we are not taught by them what to elect or what to shun Truth therefore is requir'd as the foundation of History to inform us disposition and perspicuity as the manner to inform us plainly One is the being the other the well-being of it History is principally divided into these three species Commentaries or Annals History properly so called and Biographia or the Lives of particular Men. Commentaries or Annals are as I may so call them naked History Or the plain relation of matter of fact according to the succession of time devested of all other Ornaments The springs and motives of actions are not here sought unless they offer themselves and are open to every Mans discernment The method is the most natural that can be imagin'd depending only on the observation of months and years and drawing in the order of them whatsoever happen'd worthy of Relation The stile is easie simple unforc'd and unadorn'd with the pomp of figures Counsels guesses politick observations sentences and Orations are avoyded In few words a bare Narration is its business Of this kind the Commentaries of Caesar are certainly the most admirable and after him the Annals of Tacitus may have place Nay even the Prince of Greek Historians Thucydides may almost be adopted into the number For tho he instructs every where by Sentences tho he gives the causes of actions the Counsels of both parties and makes Orations where they are necessary yet it is certain that he first design'd his work a Commentary every year writing down like an unconcern'd spectator as he was the particular occurrences of the time in the order as they happen'd and his Eighth book is wholly written after the way of Annals tho out-living the War he inserted in his others those Ornaments which render his work the most compleat and most instructive now extant History properly so call'd may be describ'd by the addition of those parts which are not requir'd to Annals And therefore there is little farther to be said concerning it Only that the dignity and gravity of stile is here necessary That the guesses of secret causes inducing to the actions be drawn at least from the most probable circumstances not perverted by the malignity of the Author to sinister interpretations of which Tacitus is accus'd but candidly laid down and left to the Judgment of the Reader That nothing of concernment be omitted but things of trivial moment are still to be neglected as debasing the Majesty of the Work That neither partiality or prejudice appear But that truth may every where be Sacred ne quid falsi dicere audeat ne quid veri non audeat Historicus That he neither incline to superstition in giving too much credit to Oracles Prophecies Divinations and Prodigies nor to irreligion in disclaiming the Almighty Providence But where general opinion has prevail'd of any miraculous accident or portent he ought to relate it as such without imposing his opinion on our belief Next to Thucydides in this kind may be accounted Polybius amongst the Grecians Livy tho not free from superstition nor Tacitus from ill nature amongst the Romans Amongst the modern Italians Guicchiardine and D'Avila if not partial but above all Men in my opinion the plain sincere unaffected and most instructive Philip de Commines amongst the French tho he only gives his History the humble Name of Commentaries I am sorry I cannot find in our own Nation tho it has produc'd some commendable Historians any proper to be ranked with these Buchanan indeed for the purity of his Latin and for his learning and for all other endowments belonging to an Historian might be plac'd amongst the greatest if he had not too much lean'd to prejudice and too manifesty declar'd himself aparty of a cause rather than an Historian o it Excepting only that which I desire not to urge too far on so great a Man but only to give caution to his Readers concerning it our Isle may justly boast in him a Writer comparable to any of the Moderns and excell'd by few of the Ancients Biographia or the History of particular Mens Lives comes next to be consider'd which in dignity is inferiour to the other two as being more confin'd in action and treating of Wars and Counsels and all other publick affairs of Nations only as they relate to him whose Life is written or as his fortunes have a particular dependance on them or connection to them All things here are circumscrib'd and driven to a point so as to terminate in one Consequently if the action or Counsel were manag'd by Collegues some part of it must be either lame or wanting except it be supply'd by the Excursion of the Writer Herein likewise must be less of variety for the same reason because the fortunes and actions of one Man are related not those of many Thus the actions and atchievements of Sylla Lucullus and Pompey are all of them but the successive parts of the Mithridatick War Of which we cou'd have no perfect image if the same hand had not given us the whole tho at several views in their particular Lives Yet tho we allow for the reasons above alledg'd that this kind of writing is in dignity inferiour to History and Annalls in pleasure and instruction it equals or even excells both of them 'T is not only commended by ancient practice to celebrate the memory of great and worthy Men as the best thanks which Posterity can pay them but also the examples of vertue are of more vigor when they are thus contracted into individuals As the Sun beams united in a burning-glass to a point have greater force than when they are darted from a plain superficies so the vertues and actions of one Man drawn together into a single story strike upon our minds a stronger and more lively impression than the scatter'd Relations of many Men and many actions and by the same means that they give us pleasure they afford us profit too For when the understanding is intent and fix'd on a single thing it carries closser to the mark every part of the object sinks into it and the Soul receives it unmixt and whole For this reason Aristotle Commends the unity of action in a Poem because the mind is not capable of digesting many things at once nor of conceiving fully any more than one Idea at a time Whatsoever distracts the pleasure lessens it And as the Reader is more concern'd at one Mans fortune than those of many so likewise the Writer is more capable of making a perfect Work if he confine himself to this narrow compass The lineaments features and colourings of a single picture may be hit exactly but in a History-piece of many figures the general design the ordinance or disposition of it the Relation of one figure to another the diversity of the posture habits shadowings and all the other graces conspiring to an uniformity are of so difficult performance that neither is the resemblance of particular
