§9καὶ μὴν τήν γε Νομᾶ βασιλείαν πολυχρονιωτάτην γενομένην ὁμολογουμένως εὐτυχία διεκυβέρνησε θαυμαστή.
And indeed, a wondrous good fortune confessedly governed the reign of Numa, which became very long-lasting.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ Ἐγερίαν τινά, νυμφῶν μίαν δρυάδων, δαίμονα σοφὴν ἔρωτι τἀνδρὸς ἐν συνουσίᾳ γενομένην, παραπαιδαγωγεῖν καὶ συσχηματίζειν τὴν πολιτείαν ἴσως μυθωδέστερόν ἐστι.
For that a certain Egeria, one of the dryad nymphs, a wise spirit, who associated with the man through love, should guide and help shape the constitution is perhaps rather fabulous.
καὶ γὰρ ἄλλοι λεχθέντες ἅψασθαι γάμων θείων καὶ θεοῖς ἐράσμιοι γενέσθαι, Πηλεῖς καὶ Ἀγχῖσαι καὶ Ὠρίωνες καὶ Ἠμαθίωνες, οὐ πάντως ἀγαπητῶς οὐδʼ ἀλύπως διεβίωσαν.
For indeed others who are said to have touched divine marriages and to have become beloved by gods—such as Peleuses, Anchiseses, Orions, and Emathions—did not by any means live out their lives contentedly or without grief.
ἀλλὰ Νομᾶς ἔοικε τὴν ἀγαθὴν Τύχην ἔχειν ὡς ἀληθῶς σύνοικον καὶ σύνεδρον καὶ συνάρχουσαν, ἣ, καθάπερ ἐν κλύδωνι θολερῷ καὶ τεταραγμένῳ πελάγει, τῇ τῶν προσοίκων καὶ γειτόνων ἔχθρᾳ καὶ χαλεπότητι τὴν πόλιν φερομένην καὶ φλεγμαίνουσαν ὑπὸ μυρίων πόνων καὶ διχοστασιῶν παραλαβοῦσα τοὺς μὲν ἀντιτεταγμένους θυμοὺς καὶ φθόνους ὥσπερ πνεύματα κατέσβεσεν· οἷα δέ φασι τὰς ἀλκυόνων λοχείας παραδεξαμένην τὴν θάλατταν ἐν χειμῶνι σῴζειν καὶ συνεκτιθηνεῖσθαι, τοιαύτην ἀναχεαμένη καὶ περιστήσασα γαλήνην πραγμάτων ἀπόλεμον καὶ ἄνοσον καὶ ἀκίνδυνον καὶ ἄφοβον, νεοσταθεῖ δήμῳ καὶ κραδαινομένῳ παρέσχε ῥιζῶσαι καὶ καταστῆσαι τὴν πόλιν αὐξανομένην ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ βεβαίως καὶ ἀνεμποδίστως.
But Numa seems to have had Good Fortune truly as a housemate, a counselor, and a co-ruler, who, taking over the city when it was tossed about—as if in a swelling and turbulent sea—by the hostility and harshness of its neighbors and borderers, and inflamed by countless hardships and dissensions, quenched the opposing rages and envies like winds; and, pouring over and casting around the city such a calm of affairs, free from war, disease, danger, and fear—just as they say the sea, receiving the brooding-time of the halcyons in winter, preserves them and helps nurture them—she provided to a newly established and shaking populace the means to root and establish the city, growing firmly and without hindrance in quietness.
ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁλκὰς ἢ τριήρης ναυπηγεῖται μὲν ὑπὸ πληγῶν καὶ βίας πολλῆς, σφύραις καὶ ἥλοις ἀρασσομένη καὶ γομφώμασι καὶ πρίοσι καὶ πελέκεσι, γενομένην δὲ στῆναι δεῖ καὶ παγῆναι σύμμετρον χρόνον, ἕως οἵ τε δεσμοὶ κάτοχοι γένωνται καὶ συνήθειαν οἱ γόμφοι λάβωσιν· ἐὰν δὲ ὑγροῖς ἔτι καὶ περιολισθάνουσι τοῖς ἁρμοῖς κατασπασθῇ, πάντα χαλάσει διατιναχθέντα καὶ δέξεται τὴν θάλατταν· οὕτω τὴν Ῥώμην ὁ μὲν πρῶτος ἄρχων καὶ δημιουργὸς ἐξ ἀγρίων καὶ βοτήρων ὥσπερ ἐκ δρυόχων κραταιῶν συνιστάμενος, οὐκ ὀλίγους πόνους ἔσχεν οὐδὲ μικροῖς ἀντήρεισε πολέμοις καὶ κινδύνοις, ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀμυνόμενος τοὺς ἀνθισταμένους πρὸς τὴν γένεσιν καὶ ἵδρυσιν αὐτῆς.
For just as a merchant ship or a trireme is constructed by many blows and force, battered by hammers and nails, dowels, saws, and axes, but once completed, it must stand and settle for a measured time, until the bindings hold fast and the dowels adapt and fit together; and if it is launched while the joints are still wet and slipping, they will all shake loose and let in the sea; so the first ruler and craftsman of Rome, composing it from wild men and shepherds as if from sturdy ship-timbers, had no few labors nor did he withstand small wars and dangers, defending himself of necessity against those who opposed its birth and foundation.
ὁ δὲ δεύτερος παραλαβὼν χρόνον ἔσχε πῆξαι καὶ βεβαιῶσαι τὴν αὔξησιν τῇ εὐτυχίᾳ, ἐπιλαβόμενος πολλῆς μὲν εἰρήνης πολλῆς δʼ ἡσυχίας.
