instituted, as if the goddess were to be the more especial deity of the new city, where the immortals were only too freely adored to be singly persuaded to show their favor; and her eternal fire was intrusted to the keeping of four virgins,62 chosen with peculiar care, and invested with peculiar sanctity, who bore her name as Vestals. As soon as these things were accomplished, it was probable for the legend to relate that the influence of the newly ordained religion was tried upon the warlike duties from which neither Numa nor any other 57 Cic., De Rep., II. 14. 58 Etruscan, because Pelasgian. See Malden's History, pp. 108, 135. The god was called Dijovis; his Flamen, Dialis. 59 Latin, according to the legend of Romulus; but more generally worshipped by many of the early people throughout Italy, at first, as a rural rather than a warlike deity. See Hartung, Rel. der Röm., Vol. II. pp. 169 et seq. 60 Dion. Hal., II. 48. It was the same deity whom the Romans transformed into Romulus deified. Quirinus was also a surname of Mars and Janus. 61 Dionysius (II. 64) and Livy (I. 20) both attribute the three priesthoods to Numa, in opposition to Plut., Num., 7. On the union of the various religions, see Wachsmuth, Alt. Gesch. Röm. Staat., pp. 217, 218; and cf. Ruperti, Alterth., Vol. III. pp. 460, 461. 62 Plut., Num., 9, 10. king would seek to alienate the Romans. The college, as it was termed, of the Fetiales was charged with the declaration of war and the negotiation of peace, after rites and rules committed to their observance; 63 it may have been to the amelioration of warfare, both in its conduct and its prevalence. And in the same spirit, it would appear that a new dignity was imparted to the assembly of the Curies, by its investment, under the presidency of the Pontiffs, with participation in the management of certain ecclesiastical and civil concerns.64 But a much more intimate connection between the religion and the government of Rome existed through the auspices, on which the entire state, as well as every individual in it, relied for public and for private prosperity. The Augur, originally called the Auspex,65 was, as we should style him, the seer, through whose exalted knowledge the will of the gods was made known on earth. He might be an observer of the heavens, or of the flight and song of birds, or of any phenomena in animate and inanimate nature; but he was always the interpreter, according to whose report the battle was fought or delayed, the law accepted or refused, and the festival celebrated or postponed; while all the domestic relations were more or less dependent upon the signs he studied and expos 63 Dion. Hal., II. 72. Cic., De Legg., II. 9. 64 In meeting for which, it was called the Comitia Calata. See Smith's Dict. Gr. and Rom. Ant., s. v. Comitia. 65 Plut., Quæst. Rom., ed. Reiske, Tom. VII. p. 134. The Haruspex was a very different title, belonging to an inferior order of soothsayers. ed. Whether the office were introduced by Etruscans, or, as is more likely, by Latins, into Rome, it appears to have been adopted betimes; and tradition refers to Romulus himself the appointment of three Augurs for life, one for every Tribe, with whom he as well as each of his successors was, after being formally inaugurated as monarch, joined as a colleague, making four in all. The three, however, were probably the acting observers of the auspices; one or more of them being attached, as occasion required, to the magistrate or the assembly, to whom their assistance was commonly indispensable. In some cases, indeed, the magistrate was able to take the auspices for himself; but it then remained for the Augurs to pronounce upon their validity; and it was generally the custom for the highest officers under the monarchy, or in the commonwealth, to have an Augur by their side, to whose interpretation of signs celestial or signs terrestrial they first attended, before beginning their levy, their onset, or their harangue. It was chiefly thus that the liberties of Rome were, in great measure, under subjection; and so long as the auspices were reverentially obeyed, the college of Augurs, though not considered an independent institution, according to the letter of the law, was yet, of all others, the body by which the state was publicly and privately controlled.67 66 Cic., Rep., II. 9. Liv., X. 6. "Romulus ipse etiam optimus augur fuisse traditur." Cic., De Div., I. 2. 67 Et reges augures, et postea privati, eodem sacerdotio præditi, VOL. I. 38 rempublicam religionum auctoritate rexerunt." Cic., De Div., I. 40. Compare the description in Legg., II. 12, and that in Liv., I. 36. |