the Originalls You may expect the Remainder in four more One after another as fast as they may conveniently be dispatch'd from the Press It is not my business or pretence to judge of a work of this quality neither do I take upon me to recommend it to the world any farther then under the Office of a fair and a careful Publisher and in discharge of a trust deposited in my hands for the service of my Country and for a Common good I am not yet so insensible of the Authority and Reputation of so great a Name as not to consult the Honour of the Author together with the benefit and satisfaction of the Bookseller as well as of the Reader in this undertaking In order to which ends I have with all possible Respect and Industry Besought Sollicited and Obtain'd the Assistance of persons equal to the enterprize and not only Criticks in the Tongue but Men of known fame and Abilities for style and Ornament but I shall rather refer you to the Learned and Ingenious Translators of this first part whose Names you will find in the next page as a Specimen of what you may promise your self from the Rest After this Right done to the Greek Author I shall not need to say what profit and delight will accrue to the English Reader from this version when he shall see this Illustrious piece in his own Mother Tongue and the very Spirit of the Original Transfus'd into the Traduction And in one word Plutarchs Worthies made yet more famous by a Translation that gives a farther Lustre even to Plutarch himself Now as to the Booksellers Part I must justifie my self that I have done all that to me belonged That is to say I have been punctually Faithful to all my Commissions toward the Correctness and the Decency of the Work and I have said to my self that which I now say to the Publick It is impossible but a Book that comes into the World with so many circumstances of Dignity usefulness and esteem must turn to account A Table of the Lives contained in this first Volume Plutarch Written by Mr. Dryden Theseus Translated by Mr. Duke pag. 1. Romulus Mr. Smallwood p. 63. Lycurgus Mr. Chetwood 129. Numa Pompilius Mr. Rycaut 205. Solon Mr. Creech 275. Poplicoca Mr. Dodswell 329. Themistocles Dr. Brown 367. Furius Camillus Mr. Pain 427. Pericles Dr. Littleton 501. Fabius Maximus Mr. Carryl 601. PLUTARCH THE LIFE OF PLUTARCH Written by Mr. DRYDEN I Know not by what Fate it comes to pass that Historians who give immortality to others are so ill requited by Posterity that their Actions and their Fortunes are usually forgotten neither themselves incourag'd while they live nor their memory preserv'd entire to future Ages 'T is the ingratitude of Mankind to their greatest Benefactors that they who teach us wisdome by the surest ways setting before us what we ought to shun or to pursue by the examples of the most famous Men whom they Record and by the experience of their Faults and Vertues should generally live poor and unregarded as if they were born only for the publick and had no interest in their own well-being but were to be lighted up like Tapers and to waste themselves for the benefit of others But this is a complaint too general and the custom has been too long establish'd to be remedied neither does it wholly reach our Author He was born in an Age which was sensible of his vertue and found a Trajan to reward him as Aristotle did an Alexander But the Historians who succeeded him have either been too envious or too careless of his reputation none of them not even his own Country-men having given us any particular account of him or if they have yet their Works are not transmitted to us so that we are forc'd to glean from Plutarch what he has scatter'd in his Writings concerning himself and his Original Which excepting that little memorial that Suidas and some few others have left concerning him is all we can collect relating to this great Philosopher and Historian He was born at Chaeronea a small City of Boeotia in Greece between Attica and Phocis and reaching to both Seas The Climate not much befreinded by the Heavens for the air is thick and foggy and consequently the Inhabitants partaking of its influence gross feeders and fat witted brawny and unthinking just the constitution of Heroes Cut out for the Executive and brutal business of War but so stupid in the designing part that in all the revolutions of Greece they were never Masters but only in those few years when they were led by Epaminondas or Pelopidas Yet this foggy ayre this Country of fat weathers as Juvenal calls it produc'd three wits which were comparable to any three Athenians Pyndar Epaminondas and our Plutarch to whom we may add a fourth Sextus Chaeronensis the Praeceptor of the learned Emperour Marcus Aurelius and the Nephew of our Authour Choercnea if we may give credit to Pausanias in the ninth Book of his description of Greece was anciently call'd Arnè from Arnè the Daughter of Aeolus but being scituated to the west of Parnassus in that low land country the natural unwholsomness of the Ayre was augmented by the evening Vapours cast upon it from that Mountain which our late Travellers describe to be full of moisture and marshy ground inclos'd in the inequality of its ascents And being also expos'd to the winds which blew from that quarter the Town was perpetually unhealthful for which reason sayes my Author Chaeron the Son of Apollo and Thero made it be rebuilt and turn'd it towards the rising Sun From whence the Town became healthful and consequently populous in memory of which benefit it afterwards retain'd his name But as Etymologies are uncertain and the Greeks above all Nations given to fabulous derivations of Names especially when they tend to the Honour of their Country I think we may be reasonably content to take the denomination of the Town from its delightful or chearful standing as the word Chaeron sufficiently implies But to lose no time in these grammatical Etymologies which are commonly uncertain ghesses 't is agreed that Plutarch was here born the year uncertain but without dispute in the reign of Claudius Joh. Gerrard Vossius has assign'd his birth in the latter end of that Emperour Some other Writers of his Life have left it undecided whether then or in the beginning of Nero's Empire But the most accurate Rualdus as I find it in the Paris Edition of Plutarch's Works has manifestly prov'd him to be born in the middle time of Claudius or somewhat lower For Plutarch in the inscription at Delphos of which more hereafter remembers that Ammonius his Master disputed with him and his Brother Lamprias concerning it when Nero made his progress into Greece which was in his twelfth year and the Question disputed cou'd not be manag'd with so much learning as it was by meer Boyes therefore he was then sixteen
