§2.74.1τὰ δʼ εἰς εὐτέλειάν τε καὶ σωφροσύνην ἄγοντα τὸν ἑκάστου βίον καὶ εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν καταστήσαντα τῆς φυλαττούσης ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ τὴν πόλιν δικαιοσύνης πλεῖστα ὅσα, τὰ μὲν ἐγγράφοις περιληφθέντα νόμοις, τὰ δʼ ἐξω γραφῆς εἰς ἐπιτηδεύσεις ἀχθέντα καὶ συνασκήσεις χρονίους·
There were very many regulations that led the life of each individual to economy and temperance, and established a desire for that justice which preserves the city in harmony; some were encompassed in written laws, while others, being unwritten, were brought into practice and long-term training.
ὑπὲρ ὧν ἁπάντων μὲν πολὺ ἂν ἔργον εἴη λέγειν, ἀρκέσει δὲ δύο τὰ μεγίστης μνήμης τυχόντα τεκμήρια καὶ τῶν ἄλλων §2.74.2γενέσθαι·
To speak of all of these would be a major task, but it will be sufficient for two proofs, which have obtained the greatest remembrance, to serve also for the others.
τῆς μὲν αὐταρκείας καὶ τοῦ μηδένα τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμεῖν ἡ περὶ τοὺς ὁρισμοὺς τῶν κτήσεων νομοθεσία.
The first, concerning self-sufficiency and the desire of no one for what belongs to others, was the legislation regarding the boundaries of possessions.
κελεύσας γὰρ ἑκάστῳ περιγράψαι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κτῆσιν καὶ στῆσαι λίθους ἐπὶ τοῖς ὅροις ἱεροὺς ἀπέδειξεν ὁρίου Διὸς τοὺς λίθους, καὶ θυσίας ἔταξεν αὐτοῖς ἐπιτελεῖν ἅπαντας ἡμέρᾳ τακτῇ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον συνερχομένους, ἑορτὴν ἐν τοῖς πάνυ τιμίαν τὴν τῶν ὁρίων θεῶν καταστησάμενος.
For having commanded each person to circumscribe his own possession and to place stones upon the boundaries, he declared these stones sacred to Jupiter of the Boundaries, and appointed that all should perform sacrifices to them on a fixed day every year, coming together to the place, having established a festival most highly honored among those of the boundary gods.
§2.74.3ταύτην Ῥωμαῖοι Τερμινάλια καλοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῶν τερμόνων καὶ τοὺς ὅρους αὐτοὺς ἑνὸς ἀλλαγῇ γράμματος παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν διάλεκτον ἐκφέροντες τέρμινας προσαγορεύουσιν. εἰ δέ τις ἀφανίσειεν ἢ μεταθείη τοὺς ὅρους, ἱερὸν ἐνομοθέτησεν εἶναι τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν τούτων τι διαπραξάμενον, ἵνα τῷ βουλομένῳ κτείνειν αὐτὸν ὡς ἱερόσυλον ἥ τε ἀσφάλεια καὶ τὸ καθαρῷ μιάσματος εἶναι προσῇ.
This the Romans call "Terminalia" from the boundaries, and they address the boundaries themselves, pronouncing them with the alteration of one letter from our tongue, as "termines." And if anyone should destroy or displace the boundaries, he legislated that the one who had committed any of these things should be sacred to the god, so that for anyone wishing to kill him as a sacrilegious person, safety and freedom from pollution would belong to him.
§2.74.4τοῦτο δ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν κατεστήσατο μόνον κτήσεων τὸ δίκαιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν δημοσίων, ὅροις κἀκείνας περιλαβών, ἵνα καὶ τὴν Ῥωμαίων γῆν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀστυγείτονος ὅριοι διαιρῶσι θεοὶ καὶ τὴν κοινὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας.
And he established this justice not only over private possessions, but also over public ones, enclosing those also with boundaries, so that the boundary gods might divide the land of the Romans from that of their neighbors, and the common land from the private.
τοῦτο μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων φυλάττουσι Ῥωμαῖοι μνημεῖα τῆς ὁσίας αὐτῆς ἕνεκα.
The Romans preserve this until our times for the sake of its sanctity itself.
θεούς τε γὰρ ἡγοῦνται τοὺς τέρμονας καὶ θύουσιν αὐτοῖς ὁσέτη τῶν μὲν ἐμψύχων οὐδὲν ʽοὐ γὰρ ὅσιον αἱμάττειν τοὺς λίθουσʼ πελάνους δὲ §2.74.5δημητρίους καὶ ἄλλας τινὰς καρπῶν ἀπαρχάς.
For they consider the boundaries to be gods and sacrifice to them every year nothing of living things (for it is not holy to stain the stones with blood), but grain-offerings, of Demeter and certain other first-fruits of crops.
ἐχρῆν δὲ καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἔτι φυλάττειν πιστὸν αὐτούς, οὗ χάριν θεοὺς ἐνόμισε τοὺς τέρμονας ὁ Νόμας, ἱκανουμένους τοῖς ἑαυτῶν κτήμασι, τῶν δʼ ἀλλοτρίων μήτε βίᾳ σφετεριζομένους μηδὲν μήτε δόλῳ.
But they ought to have still preserved faithful the practice also, for the sake of which Numa considered the boundaries as gods, being satisfied with their own possessions, and appropriating nothing of others' either by force or by deceit.
νῦν δʼ οὐχ ὡς ἄμεινον οὐδʼ ὡς οἱ πρόγονοι παρέδοσαν ὁρίζουσί τινες ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων τὰ οἰκεῖα, ἀλλʼ ἔστιν αὐτοῖς ὅρος τῶν κτήσεων οὐχ ὁ νόμος, ἀλλʼ ἡ πάντων ἐπιθυμία, πρᾶγμα οὐ καλόν.
But now, some people demarcate their own property from that of others, not for the better nor as their ancestors handed down, but for them the boundary of possessions is not the law, but their desire for everything, which is not an honorable thing.
ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων ἑτέροις παρίεμεν σκοπεῖν.
But concerning these matters, we leave it to others to consider.