Plutarch, Romulus, ed. Bernadotte Perrin, 22

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[1] λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὴν περὶ τὸ πῦρ ἁγιστείαν Ῥωμύλον καταστῆσαι πρῶτον, ἀποδείξαντα παρθένους ἱερὰς Ἑστιάδας προσαγορευομένας. οἱ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν εἰς Νομᾶν ἀναφέρουσι, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα τὸν Ῥωμύλον θεοσεβῆ διαφερόντως, ἔτι δὲ μαντικὸν ἱστοροῦσι γενέσθαι, καὶ φορεῖν ἐπὶ μαντικῇ τὸ καλούμενον λίτυον· ἔστι δὲ καμπύλη ῥάβδος, ᾗ τὰ πλινθία καθεζομένους ἐπʼ οἰωνῶν διαγράφειν.

[2] τοῦτο δʼ ἐν Παλατίῳ φυλαττόμενον ἀφανισθῆναι, περὶ τὰ Κελτικὰ τῆς πόλεως ἁλούσης· εἶτα μέντοι τῶν βαρβάρων ἐκπεσόντων εὑρεθῆναι κατὰ τέφρας βαθείας, ἀπαθὲς ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπολωλόσι καὶ διεφθαρμένοις.

[3] ἔθηκε δὲ καὶ νόμους τινάς, ὧν σφοδρὸς μέν ἐστιν ὁ γυναικὶ μὴ διδοὺς ἀπολείπειν ἄνδρα, γυναῖκα δὲ διδοὺς ἐκβάλλειν¹ ἐπὶ φαρμακείᾳ τέκνων ἢ κλειδῶν ὑποβολῇ² καὶ μοιχευθεῖσαν· εἰ δʼ ἄλλως τις ἀποπέμψαιτο, τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ τὸ μὲν τῆς γυναικὸς εἶναι, τὸ δὲ τῆς Δήμητρος ἱερὸν κελεύων· τὸν δʼ ἀποδόμενον γυναῖκα θύεσθαι χθονίοις θεοῖς.

[4] ἴδιον δὲ τὸ μηδεμίαν δίκην κατὰ πατροκτόνων ὁρίσαντα, πᾶσαν ἀνδροφονίαν πατροκτονίαν προσειπεῖν, ὡς τούτου μὲν ὄντος ἐναγοῦς, ἐκείνου δʼ ἀδυνάτου. καὶ μέχρι χρόνων πολλῶν ἔδοξεν ὀρθῶς ἀπογνῶναι τὴν τοιαύτην ἀδικίαν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔδρασε τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν ἐν Ῥώμῃ σχεδὸν ἐτῶν ἑξακοσίων διαγενομένων, ἀλλὰ πρῶτος μετὰ τὸν Ἀννιβιακὸν πόλεμον ἱστορεῖται Λεύκιος Ὅστιος πατροκτόνος γενέσθαι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἱκανὰ περὶ τούτων.

Romulus. Plutarch. ed. Bernadotte Perrin. Medford, MA. Perseus 4.0.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Ῥωμύλος (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. I. Perrin, Bernadotte, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1914.)

Translations (1)

Romulus Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. I. Perrin, Bernadotte, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1914.) — 22 focus

[1] It is said also that Romulus first introduced the consecration of fire, and appointed holy virgins to guard it, called Vestals. Others attribute this institution to Numa,¹ although admitting that Romulus was in other ways eminently religious, and they say further that he was a diviner, and carried for purposes of divination the so-called lituus, a crooked staff with which those who take auguries from the flight of birds mark out the regions of the heavens.

[2] This staff, which was carefully preserved on the Palatine, is said to have disappeared when the city was taken at the time of the Gallic invasion; afterwards, however, when the Barbarians had been expelled, it was found under deep ashes unharmed by the fire, although everything about it was completely destroyed.²

[3] He also enacted certain laws, and among them one of severity, which forbids a wife to leave her husband, but permits a husband to put away his wife for using poisons, for substituting children, and for adultery; but if a man for any other reason sends his wife away, the law prescribes that half his substance shall belong to his wife, and the other half be consecrate to Ceres; and whosoever puts away his wife, shall make a sacrifice to the gods of the lower world.

[4] It is also a peculiar thing that Romulus ordained no penalty for parricides, but called all murder parricide, looking upon one as abominable, and upon the other as impossible. And for many ages his judgement of such a crime seemed to have been right, for no one did any such deed at Rome for almost six hundred years; but after the war with Hannibal, Lucius Hostius is reported to have been the first parricide. So much, then, may suffice concerning these matters.

Notes on the current edition

Romulus

1. ἐκβάλλειν Bekker, after Coraës: ἐκβαλεῖν.

2. ἐπὶ φαρμακείᾳ καὶ τέκνων ὑποβολῇ with Cobet: ἐπὶ φαρμακείᾳ τέκνων ἢ κλειδῶν ὑποβολῇ ( for poisoning his children or counterfeiting his keys).

Plutarch Romulus 22

ed. Bernadotte Perrin

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