attir'd himself in Tuscan Habit and using the Language came to the Camp and approaching the seat where the King sate amongst his Nobles but not of a certainty knowing the King and yet fearfull to enquire drew out his Sword and stab'd him that amongst all made the likeliest appearance of being a King Mutius was taken in the act and whilst under examination a Pan of Fire was brought to the King who intended to sacrifice Mutius thrust his right hand into the flame and whilst it burnt beheld Porsenna with a stedfast and undaunted countenance Porsenna admiring the man dismiss'd him and return'd his Sword reaching it from his Seat Mutius receiv'd it in his left hand which occasion'd the name of Scaevola i. e. left-handed and said I have overcome the terrours of Porsenna yet am vanquish'd by his generosity and gratitude obliges me to discover what no punishment could extort and assur'd him then that three hundred Romans all of the same resolution lurk'd about his Camp onely waiting for an opportunity and that he by lot destin'd to the enterprise was not troubled he miscarry'd in the success because he was so good a man and deserv'd rather to be a Friend to the Romans than an Enemy To this Porsenna gave credit and thereupon express'd an inclination to a Truce not I presume so much out of fear of the hundred Romans as an admiration of the Roman courage All other Writers call this man Mutius Scaevola yet Athenodorus Sandon in a Book wrote to Octavia Caesar's Sister avers he was also call'd Opsigonus Poplicola not so much esteeming Porsenna's enmity dangerous to Rome as his friendship and alliance serviceable was induc'd to refer the Controversie betwixt him and Tarquin to his Arbitration and several times engag'd to prove Tarquin the worst of men and justly depriv'd of his Kingdom but Tarquin proudly reply'd he would admit no Judge much less Porsenna that had revolted from his Confederacy Porsenna resenting this answer and mistrusting the equity of his cause together with the solicitations of his Son Aruns who was earnest for the Roman interest made a Peace on these conditions that they should resign the Field they had taken from the Tuscans and restore all Prisoners and receive their Fugitives To confirm the Peace the Romans gave as Hostages ten of the Nobility's Sons and as many Daughters amongst which was Valeria the Daughter of Poplicola Upon these assurances Porsenna ceas'd from all acts of hostility and the Virgins went down to the River to bathe at that part where the crookedness of the Bank embracing the waters rendred it pleasant and serene and seeing no guard or any coming or going over were encouraged to swim over notwithstanding the depth and the violence of the stream Some affirm that one of them by name Cloelia passing over on Horse-back persuaded the rest to follow but upon their safe arrival coming to Poplicola he neither admir'd or approv'd their return but was concern'd lest he should appear less faithfull than Porsenna and this boldness in the Virgins should argue treachery in the Romans so that apprehending them he sent them back to Porsenna But Tarquin's men having intelligence thereof laid a strong ambuscade on the other side for those that conducted them who skirmishing together Valeria the Daughter of Poplicola rush'd through the enemy and sled and with the assistence of three of her retinue made good her escape whilst the rest were dangerously hedg'd in by the Souldiers Aruns Porsenna's Son upon advertency thereof hasten'd to their rescue and putting the enemy to flight deliver'd the Romans When Porsenna saw the Virgins return'd and demanding who was the authour and abettour of the design and understanding Cloelia to be the person look'd upon her with a countenance equally cheerfull and compassionate and commanding one of his Horses to be brought sumptuously adorn'd made her the present This as an evidence they produce who affirm that onely Cloelia pass'd the River on Horseback those who deny it esteem'd it onely as the honour the Tuscan did to her courage whose Effigies on Horseback stands in the Via Sacra as it leads to the Palatium which some say is the Statue of Cloelia others of Valeria Porsenna thus reconcil'd to the Romans oblig'd them with a fresh instance of his generosity and commanded his Souldiers to depart the Camp onely with their Arms and leaving their Tents wealthy and furnish'd with provisions he assigned them to the Romans Whence it became customary upon publick sale of Goods to cry Porsenna's first thereby to eternize the memory of his kindness and erected his brazen Image by the Senate-house plain but of antique fashion Afterwards the Sabines making incursions upon the Romans M. Valerius Brother to Poplicola was made Consul and with him Posthumius Tubertus Marcus through the management of affairs by the conduct and authority of Poplicola obtain'd two great Victories in the latter of which he slew thirteen thousand Sabines without the loss of one Roman and was honour'd with an House built in the Palatium at the publick charge as an accession to his triumphs and whereas the Doors of others Houses open'd inward into the Houses they made this to open outward into the Street as intimating by this privilege that he was always ready for the publick service The same fashion in their Doors the Greeks they say had of old which appears from their Comedies wherein those that are going out make a noise at the Door within to give notice to those that pass by or stand near the Door that the opening the Door into the Street might occasion no surprisal The year after Poplicola was made Consul the fourth time when a confederacy of the Sabines and Latins threatned a War besides a superstitious fear o'er-run the City arising from the Womens miscarriages of mutilous births and no conception waiting its due time Poplicola upon the Sibyll's instructions sacrificing to Pluto and restoring certain Games dedicated to Apollo rendred the City cheerfull with the assurances he had in the Gods and then prepar'd against the menaces of men Now there was one Appius Clausus amongst the Sabines a man of a great Estate and strength of Body but most eminent for the excellency of his Vertue and the depth of his Reason yet could not what is usually the fate of great men escape the envy of others which was much occasioned from his detracting the War and seeming to promote the Roman interest as designing to bring them under their Yoke and knowing how welcome these reports would be receiv'd by the gaping multitude and how offensive they would be to the Army and the abettours of the War was afraid to stand a Trial but having a considerable assistance of Friends and Allies rais'd a tumult amongst the Sabines which delay'd the War Neither was Poplicola wanting not onely to understand the grounds of the Sedition but to promote and encrease it and accordingly dispatch'd Emissaries with
