Humanitext Reader

Plutarch · Life of Numa §21.1-21.4

Accounts of Numa's Lineage and His Peaceful Death

Passage 21 of 22 · Greek

Summary

The author presents various historical accounts regarding Numa's marriages and children, traces the lineage from his daughter Pompilia's marriage to Ancus Marcius, and records Numa's peaceful death in his eighties due to old age.

§21.1περὶ δὲ παίδων αὐτοῦ καὶ γάμων ἀντιλογίαι γεγόνασι τοῖς ἱστορικοῖς.
Concerning his children and marriages, there have been disagreements among historians.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ οὔτε γάμον ἄλλον ἢ τὸν Τατίας λαβεῖν αὐτὸν οὔτε παιδὸς ἑτέρου γενέσθαι πατέρα πλὴν μιᾶς θυγατρὸς Πομπιλίας λέγουσιν· οἱ δὲ πρὸς ταύτῃ τέσσαρας υἱοὺς ἀναγράφουσιν αὐτοῦ, Πόμπωνα, Πῖνον, Κάλπον, Μάμερκον, ὧν ἕκαστον οἴκου διαδοχὴν καὶ γένους ἐντίμου καταλιπεῖν.
For some say that he contracted no other marriage than that with Tatia, and became the father of no other child except one daughter, Pompilia; but others register, in addition to her, four sons of his, Pompo, Pinus, Calpus, and Mamercus, each of whom left a succession of a house and an honorable family.
§21.2εἶναι γάρ ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ Πόμπωνος τοὺς Πομπωνίους, ἀπὸ δὲ Πίνου τοὺς Πιναρίους, ἀπὸ δὲ Κάλπου τοὺς Καλπουρνίους, ἀπὸ δὲ Μαμέρκου τοὺς Μαμερκίους, οἷς διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Ῥῆγας γενέσθαι παρωνύμιον, ὅπερ ἐστὶ βασιλέας, τρίτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ τούτων μὲν κατηγοροῦντες ὡς χαριζομένων τοῖς γένεσι καὶ προστιθέντων οὐκ ἀληθῆ στέμματα τῆς ἀπὸ Νομᾶ διαδοχῆς, τὴν δὲ Πομπιλίαν οὐκ ἐκ Τατίας γεγονέναι λέγοντες, ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἑτέρας γυναικός, ἣν ἤδη βασιλεύων ἔγημε, Λουκρητίας·
For they say that from Pompo came the Pomponii, from Pinus the Pinarii, and from Calpus the Calpurnii, and from Mamercus the Mamercii, who on this account also received the surname "Reges", which means "kings". And there is a third group who accuse these writers of currying favor with the families and fabricating untrue genealogies of descent from Numa, and who say that Pompilia was not born of Tatia, but of another woman, Lucretia, whom he married after he had already become king.
§21.3πάντες δ’ οὖν ὁμολογοῦσι τὴν Πομπιλίαν Μαρκίῳ γαμηθῆναι.
At any rate, all agree that Pompilia was married to Marcius.
παῖς δὲ ἦν ὁ Μάρκιος ἐκείνου Μαρκίου τοῦ Νομᾶν παρορμήσαντος ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ γὰρ συμμετῴκησεν εἰς Ῥώμην αὐτῷ καὶ τῆς συγκλήτου μετέσχε τιμώμενος, καὶ μετὰ τὴν Νομᾶ τελευτὴν Ὁστιλίῳ περὶ τῆς βασιλείας εἰς ἀγῶνα καταστὰς καὶ ἡττηθεὶς ἀπεκαρτέρησεν.
And this Marcius was the son of that Marcius who had urged Numa to accept the kingdom; for he also migrated to Rome along with him, and was honored with a seat in the senate, and after Numa's death, entered into competition with Hostilius for the kingdom, and being defeated, starved himself to death.
ὁ δὲ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Μάρκιος ἔχων τὴν Πομπιλίαν κατέμεινεν ἐν Ῥώμῃ καὶ Μάρκιον Ἄγκον ἐγέννησεν, ὃς μετὰ Τύλλον Ὁστίλιον ἐβασίλευσε.
His son Marcius, who had Pompilia as wife, remained in Rome, and begot Ancus Marcius, who became king after Tullus Hostilius.
§21.4τοῦτον, ὡς λέγεται, πενταετῆ καταλιπὼν ὁ Νομᾶς ἐτελεύτησεν, οὐ ταχείας οὐδʼ αἰφνιδίου γενομένης αὐτῷ τῆς τελευτῆς, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μικρὸν ὑπὸ γήρως καὶ νόσου μαλακῆς ἀπομαραινόμενος, ὡς ἱστόρηκε Πείσων.
Having left him, as they say, five years of age, Numa died, his death not being swift or sudden, but fading away gradually through old age and a gentle illness, as Piso has recorded.
ἐτελεύτησε δὲ χρόνον οὐ πολὺν τοῖς ὀγδοήκοντα προσβιώσας.
He died after having lived a little over eighty years.

Notes

  1. §21.1ὧν ἕκαστον οἴκου διαδοχὴν καὶ γένους ἐντίμου καταλιπεῖν — An accusative and infinitive construction in indirect speech introduced by the relative pronoun ὧν. It depends on the preceding verb ἀναγράφουσιν (or an implied verb of saying), representing the claims of the historians that each of the four sons left a lineage.
  2. §21.2εἶναι γάρ — The infinitive εἶναι indicates the continuation of the indirect speech (report). It carries the nuance of "it is said that" or "they say that," following the assertions of the historians mentioned in the previous section.
  3. §21.4τοῖς ὀγδοήκοντα προσβιώσας — The compound verb προσβιόω (to live in addition to) governs the dative (τοῖς ὀγδοήκοντα) to indicate the base number of years to which additional life was added. The phrase means "having lived a little beyond eighty years."

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Numa §21.1-21.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg005.humanitext-grc2:21.1-21.4

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