§22.1ζηλωτὸν δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ τάφῳ τὸν βίον ἐποίησαν οἵ τε σύμμαχοι καὶ φίλοι δῆμοι, συνελθόντες ἐπὶ τὰς ταφὰς ἅμα δημοσίαις ἐπιφοραῖς καὶ στεφάνοις, οἵ τε πατρίκιοι τὸ λέχος ἀράμενοι, καὶ συμπαρόντες οἱ τῶν θεῶν ἱερεῖς καὶ παραπέμποντες, ὁ δ’ ἄλλος ὅμιλος ἀναμεμιγμένων καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων οὐχ ὡς βασιλέως ταφαῖς γηραιοῦ παρόντες, ἀλλʼ ὥς τινα τῶν φιλτάτων ἕκαστος ἐν ἀκμῇ βίου ποθούμενον θάπτων, μετʼ οἰμωγῆς καὶ κλαυθμῶν ἑπόμενοι.
His life was made enviable also by his funeral by the allied and friendly cities, who came together for the funeral with public contributions and crowns, and by the patricians who carried his bier, and by the priests of the gods who accompanied and escorted him; while the rest of the multitude, mixed with women and children, followed with wailing and weeping, not as though they were attending the funeral of an old king, but as though each one were burying one of their dearest who had died in the flower of life.
§22.2πυρὶ μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἔδοσαν τὸν νεκρὸν αὐτοῦ κωλύσαντος, ὡς λέγεται, δύο δὲ ποιησάμενοι λιθίνας σοροὺς ὑπὸ τὸ Ἰάνοκλον ἔθηκαν, τὴν μὲν ἑτέραν ἔχουσαν τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν τὰς ἱερὰς βίβλους ἃς ἐγράψατο μὲν αὐτός, ὥσπερ οἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων νομοθέται τοὺς κύρβεις, ἐκδιδάξας δὲ τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἔτι ζῶν τὰ γεγραμμένα καὶ πάντων ἕξιν τε καὶ γνώμην ἐνεργασάμενος αὐτοῖς, ἐκέλευσε συνταφῆναι μετὰ τοῦ σώματος, ὡς οὐ καλῶς ἐν ἀψύχοις γράμμασι φρουρουμένων τῶν ἀπορρήτων.
They did not, then, commit his body to the flames, since he himself, as it is said, forbade it; but having made two stone coffins, they placed them under the Janiculum, the one containing his body, and the other the sacred books which he had written himself, just as the Greek lawgivers wrote their wooden tablets. Since he had thoroughly taught the priests while he was still alive what was written in them, and had instilled into them the habit and meaning of them all, he ordered them to be buried with his body, on the ground that it was not well for these secrets to be guarded in lifeless writings.
§22.3ᾧ λογισμῷ φασι μηδὲ τοὺς Πυθαγορικοὺς εἰς γραφὴν κατατίθεσθαι τὰ συντάγματα, μνήμην δὲ καὶ παίδευσιν αὐτῶν ἄγραφον ἐμποιεῖν τοῖς ἀξίοις.
On this principle, they say, the Pythagoreans also did not commit their writings to paper, but instilled the unwritten memory and instruction of them into those who were worthy.
καὶ τῆς γε περὶ τὰς ἀπόρους καὶ ἀρρήτους λεγομένας ἐν γεωμετρίᾳ μεθόδους πραγματείας πρός τινα τῶν ἀναξίων ἐκδοθείσης, ἔφασαν ἐπισημαίνειν τὸ δαιμόνιον μεγάλῳ τινὶ καὶ κοινῷ κακῷ τὴν γεγενημένην παρανομίαν καὶ ἀσέβειαν ἐπεξερχόμενον.
And indeed, when the treatise concerning the so-called insoluble and inexpressible methods in geometry was published to one of the unworthy, they said that the divine power showed its displeasure by punishing the committed transgression and impiety with some great and common calamity.
§22.4ὥστε συγγνώμην ἔχειν πολλὴν τοῖς εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ Πυθαγόρᾳ Νομᾶν φιλοτιμουμένοις συνάγειν ἐπὶ τοσαύταις ὁμοιότησιν.
So that one may have much indulgence for those who are eager to bring Numa and Pythagoras together into the same school on the ground of so many similarities.
οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀντίαν ἱστοροῦσι δώδεκα μὲν εἶναι βίβλους ἱεροφαντικάς, δώδεκα δὲ ἄλλας Ἑλληνικὰς φιλοσόφους τὰς εἰς τὴν σορὸν συντεθείσας.