what he did in the time of the Holy War For whereas the Lacedemonians having gone with an Army to the City Delphi restored Apollo's Temple which the Phocians had got into their possession to the Delphians again immediately after their departure Pericles coming with another Army brought in the Phocians again And the Lacedemonians having engraven an Oracle or be it a privilege of consulting the Oracle before others which the Delphians gave them upon the forehead of a brazen Wolf which stands there he also having received from the Phocians an Oracle or the like privilege for his Athenians had it cut upon the same Wolf of Brass on his right side Now that he did well and wisely in this that he kept the force and power of the Athenians within the compass of Greece the things and passages themselves that happen'd afterward did bear sufficient witness For in the first place the Euboeans revolted against whom he past over with Forces and then immediately after news came that the Megarians were set upon in War and that the Enemies Army was upon the borders of the Attick Country under the command and conduct of Pleistonax King of the Lacedemonians Wherefore Pericles went with his Army back again in all haste out of Euboea to the War which threatned home and because there were a many brave fellows in Arms on the other side who dared him to fight he did not venture to engage or to come to handy-blows with them but perceiving that Pleistonax was a very young man and that he govern'd himself mostly by the counsel and advice of Cleandrides whom the Overseers or Curatours of the State whom they call Ephori had sent along with him by reason of his youth to be a kind of Guardian and Assistant to him he privately applied his temptation to him and in a short time having corrupted him with money he prevailed with him to withdraw the Peloponnesians out of the Attick Country When the Army was retir'd and dispersed into several quarters through their Towns and Cities the Lacedemonians being grievously offended at it amerced their King in a great sum of money by way of Fine which he being not able to pay quitted his Country and removed himself from Lacedemon the other Gentleman Cleandrides who fled for it having a sentence of death past upon him by them for betraying them This man was the Father of that Gylippus who defeated the Athenians and beat them so at Sicily And it seems that this covetousness was an hereditary disease that past from Father to Son for he also whom we last mention'd was upon a like account caught in foul practices and was turned out of Town at Sparta for it But this is a story we have told at large where we discourse the affairs of Lysander Now when Pericles in giving up his accounts of this Expedition had set down a disbursement of ten Talents which comes to about 1500 pounds Sterling as laid out upon a fit and usefull occasion the people without any more adoe not troubling themselves to canvass the mystery how it was expended freely allow'd of it And some Historians in which number is Theophrastus the Philosopher have reported it for a truth that year by year Pericles sent privately the foresaid sum of ten Talents to Sparta wherewith he complemented those that were in any Office or place of Trust to keep off the War not to purchase peace neither but to redeem time to the intent that having at leisure provided himself he might the better make a War hereafter Wherefore presently upon this turning his Forces against the revolters and passing over into the Island Euboea with fifty Sail of Ships and five thousand Men in Arms he overthrew and won their Cities and drove out those of the Chalcidians whom they called Hippobotae i. e. Horse-feeders the chief persons for wealth and reputation among them and removing all the Hestiaeans out of the Country brought in a Plantation of his own Country-men the Athenians in their room to dwell there by themselves treating those people with that severity for that they having taken an Attick Ship prisoner had put all the men on board to death After this was over having made a truce between the Athenians and Lacedemonians for thirty years he orders by publick Decree an Expedition against the Isle of Samos upon this pretence that they when they were bid to leave off the War they had with the Milesians did not as they were bid to doe But by reason that what he did against the Samians he is thought to have done it in favour of Aspasia and to gratifie some humour or design of hers she being that Country-woman here in this place may be a fit occasion most properly for us to make inquiry concerning this Woman what cunning art or charming force she had so great as to inveigle and captivate as she did the chief persons of the Government and to afford the Philosophers occasion so much to discourse about her and not to her disparagement neither Now that she was a Milesian by birth the Daughter of one Axiochus is a thing acknowledged And they say that she in imitation of one Thargelia a Courtisan one of the old Ionian stamp used to make her addresses to personages of the greatest power and to clap them on board For that same Thargelia being a handsome Woman to see to and having a gracefull carriage and a shrewd wit into the bargain kept company with a great many of the Greeks and wrought all those who had to doe with her over to the Persian King's interest and by their means being men of the greatest power and quality she sowed the seeds of the Median Faction up and down in several Cities And for this Aspasia they say that she was courted and caressed by Pericles upon the account of her wisedom and knowledge in State affairs For Socrates himself would sometimes go to visit her and fome of his acquaintance with him and those who used her company would carry their Wives along with them to her as it were to Lecture to hear her discourse though by the way the House she kept was little other than a Vaulting School she being a Governante of no modest or creditable imploy but keeping a parcel of young Wenches about her who were no better than they should be Now Aeschines saith also that there was one Lysicles a Grasier or Mutton-monger who of a great Clown and a pitifull Sneaksby as naturally he was did by keeping Aspasia company after Pericles his death come to be a chief man among the people of Athens And in a Book of Plato's intitled Menexenus though the first part of it is written with some pleasantry and sport yet there is so much of History in it that she was a Woman with whom many of the Athenians convers'd and often resorted to as the common opinion was upon the account
