Royal Philosophers of Ancient Rome

Hello everyone –

Plato of Athens, the greatest of the ancient Greek philosophers, had a wish: that royals would become philosophers, and that philosophers would become royals. Thus, he thought, good government of the people would be guaranteed. But Plato never saw his vision of a royal philosopher come true in his lifetime; this ideal was instead fulfilled by two Roman statesmen (not Greeks): Numa Pompilius (the second King of Rome, ruled 715-673 BCE) and Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor from 161-180 CE). Here are some reflections on Numa and Marcus, drawn from history, poetry, and proverbs, to help us see what this Platonic ideal of a truly royal philosopher might look like.

“Historical Overview of the Reign of Numa Pompilius”

Excerpted from B. G. Niebuhr’s History of Rome. Vol. 1, p. 237 ff. (1845)

                On the death of Romulus the senate at first would enjoy the royal power in rotation as interrex. In this way a year passed. The people, being treated more oppressively than before, were vehement in demanding the election of a sovereign to protect them. When the senate permitted it to be held, the Romans and Sabines disputed out of which nation the king should be taken. It was agreed that the former should choose him out of the latter: and all voices concurred in naming the wise and pious Numa Pompilius of Cures, who had married the daughter of Tatius.

                It was a very prevalent belief in antiquity that Numa had derived his knowledge from the Greek Pythagoras; Polybius and other writers attempted to show that this was impossible, for chronological reasons, inasmuch as Pythagoras did not come into Italy till the reign of Servius Tullius; but an impartial critic, who does not believe that the son of Mnesarchus was the only Pythagoras, or that there is any kind of necessity for placing Numa in the twentieth Olympiad, or, in fine, that the historical personality of Pythagoras is more certain than that of Numa, will be pleased with the old popular opinion, and will not sacrifice it to chronology.

                When Numa was assured by the auguries that the gods approved of his election, the first care of the pious king was turned, not to the rites of the temples, but to human institutions. He divided the lands which Romulus had conquered and had left open to occupancy. He founded the worship of Terminus. It was not till after he had done this that Numa set himself to legislate for religion. He was revered as the author of the Roman ceremonial law. Instructed by the Camena Egeria, who was espoused to him in a visible form, and who led him into the assemblies of her sisters in the sacred grove, he regulated the whole hierarchy; the pontiffs, who took care, by precept and by chastisement, that the laws relating to religion should be observed both by individuals and by the state; the augurs, whose calling it was to afford security for the councils of men by piercing into those of the gods; the flamens, who ministered in the temples of the supreme deities; the chaste virgins of Vesta; the Salii, who solemnized the worship of the gods with armed dances and songs. He prescribed the rites according to which the people might offer worship and prayer acceptable to the gods. To him were revealed the conjurations for compelling Jupiter himself to make known his will, by lightnings and the flight of birds: whereas others were forced to wait for these prodigies from the favor of the god, who was often silent to such as were doomed to destruction. This charm he learned from Faunus and Picus, whom, by the advice of Egeria, he enticed and bound in chains, as Midas bound Silenus in the rose garden. From this pious prince the god brooked such boldness. At Numa's entreaty he exempted the people from the terrible duty of offering up human sacrifices. But when the audacious Tullus presumed to imitate his predecessor, he was killed by a flash of lightning during his conjurations in the temple of Jupiter Elicius.

                The thirty-nine years of Numa's reign, which glided away in quiet happiness, without any war or any calamity, afforded no legends but of such marvels. That nothing might break the peace of his days, the ancile fell from heaven, when the land was threatened with a pestilence, which disappeared as soon as Numa ordained the ceremonies of the Salii. Numa was not a theme of song, like Romulus; indeed he enjoined that, among all the Camenae, the highest honors should be paid to Tacita. Yet a story was handed down, that, when he was entertaining his guests, the plain food in the earthenware dishes were turned on the appearance of Egeria into a banquet fit for gods, in vessels of gold, in order that her divinity might be made manifest to the incredulous. The temple of Janus, his work, continued always shut: peace was spread over Italy; until Numa, like the darlings of the gods in the golden age, fell asleep, full of days. Egeria melted away in tears into a fountain.

The future King Numa (at left) visits the Greek philosopher Pythagoras (at right) in Croton, Italy. (Image Credit: Public Domain – 18^th Century French Painting)

 

“Numa and Pythagoras”

Excerpted from Book 15 of the Metamorphoses

By Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE)

English Translation by John Dryden (1631-1700)

A king is sought to guide the growing state,

One able to support the public weight

And fill the throne where Romulus had sate.

Renown, which oft bespeaks the public voice,

Had recommended Numa to their choice:

A peaceful, pious prince; who not content

To know the Sabine rites, his study bent

To cultivate his mind; to learn the laws

Of Nature, and explore their hidden cause.

Urged by this care, his country he forsook,

And to Crotona thence his journey took.

*                              *                              *

Here dwelt the man divine, whom Samos bore,

But now self-banished from his native shore,

Because he hated tyrants, nor could bear

The chains, which none but servile souls will wear.

He, though from Heaven remote, to Heaven could move,

With strength of mind, and tread the abyss above;

And penetrate, with his interior light,

Those upper depths, which Nature hid from sight:

And what he had observed, and learnt from thence,

Loved in familiar language to dispense.

The crowd with silent admiration stand,

And heard him, as they heard their God's command;

While he discoursed of Heaven's mysterious laws,

The world's original, and Nature's cause;

And what was God; and why the fleecy snows

In silence fell, and rattling winds arose;

What shook the steadfast Earth, and whence begun

The dance of planets round the radiant sun;

If thunder was the voice of angry Jove,

Or clouds, with niter pregnant, burst above:

Of these, and things beyond the common reach,

He spoke, and charmed his audience with his speech.

*                              *                              *

These precepts by the Samian sage were taught,

Which godlike Numa to the Sabines brought,

And thence transferred to Rome, by gift his own:

A willing people, and an offered throne.

O happy monarch, sent by Heaven to bless

A savage nation with soft arts of peace,

To teach religion, rapine to restrain,

Give laws to lust, and sacrifice ordain:

Himself a saint, a goddess was his bride,

And all the Muses over his acts preside.

Advanced in years he died; one common date

His reign concluded, and his mortal state.

 

Reflections from Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE), Philosopher and Roman Emperor (161-180 CE), Author of the Meditations

• “The Universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it” (Meditations 4:3).
• “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy” (Meditations 6:6).
• “Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; but if a thing is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach” (Meditations 6:19).
• “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present” (Meditations 7:8).
• “Know the joy of life by piling good deed on good deed until no rift or cranny appears between them” (Meditations 12:29).

 

Until next time –

Rob