by Plutarch
9. Both the institution of high priests, whom the Romans call pontifices, as well as the assignment of their responsibilities are attributed to Numa, who, we are told, was himself the first to be enrolled in their order. They are called pontifices, according to some authorities, because they serve the gods, who are powerful and are the lords of all things, and the Latin word for powerful is potens. Others, however, derive the word from the nature of the legislator’s prescriptions regarding the performance of their duties, for they maintain that he enjoined upon these priests an obligation to carry out their sacred duties when it was possible to do so but did not hold them responsible should any serious impediment prevent them from actually doing so.61 Most sources, however, accept an absurd explanation of the priests’ designation. Simply put, they are called bridge-builders (the Latin word for bridge is pontem) on account of the rituals they perform on the bridge,62 rituals which are deeply sacred and very ancient. These writers add that, along with all their other inviolable and ancestral observances, the priests are responsible for looking after and repairing this bridge, for the Romans believe not only that the demolition of their wooden bridge is sacrilegious but that such an event must result in divine punishment. It is also said that this bridge, in obedience to an oracle, was constructed entirely without iron and is held together by wooden fastenings. The stone bridge was built much later, when Aemilius63 was quaestor. However, there are also sources claiming that the wooden bridge belongs to a time later than Numa’s and was finished in the reign of Ancus Marcius, Numa’s grandson by his daughter.
The pontifex maximus is responsible for explaining and interpreting divine matters, or, more precisely, for giving instruction in correct ritual practice.64 Not only does he supervise public ceremonies, he also oversees private sacrifices in order to ensure that no one diverges from established custom, and he teaches everyone the necessary rites for honouring and propitiating the gods. He is also the overseer of the sacred virgins, called Vestals by the Romans, for Numa is credited with the consecration of the Vestal Virgins and the establishment of all the sacred practices associated with the preservation and veneration of the eternal fire,65 which the Vestals watch over. He did this either out of the belief that, inasmuch as the nature of fire is pure and incorruptible, it should be entrusted to persons whose bodies are chaste and unsullied, or because he associated with virginity the sterile and unproductive qualities of fire. In Greece, wherever a perpetual fire is tended, at Delphi or Athens,66 to take two examples, its care is entrusted not to virgins but to widows who are past a marriageable age. It sometimes happens that these fires go out. In Athens, they say, the sacred lamp was put out during the tyranny of Aristion,67 while at Delphi its fire was extinguished when the temple was burned down by the Medes and later, during the Mithridatic War, as well as during the Romans’ civil wars, when the altar was destroyed.68 Under such circumstances it is reportedly forbidden to rekindle the fire from any other fire. Instead, a new and fresh fire must be made by lighting a pure and undefiled flame from the rays of the sun. This is usually accomplished by employing concave mirrors, which have been hollowed out by forming the shapes of right-angled isosceles triangles converging from the periphery of the hollowed space towards a unique central point. When these mirrors are made to face the sun in such a way that its rays are reflected from all sides and concentrated towards the centre, this renders the air in the hollow of the mirror extremely rarefied and, as a result, materials that are very light and very dry, if placed there, quickly ignite owing to their resistance to the sun’s rays, which in this environment take on the substance and effect of fire.69 Returning to the Vestals themselves, there are some who believe that it is only the eternal fire that they watch over, whereas others claim that they also guard certain sacred objects, which they alone are permitted to gaze upon. I have recorded in my Life of Camillus what one may rightfully know – and report – about these matters.70
10. According to our sources, Gegania and Verenia were the first to be consecrated as Vestals by Numa, who later added Canuleia and Tarpeia. Later still, during the reign of Servius, two more were enrolled,71 and this is the number of Vestals that has been maintained to the present day. The king decreed that the sacred virgins should preserve their chastity for thirty years, during which time they should spend their first ten years learning what was required of them, their second ten actually performing what they had learned, and their last ten years giving instruction to novices. When these thirty years had elapsed, any Vestal who so desired it was free to marry and take up a different way of life, once she had quit her holy office. There were few, so we are informed, who took advantage of this indulgence, and those who did so found no happiness in their choice but rather lifelong regret and sorrow, and this had the effect of inspiring in the rest a superstitious fear that bound them to their virginity until they reached old age and death.