Lacedemonians should be well beaten Antisthenes too one of the Scholars of Socrates said well of the Thebans who were become very proud for their single Victory at Leuctres That they look'd like School-boys who newly had beaten their Master These indeed were merry Sayings but yet may serve to testifie the opinion men then had of the Spartans However it was not the design of Lycurgus that his City should govern a great many others he thought rather that the happiness of a Kingdom as of a private man consisted chiefly in the exercise of Vertue and mutual love of the Inhabitants his principal aim was to make them nobly minded content with their own not apt to follow vain hopes but moderate in all their enterprises and by consequence able to maintain themselves and continue long in safety And therefore all those who have written well of Politicks as Plato Diogenes Zeno and several others have taken Lycurgus for their Model as appears by their Writings but these great men left onely vain projects and words behind them whereas Lycurgus without writing any thing left a flourishing Government which as it was never thought of before him so can it scarcely be imitated in following ages so that he stands for an undeniable proof that a perfect wise man was not so mere a notion and chymaera as some men thought He hath obliged the world not with one single Man but with a whole Nation of Philosophers and therefore deserves preference before all other Statists because he put that in practice of which they onely had the idaea Aristotle himself was so convinc'd of his merit that he acknowledges they did him less honour after his death than he deserv'd although they built Temples and offered Sacrifice to him as to a God It is reported that when his Bones were brought home to Sparta they were struck with Lightning an accident which befell no eminent person but himself and Euripides who was buried at Arethusa a City of Macedon and this may serve for consolation to those who have an honour for that excellent Poet That he had the same fate with that holy man and favourite of the Gods Some say Lycurgus dy'd in the City of Cirrha others that he dy'd at Elis and others at Crete in a Town of which call'd Pergamy his Tomb was to be seen close by the High-way side He left but one Son nam'd Antiorus who dy'd without issue His relations and Friends kept an annual Commemoration of him and the days of the Feast were called Lycurgides Aristocrates the Son of Hipparchus says that he dy'd in Crete and that the Candiots at his desire when they had burn'd his Body cast the Ashes into the Sea for fear lest that if his Reliques should be transported to Lacedaemon the people might pretend themselves released from their Oaths and make innovations in the Government And thus much may suffice for the Life and Actions of Lycurgus NUMA POMPILIUS THE LIFE OF NUMA POMPILIUS English'd from the Greek By Paul Rycaut Esq THough many Noble Families of Rome derive their Original from Numa Pompilius yet there is great diversity amongst Historians concerning the time in which he reigned a certain Writer called Clodius in a Book of his entituled The Chronology of past times averrs that the ancient Registers of Rome were lost when that City was sacked by the Gauls and that those which are now extant are counterfeited to flatter and serve the humour of great men who are pleased to have their pedigree derived from some ancient and noble Lineage though in reallity that Family hath no relation to them and though it be commonly reported that Numa was a Scholar and a familiar acquaintance of Pythagoras yet it is again contradicted by those who affirm that he neither was acquainted with the Grecian Language nor Learning and that he was a person of that natural Talent and abilities of Mind as of himself to attain unto Vertue or else that his inclinations were cultivated by some foreign Instructour whose Rules and Doctrine were more excellent and sublime than those of Pythagoras Some affirm also that Pythagoras was not a contemporary with Nama but lived at least five Ages after him howsoever it is probable that some other Pythagoras a native of Sparta who in the third year of Numa's reign which was about the sixteenth Olympiad won a Prize at the Olympick Race might be the person who in his Travels through Italy having gained an acquaintance and familiarity with Numa might administer some directions and rules to him for the constitution of his Kingdom for which reason at the instigation of this Pythagoras many of the Laconian Laws and Customs might probably be introduced amongst the Roman Institutions Nor is it true that Numa was descended of the Sabines who declare themselves to be a Colony of the Lacedemonians nor can we make any just calculate from the periods of the Olympick Games which though lately published by one Elias Hippia yet carry not sufficient force of argument and authority to render them authentick Wherefore what we have collected of most assured truth concerning Numa we shall deliver taking our beginning from that place which is most pertinent to our purpose It was the thirty seventh year accounted from the Foundation of Rome when Romulus then reigning did on the fifth day of the Month of July called the Capratine Nones offer a publick Sacrifice at the Lake of Capra in presence of the Senate and People of Rome But then on a sudden arose so furious a Tempest which with black Clouds and Thunder rending the Air made an eruption on the Earth which affrighted the common people with such confusion that they fled and were dispersed In this Whirlwind Romulus disappeared his Body being never since found either living or dead This accident gave occasion to the world to censure very hardly the practice of the Patricians as if that they being weary of Kingly Government and exasperated of late by the imperious deportment of Romulus towards them had plotted against his Life and made him away that so they might assume the Authority and Government into their own hands but this report was soon confuted by the testimony of Proclus a noble person who swore that he saw Romulus catched up into Heaven in his Arms and Vestments and as he ascended cry'd out that they should hereafter style him by the name of Quirinus which attestation gained so much credit in the minds of the People that they ordain'd Divine honours to be perform'd towards him as to one not dead but translated to a sublimer state above the condition of mortal nature This commotion being appeased the City was greatly divided about the election of another King for the minds of the ancient Romans and the new Inhabitants were not as yet grown into that perfect union and coalition of spirits but that there were diversities of Factions amongst the Commonalty and jealousies and