But the second, taking it over, had time to fix and secure its growth through good fortune, obtaining much peace and much quiet.
εἰ δὲ τότε Πορσίνας τις ἐπέβρισε Τυρρηνικὸν χάρακα καὶ στρατόπεδον παραστήσας τείχεσιν ὑγροῖς ἔτι καὶ κραδαινομένοις ἤ τις ἐκ Μαρσῶν ἀποστὰς ἀρειμάνιος δυνάστης ἢ Λευκανὸς ὑπὸ φθόνου καὶ φιλονεικίας, ἀνὴρ δύσερις καὶ πολεμοποιός, οἷος ὕστερον Μουτίλος ἢ Σίλων ὁ θρασὺς ἢ τὸ ἔσχατον Σύλλα πάλαισμα Τελεσῖνος, ὡς ἀφʼ ἑνὸς συνθήματος ὅλην ἐξοπλίζων τὴν Ἰταλίαν, τὸν φιλόσοφον Νομᾶν περιεσάλπιζε θύοντα καὶ προσευχόμενον, οὐκ ἂν ἀντέσχον αἱ πρῶται τῆς πόλεως ἀρχαὶ πρὸς σάλον καὶ κλύδωνα τοσοῦτον οὐδʼ εἰς εὐανδρίαν καὶ πλῆθος ἐπέδωκαν·
But if at that time some Porsena had pressed hard, placing a Tyrrhenian stockade and camp against walls that were still wet and shaking, or some warlike dynast revolting from the Marsi, or a Lucanian out of envy and rivalry—a contentious and warlike man, such as Mutilus later, or the bold Silo, or Telesinus, the ultimate wrestling-opponent of Sulla, arming all Italy as if at a single signal—had surrounded with trumpets the philosopher Numa while he was sacrificing and praying, the first beginnings of the city would not have held out against such a tossing and wave, nor would they have advanced to such abundance of men and multitude.
νῦν δʼ ἔοικε τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ὕστερον πολέμους παρασκευῆς ἐφόδιον Ῥωμαίοις ἡ τότʼ εἰρήνη γενέσθαι, καὶ καθάπερ ἀθλητὴς ὁ δῆμος ἐκ τῶν κατὰ Ῥωμύλον ἀγώνων ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ χρόνον ἐτῶν τριῶν καὶ τετταράκοντα σωμασκήσας τὴν δύναμιν ἀξιόμαχον καταστῆσαι τοῖς ὕστερον ἀντιταττομένοις.
But as it was, the peace of that time seems to have become for the Romans a provision for their preparation against later wars, and just like an athlete, the people, training their strength in quietness for a period of forty-three years after the contests under Romulus, made themselves a match for those who opposed them later.
οὐδὲ γὰρ λιμὸν οὐδὲ λοιμὸν οὐδʼ ἀφορίαν γῆς οὐδʼ ἀωρίαν τινὸς θέρους ἢ χειμῶνος ἐν τῷ τότε χρόνῳ παραλυπῆσαι τὴν Ῥώμην λέγουσιν, ὡς οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνης εὐβουλίας ἀλλὰ θείας Τύχης ἐπιτροπευούσης τῶν καιρῶν ἐκείνων.
For they say that neither famine nor pestilence, nor barrenness of the land, nor any unseasonableness of summer or winter troubled Rome during that time, as if not human prudence but divine Fortune were administering those seasons.
ἐκλείσθη δʼ οὖν τότε καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἰανοῦ δίπυλον, ὃ πολέμου πύλην καλοῦσιν ἀνέῳγε μὲν γὰρ ὅταν ᾖ πόλεμος, κλείεται δʼ εἰρήνης γενομένης.
At any rate, the double gate of Janus was then closed, which they call the gate of war; for it stands open when there is war, but is closed when peace has been made.
Νομᾶ δʼ ἀποθανόντος ἀνεῴχθη τοῦ πρὸς Ἀλβανοὺς πολέμου συρραγέντος.
But after Numa died, it was opened when the war with the Albans broke out.
εἶτα μυρίων ἄλλων συνεχῶς ὑπολαμβανόντων πάλιν δι’ ἐτῶν ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ τετρακοσίων ἐκλείσθη μετὰ τὸν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους πόλεμον εἰρήνης γενομένης Γαΐου Ἀτιλίου καὶ Τίτου Μαλλίου ὑπάτων, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν αὖθις ἀνεῴχθη καὶ διέμειναν οἱ πόλεμοι. ἄχρι τῆς ἐν Ἀκτίῳ νίκης Καίσαρος· τότε δʼ ἤργησε τὰ Ῥωμαίων ὅπλα χρόνον οὐ πολύν αἱ γὰρ ἀπὸ Καντάβρων ταραχαὶ καὶ Γαλατίας συρραγεῖσαι Γερμανοῖς συνετάραξαν τὴν εἰρήνην.
Then, with countless other wars succeeding continuously, it was closed again after four hundred and eighty years, when peace was made after the war against the Carthaginians, in the consulship of Gaius Atilius and Titus Manlius; but after this year it was opened again, and the wars continued until the victory of Caesar at Actium; and then the arms of the Romans rested for a short time; for the disturbances from the Cantabrians, and those of Gaul breaking out together with the Germans, disrupted the peace.
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εὐτυχίας τῆς Νομᾶ προσιστόρηται μαρτύρια.
But these things are recorded in addition as testimonies of Numa's good fortune.