§17.1τῶν δὲ ἄλλων αὐτοῦ πολιτευμάτων ἡ κατὰ τέχνας διανομὴ τοῦ πλήθους μάλιστα θαυμάζεται, τῆς γάρ πόλεως ἐκ δυεῖν γενῶν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, συνεστάναι δοκούσης, διεστώσης δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ μηδενὶ τρόπῳ μιᾶς γενέσθαι βουλομένης μηδὲ οἷον ἐξαλεῖψαι τὴν ἑτερότητα καὶ διαφοράν, ἀλλὰ συγκρούσεις ἀπαύστους καὶ φιλονεικίας τῶν μερῶν ἐχούσης, διανοηθεὶς ὅτι καὶ τῶν σωμάτων τὰ φύσει δύσμικτα καὶ σκληρὰ καταθραύοντες καὶ διαιροῦντες ἀναμιγνύουσιν, ὑπὸ μικρότητος ἀλλήλοις συμβαίνοντα μᾶλλον, §17.2ἔγνω κατατεμεῖν τομὰς πλείονας τὸ σύμπαν πλῆθος ἐκ δὲ τούτων εἰς ἑτέρας ἐμβαλὼν διαφορὰς τὴν πρώτην ἐκείνην καὶ μεγάλην ἀφανίσαι ταῖς ἐλάττοσιν ἐνδιασπαρεῖσαν.
Of his other political measures, the division of the multitude by crafts is most admired. For since the city seemed to consist of two peoples, as has been said, or rather was divided and in no way wished to become one, nor to efface their difference and distinction, but rather had ceaseless clashes and rivalries between the parts, Numa, reflecting that even bodies which are by nature hard and difficult to mix are mingled by being broken up and divided, since they fit together better with one another because of their smallness, resolved to cut up the entire multitude into more divisions, and by casting them from these into other distinctions, to efface that first and great division, dispersing it among the smaller ones.
ἦν δὲ ἡ διανομὴ κατὰ τὰς τέχνας, αὐλητῶν, χρυσοχόων, τεκτόνων, βαφέων, σκυτοτόμων, σκυτοδεψῶν, χαλκέων, κεραμέων, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς τέχνας εἰς ταὐτὸ συναγαγὼν ἓν αὐτῶν ἐκ πασῶν ἀπέδειξε σύστημα.
This division was by crafts: of flute-players, goldsmiths, carpenters, dyers, shoemakers, tanners, coppersmiths, and potters; and gathering the remaining crafts into the same, he made one association out of them all.
§17.3κοινωνίας δὲ καὶ συνόδους καὶ θεῶν τιμὰς ἀποδοὺς ἑκάστῳ γένει πρεπούσας, τότε πρῶτον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀνεῖλε τὸ λέγεσθαι καὶ νομίζεσθαι τοὺς μὲν Σαβίνους, τοὺς δὲ Ῥωμαίους, καὶ τοὺς μὲν Τατίου, τοὺς δὲ Ῥωμύλου πολίτας, ὥστε τὴν διαίρεσιν εὐαρμοστίαν καὶ ἀνάμιξιν πάντων γενέσθαι πρὸς πάντας.
And by assigning to each class its appropriate associations, meetings, and rites of the gods, he then for the first time removed from the city the practice of some being called and regarded as Sabines, and others as Romans, and some as citizens of Tatius, and others of Romulus, so that the division became a harmony and blending of all with all.
§17.4ἐπαινεῖται δὲ τῶν πολιτικῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ περὶ τὸν νόμον διόρθωμα τὸν διδόντα τοῖς πατράσι τοὺς παῖδας πιπράσκειν, ὑπεξελομένου τοὺς γεγαμηκότας, εἰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπαινοῦντος καὶ κελεύοντος ὁ γάμος γένοιτο, δεινὸν γὰρ ἡγεῖτο τὴν ὡς ἐλευθέρῳ γεγαμημένην γυναῖκα δούλῳ συνοικεῖν.
Also praised among his political acts is his amendment concerning the law which allowed fathers to sell their children, by excepting those who had married, if the marriage took place with the father's consent and order; for he considered it a terrible thing that a woman who had married a man as a free man should cohabit with a slave.