Nations and Enemies that it was seldom or never at peace onely in the time of Augustus Caesar after he had overcome Anthony that Temple was shut as likewise not many years before when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were Consuls but then it continued not so long before that Wars breaking out the Gates of Janus were again opened but during the Reign of Numa which continued for the space of forty three years those Gates were ever shut there being a profound quiet without the noise or clattering of Arms for not onely the people of Rome were animated with a spirit of peace which they enjoyed under the just proceedings of a pacifick Prince but even the neighbouring Cities as if they had been inspired with the same inclinations breathed nothing but a salubrious and gentle air of mutual friendship and amicable correspondence and being ravished with the delights which Justice and Peace produce every one apply'd himself to the management of his Lands and Farm to the education of his Children and worship of the Gods Festival days and Sports and Banquets were the common divertisements and Families entertained and treated their acquaintance and friends in such a free and open manner that all Italy securely conversed with each other without fears or jealousies or designs being all possessed with that Divine Spirit of Love and Charity which flowed from Numa as from a Fountain of Wisedom and Equity so that the Hyperbolies which the Poets of those days used and the flights which are allowable in Verse were flat and not able to reach with their highest expressions the happiness of those days When Spears and Swords and direfull Arms of War Were laid aside and rustied in their places No Trumpet sounds alarm'd the publick peace But all securely slept For during the whole Reign of Numa there was neither War nor Sedition nor Plots designed against the State nor did any Faction prevail or the ambition and emulation of great Men attempt upon the Government for indeed men so reverenced his Vertue and stood in such awe of his Person which they believed was guarded by a particular care of Divine Providence that they despaired of all success in their sinister intentions and then that happy Fortune which always attends the life of men who are pure and innocent bestowed a general esteem and good reputation on him and verified that saying of Plato which some Ages after he delivered in relation to the happiness of a well formed Commonwealth For saith he where the Royal Power by God's Grace meets with a mind and spirit addicted to Philosophy there Vice is subdued and made inferiour to Vertue no man is really blessed but he that is wise and happy are his Auditours who can hear and receive those words which flow from his mouth there is no need of compulsion or menaces to subject the multitude for that lustre of vertue which shines bright in the good example of a Governour invites and inclines them to wisedom and insensibly leads them to an innocent and happy life which being conducted by friendship and concord and supported on each side with temperance and justice is of long and lasting continuance and worthy is that Prince of all rule and dominion who makes it his business to lead his Subjects into such a state of felicity This was the care of Numa and to this end did all his actions tend As to his Children and Wives there is a diversity of reports by several Authours some will have it that he never had any other Wife than Tatia nor more Children than one Daughter called Pompilia others will have it that he left four Sons namely Pompo Pinus Calpus and Mamercus every one of which had issue and from them descended the noble and illustrious Families of Pomponi Pinari Calpurni and Mamerci to which for distinction sake was added the sirname of Royal. But there is a third sort of Writers which say that these pedigrees are but a piece of flattery used by the Heralds who to incurr favour with these great Families deduced their Genealogies from this ancient Lineage and that Pompilia was not the Daughter of Tatia but born of Lucretia to whom he was married after he came to his Kingdom howsoever all of them agree in opinion that she was married to the Son of that Martius who perswaded him to accept the Government and accompanied him to Rome where as a signal of honour he was chosen into the Senate and after the death of Numa standing in competition with Tullus Hostilius for the Kingdom and being disappointed of the Election in high discontent killed himself howsoever his Son Martius who had married Pompilia residing at Rome was the Father of Ancus Martius who succeeded Tullus Hostilius in the Kingdom and was but five years of age when Numa died Numa lived something above eighty years and then as Piso writes was not taken out of the world by a sudden or acute Disease but by a chronical Distemper by which he lingred long and at last expired At his Funerals all the glories of his Life were consummate for the kind people and his friendly companions met to honour and grace the rites of his Interment with Garlands and contributions from the publick the Senatours carried the Bier on which his Corps was laid and the Priests followed and accompanied the solemn procession the remainder of this dolefull pomp was composed of Women and Children who lamented with such tears and sighs as if they had bewailed the death or loss of a dearest relation taken away in the flower of his age and not of an old and out-worn King It is said that his Body by his particular command was not burnt but that he ordered two stone Coffins to be made in one of which he appointed his Body to be laid and the other to be a repository for his sacred Books and Writings and both of them to be buried under the Hill Janiculum thereby imitating the Legislatours of Greece who having wrote their Laws in Tables which they called Cirbas did so long inculcate the contents of them whilst they lived into the minds and hearts of their Priests till their understandings became living Libraries of those sacred Volumes it being esteemed a profanation of such mysteries to commit their secrets unto dead letters For this very reason they say the Pythagoreans forbad that their Precepts or Conclusions should be committed to paper but rather conserved in the living memories of those who were worthy to receive their Doctrines and if perchance any of their abstruse notions or perplexed cares such as were their positions in Geometry were made known or revealed to an impure person unworthy to receive such mysteries they presently imagined that the Gods threatned punishment for such profanation which was not to be expiated but by Sword and Pestilence or other judgments of the Gods Wherefore having these several instances concurring to render the Lives of Numa and Pythagoras agreeable we may