Numa granted the Vestals important privileges, including the right to make a will while their fathers were still alive and the right to manage their own affairs without a legal guardian, like mothers of three children.72 Whenever they go out in public, they are preceded by lictors73 bearing fasces, and should one of them accidentally encounter a criminal who is being led away for punishment, his life is spared, although she must first swear on her oath that the meeting was involuntary and owing to chance instead of design. If anyone passes beneath a Vestal’s litter as she is being transported, he is put to death.
The Vestals’ offences are punished, in all instances save one, by whipping. Sometimes when the pontifex maximus scourges an errant Vestal, she is naked, although this takes place in a dark confined place obscured by a curtain. But if a Vestal violates her vow of chastity, she is buried alive near the Colline Gate, inside the city where, extending alongside the wall, there is a little ridge of earth which is designated by the Latin word for a rampart.74 A small subterranean chamber, which can be entered from above, is constructed there. Inside it are a bed equipped with cushions and covers, a lighted lamp and modest provisions of the things necessary for sustaining life, like bread, a bowl of water, milk and oil – as if the Romans thereby sought to acquit themselves of responsibility for starving to death someone who had been consecrated to an exalted sacred office. She who is to be punished is then placed on a litter that is so thoroughly covered and so tightly secured by cords that it is impossible to hear any sound from within. She is then carried through the forum. Everyone makes way for this litter in total silence and, without uttering a sound, follows it in a state of terrible sadness, for no other spectacle is more terrifying than this one, nor is any other day more grievous for the city. When this litter reaches its destination, its attendants loosen its bonds while the chief priest lifts up his hands to the gods and recites mysterious prayers, after which he turns to the fatal moment. He brings the Vestal forth from the litter – she is closely veiled – and he puts her on the steps leading down to the chamber below. Then he looks away, as do the other priests, until she has made her descent. The steps are then taken up and the opening is filled with great quantities of earth, until the site is level with the rest of the mound. This is how the Romans punish any Vestal who violates her vow of virginity.75
11. Numa is credited with giving the temple of Vesta,76 in which the perpetual fire is secured, its circular form. He did this, not to imitate the shape of the earth, as if Vesta were to be identified with the earth,77 but rather to imitate the structure of the universe, in the centre of which the Pythagoreans place fire and call it Hestia and Monad.78 As for the earth, the Pythagoreans do not believe that it sits motionless, nor that it exists in the centre of the revolution of the rest of the world. Instead, they maintain that the earth revolves around this central fire and is not included among the most impressive or important parts of the cosmos. Plato is reported to have held this view of the earth when he was an old man, that is, he believed that the earth occupies a secondary space, while the central and dominant space belongs to some other – and be
tter – entity.79
12. The pontiffs also give instructions, to any who consult them, on the correct ancestral form of funeral rituals. Numa taught the priests to believe that there was absolutely no trace of pollution in these practices, but instead to venerate, by way of their traditional ceremonies, the gods of the underworld, as if it were they who receive the most important part of ourselves.80 The Romans especially honour the goddess called Libitina,81 the divinity who presides over the rites sacred to the dead, whether she is to be identified with Proserpina or, as the most learned of the Romans insist, with Venus, a belief that wisely connects our birth and our death with the power of one and the same goddess. Numa also regulated the duration for mourning the dead according to the age of the deceased. For a child of fewer than three years,82 no mourning was permitted. For a child older than that, the number of months given over to mourning could not excel the number of years the child had lived and in no case could exceed ten months. In fact, no deceased person, of whatever age, could be mourned for more than ten months, which was the longest legitimate period for mourning. Ten months is also the length of time that women who have lost their husbands must remain widows. A woman who marries before this interval has elapsed is obliged by the laws of Numa to sacrifice a pregnant cow.