But the followers of Antias record that there were twelve sacred books of the priests, and twelve other Greek philosophical books, which were deposited together in the coffin.
τετρακοσίων δέ που διαγενομένων ἐτῶν ὕπατοι μὲν ἦσαν Πόπλιος Κορνήλιος καὶ Μάρκος Βαίβιος· ὄμβρων δὲ μεγάλων ἐπιπεσόντων καὶ χώματος περιρραγέντος ἐξέωσε σε τὰς σοροὺς τὸ ῥεῦμα·
And when about four hundred years had passed, Publius Cornelius and Marcus Baebius being consuls, heavy rains fell, and the mound being torn away, the torrent washed out the coffins.
§22.5καὶ τῶν ἐπιθημάτων ἀποπεσόντων ἡ μὲν ἑτέρᾳ κενὴ παντάπασιν ὤφθη καὶ μέρος οὐδὲν οὐδὲ λείψανον ἔχουσα τοῦ σώματος, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τῶν γραμμάτων εὑρεθέντων ἀναγνῶναι μὲν αὐτὰ λέγεται Πετίλιος στρατηγῶν τότε, πρὸς δὲ τὴν σύγκλητον κομίσαι, μὴ δοκεῖν αὐτῷ θεμιτὸν εἶναι λέγων μηδὲ ὅσιον ἔκπυστα πολλοῖς τὰ γεγραμμένα γενέσθαι· διὸ καὶ κομισθείσας εἰς τὸ Κομίτιον τὰς βίβλους κατακαῆναι.
And when the lids fell off, the one coffin was seen to be entirely empty, having no part or vestige of the body, but in the other the writings were found, and it is said that Petilius, who was then praetor, read them, but brought them to the senate, declaring that it did not seem to him right or holy that the written matters should become known to many people; wherefore the books were carried to the Comitium and burned.
§22.6πᾶσι μὲν οὖν ἕπεται τοῖς δικαίοις καὶ ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσι μείζων ὁ κατόπιν καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἔπαινος, τοῦ φθόνου πολὺν χρόνον οὐκ ἐπιζῶντος, ἐν ίων δὲ καὶ προαποθνήσκοντος· οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἐκείνου γε τὴν δόξαν αἱ τῶν ὕστερον βασιλέων τύχαι λαμπροτέραν ἐποίησαν, πέντε γάρ γενομένων μετʼ αὐτὸν ὁ μὲν ἔσχατος ἐκπεσὼν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐν φυγῇ κατεγήρασε, τῶν δὲ τεσσάρων οὐδεὶς κατὰ φύσιν ἐτελεύτησεν, ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν τρεῖς ἐπιβουλευθέντες ἐσφάγησαν,
Now, upon all just and good men there follows greater praise after they are gone and dead, since envy does not long survive them, and in some cases even dies before them; nevertheless, the fortunes of the later kings made Numa's glory still more brilliant.
§22.7Ὁστίλιος δὲ Τύλλος, ὃς μετὰ Νομᾶν ἐβασίλευσε, καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἐκείνου καλῶν, ἐν δὲ πρώτοις καὶ μάλιστα τὴν περὶ τὸ θεῖον εὐλάβειαν, ἐπιχλευάσας καὶ καθυβρίσας ὡς ἀργοποιὸν καὶ γυναικώδη, πρὸς πόλεμον ν ἔτρεψε τοὺς πολίτας, οὐδʼ αὐτὸς ἐνέμεινε τοῖς νεανιεύμασι τούτοις, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ νόσου χαλεπῆς καὶ πολυτρόπου τὴν γνώμην ἀλλασσόμενος εἰς δεισιδαιμονίαν ἐνέδωκεν οὐδέν τι τῇ κατὰ Νομᾶν εὐσεβείᾳ προσήκουσαν, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐνεποίησε τοῖς ἄλλοις τὸ τοιοῦτον πάθος, ὡς λέγεται, καταφλεχθεὶς ὑπὸ κεραυνῶν.
For of the five who came after him, the last was expelled from his power and grew old in exile, and of the other four, not one died a natural death, but three of them were plotted against and assassinated, and Tullus Hostilius, who reigned after Numa, and who ridiculed and insulted most of his noble institutions, especially and most of all his reverence for the gods, as making men idle and effeminate, turned the citizens to war. Yet he himself did not abide by these insolent boasts, but being changed in mind by a grievous and complicated disease, he surrendered himself to a superstition that had nothing to do with the piety of Numa, and still more instilled this feeling into the others, when, as they say, he was consumed by lightning.