Judges and Determiners of all Causes by which War may justifiably be made The Senate referring the whole matter to the People and the Priests there as well as in the Senate pleading against Fabius the multitude did so little regard their authority that in scorn and contempt of it they chose Fabius and the rest of his Brethren Military Tribunes The Gauls hearing this in great rage would no longer delay their march but hastned on with all the speed they could make The places through which they marched terrified with their numbers and such dreadfull preparations of War and considering the violence and fierceness of their natures began to give their Countries for lost not doubting but their Cities would quickly follow but contrary to expectation they did no injury as they passed or drove any thing from the Fields and when they went by any City they cried out That they were going to Rome that the Romans onely were their Enemies and that they took all others for their Friends Thus whilst the Barbarians were hastening with all speed the Military Tribunes brought the Romans into the Field to be ready to engage them being not inferiour to the Gauls in number for they were no less than forty thousand Foot but most of them raw Souldiers and such as had never handled a Weapon before besides they had neglected to consult the Gods as they ought and used to do upon all difficulties especially War but ran on without staying for Priest or Sacrifice No less did the multitude of Commanders distract and confound their proceedings for before upon less occasions they chose a single person called Dictatour being sensible of what great importance it is in times of danger to have the Souldiers united under one General who had absolute and unaccountable power in his hands Add to all that the remembrance of Camillus his case was no small hinderance to their affairs it being grown a dangerous thing to command without humouring and courting the Souldiers In this condition they left the City and encamped by the River Allia about eleven miles from Rome and not far from the place where it falleth into the Tyber where the Gauls coming upon them and they shamefully engaging without Order or Discipline were miserably defeated The left Wing was immediately driven into the River and there utterly destroyed the Right had less damage by declining the shock and from the low grounds getting to the tops of Hills from whence many of them afterwards drop'd into the City the rest as many as escaped the Enemy being weary of the slaughter stole by night to Veii giving Rome for gone and all that was in it for lost This Battel was fought about the Summer Solstice the Moon being at full the very same day in which formerly happened that sad misfortune to the Fabii when three hundred of that name and Family were at one time cut off by the Tuscans But from this second loss and defeat the day got the name of Alliensis from the River Allia and still retaineth it But concerning unlucky days whether we should esteem any such or no or whether Heraclitus did well in upbraiding Hesiod for distinguishing them into fortunate and unfortunate as one ignorant that the nature of every day is the same I have discoursed in another place but upon occasion of this present subject I think it will not be amiss to annex a few examples relating to this matter On the fifth of June the Boeotians happened to get two signal Victories the one about Leuctra the other at Gerastus about three hundred years before when they overcame Lattamyas and the Thessalians and asserted the liberty of Greece Again on the sixth of August the Persians were worsted by the Grecians at Marathon on the third at Plataeae as also at Mycale on the twenty fifth at Arbeli The Athenians about the full Moon in August got a Sea Victory about Naxus under the Conduct of Chabrias about the twentieth at Salamin as we have shewn in our Book of Days April was very unfortunate to the Barbarians for in that Month Alexander overcame Darius his General at Granicum and the Carthaginians on the twenty seventh were beaten by Timoleon about Sicily on which same Day and Month Troy seems to have been taken as Ephorus Callisthenes Damastes and Phylarchus have related On the other hand the Month July was not very lucky to the Grecians for on the seventh day of the same they were defeated by Antipater at the Battel in Cranon and utterly ruin'd and before that in Chaeronea they were defeated by Philip and on the very same Day same Month and same Year they that went with Archidamus into Italy were there cut off by the Barbarians The Carthaginians also observe the twenty seventh of the same Month as bringing with it the most and greatest of their losses I am not ignorant that about the Feast of Mysteries Thebes was destroyed by Alexander and after that upon the same twentieth of August on which day they celebrate the Mysteries of Bacchus the Athenians received a Garrison of the Macedonians on the self same day the Romans lost their Camp under Scipio by the Cimbrians and under the conduct of Lucullus overcame the Armenians and Tigranes King Attalus and Pompey died both on their birth days I could reckon up several that have had variety of fortune on the same day This day called Alliensis is one of the unfortunate ones to the Romans and for its sake other two in every Month Fear and Superstition as the custom of it is more and more encreasing But I have discoursed this more accurately in my Book of Roman Causes And now after the Battel had the Gauls immediately pursued those that fled there had been no remedy but Rome must have wholly been ruined and all those who remained in it utterly destroyed such was the terrour that those who escaped the Battel had struck into the City at their return and so great afterwards was the distraction and confusion But the Gauls not imagining their Victory to be so considerable and overtaken with the present joy fell to feasting and dividing the Spoil by which means they gave leisure to those who were for leaving the City to make their escape and to those that remained to provide and prepare for their coming For they who resolved to stay at Rome quitting the rest of the City betook themselves to the Capitol which they fortified with strong Rampiers and Mounds and all sort of Slings and Darts in order to hold out a Siege But their first and principal care was of their Holy Things most of which they conveyed into the Capitol But as for the consecrated Fire the Vestal Virgins took it up and fled away with it as likewise with other Holy Relicks Some write that they preserved nothing but that ever-living Fire which Numa had ordained to be worshipped as the Principle of all things for Fire is the most active thing in