Numa went on to establish many other priesthoods, of which I shall discuss only the Salii and the Fetiales,83 for these offer unmistakably clear illustrations of his piety. The Fetiales are, as it were, the guardians of peace, and it is my opinion that even the name of their order is derived from this function, for they endeavour to put a halt to disputes by means of negotiation,84 nor will they permit a military campaign to commence before every other hope of obtaining justice has been eliminated. Among the Greeks, the word for peace refers to two parties settling their disputes by means of deliberation instead of violence.85 Whenever any party treated the Romans unjustly, the Fetiales paid them several visits during which they tried to persuade them to act fairly. If these requests were ignored, the Fetiales then summoned the gods as witnesses and invoked, upon themselves and upon their country, many terrible curses if there was any injustice in their decision to march out against their enemies. Only then did they declare war. If, however, the Fetiales forbade it or simply refused to give their consent, then it was unlawful for a soldier or even for the king of Rome himself to take up arms. It was only after the Fetiales had declared that the undertaking of a war was just that the ruler, when he received this verdict, could begin to devise his plans for how best to carry out the war.
The dreadful calamity inflicted on the Romans by the Celts is attributed to a failure to observe the judgements of these priests. For once, when the barbarians were besieging Clusium,86 Fabius Ambustus was sent to their camp as an ambassador in order to obtain a cessation of hostilities. His appeal was rejected, however, at which point, in Fabius’ view, he had fulfilled and completed his duty as an ambassador. Then, in the rashness of youth, he took up arms on behalf of the Clusians and went so far as to challenge the most valiant of the barbarians to single combat. The contest went Fabius’ way, and he unhorsed his enemy and stripped him of his armour. When the Celts recognized who he was, they sent a herald to Rome who accused Fabius of treacherously violating the truce under which he had come to them and of fighting against them when no war had been declared. At that time, the Fetiales tried to persuade the senate to hand Fabius over to the Celts, but he took refuge with the multitude and, owing to popular favour, escaped the punishment he deserved. Soon thereafter the Celts marched on Rome and sacked the city, except for the Capitol. But these are events I have narrated in more detail in my Life of Camillus.87
13. As for the priesthood of the Salii,88 its institution is explained in the following way. In the eighth year of Numa’s reign, a plague afflicted the whole of Italy, including Rome. According to our sources, it was when the people were deep in despair that a bronze shield fell from the sky and was delivered into Numa’s own hands. A miraculous account of this shield’s origin was disclosed by the king, who claimed that he learned it from Egeria and the Muses. The arrival of this shield, he said, ensured the salvation of the city, and it must be protected by making eleven other shields just like it in appearance, size and shape, so that, owing to their resemblance, no one who wished to steal the shield that fell from the sky would be able to recognize which it was. It was also necessary, Numa explained, to consecrate to the Muses the spot where the shield had fallen to earth along with the surrounding meadows, places in which Numa claimed he had often spent time in the Muses’ company. In addition, the spring89 flowing in this spot must be declared holy and reserved for the use of the Vestal Virgins, who should, every day, purify their temple by sprinkling it with this water. The truth of all this, so the story goes, was verified by the sudden end to the plague. Numa exhibited the shield to the artisans and ordered them to fashion others like it, but all refused except Veturius Mamurius. He was a superb craftsman and was so successful in reproducing the design of the shield that not even Numa could distinguish his eleven copies from the original. So it was to watch over these shields90 and to care for them that Numa established the priesthood of the Salii.
The Salii91 are not, despite the assertions of several authorities, named for a certain Salius, a man from Samothrace or Mantinea92 who was the first to teach dancing performed in armour. They take their name from the dance itself, which is characterized by leaping. They perform this dance whenever they make their way with their shields through the streets of the city, which they do in the month of March.93 They wear purple tunics, broad belts made of bronze and bronze helmets. They also carry bronze daggers, which they use to strike their shields. The dance itself consists mostly in movements of their feet, which they execute gracefully, moving in varying and shifting steps that display both force and agility, all to a rapid and recurring rhythm.
