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 – 18th 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
