Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 42

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[42]

Question 42.

Why do they use the temple of Saturn for a chamber of public treasury, as also an office of record for contracts?

Solution. Is not this the reason, because this saying hath obtained credit, that there was no avarice or injustice among men while Saturn ruled, but faith and righteousness? Or was it that this God presided over the fruits of the field and husbandry? For the sickle signified as much, and not, as Antimachus was persuaded and wrote with Hesiod,—

With crooked falk Saturn ’gainst heavens fought,

off his father’s privities, foul bout.

Money is produced from plenty of fruit and the vent of them, therefore they make Saturn the author and preserver of their felicity. That which confirms this is that the conventions assembled every ninth day in the marketplace (which they call Nundinae) they reckon sacred to Saturn, because the abundance of fruit gave the first occasion of buying and selling. Or are these things farfetched, and was the first that contrived this Saturnine chamber of bank Valerius Publicola, upon the suppression of the kings, being persuaded it was a strong place, conspicuous, and not easily undermined by treachery?

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Roman Questions (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 42 focus

[42] διὰ τί τῷ τοῦ Κρόνου ναῷ χρῶνται ταμιείῳ ¹ τῶν δημοσίων χρημάτων, ἅμα δὲ καὶ φυλακτηρίῳ τῶν συμβολαίων;

πότερον ὅτι δόξα κατεῖχε καὶ λόγος οὐκ εἶναι πλεονεξίαν ἐν ἀνθρώποις οὐδʼ ἀδικίαν Κρόνου βασιλεύοντος, ἀλλὰ πίστιν καὶ δικαιοσύνην;

ἢ ὅτι καρπῶν εὑρετὴς ² καὶ ³ γεωργίας ἡγεμὼν ὁ θεός; ἡ γὰρ ἅρπη τοῦτο σημαίνει καὶ οὐχ ὡς γέγραφεν Ἀντίμαχος Ἡσιόδῳ πειθόμενος

λέχρις ⁴ δὲ δρεπάνῳ τέμνων ἀπὸ μήδεα πατρὸς

οὐρανοῦ Ἀκμονίδεω λάσιος Κρόνος ἀντιτέτυκτο.

καρπῶν δʼ ἀφθονία καὶ διάθεσις γένεσίς ἐστι νομίσματος· 275b · διὸ τὸν αἴτιον καὶ φύλακα ποιοῦνται τῆς εὐδαιμονίας. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τούτῳ τὸ τὰς ἀγομένας διʼ ἐννέα ἡμερῶν ἐπʼ ἀγορὰν συνόδους, νουνδίνας δὲ καλουμένας, ἱερὰς τοῦ Κρόνου νομίζεσθαι· πράσεως γὰρ καὶ ὠνῆς περιουσία καρπῶν ἀρχὴν παρέσχεν.

ἤ ταῦτα μέν ἐστι παλαιά, πρῶτος δὲ ταμιεῖον ἀπέδειξε τὸ Κρόνιον, τῶν βασιλέων καταλυθέντων, Οὐαλέριος Ποπλικόλας πειθόμενος εὐερκῆ καὶ καταφανῆ καὶ δυσεπιβούλευτον εἶναι τὸν τόπον;

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 42 focus

[42] διὰ τί τῷ τοῦ Κρόνου ναῷ χρῶνται ταμιείῳ ¹ τῶν δημοσίων χρημάτων, ἅμα δὲ καὶ φυλακτηρίῳ 5 τῶν συμβολαίων; πότερον ὅτι δόξα κατεῖχε καὶ λόγος οὐκ εἶναι πλεονεξίαν ἐν ἀνθρώποις οὐδʼ ἀδικίαν Κρόνου βασιλεύοντος, ἀλλὰ πίστιν καὶ δικαιοσύνην· ἢ ὅτι καρπῶν ἀρετῆς ² ἢ γεωργίας ἡγεμὼν ὁ θεός; ἡ γὰρ ἅρπη τοῦτο σημαίνει καὶ οὐχ ὡς γέγραφεν 10 Ἀντίμαχος Ἡσιόδῳ ³ πειθόμενος

λέχρις δὲ δρεπάνῳ τέμνων ἀπὸ μήδεα πατρὸς

⁴

οὐρανοῦ Ἀκμονίδεω λάσιος Κρόνος ἀντιτέτυκτο.

καρπῶν δʼ ἀφθονία καὶ διάθεσις γένεσίς ἐστι νομίσματος· 275b διὸ τὸν ⁵ αἴτιον καὶ φύλακα ποιοῦνται τῆς 15 εὐδαιμονίας. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τούτῳ τὸ τὰς ἀγομένας διʼ ἐννέα ἡμερῶν ἐπʼ ἀγορὰν συνόδους, νουνδίνας δὲ καλουμένας, ἱερὰς τοῦ Κρόνου νομίζεσθαι· πράσεως γὰρ καὶ ὠνῆς περιουσία καρπῶν ἀρχὴν παρέσχεν. ἢ ταῦτα μέν ἐστι παλαιά, πρῶτος δὲ ταμιεῖον 20 ἀπέδειξε τὸ Κρόνιον, τῶν βασιλέων καταλυθέντων, Οὐαλέριος Ποπλικόλας πειθόμενος εὐερκῆ καὶ καταφανῆ καὶ δυσεπιβούλευτον εἶναι τὸν τόπον;

Translations (1)

The Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 42 focus

[42] Why do they use the temple of Saturn as the public treasury and also as a place of storage for records of contracts?¹

Is it because the opinion and tradition prevailed that when Saturn was king there was no greed or injustice among men, but good faith and justice?

Or is it because the god was the discoverer of crops and the pioneer in husbandry? For this is what his sickle signifies and not as Antimachus,² following Hesiod,³ has written:

Here with sickle in hand was wrought the form of rough Cronus

Maiming his sire at his side, who is Uranus, offspring of Acmon.

Now abundant harvests and their disposal are what give rise to a monetary system: therefore they make the god who is the cause of their good fortune its guardian also. Testimony to support this may be found in the fact that the markets held every eight days and called nundinae⁴ are considered sacred to Saturn, for it was the superabundance of the harvest that initiated buying and selling.

Or is this a matter of ancient history, and was Valerius Publicola the first to make the temple of Saturn the treasury, when the kings had been overthrown, because he believed that the place was well-protected, in plain sight, and hard to attack secretly?

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 42

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 42.

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