Ab Urbe Condita 1.18

Liv. 1.18.1Inclita iūstitia religiōque eā tempestāte Numae Pompilī erat.

Famous at that time were the justice and piety of Numa Pompilius.

Note. Numa Pompilius, the second king, was remembered as the founder of Roman religion: the calendar, priesthoods and rituals.

Liv. 1.18.1Curibus Sabīnīs habitābat, cōnsultissimus vir, ut in illā quisquam esse aetāte poterat, omnis dīvīnī atque hūmānī iūris.

He lived at the Sabine town of Cures, a man as deeply learned in all law, divine and human, as anyone could be in that age.

Note. Curibus Sabinis: locative, 'at Sabine Cures'. consultissimus ... omnis divini atque humani iuris: 'most learned in all law, divine and human' (consultus + genitive).

Liv. 1.18.2Auctōrem doctrīnae eius, quia nōn extat alius, falsō Samium Pȳthagoram ēdunt, quem Serviō Tulliō regnante Rōmae, centum amplius post annōs, in ultimā Ītaliae ōrā circā Metapontum Hēraclēamque et Crotōna iuvenum aemulantium studia coetūs habuisse cōnstat.

For lack of another candidate, people wrongly name Pythagoras of Samos as the source of his learning; but it is certain that Pythagoras, in the reign of Servius Tullius at Rome, more than a hundred years later, held gatherings of young men eager to share his studies on the farthest coast of Italy, around Metapontum, Heraclea and Croton.

Note. Livy rejects the tradition that Numa was a pupil of Pythagoras on chronological grounds: Pythagoras lived in the 6th century BC, in the reign of Servius Tullius. Croton (Greek acc. Crotona), Metapontum and Heraclea were Greek cities on the gulf of Tarentum.

Liv. 1.18.3Ex quibus locīs, etsī eiusdem aetātis fuisset, quae fāma in Sabīnōs?

From those places, even if he had lived at the same time, what report of him would have reached the Sabines?

Note. fuisset: pluperfect subjunctive in a concessive clause, 'even if he had been of the same age'. Supply pervenisset: 'what report would have reached the Sabines?'

Liv. 1.18.3Aut quō linguae commerciō quemquam ad cupiditātem discendī excīvisset?

Or through what common language would he have roused anyone's desire to learn?

Note. These rhetorical questions use pluperfect subjunctives of unreal past possibility (excivisset, pervenisset).

Liv. 1.18.3Quōve praesidiō ūnus per tot gentēs dissonās sermōne mōribusque pervēnisset?

Or under what protection would one man have travelled through so many peoples differing in speech and customs?

Note. Quove = aut quo. dissonas sermone moribusque: 'differing in speech and customs' (ablatives of respect).

Liv. 1.18.4Suōpte igitur ingeniō temperātum animum virtūtibus fuisse opīnor magis īnstrūctumque nōn tam peregrīnīs artibus quam disciplīnā tetricā ac trīstī veterum Sabīnōrum, quō genere nūllum quondam incorruptius fuit.

So I think rather that Numa's mind was shaped to virtue by its own nature, and trained not so much in foreign arts as in the stern and austere discipline of the old Sabines, the most uncorrupted kind of people there ever was.

Note. Suopte: the strengthened form of suo (-pte), 'by his very own nature'. quo genere nullum quondam incorruptius fuit: 'than which kind none was ever purer'; quo is an ablative of comparison.

Liv. 1.18.5Audītō nōmine Numae patrēs Rōmānī, quamquam inclīnārī opēs ad Sabīnōs rēge inde sūmptō vidēbantur, tamen neque sē quisquam nec factiōnis suae alium nec dēnique patrum aut cīvium quemquam praeferre illī virō ausī ad ūnum omnēs Numae Pompiliō regnum dēferendum dēcernunt.

When they heard Numa's name, the Roman senators, though they saw that the balance of power was tilting toward the Sabines if a king was taken from there, still, since no one dared to prefer himself, or another of his own faction, or indeed any of the senators or citizens, to that man, decided to a man that the kingship should be offered to Numa Pompilius.

Note. ad unum omnes: 'all to a man'. regnum deferendum (esse): passive periphrastic in indirect statement after decernunt.

Liv. 1.18.6Accītus, sīcut Rōmulus augurātō urbe condendā regnum adeptus est, dē sē quoque deōs cōnsulī iussit.

When he was summoned, just as Romulus had taken the kingship after taking the auspices for the founding of the city, he too ordered that the gods be consulted about himself.

Note. augurato: impersonal ablative absolute, 'after the auspices had been taken'. de se ... deos consuli: 'that the gods be consulted about himself'.

Liv. 1.18.6Inde ab augure, cui deinde honōris ergō pūblicum id perpetuumque sacerdōtium fuit, dēductus in arcem in lapide ad merīdiem versus cōnsēdit.

Then he was led by an augur (who afterwards, as a mark of honour, held this as a public and permanent priesthood) onto the citadel and sat down on a stone facing south.

Note. honoris ergo: 'for the sake of honour'; ergo here is a postposition with the genitive, like causa. ad meridiem versus: 'facing south'.

Liv. 1.18.7Augur ad laevam eius capite vēlātō sēdem cēpit, dextrā manū baculum sine nōdō aduncum tenēns, quem lituum appellārunt.

The augur took his seat on Numa's left with his head veiled, holding in his right hand a curved staff without knots, which they called the lituus.

Note. The augur's lituus was a crooked staff used to mark out the templum (the sacred area of sky) in which signs were watched for.

Liv. 1.18.7Inde ubi prōspectū in urbem agrumque captō deōs precātus regiōnēs ab oriente ad occāsum dētermīnāvit, dextrās ad merīdiem partēs, laevās ad septentriōnem esse dīxit, signum contrā, quoad longissimē cōnspectum oculī ferēbant, animō fīnīvit;

Then, having taken a view over the city and the countryside and prayed to the gods, he marked out the regions from east to west, declared that the parts toward the south were on the right and those toward the north on the left, and in his mind fixed a mark opposite him as far as his eyes could reach;

Note. The augur divides the sky: east to west, right (south) and left (north) from the point of view of someone facing east. quoad longissime ... oculi ferebant: 'as far as his eyes could reach'.

Liv. 1.18.8tum lituō in laevam manum trānslātō dextrā in caput Numae impositā precātus ita est: "Iuppiter pater, sī est fās hunc Numam Pompilium, cuius ego caput teneō, rēgem Rōmae esse, utī tū signa nōbīs certa adclārāssis inter eōs fīnēs, quōs fēcī."

then, moving the lituus into his left hand and placing his right hand on Numa's head, he prayed thus: "Father Jupiter, if it is right that this Numa Pompilius, whose head I hold, should be king of Rome, show us clear signs within the boundaries I have made."

Note. uti tu signa ... adclarassis: an old prayer formula. adclarassis is an archaic sigmatic perfect subjunctive (= adclaraveris), 'that you show clearly'.

Liv. 1.18.9Tum perēgit verbīs auspicia, quae mittī vellet.

Then he spelled out in words the auspices he wanted to be sent.

Note. auspicia, quae mitti vellet: 'the signs he wished to be sent', e.g. birds or lightning.

Liv. 1.18.10Quibus missīs dēclārātus rēx Numa dē templō dēscendit.

When these were sent, Numa was declared king and came down from the sacred space.

Note. templum is here the marked-out space of observation on the citadel, not a building.