These shields are called ancilia on account of their shape, which is neither round nor oval, like most shields, but instead each shield is cut out so that it has a sinuous outline, the edge of which is rounded, and, where the shield is thick and there are protrusions, the edges are bent so that they form a curve. Or alternatively it may be that these shields are named for the elbow on which they are carried. These, at least, are the suggestions of Juba, in his attempt to derive their name from Greek. But these shields could also have received their name because the first of their number fell from on high, or because it brought a cure to those who were suffering from the plague, or because it put an end to the drought, or because it brought a cessation to the Romans’ terrible afflictions,94 explanations that are analogous to the Athenians’ calling the Dioscuri the Anakes95 – if, that is, we feel obliged to explain the name of the shields by way of the Greek language.
Mamurius, according to some authorities, was compensated for his exquisite workmanship by the inclusion of his name in the song sung by the Salii when they perform their war dance, although there are others who insist that the Salii do not sing about Veturius Mamurius but instead are saying veterem memoriam, which means ancient memorial.96
14. After Numa had regulated the priesthoods, he built, near the temple of Vesta, the building which is called the Regia, which means the royal dwelling.97 Most of his time was spent there, occupied either in carrying out sacred duties or instructing the priests or in private meditation devoted to the gods. He had another house on the Quirinal Hill and even today the Romans can point out its location.98 Whenever there was a solemn procession by the priests, or on any ceremonial occasion, heralds were sent ahead to go through the city commanding the people to lay aside their work and be at leisure. For just as the Pythagoreans are said to forbid worshipping the gods or offering them prayers merely in passing, but make it their doctrine that whenever men leave their houses to perform sacred ceremonies they should go forth with their minds concentrated99 entirely on this one purpose, so too Numa believed that it was wrong for his citizens to hear or watch any religious service when they were busy or c
oncerned with other matters. Consequently, he required that on such occasions the public quit all other activities, concentrating their attention on holy observances as if nothing were more important. By putting a stop to all the noise and clatter and clamour made whenever menial or manual labour is carried out, the people purified the city’s streets during the performance of sacred rituals. The Romans preserve a trace of these scruples even today, for whenever a magistrate is taking auspices or sacrificing, there is a cry of hoc age,100 a phrase that means attend to this and focuses the attention of bystanders, instilling in them a proper sense of order and decorum.
Many other of Numa’s prescriptions resemble the Pythagoreans’. Their teachings, for instance, include ‘do not sit on a quart of grain’ and ‘do not stir a fire with a sword’, and ‘when setting out on a journey, do not turn back’, and, as a final example, ‘to the gods above sacrifice an odd number, but an even number to the gods below’, all sayings the true meaning of which remains concealed except to a few.101 So, too, in the case of some of Numa’s precepts, the significance is hidden, as is illustrated in maxims like ‘do not offer the gods a libation of wine from unpruned vines’ or ‘do not make a sacrifice without barley’, or, again, in the instruction to turn around when worshipping102 and to sit down after one has worshipped. Now the first two of Numa’s directions seem to teach us that cultivating the land is an aspect of piety. As for turning oneself around when worshipping, that action is regarded by some authorities as an imitation of the rotation of the universe, but I rather think that, because temples face east, which means that anyone who enters in order to worship must turn his back to the rising sun, the action of turning oneself first in that direction and then continuing to turn until one is again facing the god of the temple, a move which describes a full circle, has the effect of connecting every divinity with the fulfilment of one’s prayer. Unless, by Zeus! this movement has some mysterious association with Egyptian wheels103 and is therefore meant to teach us that there is no stability in human affairs and so, however the divine may twist and turn our lives, we must accept it and even welcome it. The instruction to sit down after worshipping is explained by pointing out that doing so is a sign that one’s prayers have been accepted and that the blessings to be granted will endure. The observation has also been made that pausing in this way distinguishes one sacred act from another, which means that, by sitting in the presence of the gods, a worshipper can conclude one ritual before commencing a second one in the presence of the same gods. This precept, too, can be understood along the lines of my previous discussion of Numa’s regulations, for in putting forward this rule the legislator seeks to prevent us from offering our petitions to the gods hastily and in passing, as if we were in a hurry, but instead urges us to do so only when we have sufficient time and leisure.