VII.  When he had made up his mind, he sacrificed to the gods, and started for Rome.  The Senate and people met him and showed great affection for him; the matrons also greeted him, and there were sacrifices in the temples, and every one was as joyous as if he had received a kingdom instead of a king.  When they came into the Forum, the interrex or temporary king, Spurius Vettius, put it to the vote, and all the people voted for Numa.  When they offered him the insignia of royalty, he bade them stop, saying that he wished to have his crown confirmed to him by God as well as by man.  Taking the prophets and priests he ascended the Capitol, which the Romans at that time called the Tarpeian Hill.  There the chief of the prophets made him turn towards the south, covered his head, and then standing behind him with his hand laid upon his head, he prayed, and looked for a sign or omen sent from the gods in every quarter of the heavens.  A strange silence prevailed among the people in the Forum, as they watched him eagerly, until a prosperous omen was observed.  Then Numa received the royal robes and came down from the hill among the people.  They received him with cheers and congratulations, as the most pious of men, and as beloved of Heaven.  When he became king, his first act was to disband the body-guard of three hundred men, whom Romulus always had kept about his person, who were called Celeres, that is, swift; for Numa would not distrust a loyal people nor reign over a disloyal one.  Next he instituted a third high priest, in addition to the existing priests of Jupiter and Mars, whom, in honour of Romulus, he called the Flamen Quirinalis.  The elder priests are called Flamens from the skull-caps which they wear, and the word is derived from the Greek word for felt; for at that time Greek words were mingled with Latin ones more than now.  For instance, the laena worn by the priests is said by Juba to be the Greek chlaina, and the boy, whose parents must be both alive, who is servant to the priest of Jupiter, is called Camillus, just as the Greeks sometimes call Hermes (Mercury) Cadmilus, from his being the servant of the gods.

VIII.  Numa, after confirming his popularity by these measures, proceeded at once to attempt to convert the city from the practice of war and the strong hand, to that of right and justice, just as a man tries to soften and mould a mass of iron.  The city at that time was indeed what Plato calls “inflamed and angry,” for it owed its very existence to the reckless daring by which it had thrust aside the most warlike races of the country, and had recruited its strength by many campaigns and ceaseless war, and, as carpentry becomes more fixed in its place by blows, so the city seemed to gain fresh power from its dangers.  Thinking that it would be a very difficult task to change the habits of this excited and savage people, and to teach them the arts of peace, he looked to the gods for help, and by sacrifices,