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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput IX: An illam pacem, quae sub Numae regno fuit, deos praestitisse credendum sit.

Hi etiam Numam Pompilium successorem Romuli adiuuisse creduntur, ut toto regni sui tempore pacem haberet et Iani portas, quae bellis patere adsolent, clauderet, eo merito scilicet, quia Romanis multa sacra constituit. illi uero homini pro tanto otio gratulandum fuit, si modo id rebus salubribus scisset inpendere et perniciosissima curiositate neglecta deum uerum uera pietate perquirere. nunc autem non ei di contulerunt illud otium, sed eum minus fortasse decepissent, si otiosum minime repperissent. quanto enim minus eum occupatum inuenerunt, tanto magis ipsi occupauerunt. nam quid ille molitus sit et quibus artibus deos tales sibi uel illi ciuitati consociare potuerit, Varro prodit, quod, si domino placuerit, suo diligentius disseretur loco. modo autem quia de beneficiis eorum quaestio est: magnum beneficium est pax, sed dei ueri beneficium est, plerumque etiam, sicut sol, sicut pluuia uitaeque alia subsidia super ingratos et nequam. sed si hoc tam magnum bonum di illi Romae uel Pompilio contulerunt, cur imperio Romano per ipsa tempora laudabilia id numquam postea praestiterunt? an utiliora erant sacra, cum instituerentur, quam cum instituta celebrarentur? atqui tunc nondum erant, sed ut essent addebantur; postea uero iam erant, quae ut prodessent custodiebantur. quid ergo est, quod illi quadraginta tres uel, ut alii uolunt, triginta et nouem anni in tam longa pace transacti sunt regnante Numa, et postea sacris institutis disque ipsis, qui eisdem sacris fuerant inuitati, iam praesidibus atque tutoribus uix post tam multos annos ab urbe condita usque ad Augustum pro magno miraculo unus commemoratur annus post primum bellum Punicum, quo belli portas Romani claudere potuerunt?

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The City of God

Chapter 9.--Whether It is Credible that the Peace During the Reign of Numa Was Brought About by the Gods.

It is also believed that it was by the help of the gods that the successor of Romulus, Numa Pompilius, enjoyed peace during his entire reign, and shut the gates of Janus, which are customarily kept open ¹ during war. And it is supposed he was thus requited for appointing many religious observances among the Romans. Certainly that king would have commanded our congratulations for so rare a leisure, had he been wise enough to spend it on wholesome pursuits, and, subduing a pernicious curiosity, had sought out the true God with true piety. But as it was, the gods were not the authors of his leisure; but possibly they would have deceived him less had they found him busier. For the more disengaged they found him, the more they themselves occupied his attention. Varro informs us of all his efforts, and of the arts he employed to associate these gods with himself and the city; and in its own place, if God will, I shall discuss these matters. Meanwhile, as we are speaking of the benefits conferred by the gods, I readily admit that peace is a great benefit; but it is a benefit of the true God, which, like the sun, the rain, and other supports of life, is frequently conferred on the ungrateful and wicked. But if this great boon was conferred on Rome and Pompilius by their gods, why did they never afterwards grant it to the Roman empire during even more meritorious periods? Were the sacred rites more efficient at their first institution than during their subsequent celebration? But they had no existence in Numa's time, until he added them to the ritual; whereas afterwards they had already been celebrated and preserved, that benefit might arise from them. How, then, is it that those forty-three, or as others prefer it, thirty-nine years of Numa's reign, were passed in unbroken peace, and yet that afterwards, when the worship was established, and the gods themselves, who were invoked by it, were the recognized guardians and pa trons of the city, we can with difficulty find during the whole period, from the building of the city to the reign of Augustus, one year--that, viz., which followed the close of the first Punic war--in which, for a marvel, the Romans were able to shut the gates of war? ²