Nobility and were true lovers of their Country Indeed the authority of Pericles in Athens was much greater than that of Fabius in Rome for which reason it was more easie for him to prevent miscarriages commonly arising from weakness and insufficiency of Officers since he had got the sole nomination and management of them onely Tolmides broke loose from him and contrary to his orders unadvisedly fought with the Boeotians and was slain whereas Fabius for want of that general power and influence upon the Officers had not the means to obviate their miscarriages but it had been happy for the Romans if his Authority had been greater for so we may presume their disasters had been fewer As to their liberality and publick spirit Pericles was eminent in never taking any gifts and Fabius for giving his own money to ransome his Souldiers though the sum did not exceed six Talents This right we must doe Pericles that no man had ever greater opportunities to enrich himself as having had presents offer'd him from so many Kings and Princes and States of his Alliance yet no man was ever more free from corruption And for the beauty and magnificence of Temples and publick Edifices with which he adorn'd his Country it must be confest that all the Ornaments and Structures of Rome to the time of the Caesars had nothing to compare either in greatness of design or of expence with the lustre of those which Pericles onely erected at Athens The End of the First Volume The comparison between Theseus and Romulus Homer The Family of Theseus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a putting any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to adopt or acknowledge one for his Son The Education of Theseus Theseus reputed the Son of Neptune His relation to Hercules He slew Periphetes He kills Sinnis * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He begets Menalippus of Perigune the Daughter of Sinnis Slays the Cromyonian Sow Phaea Kills Sciron Kills Cercyon and Procrustes Arrives at Athens Aegeus perswaded to poison him not knowing him to be his Son He is discovered to his Father The Pallantidae rebell They are overcome and dispers'd by Theseus He takes the Bull of Marathon alive The murther of Androgeus The Cretans Offering to Apollo Theseus offers himself voluntarily to be sent to Crete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ilicis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Offering at the Delphinian Temple * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying a Goat His Arrival at Crete and Adventures there Taurus envied by the Cretans Ariadne in love with Theseus Deucalion 's Message to Athens Theseus 's Answer He fits out a Navy The Surprisal of Cnossus Ariadne left in Cypros Her death A Ceremony instituted in memory of Her Theseus his return from Crete His and his Pilots forgetfulness fatal to Aegeus Theseus his Ship Perswades the Inhabitants of Attica to reside together in one City * Metaecaea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Transmigration Lays down his Regal Power His Voyage into the Euxine Sea He builds Pythopolis Gives Battel to the Amazons Peace concluded His Marriages In most of the printed Copies it is read This is another Hercules but some Manuscripts read it better as it is here translated The occasion of the Friendship between Theseus and Peirithous The Rape of Helen Accompanies Peirithous to Epirus Peirithous 's Death Theseus in Prison Menestheus stirs up the Athenians against Theseus Castor and Pollux invade Athens for the recovery of Helen They take Aphidnae * In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hercules procures the release of Theseus He returns to Athens Slighted by the Athenians He sails to Scyrus His Death * Whence Rome was so call'd * Divers Opinions of the Name of Rome * Of Romulus 's Birth * His Mother Faustulus * Cermanum * Ruminor signifies to chew the Cud. * Rumilia * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Velabrum Romulus his Education * Ruma signifying a Dug The occasion of Romulus and Remus being known Remus 's Speech Amulius is slain * The first design of building Rome Romulus and Remus differ about the Place Remus is slain Romulus begins to build The day when He divides the People * From lego to choose * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Stratagem upon the Sabine Virgins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 congrego to gather together The reason of the word Talasius at Weddings * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ceninenfian 's War against Romulus Are conquered The Sabines besiege Rome Tarpeia betrays it And is kill'd in recompence * Tarpeia Rupes The Sabines and Romans fight Are parted by the Women A Peace made The City settled * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rise of several Customs and Feasts * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The occasion of the death of Tatius Romulus takâ—s Fidenae A Plague at Rome Cameria is taken The Veientes subdued Romulus grows insolent * Celer swift Offends the Senate Dies Several Opinions of his Death * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Julius Proculus decides the Matter Why Romulus was call'd Quirinus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How old he was when he died * Lib. de Laced Rep. †This was the first Life that Plutarch publish'd and he seems to have a particular respect to this people by writing a Book of their wise Sayings * A subtile promise †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stab'd with a Cooks Knife * They call'd them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lycurgus envied Lycurgus his Travels Homer 's Works brought to light by Lycurgus This Story of the Aegyptians is confirm'd by some Greek Historians His return and the alterations he made This Oracle is extant at length in Herodotus The Rhetra or Oracle * Plato no great friend to a Monarchy * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same story is told of Dionysius the Tyrant Cic. Tusc Pol. lib. 7. * The Romans allow'd them to marry at twelve years of age he covertly blames them for it †A Remedy almost as bad as the Disease blam'd and derided by the other Graecians * They kept their Court at a place called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †These places they call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Store-houses an unnatural custom †in Alcib priore Their Exercises Their Habit. Their Diet. Their Thievery Barbarous Superstition Their Lovers Their short Sayings * The form of crying quarter among the Ancients †He seems to allude to the Questions which us'd to be put to the young Lads as Who is the best man in Sparta * a lover of the Lacedemonians †a lover of his own Country-men Their Poetry * To the young men †To the old men Their going to Battel * He alludes to the Olympick Games * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12 in a side the Captain and Lieutenant excepted How they spent their time †These